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MLS Footnotes: Wild 'Decision Day' will sort out playoff possibilities
MLS

MLS Footnotes: Wild 'Decision Day' will sort out playoff possibilities

Updated Nov. 7, 2021 10:15 p.m. ET

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

When one of the tightest MLS playoff races in recent memory concludes with "Decision Day" on Sunday, several of the leagues’ recent powers could be on the outside looking in.

It has been a weird season. 

The 2021 campaign began with a bitter labor dispute, then started a month late because of the pandemic. The New England Revolution, traditional also-rans, not only won the first Supporters Shield in the club’s 26-year history but also shattered the regular-season points mark along the way. 

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Meanwhile, Atlanta United, LAFC, the L.A. Galaxy and the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew are all in danger of missing out on the postseason when it kicks off following this month’s international break. It feels like up is down.

In the East, just four points separate fifth and 10th place. (The top seven teams in each conference qualify.)

Atlanta, the 2018 champ, can make it even if it somehow fails to beat hapless second-year side FC Cincinnati — but they’d need some help. The Crew must win against the already-eliminated Chicago Fire and hope the New York Red Bulls, CF Montreal and D.C. United all lose. That’s probably not happening.

Out West, the two teams in Los Angeles (plus Real Salt Lake) are battling for the final spots. The five-time champ Galaxy sit seventh and can finish as high as fifth with a victory over Minnesota United FC (6 p.m. ET, FS1 and the FOX Sports app).

Meanwhile, 2020 CONCACAF Champions League runner-up LAFC have to beat Colorado and hope Vancouver loses to Seattle or RSL drops points in Kansas City. It could be coach Bob Bradley’s last game with LAFC.

MLS FOOTNOTES

1. Sweet Music

They haven’t taken the league by storm the way Atlanta or LAFC (or Seattle a decade earlier) did in their first two MLS seasons, but Nashville SC deserve to be counted among the best expansion teams in league history after making the playoffs in each of their first two years. Nashville even won a couple of postseason rounds last fall before taking the eventual champion Crew to extra time in the Eastern Conference semis.

"Now, we’re eyeing a long run," Nashville and U.S. men’s national team defender Walker Zimmerman told FOX Sports this week in a phone interview. "We’re looking for silverware. It’s a realistic goal."

When Gary Smith’s team is peaking, that goal is in sight. But this Nashville SC team hasn't been quite as good lately as they were over the summer. Heading into Decision Day, they’ve won just once in eight contests, with six ties.

"It was kind of a wake-up call," Zimmerman said of the recent slump. "We realized that we don’t need to be quite as safe or defensive in certain situations." A victory over the Red Bulls on Sunday would give Nashville the second seed in the East — unless Philadelphia beats New York City at Yankee Stadium. 

"Having that to play for in the last game of the season is huge," Zimmerman said.

2. Mukhtar’s MVP case

A big reason Nashville is in the postseason is the play of Hany Mukhtar. The star attacker struggled during his first season in Tennessee — the unplanned four-month hiatus because of COVID-19 sure didn’t help him get settled — but this season, he has emerged as a bona fide MVP candidate, even if the Revs’ Carles Gil is still the odds-on favorite to win the award.

"Coming into this year, I think he had something to prove," Zimmerman said of the German midfielder. "He has delivered in every way possible this season. He has flown under the radar, but he should be in that conversation."

3. Double duty

Zimmerman was one of 10 MLS players selected Wednesday by U.S. national team coach Gregg Berhalter for next week’s crucial World Cup qualifier against arch-nemesis Mexico in Cincinnati.

With veteran center back John Brooks left off the 25-man squad, Zimmerman is pushing to start in at least one of the two games this window; after facing El Tri, the U.S. heads to Jamaica on Nov. 16.

Zimmerman wasn’t initially called into national team camp last month, but he was added after Tim Ream withdrew, and he ended up starting the 2-0 victory over the Reggae Boyz in Austin, Texas — after which he was named Man of the Match. He credits his performances with Nashville for keeping him in the mix.

"The competition on our [USMNT] roster is crazy," he said. "It’s always changing, and you always have to be ready. Club form is important — you have to be playing well to give the staff confidence to give you a chance. So that’s what I’ve focused on: playing well with my club."

4. Cincy-bound

Cincinnati will be the center of the American soccer universe next week, with FCC’s gorgeous new TQL Stadium hosting its first World Cup qualifier on Friday.

Some believe that the 26,000-seat venue, which opened in May, is the finest in MLS. 

Zimmerman visited it for the first time on Oct. 27, when Nashville beat the hosts 6-3. "Phenomenal venue, great pitch," he said. "It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere there against Mexico."

5. More changes in Houston

The Houston Dynamo announced Thursday that Tab Ramos is out after just two seasons as the club’s manager. Here’s hoping that Ramos, who never got the financial support he needed from the Dynamo’s previous ownership group to improve his squad, gets another opportunity within the league.

Ramos can coach, and he can help make young players better. As the U.S. U-20 boss from 2011-19, Ramos helped develop much of the senior team’s current roster.

6. Guardian of the Galaxy

It will be interesting to see whether LA Galaxy general manager Dennis te Klose returns to the club next season. Te Klose has drawn interest from several Mexican clubs and was a candidate for the Houston Dynamo GM job that went to Pat Onstad.

But one source told FOX that the Galaxy have already exercised the option year on te Klose’s contract for 2022. If that’s true, the club could seek compensation from any team that tries to recruit the Dutchman.

7. Varas gets U.S. U-20 job

Former FC Dallas assistant Mikey Varas has been hired as the new U.S. under-20 coach, it was announced Friday.

Varas worked under Luchi Gonzalez with FCD. Gonzalez, who along with his staff was fired in September, was offered the U-20 gig first, but multiple sources told FOX Sports that Gonzalez wanted the ability to talk to other suitors if they came calling. U.S. Soccer wasn’t comfortable with that arrangement; they don’t want a coach leaving six months into the job. 

The first U-20 camp since the pandemic began convenes Sunday.

8. Remember us?

Don’t be surprised if USMNT vets Aron Johannsson and/or Julian Green end up in MLS next season. 

Green, still just 26, is playing in the Bundesliga with last-place Greuther Fürth, but that hasn’t helped him get a look from Berhalter during qualifying. His contract expires this summer.

The Alabama-born Johannsson, who turns 31 next week, just returned to his native Iceland after stops in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Poland, but he could draw stateside interest in January should he show that his persistent injury woes are behind him. 

Both Johannsson and Green played for the U.S. at the 2014 World Cup.

One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.

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