Your Friday kickoff: LAFC and Vancouver prepare for Game 3; The carriage carousel keeps turning

LAFC hosts Vancouver in crucial Game 3

LAFC and Vancouver meet tonight in Los Angeles with a spot in the conference semifinals on the line. Kickoff is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET (MLS Season Pass).

Philadelphia Union part ways with Curtin

The Philadelphia Union has parted ways with head coach Jim Curtin. Curtin was the second longest-serving coach in the MLS after Peter Vermes (Sporting Kansas City). The two-time Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year has led Philadelphia since 2014. During Curtin’s tenure, the Union won the 2020 Supporters’ Shield and reached the 2022 MLS Cup Final. They were also a three-time US Open Cup finalist and twice reached the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

“San Jose Earthquakes Name Arena Head Coach and Athletic Director”

The San Jose Earthquakes have named Bruce Arena head coach and athletic director. Arena is the winningest coach in MLS history, leading the league in regular season wins (262) and Audi MLS Cup Playoffs wins (35). He has won five MLS Cups and four Supporters’ Shields and is also a four-time Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year.

Real Salt Lake’s Luna was named the 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year

Diego Luna was named the 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year. Luna’s 20 goal contributions (8g/12a) were the second-most for RSL and fueled their rise in the Western Conference standings with a club-record 59 points. In addition, the Claret-and-Cobalt qualified for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup.

LAFC and Vancouver will bring us our first of four crucial Game 3s of the weekend tonight. East Coast folks, take a nap and drink some coffee. It will be worth staying up here.

Hey, remind me what happened in games 1 and 2?

LAFC had the better chances in Game 1 and outlasted the ‘Caps with a 2-1 home win. Game 2 gave us a completely different story. Ryan Gauld scored after ten minutes and Ryan Hollingshead scored for the wrong team three minutes later, giving Vancouver a 2-0 lead. LAFC never got back into the game.

Any idea what will happen in game 3

The first goal is crucial in every game, but in this game it seems to mean even more. LAFC’s game model is based on taking control of the game and then making your life progressively worse as you try to work your way back into the game. If you start pushing numbers forward, they will punish you.

The downside to this is that they are usually not designed to catch up. That’s not to say they concede a goal tonight and then can’t come back – they’re still supremely talented – just to point out that a Whitecaps opener will set off all the red flags.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if they got it either. The Whitecaps have played two of their best games in club history in the last three games. They defeated Portland with a 5-0 win in the Wild Card Round and then improved on that performance with their 3-0 victory over LAFC. For the first time ever (?), the Whitecaps are flipping the narrative that they can’t compete with the best teams in the league. If they can pull off another big win tonight, we need to put this narrative to rest and start thinking about how far this team can go.

It’s a big question, though. LAFC was tough in Game 2. But that doesn’t mean we should dismiss their work this season and their back-to-back MLS Cup appearances. They’re the favorites tonight for good reason. It’s just that they’re not as clear-cut a choice as we all expected.

What a day for the coaching carousel. A Thursday that we expected to be quiet as we waited for playoff play to resume turned into one of the most consequential MLS days of the decade. Bruce Arena, five-time MLS Cup winner and four-time Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year, is back in MLS. Jim Curtin, two-time MLS Coach of the Year, is out. At least for now.

We start with the Quakes’ new head coach and athletic director. As far as names go, this is about as big as you can expect from San Jose. It’s no secret that things have been difficult for what we would politely call “a while.”

In fact, here are some numbers: 6, 9, 7, 9, 6, 12, 8, 8, 10, 14, 9 and 14. This is an annual list of the Quakes’ places in the Western Conference standings each year since they took first place in 2012. There are two teams with a lower points per game percentage during this period: Chicago Fire FC and Chivas USA.

We’re probably talking about the toughest challenge of Arena’s career. He’s taking on a big role in transforming a team that has been the Western Conference’s least successful team in the last decade. Not only will he have to train, he will also be responsible for putting together a squad that is competitive. Honestly, it’s a pretty big risk for San Jose to put that much on one person. But then again, nothing else worked for her. And Arena, wherever he was, just wins.

Remember, before his unceremonious exit from New England, the Revs were fighting for a home playoff spot. Since then they have been disastrous. It’s hard to imagine that he won’t be able to make the Quakes a winner…except for the fact that it’s the Quakes.

Meanwhile, the Union was busy making the most shocking coaching decision I can remember in recent MLS history. Curtin has been in Philadelphia for 10 years. He signed a contract extension in July 2023. And despite this year’s disappointing results, the Union has still amassed more points than any other team in the Eastern Conference since 2019. The only team in MLS to have outperformed them during this period is LAFC. After finding its place at the top of the East in 2019, the Union stayed there.

Until this year. Their 12th place finish in the conference is one of the surprises of the season. They inexplicably took a big step back defensively and struggled to win at home after years of being virtually unbeatable at Subaru Park. They also saw a level of squad turnover that we are not used to. By the middle of the season it became clear that we were entering a new era for Union.

Unless one had the slightest inkling that things weren’t working internally, it never seemed like a possibility that the new era wouldn’t include Curtin. The Union has now fully committed to a complete overhaul of its first team.

It seems… a choice. I’m not immersed in the day-to-day thoughts of Union fans, but it seems to me that the discussions surrounding Union’s problems this year have focused much more on how much the club is spending on building its squad, than on who is on the coaching roster. This step will not change that and will not suddenly transform a team that has been exceeding its purchasing power for years into a team that can overcome the crisis.

For years the Union was a safe bet. There is a lot of uncertainty now.

It’s also uncertain what this means for the rest of the league. There is a new spot available and there is a chance that the coaching carousel will continue to turn with the Union’s next hire. Additionally, several MLS teams are looking for a manager and would like to hire a two-time Coach of the Year winner.

It’s a move that will lead to major changes in the MLS landscape. I am not convinced that the Union will come out any better on the other side. Another team – Atlanta? St. Louis – might be grateful for the opportunity to hire Curtin. And everyone in the East will be grateful when this era of union officially comes to an end.

Good luck out there. Be great as soon as you can.