2026 Half-Season Awards! MVP, Young Player of the Year, Best XIs & more

Hi! You're here for the Sunday night debrief: the usual tour through the weekend's results, a few tactical observations, and maybe a clip or two. I appreciate the routine as much as you do.

But the league did just hit pause, so we'll do the same. At least partially.

MLS is going dark for the next two months while the entire soccer world pivots to watching World Cup chaos. That meant this wasn't a typical Sunday night*; rather, it was essentially the end of the apertura. Thus, instead of a wrap-up, you're getting a half-season awards column – sort of a report card before summer break.

(*) Honestly, I don't think these games meant much in terms of the overall tactical trend/shape of the year. Given the schedule crunch we've just had for the past six weeks and the number of missing players because of that, this weekend was just an exercise in survival and resilience. Or lack thereof:

DC United and Montreal was perfect.

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— SickosFC (@sickosfc.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 9:49 PM

What does someone even say about this, anyway? The entire league's been living in the Tactics Free Zone since the start of the month. I should be charging rent.

And obviously with MLS on hiatus, the newsletter is shifting gears (which you probably already saw yesterday, with my reaction to the leaked USMNT roster). The focus will now be on the World Cup, with a tiers piece coming soon, along with a tactical cheat-sheet, young players to watch, and assorted USMNT coverage. Maybe more if inspiration strikes, but bear in mind I will be spending most of my time during the tournament on the desk for First Touch, the daily morning show we'll be launching soon. So there will be less writing overall.

Still, there will still be occasional check-ins on MLS – front offices don't stop working just because the players are getting a rest, and good lord do some rosters need restructuring. I'm sure I'll have thoughts on coaching changes and new player signings, and as we get closer to the mid-July restart, we'll hit full ramp-up mode (more tiers! more transfer grades!).

Okay, it's awards time. Let's hand out some hardware:

MVP

This is not "best player." The best player is still Lionel Messi. Even as he's slowed down, even as his defensive limitations have become more, uh, limiting – and harder to hide – Messi's still 1 of 1. Run an anonymous poll of every single MLS player asking them who's the best, and my guess is it would come back unanimous. And they'd be right.

But individual quality is just part of the calculus I use in deciding MVP. Some other things that go into it:

• How heavy is your lift? (i.e., is your team cooked without you)
• How difficult were the circumstances? (tough schedule? other top performers hurt?)
• How good was your team? (if you're not top 5 in the standings, I'd have a hell of a hard time voting for you)
• Did your team out-perform expectations?

Using those metrics you end up with a room full of the some of the biggest names in the league. Not just Messi, but Hugo Cuypers (currently leading the Golden Boot race), Petar Musa (off to the World Cup to rep Croatia) and Hany Mukhtar (best player on the Supporters' Shield leaders at the break). Want to be a little bit of a hipster? Then I think you could make a case for Seb Berhalter, who was the best No. 8 in MLS last year and has been even better this year – the most important, least replaceable cog in the league's best machine. That's value.

Know who's got the No. 1 spot for me, though?