Waaay back in mid-February, I did my annual “Tiers of MLS” season preview piece.
You know the conceit of that one: it’s not straight-up power rankings, but rather groupings of teams that I think are at each other’s general level, everything from pretty bad all the way up to super-elite contenders. It’s a way to give a rough sketch of how good the teams are while leaving room for the unexpected, the unknown unknowns.
The first two teams I mentioned: Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders. Even with the unknown unknowns and the roughest of sketches, it was clear as day, entering this season, that these were two of the best sides MLS had to offer.
And now, six months later, we see them meet Sunday at Lumen Field in the Leagues Cup 2025 final (8:00 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+, TUDN, Univision).
It’s taken some twists and turns to get here – Seattle’s injury and suspension list can damn near fill a starting XI, while Miami have had more exits and entrances than you’d expect from a team in contention for three trophies. But “here” feels like the right spot to be in: Two of the best teams in North America battling for 90 minutes with a trophy on the line.
Can’t ask for much more than that.
Seattle Sounders
- The breakout star of the Sounders' Leagues Cup run has been DP left winger (finally!) Pedro de la Vega. After a difficult start to his MLS career, he finally got a shot at his best position and has grabbed it with both hands, becoming one of the best attackers in the league over the past six weeks.
- It’s hard to overstate the importance of veteran d-mid Cristian Roldan, who’s Seattle’s on-field tempo-setter, security blanket and brains. He’s everything you’d want from a modern No. 6 – blowing up opposing counters on the front foot, shielding the defense on the back foot, and carving third-line passes masterfully into the feet of his attackers with the ball.
- The biggest wild card in the game is Seattle’s No. 9, Osaze De Rosario. The son of an MLS legend (every oldhead will list his father, Dwayne, among the very best MLS players of all-time) has shown a willingness to do all the dirty work and a savant’s sense for finding big chances. Finishing them, however, has been another story. So far.
Inter Miami
- Lionel Messi lit Leagues Cup 2023 on fire upon his arrival in Miami, putting together one of the best extended runs of his incomparable career. Full stop. He hasn’t been quite as scorching this time, as he’s battled injury for the past month, but his second-half performance in the semifinal win over Orlando City is a reminder that the GOAT is still the GOAT.
- Back at the start of the season, with Messi in and out of the lineup, it was another legend whose name was shining brightest on the marquee: Luis Suárez. But the Uruguayan No. 9 is finally showing his age this season, with just eight goals in about 2,500 minutes across all competitions.
- Center back Maxi Falcón remains the third player to watch. It’s gone under the radar, but this team has improved significantly on the defensive side of the ball since the spring, and Falcón’s one of the big reasons why. He can be out-muscled in the box, though, and with De Rosario likely to get the full 90, that’s a massive concern for the Herons.
The Sounders were very good in the second half of last year, making it to the semifinals of the US Open Cup and the final of the Western Conference playoffs. And they’ve shown their quality and depth throughout this year – battling through a constant stream of injuries, a list that lately includes two of their DPs (center forward Jordan Morris and playmaker Albert Rusnák) and, come summer, a constant stream of red cards (Danny Musovski and Nouhou will both miss the final).
But they flipped a switch when they went to the FIFA Club World Cup and showed their quality against Botafogo, Atlético Madrid and PSG. They’ve been flying since then, playing at a level this club hasn’t seen since their 2022 Concacaf Champions Cup (neé League) title.
That’s great, but… the Sounders came into the league 16 years ago and instantly won a trophy. And then they kept winning something, basically every other year for 13 seasons, culminating in that landmark CCC conquest.
Not a single trophy since then, though. Not even a final.
Now they’ve got one, at home, against the GOAT.
The Herons are flying. After a downturn in form in mid-spring – they went 1W-3L-2D from April 27 to May 24 in league play – they’ve gone 12W-3L-5D over the subsequent 20 games, a stretch that includes their landmark performance in the Club World Cup, where they became the first MLS team to 1) beat a UEFA side in an official competition, and 2) reach the knockout rounds.
Which is to say that they’ve been really good for months now. But “really good” is not what Messi plays for. He plays for trophies, and so do the guys in the room with him.
There are no moral victories or building block performances with him. There is only hardware.
He’s got 46 trophies. He will find room for one more.
Seattle Sounders
This time last year, the Sounders were in hell. Then, head coach Brian Schmetzer made two big moves: putting Morris up top and moving Roldan back from his spot on the wing into central midfield.
The obvious effect, both last year and this, has been to tilt the field in productive ways. Roldan has become a master at getting on the ball – whether via a build-out sequence or simply winning a 50/50 – and creating instant verticality:
This has worked against all comers, including the trio of giants the Sounders faced in the Club World Cup, and especially in their Leagues Cup opener, a 7-0 win over reigning CCC champions Cruz Azul (and a record win for an MLS club against any LIGA MX side). With Roldan alongside Obed Vargas, the Sounders tend to dominate games in central midfield.
They arguably have more depth in the attack – there are exactly zero other MLS teams who could’ve made their way to a final while missing two DPs and two starting-caliber wingers – but the pieces didn’t quite click into place until de la Vega got the nod on the left wing. His ability to eliminate defenders off the dribble out there and to complete plays with goals or assists opens up all kinds of space underneath for the other attackers,
The non-negotiable is that they’ve needed a true No. 9 to lead the line. If they have that guy out there, be it Morris or Musovski or, now, De Rosario, it works. Sometimes in the simplest of ways, as the LA Galaxy saw for themselves in the semifinals.
Throughout it all, the Sounders are still the Sounders: they usually want 55% or more of the ball, they want their right back to overlap and they want their left back to stay home a little bit more often. That’s complicated by Nouhou’s suspension, by the way, as Reed Baker-Whiting (very much not a stay-at-home left back) has been the primary backup this season. I have a small hunch that it’ll be Jon Bell who sees his name on the teamsheet.
Regardless, it’s all aimed towards getting possession on the sides of the box – the primary assist zones – for low crosses across the six-yard box (to the No. 9) or pullbacks to the penalty spot (for the on-rushing 10, or sometimes even the No. 8).
This is modern, fundamental soccer.
Inter Miami
They’ve primarily played out of what I’ll call a 4-4-1-1 this year when both Messi and Suárez have been available. In that shape Messi is nominally a forward – they’ll usually defend with a front two and banks of four behind him, so it looks like a 4-4-2 without the ball – but he’s totally free to drop in and become a playmaker, or flare wide to become a winger, or even, yes, do forward things running off of Suárez’s movement and hold-up play.
It’s a completely free role, and that’s why I hesitate to call it a 4-4-2. In the modern game, the function of the 4-4-2 is to create a forward partnership that operates almost exclusively in transition (there are no possession-focused 4-4-2 teams anymore).
It’s morphed now into a 4-2-3-1, with new guy Rodrigo de Paul playing as a sort of inside-right winger next to Messi as a true No. 10. It should be no surprise that these guys have figured things out so quickly, given their respective pedigrees and time spent on the field together with Argentina.
The backline is oriented around left back Jordi Alba’s relentless desire to push forward, which has its pluses and minuses. The biggest plus, obviously, is that he and Messi have a decades-long final-third mind-meld. When the GOAT finally retires and the six-hour-long “All Messi’s Goals” compilation is released, Alba might show up more often in a supporting role than anyone except Dani Alves.
The minus is this:
That’s on Jordi. He goes on a walkabout for no reason at all.
He did that a lot at the start of the season, but has been much more conservative about it since this excellent run of form began in late May. With that has come not just better boxscore numbers, defensively speaking (at least against anyone except PSG), but better underlying numbers as well.
Miami aren't winning games in spite of their defense anymore, is what I’m saying. That doesn’t mean they’re winning games because of their defense – the pendulum hasn’t swung that far – but it’s no longer a glaring liability.
They are simply more functional, and with that functionality has come a higher floor. And then it’s just a matter of Messi, Suárez et al doing what they’ve done for the past two decades in raising the ceiling.
It’ll be the standard 4-2-3-1 with the only question mark being left back.
No reason to think there’ll be any changes from the semifinal win over Orlando, though I will say that Miami were much more dangerous when Tadeo Allende – a natural field-stretcher – came on for Baltasar Rodríguez, who much prefers to drop in and be something of a playmaker.
