Any time a team claws its way through the marathon obstacle course that is the Major League Soccer regular season to reach the playoffs, you can always point back to certain personnel or game plan maneuvers that greatly influenced their success.
As you've likely guessed by now, that's exactly what we're here to do. We'll run through the East's invitees to Major League Soccer's big postseason dance in order of finish to pick out each club's best move of the year, and then do the same with the title contenders out West.
Eastern Conference
New York City FC
Fifteen goals in 22 games would have been enough to make
Heber
the key acquisition for the Eastern table-toppers, but his impact goes well beyond that. The Brazilian forward was the final piece in Dome Torrent's attacking puzzle, with his runs and touch around the box giving the Cityzens the proper final third mechanics they lacked to that point.
Atlanta United
Even if
Pity Martinez
wasn't quite as advertised while adapting in his first MLS season, the Five Stripes made some other nice pick-ups in
Emerson Hyndman
,
Justin Meram
and
Florentin Pogba
. Still, the key move happened when boss Frank de Boer tweaked the formation at mid-season. The Dutchman's 3-4-3 solidified the defense and unlocked the offense, with
Josef Martinez
finding the net 16 times during a 12-game scoring streak. After scraping the bottom of the East's barrel early, the champs rallied to finish second.
Philadelphia
Sorry to come off like a broken record, but please allow me to carry on extolling the virtues of winter coup
Jamiro Monteiro
. Plenty of observers (including, ahem, me) overlooked the midfielder's arrival, but that neglect didn't last long. Monteiro proved himself a ball-winner who knew what to do with it once he grabbed it. He finished second on the team with nine assists despite missing eight games, and the team went 14-7-5 when he played versus 2-4-2 when he didn't.
Toronto FC
This is a tough call. Though unable to keep up his pace from the most prolific start ever to an MLS career,
Alejandro Pozuelo
replaced the ingenuity of Victor Vazquez and the big play ability of Sebastian Giovinco, finishing with a dozen goals and as many assists. On the other hand, summer addition
Omar Gonzalez
provided a necessary stabilizing element in
TFC
's backline. With him on the field, they conceded no more than a single goal in 10 of 14 games. Without him, they managed that level of stinginess only six times in 20 tries. We may as well let them share this one.
D.C. United
Because the whole point was to replicate last year's magic with mostly the same squad, picking the Black-and-Red's smooth move of the season is a real deep thinker. Since
D.C.
avoided any sort of late-season collapse by posting five straight clean sheets with
Russell Canouse
at right back (!), we'll go with that unexpected crunch time gambit.
New York Red Bulls
In many, many ways, the 2019 regular season represented a struggle rarely seen at Red Bull Arena during this decade. None of those ways had the slightest bit to do with Chris Armas placing a lot more responsibility on
Marc Rzatkowski
's shoulders. The veteran midfielder enjoyed 10 more starts and over 800 field minutes more than last year, and even if he wasn't a like-for-like replacement for departed ace Tyler Adams, increasing his workload paid big two-way dividends.
New England
Yes, one could celebrate the very pleasant surprise offered by new playmaker
Carles Gil
all season long. And yes, one could be equally effusive over the deadliness of midseason acquisition
Gustavo Bou
. Either of those would make a perfectly acceptable pick. However, the
Revs
had just eight points and a -19 goal differential when Bruce Arena took over 12 games into the season. He pulled a lot of right levers (tactical and otherwise), guiding the team to 1.68 points per game with a +12 goal differential, a run that earned a highly improbable playoff berth.
Western Conference
LAFC
It's very true that the record-setting Supporters Shield winners drew great benefits from under-the-radar winter signing Eddie Segura. He positions so well, hoovers up loose balls and moves them safely out of the back. However, we're going to go with Bob Bradley's unexpected decision to shift
Latif Blessing
from the wing to central midfield. All the diminutive speedster did was lead the league in duels won and consistently unleash
LAFC
's attacking stars to complete the toughest midfield triangle in MLS. In hindsight, it was a stroke of genius.
Seattle Sounders
We've reached the toughest call of the playoff bunch, as nearly all of the Sounders' key men have been around since at least last season. In a year troubled by injuries and the retirement of Chad Marshall, the best moves made by head coach Brian Schmetzer may have been repeatedly returning center back
Roman Torres
to the lineup. The Panama star started the season as a backup and actually played his first game of the year in the USL Championship. Torres seemed on the outs, but then played a large part in Seattle's strong May and July runs before being hit with a 10-game suspension. Upon his return from the sin bin, Torres put on a monster closing day performance against
Minnesota United
that included scoring the 1-0 winner that clinched second place in the West.
Real Salt Lake
As with Seattle, most of the Rio Tinto bunch's key cogs were already in the fold when the season started. The biggest exception was all-action defensive midfielder
Everton Luiz
, who steadied
Real Salt Lake
's central foundation. The veteran fit the bill as the athletic, tough-tackling presence this team needed in front of a defense that turned miserly after his return from an early season injury.
Minnesota United
There's no shortage of potential picks for this spotlight in the Loons locker room.
Jan Gregus
has been an ace traffic director, with
Ozzie Alonso
his hard-edged midfield mate.
Romain Metanire
was arguably the best right back in the league this season, while SuperDraft selections
Hassani Dotson
and
Chase Gasper
proved to be consistently fantastic surprises. The fact that we're not going with any of those guys goes to show just how crucial a pick-up
Ike Opara
was. The lanky center back was the primary reason this team shaved nearly a goal per game from last season's goals against average, and he may just take home a second Defender of the Year prize for his troubles.
LA Galaxy
Before Cristian Pavon landed in Los Angeles, the Galaxy attack had become oh so predictable. It was all cross, cross, cross and hope Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes some magic. The Argentina winger changed that, giving LA a much more diverse and scarier offense. The ball wizard chalked up three goals and eight helpers in his 11 games, notching at least one of those in the last eight matches of the season. No longer can foes simply collapse around Ibrahimovic and dare someone else to beat them.
Portland Timbers
Though he slowed down toward the end of the season and is now out indefinitely,
Brian Fernandez
definitely gave the Timbers a summer shot in the arm offensively. Right back loanee
Jorge Moreira
was a two-way difference-maker on the flank. And yet, the decision to re-up with out-of-contract netminder
Steve Clark
stands out the most. The club already had
Jeff Attinella
, who backstopped them to MLS Cup last year, but Clark took over the starting job in April. The Supporters Player of the Year led the league in save percentage, finished second in both goals-against average and
goals allowed-expected goals against
, and toed the line for all but one of the team's victories.
FC Dallas
It was a delayed dividend, to be sure, but the winter signing of striker
Zdenek Ondrasek
eventually paid off big time. The Cobra finally found his bite in August, scoring seven times in his last seven outings to ignite a 3-2-2 closing kick that put FC Dallas in the playoffs. The fiery forward's exceptional form extended onto the international stage as he scored against England just minutes into his debut for the Czech Republic last week.
