What We Learned: FC Cincinnati's gear shift, Sporting KC's struggle

With each passing slate of weekend matches, we’re learning more about what’s real and what’s just a mirage during the 2025 MLS season.

Today, we’re looking back on Matchday 3 to examine some of the most interesting things we’ve asborbed so far. We’ve got stars in new roles, promising signs for a trophy contender and trouble out West.

Let’s dive in.

FC Cincinnati gave off the vibe of a team playing with their food before actually eating it in their 2-0 win over Toronto FC on Saturday. With a rotated lineup from Pat Noonan ahead of Leg 2 against Tigres in the Concacaf Champions Cup’s Round of 16, we didn’t see a full-strength Cincy lineup. But with Luca Orellano earning his first regular-season minutes of the year, that full-strength lineup shouldn’t be far away.

Cincy were already outplaying Toronto before Evander entered partway through the second half. When the Brazilian started to find the game, though, everything changed. Just look at this absurd one-touch assist to release Yuya Kubo in transition:

Evander & Co. made playing high-level soccer look easy in the second half, scoring two goals (one from the spot and the one above from open play) and denying Toronto a single shot from inside the box. Once Evander, Orellano and Kévin Denkey are all starting together in the frontline? Well, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more dangerous attacking group in the league outside of the one down in South Beach.

FC Cincinnati have the kind of talent that will allow them to turn on the magic at a moment’s notice. I’m eager to see more of that against one of the best defenses in MLS when they visit Charlotte FC on Saturday (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).

It sure looks like Chris Armas and his coaching staff got in the film room and did a bit of tactical tweaking over the offseason. After spending almost all of last year in a 4-2-3-1 formation, the Colorado Rapids have been using a 4-3-3 for much of this season, including in their 1-0 road win over Austin FC on Saturday.

With a workmanlike midfield of Joshua Atencio (playing as the No. 6), Cole Bassett (playing as the right-sided No. 8), and Oliver Larraz (playing as the left-sided No. 8), Djordje Mihailovic has moved slightly wider towards the left side into a “free winger”-type role. Nominally, Mihailovic is the width-provider on his side, especially when Ian Murphy gets deployed at left back amidst Colorado’s mini-outside back injury crisis.

But in reality? Mihailovic has the freedom to drift inside, find the ball and make the game. His assist on Rafael Navarro's goal featured all three of those things, and was downright sublime:

Mihailovic is no stranger to shading his touches towards the left side – he played in a hybrid left-sided/central role under Wilfried Nancy with CF Montréal. So far this season, he’s looking right at home after a positional tweak.

To their credit, the Columbus Crew are staying afloat without Cucho Hernández... at least in MLS play. Still yet to replace Cucho or Christian Ramírez in the attack, competing across multiple fronts has become exceedingly difficult for Columbus. They’re currently on the ropes in the Concacaf Champions Cup’s Round of 16 after losing 3-0 at LAFC last week.

But in the league? The Crew have picked up seven points from three games, while allowing the third-least non-penalty xG in MLS, according to FBref. Thanks to their ability to dominate the ball under Wilfried Nancy, Columbus have allowed just 0.5 xG over their last two MLS games, a 1-0 away win over the New England Revolution and a 0-0 home draw with the Houston Dynamo, according to FBref. They’re keeping pace in a competitive Eastern Conference.

What the Crew aren’t doing, though, is creating chances. Against Houston on Saturday, Columbus only managed four shots from inside the box and hit for 0.9 xG. Jacen Russell-Rowe has looked like a quality attacker next to Diego Rossi, but Nancy needs one more piece in his frontline to turn a clearly solid Crew squad into a trophy contender.

If Houston and New England can slow down Columbus, better squads can as well. A big test awaits on Saturday at red-hot expansion side San Diego FC (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).

Sporting Kansas City have played five games across all competitions to start 2025. They’ve lost all five, extending their losing streak to 10 games if you include the last five matches of 2024.

With two new Designated Players arriving over the offseason in Dejan Joveljić and Manu García, it was always going to take time for SKC to find their feet. Still, with two new DPs arriving over the offseason, it was also fair to expect a little bit more from Peter Vermes’ team to begin the year. But instead of seeing a rejuvenated group, we’ve seen several issues from last year carry over.

The midfield in Vermes’ 4-3-3 shape is quicker in the attack thanks to García’s purposeful touches. In defense, though, they're still too porous. We saw plenty of that in SKC’s 2-1 loss at D.C. United on Saturday. In the wide areas, Sporting KC are sluggish at both winger and fullback. Center back is still a question mark and John Pulskamp is settling in goal.

There were few realities in which Sporting KC were pushing up the Western Conference standings early in the year during a rebuild. But for them to still be searching for a point after games against Austin, San Jose and D.C. is a troubling look. Perhaps something will change on Saturday against Minnesota United FC (8:15 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+ | FS1, FOX Deportes).

Speaking of teams still searching for a point, allow me to present the LA Galaxy.

Having become the first team in league history to begin their MLS Cup defense with three straight regular-season losses, there’s a long list of problems facing LA right now. They’ve been ravaged by injuries. Their midfield is missing a player to progress the ball. Marco Reus needs to more consistently be a game-changer. The attacking balance has been off without any real width and dynamism on the left side opposite Gabriel Pec.

And then there’s the goalkeeping situation.

After John McCarthy enjoyed a fantastic 2024, saving nearly five goals more than expected in the regular season and anchoring the defense en route to an MLS Cup title, Greg Vanney has started Novak Mićović in all three of the club’s MLS matches this season. The 23-year-old Serbian has struggled in those starts, hitting a hospital ball to Emiro Garcés inside his own box that led to a concession on opening weekend and failing to claim a corner kick on St. Louis CITY’s opener on Sunday:

Between Mićović's mistakes and Garces’ lack of positional discipline, the LA Galaxy have desperately missed McCarthy’s veteran presence in goal. Vanney’s player selection is something to watch next Sunday when they visit Portland (4:45 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+ | FOX, FOX Deportes).