With most teams having around 10 games left to play, we are truly in the home stretch of the 2017 MLS season. While some teams clearly have very little shot of making the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs, most teams in the league are battling for positioning or to get above the playoff line.
As these 15 teams do battle over the course of the rest of the season (sorry Philly, Orlando, New England, D.C., Minnesota, LA and Colorado), any weaknesses they have will be exposed. So, what's the most glaring hole for each team? Let's take a look:
Eastern Conference
Toronto FC: Defensive aerial prowess
This may be the best team in MLS history, but there is one area where they can be exploited: in the air. None of Eriq Zavaleta, Drew Moor or Chris Mavinga are particularly strong in the air, and though Nick Hagglund was one of the best in the league last season when fully fit, he's been frequently dinged up in 2017. Without him in the starting XI, teams could find some life by forcing Toronto's back three to rise up and make plays.
New York City FC: Center back
With Maxime Chanot likely out at least until the start of the playoffs, the center back position on Patrick Vieira's team is one of some concern. While Alexander Callens has been stellar for much of the season, there's a reason that Vieira and Claudio Reyna went out and acquired the Peruvian to replace Frederic Brillant this past winter. Brillant has been fine – so far – since coming back into the XI, but the real test will come when the playoffs arrive. If anything should happen to either of those two, Vieira will have to get very creative to compensate.
Columbus Crew SC: Defensive consistency
Columbus have conceded just three goals in their last four games, helping them capture 10 points and move up the East standings all the way to No. 3. This is after they conceded 1.63 goals per game in their first 24 games with head coach Gregg Berhalter shuffling formations and personnel hoping to find the right answer. The play of Ghana national team center back Jonathan Mensah was particularly distressing but as he has improved, so have Crew SC's defensive performances. The question now becomes whether he and his teammates can keep this up.
Chicago Fire: Defensive fragility
Over the first 18 games of the season, Chicago conceded 17.52 expected goals for an average of less than an expected goal per game according to data provided by Opta. That placed them as the third-best defense in the league. In their last eight games, they have conceded 15.67 expected goals. That has pushed them all the way down to the eighth-best defense in MLS. This has a lot to do with injuries as Brandon Vincent (7), Matt Polster (3) and Joao Meira (2) have all missed games, but it is also something Veljko Paunovic will need to correct once all those players return.
New York Red Bulls: Secondary goalscoring options
Bradley Wright-Phillips is one of the greatest strikers in MLS history, but he can't do it all by himself. The Englishman has 14 goals this season to lead the Red Bulls, with Daniel Royer following close behind with 10. Royer is just returning to training after sustaining an injury and will need to get back to the form he showed before to help BWP out. No other player on the Red Bulls has more than three goals. Something could also be said for the lack of speed in this Red Bulls attack, which may have precipitated Jesse Marsch's formational shift. Gonzalo Veron provides that dimension, with Muhamed Keita also potentially helping out if he can get back on the field, but New York have completed the second-fewest dribbles this year. They lack attackers who can just get on the ball and run away from defenses.
Atlanta United: Creating chances off of possession
Atlanta United are averaging 1.83 goals per game this season, good for the third-highest in the league. But it's clear that they are most dangerous when they are allowed to get out in transition and attack defenders while they are on their heels. They have also benefitted from some incredible finishing. Based on their quality of chances, they would have been expected to score 30.29 goals on average instead of the 44 they have scored. If that falls off in any way, Tata Martino's side will have to find more creative ways to boost their attacking output.
Montreal Impact: Striker
Matteo Mancosu was one of the main reasons Montreal almost reached MLS Cup last season, as he collected four goals and two assists in five playoff games. This season has not been as kind to the Italian as he has the same exact output, but this time it's over 1,433 minutes instead of 404. Anthony Jackson-Hamel has been incredibly productive in just 588 minutes (7 G, 3 A), but it seems Mauro Biello is hesitant to give him more starts. More opportunity could lead to less production for Jackson-Hamel, but Biello might not have much choice given Mancosu's form.
Western Conference
Seattle Sounders: Health at center back
The Sounders have begun to look like the team that went on a tear and won MLS Cup last year, having gone unbeaten in their last 11 games. This has largely coincided with the improvement in health from their two aging center backs: Chad Marshall and Roman Torres. At a combined 64 years, these two being healthy and staying on the field is imperative but far from a given. Seattle have averaged 1.9 points per game when they both start and just 1.2 when one or both of them have been out this season.
Portland Timbers: Cohesion
Portland have had their ups and downs this season, with players missing many games due to injuries or international duty. Caleb Porter has never really had his preferred starting XI healthy and on the field for a match this season, but that could soon come to an end. Once all of the starters are able to take the field, Portland will be looking to build the chemistry that's been lacking throughout the course of the season.
Sporting Kansas City: Inexperienced attack
Sporting KC's attack has been productive enough this season, considering they are on track to be one of the best defensive teams in MLS history. But it's definitely not one of the top attacking corps in the league, which separates them – in a bad way – from the other top contenders. Gerso, Diego Rubio, Latif Blessing and Daniel Salloi will have to be able to score enough goals as Sporting enter the playoffs, which is something none of them have experienced before.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Open play chance creation
Carl Robinson's team have been compact defensively and been able to score goals in timely moments this season, leading to their current place near the top of the Western Conference. One stat that has to be worrying is that 46 percent of Vancouver's goals have come off of set pieces, which is the highest percentage in MLS. Their 6.64 chances created from open play per game is third-lowest average in the league as well. Relying so heavily on set pieces to score is a dangerous game, especially in the playoffs.
Houston Dynamo: Lack of secondary dimension
If there's one thing that the Dynamo know how to do well it is to score in transition. Their ability to sit back and defend in an organized fashion allows them to break quickly with all of their speedy, physical forwards. One thing we haven't really seen them be able to do is to break teams down in the final third. Tomas Martinez could be the player to help Wilmer Cabrera's team accomplish this, but we have seen him in action for just 62 minutes so far.
San Jose Earthquakes: Defensive naivety
The Quakes' chances of making the playoffs are not as high as most teams on this list and they will have to hope that their defense can somehow tighten up under head coach Chris Leitch. Since Leitch took over the Quakes defense has been a sieve, conceding 23 goals in 10 games. Any hope of reaching the playoffs solely rests on their ability to drop that average in any way possible.
FC Dallas: Secondary goalscoring options
With Mauro Diaz still hampered by injuries, Dallas have found few ways to score goals. Maxi Urruti leads the team with 12 goals while Roland Lamah has eight, with seven of them coming in three games. No other player has more than three goals and for a team that is normally known to be good on set pieces, they have scored just five this season. That total is the third-fewest in the league. For Oscar Pareja's team to be a contender in October, they will have to find other ways to put the ball in the net.
Real Salt Lake: Central midfield
Another team with a slim shot at getting above the playoff line, Real Salt Lake have many of the pieces you're looking for in a playoff team. After all, only Western Conference one team (Seattle) has more points than Mike Petke's since May 17. You could say striker is a weakness but Luis Silva has five goals in his last four games. The backline has also come together with the return of Justen Glad from injury/international duty. One area Petke has yet to really figure out is who to play alongside Kyle Beckerman. Luke Mulholland and Sunny have had their chances, but both have problems in their game.
