3 takeaways from the MLS restart

The MLS restart is only a couple of matchdays old, but we're already seeing the league's landscape start to shift in the early going.

Here are three observations from the opening stretch of MLS's return as we get set to embark on the stretch run of the season.

San Jose suddenly have something prove

As bad as Seattle's emergence from the World Cup break has been, there's another hopeful Western Conference contender dealing with issues of their own.

Bruce Arena's side spent the first half of the season looking like an absolute wagon, pairing one of the league's most dangerous attacks with the kind of confidence that made them feel capable of beating anyone on a given night. Timo Werner looked electric when healthy, Niko Tsakiris emerged as one of MLS's brightest young attacking midfielders before injury struck, and Preston Judd morphed into Chris Wondolowski reincarnate at age 26. They didn't just look like an under-the-radar emerging side. They looked like a legitimate trophy contender.

Then came the restart.

The Quakes were somewhat shockingly outclassed in a 4-0 home defeat to Orlando City before settling for a 1-1 draw in the Cali Clasico against the LA Galaxy. Werner had a golden opportunity to rescue all three points late from the penalty spot against LA, only to see it saved by JT Marcinkowski.

Two matches don't erase everything they accomplished over the season's first four months, and San Jose has banked a lot of benefit of the doubt. But it's at least an open question right now as to whether they can recapture the level that had them looking like a trophy contender.

New England might be cooking

They don't get talked about much, but the Revs are quietly third in the East, averaging 1.81 points per game after thrashing Atlanta United 4-1 in their return to play. Thrashing Atlanta United isn't a particularly notable accomplishment in itself, but the way New England handled business was impressive even against a reeling opponent.

Carles Gil did what Carles Gil has done his entire MLS career, breaking the game open with a force-of-will goal. But what stood out was everything that followed. Rather than sitting on the lead, the Revs kept their foot on the gas and absolutely carved Atlanta apart with flowing team play and meaningful contributions from a young, deep supporting cast. First-year head coach Marko Mitrović is making a dark-horse case as an MLS Coach of the Year candidate.

If I had to pick a team that I paid no mind to in the first half of the season that could wind up being a legitimate factor in Leagues Cup and in the playoffs, it might just be this New England team.

Unfortunate news about the Portland Timbers

As they get set to potentially lay a near-fatal blow to the Seattle Sounders’ season this weekend, the Portland Timbers unfortunately appear to be on the ascent.

We all saw the 5–1 demolition in Seattle, so we don’t need to review that, but needless to say, it did appear to inject immediate belief into a team that already had a new-coach bump working. After drawing FC Dallas, they then got another cinematic moment with Felipe Mora’s send-off against Real Salt Lake, where he scored both the equalizer and game-winning goal. They announced the hiring of a coach with solid pedigree in Martí Cifuentes. And on top of all that, if you wanted even more reason to be irritated with Seattle’s (lack of) spending habits, they’re reportedly signing a new No. 9 in Vincent Janssen, who was a team captain in the Belgian Pro League for Royal Antwerp and has 32 caps for the Dutch national team.

Does this mean the Timbers are finally ready to emerge from their decade-long stint of irrelevance and become a factor in the West again? I'll believe that when I see it, but their vibes could not be more of a 180 from Seattle's going into this Saturday's matchup at Providence Park. For Seattle, that'd make a win all the sweeter, but another loss even more of a gut-punch.