We are already three games into the 2026 Major League Soccer season, and it has been an interesting start.
The Western Conference has produced several of the league’s more impressive performances, a few hotly fancied teams have unexpectedly stumbled their way into the season, and there have been some exciting scorelines too.
Of course, it’s way too early to draw any conclusions about how the season will go, but a few themes have already started to show up, some new, and some continuing from last year.
Western Conference
Last season’s two biggest hitters in the Western Conference have continued their good form. San Diego FC and Vancouver both have perfect records so far, the only thing separating them being a single goal conceded by the Whitecaps.
LAFC and, surprisingly, San Jose Earthquakes are doing just as well, also with three wins from three matches, just not quite so many goals scored. No team in the Eastern Conference has managed the same, so could this be a season dominated by teams in the West?
San Diego will be looking for trophies this season, after making an extremely impressive debut in 2025 but just coming up short in terms of silverware. Vancouver look like their biggest threat again though: that 4-1 trouncing of the Portland Timbers showed how lethal they are in attack – even if their second came from a rebound into poor old Tristan Blackmon’s nose. Great goal from Portland’s Eric Izoita on his MLS debut, too.
Eastern Conference
Nashville SC and New York City FC have had the strongest starts in the East, both sitting on seven points from three games. Sam Surridge has again proved his worth for Nashville, already on an impressive 5 goals for the season, while NYCFC put on a great display on matchday 3 to dismantle Orlando City SC 5-0.
It has been a relatively high scoring start in general actually, with attacking football very much being the order of the day, and the gulf in class between certain clubs feeling more evident than in previous seasons.
A loss to LAFC sees reigning champions Inter Miami in third place, with their new number one, ex Minnesota United star Dayne St. Clair, yet to keep a clean sheet. But the men in pink are sure to be a tough team to beat again in 2026, and remain contenders.
A Few Of Those Struggling
Perhaps the biggest talking point so far is the plight of last season’s Supporter’s Shield winners, Philadelphia Union. The Union are yet to win a game, sitting in 12th place with zero points and only one goal scored.
They are clearly missing the likes of Kai Wagner, Jakob Glesnes, Tai Baribo, and MIkael Uhre, all of whom departed during the off season. Perhaps the allegations made against Ernst Tanner, the Union’s sporting director, have also left an unpleasant feeling around Subaru Park.
Minnesota looked good at points in 2025 but have struggled so far in 2026, while poor old Atlanta United are still searching for their first points despite a lot of investment before the 2026 season got underway, with renewed hopes for a better time of it this year.
Sporting KC are bottom of the pack, just as they finished last year, while LA Galaxy will be pleased to have got off to a much better start than their 2025 campaign.
It looks to me as though we might have a similar line of front runners again in 2026, but only time will tell.