Inter Miami’s Attackers Among MLS Eastern Conference Midseason Winners | OneFootball

We’ve reached the World Cup break in MLS so it’s time to look back at the first half of the season and evaluate the winners and losers. We’ll start with the top 5 “winners” of the Eastern Conference. These can be teams as a whole, specific aspects of a team, players, coaches, or anything in between. In other words, there’s no rules. Let’s get into it!

1. Nashville SC

The top winner in the East has to be Nashville SC. They lead the Supporters’ Shield race at the midseason mark and have only lost 1 game in MLS. This is despite missing star striker Sam Surridge for 4 games and having to deal with fixture congestion. Nashville made the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup, taking down Messi’s Inter Miami and Mexican giants Club América along the way. 

The attacking trident of Surridge, Mukhtar, and Espinoza immediately clicked together. They have combined for 31 goal contributions in 14 MLS games this season, averaging more than two per match. Surridge scores the goals, Espinoza provides the assists, and Mukhtar does a little bit of everything.

It hasn’t just been the attack though. Nashville has only allowed 11 goals, the joint-fewest in MLS. Goalkeeper Brian Schwake has been the breakout star in his first season as a starter. Two years ago he was a backup in Spain’s 3rd division with Castellón. Now he’s got 6 clean sheets and is 4th among GKs for Goals Added.

2. Inter Miami’s Star-Studded Attack

Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Germán Berterame. Those are the players that form the most dangerous attack in MLS. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Inter Miami this season but scoring goals has come easily for them, leading the league with 39. The perfect example was their final game before the break, a wild 6-4 win over Philadelphia Union in which Suárez scored a hat trick and Berterame netted a brace.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Messi leads MLS in goal contributions. He’s joint-2nd in the Golden Boot race with 12 goals and has started to get his teammates more involved. All 8 of his assists have come in the last 5 matches. Inter Miami is averaging 4 goals per game in those fixtures. As a result, Berterame has scored 4 goals in his last 3 games as he’s on a final push to make Mexico’s World Cup roster. Their other big name, Rodrigo De Paul, has also been a big part of their success with 4 goals and 7 assists on the season. Overall, Miami’s attack is in a perfect rhythm and if anything this break actually comes at a bad time for them as it might disrupt the form they’ve been in.

3. Hugo Cuypers

Former USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter has Chicago Fire up in 3rd place in the East and the biggest reason why is Belgian striker Hugo Cuypers. I just mentioned that Leo Messi is joint-2nd in the Golden Boot race. That’s because Cuypers has outscored him despite playing fewer games. He’s found the back of the net 13 times in 11 matches, on pace to more than double last year’s tally of 19. Funnily enough, Fire’s last game before the break against Toronto was the first appearance in MLS this season that Cuypers didn’t score in. It’s been a huge improvement from last year’s 8th place for Chicago and will stay that way if the former Gent man can continue his stellar goalscoring record.

4. Marko Mitrović

The last coach of the USA U20s, Mikey Varas, came into MLS and instantly finished top of the West with expansion club San Diego FC. Mitrović isn’t exactly at that level, but his first season with New England Revolution is off to a flying start. The Revs struggled heavily in their two seasons under Caleb Porter, finishing 14th in 2024 and 11th in 2025. It was clearly time for a change and Mitrović has come in and brought some much-needed new ideas into the club.

He started by bringing in some of the players that he enjoyed working with as a USYNT coach. Brooklyn Raines came in from Houston Dynamo after a breakout U20 World Cup and has been a key cog in their midfield. Ethan Kohler was on loan in the German 3rd division but was bought permanently by New England and has become a starter at center back. They also bought winger Griffin Yow who worked with Mitrović at the 2024 Olympics, though admittedly that one hasn’t gone as well as they may have hoped. The biggest thing Mitrović has brought in has been the winning culture and ability to see out games. The Revs have excelled at winning close games as 6/8 of their wins so far have been by 1 goal.

5. Red Bull New York’s Youth Movement

Many people were unsure what to expect when Michael Bradley was announced as Red Bull New York’s new manager. After all, his only experience as a head coach was six months in charge of their 2nd team in MLS Next Pro. Those feelings of uncertainty multiplied when he named his first starting lineup. Three teenagers straight into the team, two of which had never played a MLS minute before. A bold move to say the least.

Fast forward to now and those teenagers have been some of the league’s best players. 2025 broke RBNY’s incredible 15 year streak of making the postseason but it’s looking like they’ll be back where they belong thanks to Julian Hall, Adri Mehmeti, and Matthew Dos Santos. The Brazilian-American left back has come into the league and been an average starter (still impressive for a 17 year old), but Hall and Mehmeti are absolute stars.

After struggling for end product last season, Julian Hall has won the starting striker job over Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Yes, the same Choupo-Moting that played in a Champions League final for PSG against Bayern, then signed for Bayern. Hall hasn’t just kept his spot, he’s absolutely flourished up top. He’s already scored 12 goals and provided 3 assists in all competitions. In a 3-2 win over Columbus Crew, he became the youngest player to score a hat trick in MLS history. This goalscoring prowess has attracted interest from the Polish national team. The head of the Poland FA even flew out to the USA and had a conversation with Hall’s mother, who was born in Poland and is the reason why Julian wears “Zakrzewski” on the back of his RBNY kit. The USMNT might need to act fast if they want to keep hold of this talent.

Despite just turning 17 in April, Adri Mehmeti plays like a seasoned veteran. His composure on the ball has been a gamechanger for Red Bull this season. So much so that he’s drawn comparisons to Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets. Not only has he been good for his age and good for MLS standards, he’s been good compared to his peers worldwide. According to CIES Football Observatory, Mehmeti is the top performing U18 player in the WORLD over the last 6 months. His performances have reportedly drawn interest from some of the biggest clubs in the world, although due to the connection between the clubs it wouldn’t be surprising if a move to RB Leipzig was in his future. MLS fans, enjoy him while you can because he’ll almost certainly be making the move to Europe next summer.