Houston Dynamo

Matias Vera: The Dynamo are not one of the biggest spenders, and if you're not one of those then you have less room for error. That means less room for mistakes, and in no part of the field are mistakes deadlier than right in front of the central defense – Zone 14.

Vera was pretty good last year, his first in MLS. He'll need to up that to VERY good in Year 2 of his Houston journey in order for the Dynamo to keep pace with the big-spenders out West.

For context: Figal is more highly rated than Leandro Gonzalez Pirez was when he arrived in MLS, and we all saw what kind of impact LGP had for three years in Atlanta. Figal needs to be that guy and maybe a little bit more.

There will be pressure on the backline. Figal, who's in his prime (25 years old) and on the fringes of the Argentinean national team (he's been called up but not yet capped) is in town to be the guy who handles that pressure. The center back will need to both keep things organized and put out fires, and will be expected to do his fair share of distribution as well.

Nicolas Figal : Miami 's build thus far has been less big names, bright lights and more slow-and-steady acquisition of solid veterans. That includes deep-lying midfielders Wil Trapp and Victor Ulloa – I'm assuming as of now that's the starting pair, though obviously that can change – both of whom can ping the ball around but neither of whom is a top-tier defensive presence at d-mid.

Nobody's had a season quite like this in MLS history. If he's 75% as good in 2020 as he was in 2019, that'll give the rest of the team enough padding to work out whatever kinks and cruise into the playoffs with, at the very least, a high seed and higher expectations.

He's one of the most press-resistant midfielders in all of North America, and when he's wearing the Red, White & Blue he goes out there and shows that, while still sprinkling in a little bit of flair and attacking vision (look at the pass at the 53-second mark). If Guillermo Barros Schelotto can coax that kind of performance from Lletget at the club level, how many goals will this attack score? 70? 80? More than that?

Sebastian Lletget : We don't get to see this version of Lletget a ton for the Galaxy for some reason:

If he regresses or gets injured, everything about how the Loons can play changes.

Ike Opara : All due respect to Ozzie Alonso and Jan Gregus and Michael Boxall and everyone else on this roster, but Ike was the difference-maker last year. Dude erased mistake after mistake after mistake while, at the same time, giving right back Romain Metanire freedom to overlap as far upfield as often as he liked. Look at some of these plays:

Montreal Impact

Saphir Taider: So much about this roster seems to be in flux – including the status of Ignacio Piatti – that it's actually kind of tough to pick one name.

Even so, Taider is probably a good choice. The Algerian international central midfielder is a massive two-way presence, winning second balls in midfield, spreading the game out with his passing and constantly making dangerous, delayed runs into the box in possession. He's capable of both setting the tempo as a conductor and being match-winner in a smash-and-grab situation.

Nashville SC Hany Mukhtar: Basically the entire backline and deep-lying midfield is made up of tried-and-true MLS veterans, guys who've done it for good teams in the past (both the presumptive starting center backs were starting center backs for playoff teams last year, for example). For an expansion team that's pretty good – not a lot of question marks. The attack is nothing but question marks. Nashville's one big bet is Mukhtar, the German DP playmaker they bought from Brondby last summer. He needs to be the one who provides answers for all those questions in attack.

New England Revolution Matt Turner: The Revs were a playoff team last year, and as befitting a team that makes the postseason they've brought most of their lineup back. That includes pretty much their entire central midfield depth chart and most of their central defensive depth chart, both with minimal reinforcements. That's troubling coming from a team whose results masked some harsh underlying truths about both the quantity and quality of chances they were giving up (read: myriad and sundry, and often big). Turner was often asked to be the one-man wall between the Revs and a multi-goal deficit, and he almost always delivered. It is entirely possible the Revs simply improve from within thanks to chemistry and a full year under Bruce Arena. It seems more likely, however, that they'll ask Turner to be Superman again.

New York City FC Maxi Moralez: Moralez isn't just "important," he seems to be "irreplaceable" for NYCFC, who were generally excellent when he was on the field last year and generally a dumpster fire when he wasn't. And they have no back-up on the roster for him. Moralez became just the third player in league history to pick up 20 assists, and at 32 was still one of the best pressing No. 10s in the league, and did all of that while being a key piece in simple build-up as well. Basically: He is to NYCFC what Nico Lodeiro is to Seattle, and now he'll be doing it for his third different coach in the past three years. NYCFC fans better hope he's great again.

New York Red Bulls Josh Sims: Ok, there are a few different ways of approaching this for the Red Bulls. The first way is to look at the likes of Aaron Long, Tim Parker and Sean Davis, and say "this one particular person is the most important player because they need him to get back to his 2018 level," and that's not wrong. Then there's the second way which is to look at Brian White/Tom Barlow, or Patrick Seagrist/John Tolkin, or Kyle Duncan/Mandela Egbo, or David Jensen/Ryan Meara, or Cristian Casseres Jr. and say "this one particular player, or tandem of players, is the most important player because they need to replace guys who were top three starters in the league at their respective position two years ago," and that's not wrong either. The third way is to look at Kaku and say "when Club America came calling, the Red Bulls valued him at $10 million, so he needs to play like a $10 million No. 10," and nope, that's not wrong at all. Any of those three ways of looking at it is just fine. But I'm going in a different direction. From 2015 through 2018 RBNY were constantly one attacking piece short of being the very best team in the league. So let's assume all of the above happens – that Long, Parker & Davis return to their 2018 form; that White & Barlow produce 20-something goals; that Seagrist & Tolkin lock down the LB spot while Duncan and Egbo do the same at RB; that Casseres turns into the next Tyler Adams, and that Kaku ascends to Lodeiro-esque heights, and that one of the goalkeepers becomes Luis Robles. Even with all that, they're still that one piece short, right? Well, Sims is a DP winger – he's supposed to be that piece. And he needs to be if the Red Bulls are going to get to where they want to go.

Orlando City SC Dom Dwyer: Yeah, we had Dom in this spot last year, too. If he'd finished off his chances at the rate he did when he was in his prime (are we officially considering him to be past his prime now that he's fallen short of double-digit goals twice in the past three years?), Orlando City would've at least come close to making the playoffs. But too often in big spots Dwyer had the yips. If he gets 15-20 goals, there will be a postseason in central Florida for the first time in league history.

Philadelphia Union Sergio Santos: I think half the reason Philly didn't go with two up top last year is that Santos spent most of the season injured, playing just 622 minutes. To his credit he was pretty productive in that time, putting up 4g/1a and generally looking the part of an energetic and occasionally decisive forward. He has brought that with him into preseason: Kiiiinda think that Sergio Santos is going to break out this year if he stays healthy.



Also this is a hell of a pass from Bedoya. pic.twitter.com/NkoJT7SwRV — Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) February 6, 2020 Look at how he starts this play on the sideline contesting a header, drifts central, then makes an early, blazing, cross-field run into the gap between the Montreal defenders before sliding it to Kacper Przybylko to slot home. There was no actual lane there until Santos created it with his speed and penetration. This is what the Union are going to have to be if they're going to take a step forward over last season. It can't just be the Ilsinho show all over again.

Portland Timbers Diego Chara: We should just call this "The Diego Chara Memorial Most Important Player on Your Team" award, to be honest.

Real Salt Lake Albert Rusnak: I had to deliberate on this one for a while, but here's what it comes down to for RSL – who look like they're about to sell Jefferson Savarino, the obvious choice for this spot if he was staying: If you're going to compete at the top of the league you need at least one attacker who can perform at a Best XI-caliber week after week. Look at that roster and... it has to be Rusnak. RSL were third in the West and won a playoff game last year. They took a giant step forward, year-over-year, from a defensive standpoint. All of that should at the last hold steady in 2020. The attack needs to be better. It's on their DP playmaker to make that happen.

San Jose Earthquakes Cristian Espinoza: Speaking of DP playmakers... sure, Espinoza plays on the wing and Magnus Eriksson's volume of chances created as the No. 10 was impressive, but yeah, Espinoza's the playmaker on this team. He's also the record signing, and he (along with Eriksson and Vako) was in large part culpable, through his lack of finishing, for the Quakes missing last year's playoffs. They needed someone besides Wondo to put the ball in the net and they didn't get it. Espinoza had just two goals last year. He needs to come close to double digits for San Jose to climb the standings and make the postseason.

Seattle Sounders Nico Lodeiro: As with Chara there's just no other real argument to make. Lodeiro is the system (though maybe new DP string-puller Joao Paulo will begin to change that at least a little bit).

Sporting Kansas City Roberto Puncec: It's something of a cop-out to pick a new signing for this "column" (ok, it's a listicle – sue me), but we all saw what happened to Sporting's defense last year without Opara, and we all know why they went out and got Puncec this winter. Everybody understands the job he has to do. If he can't do it... I don't know. I think Sporting will still score enough to be pretty good in 2020 no matter what happens to their defense, but they won't be the kind of team Peter Vermes definitely wants them to be, and they definitely won't compete at the top of the standings as they did pretty much annually from 2011 through 2018.

Toronto FC Jozy Altidore: There was no replacing him down the stretch, and then there was no replacing him in MLS Cup itself. Even injured, Jozy was able to hobble around and get himself a goal. Without him Toronto almost always struggled to turn their possession into moments of real danger, and lacked any sort of finishing from the center forward position. And they've added no new depth at that spot. TFC are fine everywhere else – including d-mid despite Michael Bradley's absence for the first half of the season. Without Jozy, though, they will struggle.