The 2026 season is still young, right?
Think twice. The Ides of March are upon us, and while four matchdays might not seem like much, we’re already seeing some telling results as tiers start to form and pressure mounts in a few places.
To wit: Only two teams have taken full points from their matches thus far, and only one side has yet to garner a single point.
Let’s take a spin across MLS Matchday 4.
The joy of six
The sight of one team piling half a dozen goals on their adversary is quite a rare one in this sport; many leagues go months or more between such occasions.
So it’s hard to overstate how surreal it felt on Sunday afternoon when the New England Revolution smacked up FC Cincinnati, 6-1, in their home opener at Gillette Stadium, only for Vancouver Whitecaps FC to do them one better by hammering Minnesota United FC, 6-0, at BC Place immediately afterwards.
Aided by a Dado Valenzuela red card, the Revs rode five different goal scorers to their first win under head coach Marko Mitrović, tying the club’s largest-ever margin of victory.
Cincy made changes to the lineup that beat Mexican powerhouse Tigres UANL, 3-0, in Concacaf Champions Cup at midweek, yet nonetheless the likes of Evander, Obinna Nwobodo and Miles Robinson were on the pitch.
For the Whitecaps, it felt like they were exorcising their frustrations from Thursday night’s shocking 3-0 defeat against Cascadia rivals Seattle in CCC action, a scoreline that puts the Sounders in the driver’s seat for advancement to the quarterfinals.
Bear in mind that usually-stingy Minnesota conceded an average of just 1.15 goals per game last season – and it’s notable that the ‘Caps conjured up those fireworks with Thomas Müller starting on the bench. We did get to see an MLS debut from Colombian icon James Rodriguez, who looked lively off the bench and later got to swap jerseys and share a warm hug with Müller, his former Bayern Munich buddy.
Fighting on two fronts
The backstory on those lopsided scorelines: It’s a hectic phase for Cincy, Vancouver and the seven other MLS teams competing in Concacaf Champions Cup, as the continental tournament’s midweek matches require careful management during these double game weeks.
Many of those coaches elected to rotate their starting XIs at the weekend, and suffice to say that some clubs passed this early test of depth, while others – yes, we’re looking at you, Philadelphia, LA Galaxy and Cincy – did not.
Inter Miami made the most dramatic changes after Wednesday’s 0-0 CCC draw with Nashville SC in Music City.
Head coach Javier Mascherano gave Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul the night off amid extensive rotation that led to match action for seven academy products at Charlotte FC, where a big crowd of 34,780 turned up to offer the reigning MLS Cup presented by Audi champions a rude welcome.
Impressively, these young Herons – who, it should be noted, were led by a savvy old head named Luis Suárez – vindicated their coach’s faith by holding their own in hostile territory, producing more expected goals than their hosts in a creditable 0-0 draw, with teenage homegrowns Daniel Pinter and Santiago Morales, son of assistant coach and former MLS star Javier Morales, catching the eye.
Miami’s CCC Round-of-16 adversaries, Nashville SC, also got rewarded by their reserves.
Head coach B.J. Callaghan’s rotated XI kept pace with the still-winless Columbus Crew at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field before stars Cristian Espinoza and Hany Mukhtar came off the bench to link up for a late game-winner.
This is just nasty skill from Espinoza:
Now all eyes turn to Fort Lauderdale, where Miami and Nashville will clash on Wednesday to determine which advances to the CCC quarterfinals.
Sky blue atop the East
There’s a new leader in the Eastern Conference: undefeated New York City FC, who swept aside the Colorado Rapids, 3-1, at Yankee Stadium for their third straight victory, inspired by a brace from Nicolás Fernández Mercau.
After so much talk in preseason about the Pigeons’ inability to secure a big-name No. 9 to spearhead their attack, it’s worth wondering whether they just roll with what they’ve got until summertime. That’s how good Fernández Mercau has been, ably supported down the spine by Keaton Parks and the ageless Maxi Moralez.
NYCFC are playing some beautiful, functional ball under head coach Pascal Jansen.
While the aforementioned six-goal explosion has Vancouver atop the West on goal difference, LAFC remain neck and neck with them on points thanks to their latest businesslike win: a 2-0 triumph over St. Louis CITY SC, thanks to a Mathieu Choinière double.
It’s a sign of how lofty the standards have grown at BMO Stadium that some LAFC observers are expressing concern about Son Heung-Min’s goal drought, which has now stretched to six games across MLS and CCC play. The optimist’s way of looking at it: Members of the supporting cast keep stepping in to pick up a share of the scoring burden.
So now only the Whitecaps and LAFC have taken full points from the first four matchdays of the season. Both face CCC gut checks this coming week: Vancouver are staring at a three-goal deficit in their away leg vs. Seattle, which will take place in Spokane due to pre-World Cup work on Lumen Field’s playing surface, while Son’s Black & Gold travel to Costa Rica in need of a win or a high-scoring draw vs. Alajuelense to advance.
RSL, Sounders keep grinding
Game after game, someone just keeps stepping up for Real Salt Lake and Seattle, both of whom showed both pretty soccer and plenty of fight in dramatic wins over Austin FC and the San Jose Earthquakes, respectively.
Resourceful RSL have now won three straight following a tight loss at Vancouver in their season opener, and their late show arrived from an unexpected source.
With maybe the 14th touch of his MLS debut, newcomer Stijn Spierings sank a clever dagger of a shot from long range in the final minutes to break a 1-1 deadlock for the Claret-and-Cobalt.
“It's not really part of my game to score a lot of goals,” the 30-year-old Dutchman, a defensive midfielder by trade, admitted postgame. “I know myself, and I can tell you this probably won't happen every week.”
That won’t bother head coach Pablo Mastroeni, who detects a certain “feeling in the locker room” that has him believing something “special” is brewing in Utah.
Out by the Bay, the Earthquakes’ perfect start to the campaign is no more thanks to Paul Rothrock, who raced down a glorious pass from Jesús Ferreira to snatch an early strike in transition at PayPal Park during Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire.
That allowed the Sounders to sit in and soak up pressure in a gutsy 1-0 win as they gave a few veterans some rest by fielding several young’uns from their development pipeline, which runs through their MLS NEXT Pro outfit Tacoma Defiance.
Timo Werner & Co. dominated most of the match, producing an expected-goals number six times that of their visitors, but couldn’t find a breakthrough against goalkeeper Andrew Thomas.
“It was a really gritty win,” Rothrock told Apple TV’s Jillian Sakovits postgame. “A number of great performances from guys. I want to shout out our two Defiance players, because I used to be one of those guys: Antino Lopez and Peter Kingston, they had monster games, both of them.”
Croatia calling
MLS ‘26 has its first hat trick in the books, thanks to FC Dallas’ Petar Musa, the standout from a wild Saturday night at Toyota Stadium.
The Croatian striker is hunting a place on his country’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad, and a few days after seeing his name on their March call-up roster, he laid down another marker as FCD refused to lose against San Diego FC, rallying from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to take a share of the spoils by pressing high and forcing errors from the usually surefooted SDFC.
To borrow a running theme from head coach Eric Quill, this scrappy Dallas group keeps showing they’ve got that dawg in them, and it might just power their star to the World Cup.
“We showed we never give up,” said Musa, “especially at home.”
The quotable Deki
A tip of the cap is due to Sporting KC’s Dejan Joveljić, who returned to his old club, LA Galaxy – where he was a vital contributor to a rousing MLS Cup run in 2024 – to score one goal and assist on another in a 2-1 upset win.
It’s SKC’s first victory of the season and a massive confidence boost for a rebuilding side that not so long ago barely had enough senior players to fill a gameday roster.
“It’s always a special thing to come here and play in front of the LA fans,” said Joveljić, who waved and flashed heart-shaped hands to the Gs faithful instead of his usual exuberant goal celebrations. “Unfortunately for them, I am going to keep scoring against them.”
Relief in ATL
Finally, a swing through Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where two of the year’s slowest starters faced off in Atlanta United vs. Philadelphia Union.
It might be early to call it a six-pointer, but the Five Stripes’ 3-1 win provides a palpable boost for head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino and his struggling side, especially with all three of ATL’s Designated Players getting onto the scoresheet.
As for Philly, well… it’s shaping up to be a long season for last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners.
