What We Learned: Has Messi secured back-to-back MVPs? | OneFootball

By Joseph Lowery

Between a Supporters’ Shield winner being crowned, an expansion team making history, and stars returning to the fold, this past weekend’s slate had it all.

Let's explore some of the most interesting things we learned during Matchday 38. If you want to read up on other key moments in detail, check out Matt Doyle’s latest column.

Onwards.

1. Philadelphia Union win the Shield playing their way

"Last year, we were not playing in transition. We were more or less prone to playing a boring possession style."

That's Philadelphia sporting director Ernst Tanner talking about his regrets from the 2024 season, one where the Union missed the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since he took charge of the front office. It's well-covered that Tanner and former head coach Jim Curtin had their differences that led to the club parting ways with Curtin late last year.

Now? The Union are back to playing Tanner's preferred vertical style, which helped them beat New York City FC by a 1-0 scoreline on Saturday and win the Supporters' Shield.

It was fitting that the only goal ahead of the postgame party came via a turnover forced by the high press, one Mikael Uhre finished off in the first half. This year, the Union are playing the fewest passes in their own third in all of MLS, according to American Soccer Analysis. They're also forcing the most vertical passes based on average distance of any team in the league.

Philadelphia are back to their combative, in-your-face best. Now they have the second Shield in club history to show for it.

Philadelphia Union: Why they won the Supporters' Shield

2. Has Messi locked up Landon Donovan MLS MVP?

Let’s kick off this section with two things that are true:

With his name recognition, Lionel Messi was virtually always going to be the favorite to win MVP every year from the moment he put pen to paper with Inter Miami. No matter the league or the sport, the biggest names tend to win the biggest awards – and no name in the sporting world is bigger than Messi’s. But it’s not just about name recognition for Messi. No, he’s likely heading towards an incredibly well-deserved MVP award and will likely become the first player in league history to win it in back-to-back seasons.

With his hat trick of assists in Miami’s 4-1 win over the New England Revolution on Saturday, Messi climbed to 41 goal contributions on the season. In the process, he became just the second player in league history to reach at least 40 goal contributions in a single season. While Carlos Vela’s 2019 season still holds the record (49), would anyone totally rule out Messi from rivaling that mark when all's said and done?

I’m certainly not brave enough to do so, at any rate.

WATCH: Messi marks HISTORIC night with hat trick of assists

3. San Diego FC’s historic season

We've never seen an expansion team as dominant as San Diego FC. Don't believe me? I'll let the numbers do the talking.

Thanks to Saturday's 4-2 win at Houston Dynamo FC, San Diego sit on 60 points. No expansion team in league history has ever notched that many points in one go – LAFC held the previous record (57) back when they joined the league in 2018.

But when we're trying to chart the best regular-season expansion team ever, it can't just be about total points for the newest team in Southern California. Remember, the MLS schedule used to be shorter than 34 games. So if you want to be an expansion purist, you have to look at points per game. The previous record for points per game set by an expansion team was the Chicago Fire's 1.75 tally back in their inaugural 1998 season. After topping the Dynamo, San Diego are guaranteed at least 1.76 points per game this year.

So, whether you want to look at straight-up points over a longer season or a more specific points-per-game tally, this year's San Diego FC squad takes the cake. Well done.

4. Columbus Crew are getting healthy at just the right time

I could almost hear the city of Columbus' collective sigh of relief when Wilfried Nancy's lineup dropped on Saturday.

Despite their recent injuries, Diego Rossi and Sean Zawadzki were healthy enough to start against Orlando City. Sure, the full-time result, a 1-1 draw, was cause for major frustration, given that an automatic spot in the Round One Best-of-3 Series now looks unlikely for the Crew. But even if Columbus can't climb out of the Wild Card spots out East, they'll like their chances to make a run far, far better with Rossi and Zawadzki back in the lineup.

Rossi, recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered last month against Atlanta United, immediately stepped into the No. 9 role and was up to his usual standard. Zawadzki, for his part, returned to his central center back role in Nancy's back three, snuffed plenty of Orlando's attacking moments, and played the full 90.

Of course, star striker Wessam Abou Ali is still out with an ankle injury, Mo Farsi hasn't played since July, and Rudy Camacho hasn't played all year. But progress is progress for the Crew. If the lineup Nancy rolled out against Orlando is the one that starts in the postseason, I sure wouldn't look past Columbus.

5. Ryan Gauld is back!

The working-class MVP is back, folks.

After coming off the bench in the Vancouver Whitecaps' midweek Canadian Championship triumph, Ryan Gauld returned to MLS action against the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday. Gauld, who hadn't played a match since March after suffering a knee injury, made his way onto the field at BC Place for the final 15 minutes of a 4-1 win. It didn't take long for him to look right at home. Just a few minutes into his appearance off the bench, the attacker tracked all the way back into his own half to win the ball and kickstart another possession sequence for his team.

Between his defensive effort and impressive chemistry with Thomas Müller (the two had never played together before Sunday!), there was plenty to like about Gauld's return. Of course, Gauld still has plenty of rebuilding to do when it comes to his fitness, to the point where we may not see him start a game for another month, should Vancouver's playoff run extend that long. But the fact that the banged-up 'Caps get a key player back at this stage of the season is nothing short of a major victory.