MLS Stats Zone: New faces step up, defending champs' rough start, are Philly and San Jose for real?

We're just two weeks in to the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign - its 30th season in existence - and there's already plenty to talk about.

The defending champions have 0 points, last year's wooden spoon "winners" have yet to drop a point, and a perennial contender hasn't missed a beat despite not replacing its star forward in the transfer market.

Here, we'll look at the numbers behind the league's key stories halfway through the first month of play.

Jacen Russell-Rowe leads group of improved young talent

When the Columbus Crew let Juan 'Cucho' Hernandez move to Real Betis for a substantial transfer fee, most fans figured that money would quickly be spent in the transfer market on a replacement.

Nine days later, when the team traded attacker Christian Ramirez to the defending champion LA Galaxy, fans were sure a new attacker would be joining the Crew.

Then, the first MLS match of the season rolled around, and no replacement arrived, leaving 22-year-old Canadian forward Jacen Russell-Rowe as the team's most experienced forward. All he has done is score two goals in two games as the Crew are tied for first in the Eastern Conference with six points.

Russell-Rowe's two goals have come from just 1.04 expected goals (xG), and his placement has been strong as his 1.61 xG on target (xGOT; indicates how well-placed a shot on target is) from three total shots on target indicates.

Beyond his stellar goalscoring and finishing so far this season, he is also winning possession in the attacking third 1.5 times per 90 minutes, and he is completing 1.5 dribbles per 90 minutes. If he keeps those numbers up, he'll quickly become a stalwart on the Canadian Men's National Team and could put himself on the radar of top European teams.

Another young North American with two goals already is Brian Gutierrez, who scored both of his against Columbus. The 21-year-old American winger/attacking midfielder is in his sixth professional season with the Chicago Fire, and although he has played just one match this season, he could be in line for a breakout year similar to Philadelphia Union attacker Quinn Sullivan last season - more on Sullivan later.

The last up-and-coming talent we'll highlight is new Vancouver Whitecaps winger Jayden Nelson. The former Toronto FC prospect returned to MLS after two-and-a-half seasons abroad in Norway and Germany. In his first game, he scored a goal and dished out a hat trick of assists in just 62 minutes.

In that 4-1 away win over the Portland Timbers, Nelson also created five chances worth 1.12 expected assists (xA), had 10 touches in the opposition box and completed 3/5 dribble attempts. He didn't impact the scoreline in his team's 2-1 home win over the defending champion LA Galaxy in the second matchweek, but the 22-year-old Canadian was active with two shots, six touches in the opposition's box, and 2/5 dribbles completed.

LA Galaxy's rough start

Ever since Riqui Puig suffered a torn ACL in the 2024 Western Conference Final - on which he played for 30 minutes and provided the game-winning assist - the LA Galaxy faithful knew it would be a rough start to the 2025 campaign.

They just didn't think it would be this rough, with zero points through two matches against expansion team San Diego FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

In addition to Puig's injury, the Galaxy have been without newly-acquired striker Matheus Nascimento, rapid star winger Joseph Paintsil, and defenders Miki Yamane and Mauricio Cuevas. Paintsil alone provided 10 goals and seven assists in 29 MLS appearances last season, not including playoffs.

Through those two matches, the biggest story is the Galaxy's inability to move the ball upfield. That was to be expected without Puig - who led the entire league in touches of the ball, progressive passes and progressive carrying distance last season - but even still, the numbers are staggering.

In LA's first game, the Galaxy had 35 progressive passes and just eight progressive carries. Their opponents, San Diego, had 41 progressive passes and 17 progressive carries.

The second game had an even larger disparity. Vancouver had 53 progressive passes and 17 progressive carries, while the Galaxy had just 25 and nine respectively.

It should be noted that Yamane, who missed the Vancouver game due to injury, was their top progressive passer with eight such passes against San Diego. But even with him in the lineup, the Galaxy's healthy midfielders including Elijah Wynder and Edwin Cerillo have to improve when it comes to getting the ball to their forwards.

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Are the Philadelphia Union, San Jose Earthquakes legit?

In 2024, the San Jose Earthquakes were the worst team in MLS with just 21 points in 34 games, while the Philadelphia Union finished 12th in the Eastern Conference and missed the playoffs with 37 points.

Two games into 2025, and both teams have two wins and lead their respective conferences. The Union are now +2000 to win MLS Cup after entering the season at +2200, while the Quakes are now +5000 after entering the campaign at +6600.

Both teams have new coaches and new faces in key positions. So, we must ask, is this the new manager bounce, or are these teams for real?

Let's start on the West Coast with San Jose. They hired American soccer pillar Bruce Arena to be the team's head coach. He knows how to win in this confusing league, and he brought in prolific, experienced forwards Cristian Arango and Josef Martinez to lead the line in Arena's 3-5-2 formation.

The Quakes spent much of last season in a 4-2-3-1 formation under interim head coach Ian Russell after Luchi Gonzalez was fired, and while that formation is adaptable to many different strategies, it did not seem to fit the personnel San Jose had.

Now, with forwards who like to get behind opposing defenses up top, San Jose's strategy seems to make more sense. Arena also brought in players he is familiar with from his time at the New England Revolution. Center back Dave Romney has experience, composure and strength, and veteran midfielders Ian Harkes and Mark-Anthony Kaye should help run the show and get the ball to Arango and Martinez.

But the Quakes held less than 40 percent of possession in both wins. They had the better chances in the first win, a resounding 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake, creating 2.1 xG to RSL's 1.6. But in their second game, a 2-1 win at Sporting Kansas City, San Jose had 1.6 xG to SKC's 1.7.

Ironically, these wins resemble how the other team covered in this section, the Philadephia Union, won games over the past decade under former manager Jim Curtin. Curtin had taken the Union to the 2022 MLS Cup Final where the team lost to Los Angeles FC, and ultimately, the team's inability to control games season after season was its downfall.

After parting ways with Curtin this past offseason, the Union hired former St. Louis City manager Bradley Carnell. Carnell installed a traditional 4-4-2, a change from Curtin's 4-4-2 diamond, and early returns are promising.

Philly has scored eight goals in its two games - four goals in each - and striker Tai Baribo is the league's top scorer with five goals. The forward received almost no playing time in his first year in Philly as Curtin said he didn't train well, but once he hit the pitch, he couldn't stop scoring.

Against one of the preseason MLS Cup favorites, FC Cincinnati, Baribo scored a hat trick on 1.96 xG, which bumped to 2.82 xGOT when considering the placement of his three shots on target. That means each of his three goals were almost ideally placed.

Another Union player who has started off in good form is Quinn Sullivan, who really hit his stride last season with five goals and eight assists in a career-high 25 starts. Now, he gets to start on the wing instead of in central midfield, and he has two assists in two games already in 2025. Against Cincy, Sullivan completed 6/10 dribbles, won 12/20 ground duels for the ball, and had six touches in the opposition's 18-yard box.

But the Union are not without question marks of their own. Three players brand-new to MLS - center back Olwethu Makhanya, right back Frankie Westfield, and central midfielder Jovan Lukic - have started both games so far, and midfielder Danley Jean Jaques does not have a ton of experience, either.

But, while Curtin's system relied on players winning their one-on-one duels in order for the team to succeed, Carnell's tactics have seen the Union play more as a team with less space between each line. That will likely aid Makhanya, Westfield, Lukic and Danley as they acclimate to the league.

The sample size is small, but early indications show the Union might have an easier time keeping up their form than the Earthquakes. Carnell's Union seems more intent on controlling possession, which makes holding onto leads easier than a team that parks the bus, similar to how Arena's Quakes have done early this season.

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Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.