The 31st MLS season is less than a month away, while Concacaf Champions Cup play begins as early as the first week of February (hi, San Diego FC). The offseason has flown by, which means it’s time to start assessing how things appear to be taking shape for the year ahead.
Yesterday, we looked at eight guys across the league who I think will have breakout seasons. Today we’re looking at nine of the most pivotal players, at least in my view. These guys are more like a hinge point. What I mean is if they play well, they answer a lot of questions for what I think is likely to be an excellent team. But it’s not a given that they’ll be that good – we’re not talking about Lionel Messi and Son Heung-Min here. We’re further down the roster than that.
So maybe the most important variables? The swing players? Or is hinge points a good enough description?
Whatever you want to call them, these are the guys whose performances I expect, to one degree or another, to define the 2026 MLS season. In part, that’s because I think they’re mostly very good, but it’s also because I think they’re likely to start. Further, it’s because I think the champions of virtually everything MLS teams play for will come from this group of nine teams.
In we go:
Ayala was an often-very-good-but-sometimes-anonymous two-way central midfielder for the Timbers. There were flashes of true excellence in there, but Portland weren’t ever set up to maximize the growth of a ball-playing No. 6.
Inter Miami are. And as of now, it looks like Ayala’s job will be to replace the greatest ball-playing No. 6 in the history of the game. No pressure!
This is the most fascinating move in the history of the cash-for-player trade mechanism, specifically because of the above dynamic. What does it mean for MLS if you can replace Sergio Busquets – even the end-of-line version – by shopping within the league? What does it mean for the U22 Initiative? What does it mean for the overall attitude towards player development in MLS?
I’ll put it this way: Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas is very pointedly trying to build the best club in the Americas. If he and the front office that’s earned his trust (and mine; they’ve done a fantastic job) think the best way to do that is to buy MLS players, then that should change how teams perceive their own talent and their willingness to develop it. Right?
Cabrera is more of a half-space merchant than a true winger, which means he’s not exactly a like-for-like replacement for either Ali Ahmed or Jayden Nelson in Vancouver. He also might not even be a starter this year, as both Ryan Gauld and Emmanuel Sabbi are proven veterans.
Cabrera, however, was electric in his limited minutes after arriving mid-season from Peru. He’ll get on the field plenty, and if he’s as good as he looked in 2025, then there won’t be any drop-off from what the Whitecaps got via last year’s wingers.
New head coach Marc Dos Santos has said he’s going to play a 4-3-3 with more emphasis on possession than what we’d usually seen from the Steve Cherundolo-era LAFC.
If that’s the case, then Choinière makes sense as the single pivot because LAFC don’t need a destroyer at that back point. What they’d need is someone who can get on the ball and provide the rhythm and connective tissue this team has sometimes lacked. In a 4-3-3, he can sit in front of the backline, offer clean angles, and keep the ball moving at tempo.
Choinière is good at that, often buying time with his first touch and his scanning, offering ball security that should let the eights push higher. It feels like he’s the right kind of complementary piece here.
Thomas seems set to replace the legendary Stefan Frei as Seattle's starting goalkeeper. Simple as that.
Was his outstanding performance en route to the 2025 Leagues Cup title a taste of what’s to come?
If that version of Thomas is the real one, the Sounders won’t skip a beat. If not…
Qasem needs to level up this year for Nashville. He's a left-footer who'll most likely play on the left side of the 4-4-2 (or 4-2-2-2, or 4-4-1-1; call it what you want), which traditionally isn’t great for goalscoring. But he needs to find out how to be goal-dangerous anyway, particularly with his box arrival, given that Cristian Espinoza will do so much of the chance creation from right midfield.
Picture it: Espinoza (and Andy Najar) will tilt the field to one side, Sam Surridge will occupy multiple center backs, and everybody else will be paying attention to Hany Mukhtar. Guess who can get open time and again with hard, off-ball runs to the back post?
That type of thing hasn't been Qasem's strong suit – he's more of a "get on the ball and do something fun" kind of attacker. But the opportunities should be there for him to bang home, say, six or seven goals just by being in the right place at the right time.
If he becomes that guy, Nashville will be a nightmare to play against.
Jeppe Tverskov is excellent, but he is now solidly in his 30s.
AnÃbal Godoy is very good, but he is about to turn 36 and is approaching the end.
Onni Valakari is… pretty good. He can do some fun stuff out there.
At this point, I know that, with good reason, most of the offseason focus for San Diego has been on the Chucky Lozano drama and any potential replacement. Any offseason focus beyond that has trended towards a potential addition to the front line this summer (I still think they’ll end up with Mo Salah). And I get it, because that is fun and obvious stuff to talk about.
But look at that midfield again. Ponder it a sec. Now ask yourself: Can you win a trophy if this is your starting trio?
Let’s just use the numbers:
As per Opta, from Miazga’s arrival in August 2022 through his major injury in June 2024 (a sample size of 67 games, including both the regular season and Audi MLS Cup Playoffs), FC Cincinnati allowed 1.18 xG per 90. That was a top-four mark in the league. They were excellent.Â
Since Miazga’s injury, and even with his subsequent return, Cincy have allowed 1.46 xG per 90 across 58 regular-season and playoff games, which is merely mid-table – 13th-best in the league, fractionally behind Inter Miami and fractionally ahead of Toronto FC.
It’s not all one guy. Nothing in this sport ever is.
But a healthy Miazga is pretty clearly a rising tide that lifts all of Cincy’s boats. They need that guy back healthy if they’re going to win stuff.
Chicago's 2026 hinges, in a quiet-but-massive way, on what they get from D’Avilla at the base of the midfield (I’m assuming it’ll primarily be a 4-3-3). Year one was a rollercoaster: sequences where he’d lose runners, arrive late to second balls, and generally look a half-step behind MLS speed… followed immediately by stretches where he was imposing his physicality, breaking lines with the ball, and turning pressure into progress with casual ease.
That’s the profile. The talent is obvious, which is why the Fire made him a U22 signing. The consistency isn’t, which is why he’s still just a U22 and not a Designated Player.
That makes this a huge test for manager Gregg Berhalter. He’s the one who bet big on the Ivorian, and if Chicago are going to take the collective defensive step they need to, the big guy in the middle is going to have to prove to be a significant developmental win.
I’m still kind of stunned at how manifestly the Gazdag acquisition did not work out for either him or the Crew. There’s a good chance – a very, very good chance – that he’s not even a starter this year.
But if he actually earns that spot back and starts looking like the guy he was for the Philadelphia Union, then suddenly Columbus, under new head coach Henrik Rydström, should have a pretty devastating three-headed goal monster (alongside Diego Rossi and Wessam Abou Ali).
And look, Gazdag did actually fit with those guys. It’s not like he was anonymous out there, totally lost in the build-up or something. It was just… this:
That guy’s still got goals in his boots. I’m sure of it.
