8) Portland Timbers

The champions were the models of quiet consistency last year – so quiet that none of their MLS Cup winning team was named in the MLS best XI. Perhaps that’s because theirs was a championship won by the best XXII – Portland’s roster ran deep in every position.

Yes, there were significant tactical decisions that played their part – moving Darlington Nagbe into the center of the park turned out to be the masterstroke that Caleb Porter had inexplicably resisted for so long. And the resulting success of Diego Chara as a lone defensive midfielder played a significant part as well.

But when Portland began rolling in the playoffs it became apparent that their roster was the one best built to withstand the late season wear and tear that began to derail their opponents, or left them vulnerable in key spots.

Some of that depth has been lost in the off-season. Jorge Villafana’s brilliant MLS Cup performance was his last for the Timbers, and Will Johnson found himself redundant with the Chara move, and is off to Toronto. Maxi Urruti never quite ignited up front but will still have to be replaced as he departs for Dallas.

Portland Timbers: celebrating again? Photograph: Trevor Ruszkowski/USA Today Sports

In come several serviceable though not necessarily inspiring players. Jack McInerney is still very young to be the MLS journeyman he’s becoming, while Ned Grabavoy will be trying to rediscover his hardworking RSL form rather than his rather lost period in an NYCFC shirt. Chris Klute too is something of a reclamation project compared to the promise of a couple of years ago.

Not that Porter will see it that way – he’s now a proven entity at producing teams and combinations of players that add up to considerably more than the sum of their parts. He’ll keep Portland ticking towards another playoffs. GP

Last season: Third in Western Conference, won MLS Cup

Key player: Darlington Nagbe

The new season in one word: Depth

9) Montreal Impact

In the grand catalogue of the Montreal Impact’s MLS history so far, things might be chronicled as pre- and post-Didier Drogba. The former Chelsea striker’s arrival at Stade Saputo was always designed to prove the entire club with a shot in the arm, but nobody could have envisaged the true impact he would have. Although it might be more appropriate to chart things as pre- and post-Mauro Biello.

The former Canadian international has the Impact job permanently now, after an astonishing finish to 2015, and will now hope to translate last season’s late streak into sustained success across the whole campaign. Having kept much of his squad together, Biello has been set the loftiest ambitions of any Montreal head coach before him.

Dilly Duka’s exit was a blow, but the arrival of Harry Shipp from the Chicago Fire should offset what the Impact might have lost with his departure. Winger Johan Venegas and Lucas Ontivero – on loan from Galatasaray – will provide Montreal with additional creativity in attack, although their 2016 fortunes might depend on whether they count on Drogba beyond the summer.

Didier Drogba arrives for training in Montreal. Photograph: Graham Hughes/AP

The Ivorian was widely expected to leave MLS to return to Chelsea as part of Guus Hiddink’s coaching staff this winter. But whilst Montreal managed to keep hold of Drogba for now, owner Joey Saputo has admitted his continued stay might not be so certain. If the Impact required any confirmation of the striker’s importance to their hopes and dreams, they need not cast their eye back so far. GR

Last season: Third in Eastern Conference, lost in Conference semi-finals

Key player: Didier Drogba

The new season in one word: Reliant

10) Sporting KC

Sometimes consistency isn’t enough. Sporting KC have been arguably MLS’s steadiest club in recent years, with Peter Vermes building his team around a core of mainstays like Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, Chance Myers and Roger Espinoza. Vermes himself has been at Sporting since 2009, and there is a certain stability at Sporting Park that must be the envy of many around the league. At what point does that become boring, though?

Since winning MLS two years ago, Sporting KC have finished fifth and sixth in the conference standings, failing to make it past the play-offs’ wildcard round in each of those seasons. Of course, it’s perhaps somewhat unfair to criticise Vermes’ side for last season’s performance, given the sheer number of injuries meted out over the course of the campaign. Their backline in particular found itself decimated, with Ike Opara and Espinoza suffering long-term injuries. By the law of luck, surely they can’t endure such misfortune this season?

Regardless, there was something a little too safe about Sporting KC last term. Much of that was down to Dom Dwyer’s diminished goal return (scoring just 12 over the course of the campaign compared to 22 the season before), although Benny Feilhaber’s form went some way to mitigating that. His 10 goals and 15 assists in 2015 might not have been good enough for Jürgen Klinsmann, but he remains the dynamo around which Sporting KC (and their hopes for the season) revolve.

Sporting KC can expect big things from Benny Feilhaber again. Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Vermes’ lineup could still use some additional width and pace on the flanks, despite the signing of both Brad Davies and Justin Mapp in the off-season, with a lack of attacking depth behind Dwyer still a concern (although the capture of 19-year-old Daniel Salloi might ease that). Sporting KC’s season might not be decided on the pitch, though - it might rely on how empty they can keep their treatment room. GR

Last season: Sixth in Western Conference, lost in knockout round of playoffs. Won US Open Cup

Key player: Benny Feilhaber

The new season in one word: Steady

11) New England Revolution

The fallout from Jermaine Jones’ six-game suspension and protracted contract wrangle has reverberated around Revolution HQ for much of the off-season, leaving fans scratching their heads at what to expect of last season’s play-off flame-outs.

Their contentious 2-1 post-season defeat at DC United – which caused Jones to have his moment of madness with referee Mark Geiger and led to the ban – raised serious question marks over the team’s ability to break through when it counts most.

Head coach Jay Heaps is having none of it, though. His steady touch at the tiller ensures it remains an evolutionary process as he heads into his fifth year in charge of a promising team that experienced some wild swings of the pendulum in 2015, including nine- and eight-game unbeaten runs, another streak of just one win in 10, and a distinct damp squib at the end.



Without Jones – and with newly-tabbed designated player Xavier Kouassi ruled out for the season after a knee injury in Switzerland – Heaps has brought in Vancouver’s Gershon Koffie to fill the midfield void. Sporting Lisbon centre-back Sambinha is another notable newcomer, but otherwise the Revs are happy to go forward with their squad largely intact from last season.

That means another year for home-grown Uruguayan prospect Diego Fagundez to develop alongside the attacking talents of Juan Agudelo and Charlie Davies, backed by one of the sharpest midfield units on its day.

The likes of Lee Nguyen, Teal Bunbury, Kelyn Rowe and Scott Caldwell proved irresistible at times last time out, but their inconsistency – highlighted by the team’s two prolonged poor spells – remains Heaps’ biggest challenge. If Koffie can at least be Jones-light, one of the biggest concerns will have been met. If Nguyen then recaptures his sparkling goalscoring form of 2014, the Revolution will be hard to stop. SV

Last season: Fifth in Eastern Conference, lost in knockout round

Key player: Lee Nguyen

End result: Outsiders

12) Orlando City

Nothing less than a play-off place will satisfy the Orlando City hierarchy in year two of their MLS journey, but they also believe the bulk of last season’s squad is good enough to get them there.

Orlando City were reliant on the class of Kaka last season. Photograph: Matthew Ashton/Getty Images

To that end, only relatively minor tweaks have been made, the most notable being the protracted battle to bring Italian midfielder Antonio Nocerino in from Milan, after a player rights squabble with DC United that was finally resolved by City handing over allocation money to their Eastern Conference rivals.

Nocerino is expected to shake up an attacking midfield that was too often short of quality in 2015, despite the best efforts of star designated player Kaká. The return of ACL injury victim Kevin Molino should also help in that respect, along with a second year for Swiss wide man Adrian Winter and mercurial but raw Colombian speedster Carlos Rivas.

The added midfield depth, which also includes first-round SuperDraft pick Richie Laryea, will allow Brek Shea an extended run at left back now he has shaken off the effects of last season’s sports hernia surgery, while the addition of former New England right-back Kevin Alston provides competition for the talented but temperamental Rafael Ramos.

At centre-back, head coach Adrian Heath will perm two of David Mateos – another mid-season pick-up from last year now fully settled – Aurélien Collin and Seb Hines, with youthful back-up in the form of Tommy Redding and Conor Donovan.

Behind them, former Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik will look to take over from last season’s stalwart Tally Hall, who was released at the end of the campaign following another knee injury.

Arguably the biggest question mark will be up front, though. Cyle Larin bagged a rookie record 17 goals in 2015 but will need to continue scoring at that rate – and receive more support from Kaká and Co – if this team is to meet its desired aim. SV

Last season: Seventh in Eastern Conference

Key player: Cyle Larin

The new season in one word: Midfield

13) New York City FC

As NYCFC’s debut season progressed, and it became apparent that the team was just not gelling, opinions on head coach Jason Kreis split into two camps – he was either seen as out of his depth in dealing with his big name players, especially with the scrutiny that comes with coaching in New York, or he was undermined in trying to build a roster by being ‘gifted’ designated players whose marketing value arguably outstripped their technical merits for the specific challenge NYCFC faced.

Certainly, expansion teams generally find their feet through the rather unglamorous virtues of hard work first, creativity second, and Kreis was never quite able to conjure a coherent vision for a midfield that might accommodate Andrea Pirlo, and, say, Ned Grabavoy. And now Kreis, and for that matter, his former RSL player Grabavoy, are gone, and Patrick Vieira has arrived to try and impose his own personality on the team.

Vieira should at least have the respect of his senior professionals, and be ideally placed to build on the first season promise of Kwadwo Poku – the Yaya-Touré emulating midfielder who was one of the intermittent bright spots of NYCFC’s season last year. That said, New York also traded for the number one pick at the Superdraft, Jack Harrison, and with Federico Bravo also on loan from Boca Juniors, their midfield options alongside Frank Lampard and Pirlo are still not quite clear.



But it’s at the back where NYCFC really suffered last year, so a lot will be expected of the incoming Frederic Brillant in shoring up the heart of their defense. Once again, NYC’s playoff chances will not be determined by how many they score, but how many they concede, especially late on. GP

Last season: Eighth in Eastern Conference



Key player: Frederic Brillant

The new season in one word: Leaky

14) DC United

It’s never wise to set too much stock in the Photoshopped images that first accompany stadium announcements – local realpolitik quickly tends to whittle these packed futuristic spaceships down to visions resembling a more modest suburban hardware store by the time it comes to break ground.

Luciano Acosta has joined on loan from Boca Juniors. Photograph: Adid Jimenez/AFP/Getty Images

Still, there may have been something particularly disheartening for DC United fans when they saw the scaled-down renderings of their proposed future home at Buzzard Point. That’s because DC’s roster seems to be in a permanent holding pattern as the owners hold on to revenue to build the stadium, so anything that seems to compromise the “gratification” part of “deferred gratification” might be tough for the fans to take – particularly when the last couple of years have seen playoff defeats to the hated Red Bulls.

It arguably doesn’t help that Ben Olsen’s utilitarian team are not the easiest on the eye – even if for a long stretch of last year, his mix of veteran guile and younger, hardworking midfielders, was very effective in grinding out results.

Don’t necessarily expect a significant change in style this year – Lamar Neagle and Marcelo Sarvas are classic MLS everyman players of the kind Olsen favors, and their addition to the roster suggests, at first glance, another season of the same. Neagle is a versatile attacking midfielder, while Sarvas will pick up the defensive midfield duties of the Europe-bound Perry Kitchen. They’re just two of a raft of midfield reinforcements that generally replace like with like when you look at the outgoing personnel.

Where there is a wrinkle in the approach is in the addition of creative midfielder Luciano Acosta on loan from Boca Juniors. It’s been a while since DC had a convincing playmaker, and Acosta looks the part. So do stadium renderings mind you …

But the big problem for the team is that the man who won them a lot of points on his own last year, goalkeeper Bill Hamid, is out through injury till the summer. GP

Last season: Fourth in Eastern Conference, lost in Conference semi-finals

Key player: Andrew Dykstra

The new season in one word: Goalkeeping



