Here are the ten things we learned from Week 24 of the 2016 MLS season.

  1. Seattle’s Charge Continues

The Seattle Sounders are back.

The Rave Green won their third consecutive game on Sunday night at CenturyLink Field, and in doing so, got the one they really wanted: A 3-1 rout of the Portland Timbers that pushes Seattle to within two points of the Western Conference playoff places.

On Wednesday night, the Sounders – given up for dead just a month ago – could move ahead of the Timbers with a win in Houston.

The real encouragement on Sunday night, though, was the source of Seattle’s success. Nicolas Lodeiro had his moments, but he wasn’t the star of the show. Instead, both Jordan Morris and Christian Roldan played the games of their young professional lives.

Roldan was excellent in central midfield alongside Ozzie Alonso and got on the score-sheet late, while Morris’ speed and newfound tenacity gave the Timbers’ older center backs fits.

The Sounders are unrecognizable from where they were at the end of Sigi Schmid’s run. At this rate, it’d almost be a surprise if they failed to make the playoffs.

On a broader scale, once again, American soccer’s greatest rivalry did not disappoint. The game was played with intensity and tempo in front of a terrific atmosphere – even if the Emerald City Supporters’ tifo was a disaster – and it was enthralling from the word go.

Next week at Providence Park, with the stakes even higher, we should get another classic.

  1. Is Portland’s Season Slipping Away?

Caleb Porter has made his living in MLS in September and October, and Sunday’s wasn’t the worst Timbers performance we’ve seen of late, but it feels like the Timbers are just losing their grip on their title defense.

Most unsettling for the 2015 champions on Sunday was the absence of Fanendo Adi from the starting lineup. The Nigerian striker was a “late scratch,” with The Oregonian’s Jamie Goldberg reporting that Adi may have missed the team flight to Seattle.

Adi went public in a roundabout way with a request to leave the club during the summer by retweeting a rumor that linked him with Tigres, but the Timbers refused to sell – and his importance to the club was outlined by the number of golden chances squandered by Jack McInerney, who started in his place.

Portland needs Adi onside if they want to make the playoffs and threaten once there. He, along with Diego Valeri, makes the Timbers’ offense click.

There are several other concerns. New signings Vytas and Steven Taylor were responsible for the first two Seattle goals, and neither looks convincing defensively so far.

Lastly, Portland continues to have no credible wing play. Lucas Melano hardly looks like a professional soccer player most weeks, and the bench behind him is incredibly thin. This team misses Rodney Wallace desperately. Dairon Asprilla too.

It’d be foolish to count Porter out at this point, but with the Sounders coming, Portland’s season on the brink of collapse.

 

SEE MORE: Schedule of MLS games on US TV and live streaming

 

  1. Only in MLS…

This was a week in MLS when Chicago, Houston, and Columbus – the three worst teams in the league – all won away from home at playoff-contending Montreal, San Jose, and New England.

Chicago, of course, hadn’t won an away game since the summer of 2014. Houston and Columbus were without road wins all season. It’s a strange league, but whatever you think of it, there’s no denying that there are no easy games and no guarantees.

  1. What’s Wrong With LA?

It’s been a month since the Galaxy last won a game – the 2-1 victory in Portland towards the end of July that sparked Bruce Arena’s increasingly infamous tirade against statistics.

Since that time, LA has scored multiple goals in a game just once – losing the US Open Cup semifinal at home against Dallas and picking up just two points from four MLS games.

The Galaxy were particularly dire on offense on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, failing to generate any major chances in a 1-0 loss to NYCFC.

It’s a puzzle for Arena. Gyasi Zardes is better up top than out wide, and Robbie Keane often works better when partnered with a bigger striker, while Steven Gerrard, despite some very good work this year, still slows down this team’s pace of play considerably in midfield.

Man for man, one through eighteen, LA has the Western Conference’s best team. The impending return of Robbie Rogers should help inject some pace on the wing. But it’s been a slog of late.

  1. Congrats to Wade Barrett

The Houston Dynamo interim coach finally got a road win on Friday night, as his team saw off the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 at Avaya Stadium.

Barrett has had precious little to work with in Houston since taking over for Owen Coyle at the beginning of the summer, and since he’s been in charge, he’s lost Giles Barnes to a trade and DaMarcus Beasley to injury.

But Barrett has made Houston a tough team to beat, which is exactly what they weren’t under Coyle. The Dynamo have only lost three times in twelve games since Barrett took over, and while they haven’t piled up wins, the former Dynamo player has built himself a very strong case to take over fulltime next year.

At the very least, the interim boss seems to have the backing of his players. When David Horst scored the winner on Friday night, he ran straight to Barrett to celebrate.

  1. Altidore On Fire For Toronto

The story of Toronto FC’s commanding 3-1 win in Philadelphia against a playoff-bound Union team on Saturday night was the domineering performance of Jozy Altidore, who is playing his best soccer since he left Holland in the spring of 2014.

Altidore had the third goal for TFC, but it was his fantastic hold-up work that opened the door to Sebastian Giovinco’s opener. If Altidore plays like he did on Saturday, and Toronto – who just got Will Johnson back – stays healthy, they’ll in MLS Cup.

Toronto still has a number of home games to come, thanks to the renovations at BMO Field that kept the club on the road until mid-May, so they might just, considering the month Dallas has endured, be the Supporters’ Shield favorites as well.

  1. Vancouver’s Nightmare Deepens

The ‘Caps went down again on Saturday, losing at Sporting Kansas City 2-0. Vancouver has now lost four straight games, and is without a road goal since the end of June.

And this is with Giles Barens in the lineup – as well as David Edgar and Marcel de Jong, two Canadian veterans signed during the summer transfer window. This wasn’t a particularly bad Whitecaps performance, but this season is slipping away.

Both Seattle and San Jose have two games in hand on Carl Robinson’s team, and Robinson himself seems to be grasping at straws. It’s been a phenomenally frustrating season for the Whitecaps, who have yet to truly threaten top MLS honors in their six years in the league.

  1. Where is Adrian Healey?

ESPN’s long-time lead MLS commentator Adrian Healey was again missing in action this weekend, as Max Bretos and Jonathan Yardly called NYCFC-LA and DC United-New York Red Bulls for the network respectively.

Healey hasn’t been on the air since an International Champions Cup friendly at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on August 3rd, and hasn’t worked an MLS game for the network since LA’s trip to Seattle on July 31st.

In the intervening time, the network has used Jon Champion, Glenn Davis, Bretos and Yardly on its coverage. Champion is slated to be back Stateside after filling in for Arlo White on NBC’s Premier League coverage to call the derby between Portland and Seattle next weekend at Providence Park.

While Champion is in a class of his own, Healey is a better commentator than anyone else ESPN has put in his place this year. Here’s hoping that he’s back behind a microphone soon.

  1. Fabian Castillo

The former FC Dallas starlet, now of Trabzonspor, made his debut this weekend in Turkey in a match that was played in an empty and closed stadium. Meanwhile, his former teammates missed him badly in a 1-0 loss at Real Salt Lake.

I understand Castillo’s eagerness to move to Europe, but this move – to a middling club in a deeply unstable country and region of the world – doesn’t make any sense.

It also leaves Dallas in a bad spot. The loss of Castillo’s goals is only magnified by the club’s lack of a top striker, and while they should still make the playoffs at a canter, it’s hard to see them winning MLS Cup.

Dallas certainly isn’t going anywhere on experience and postseason guile alone. Talent – youthful talent and speed – has been this team’s calling card. It doesn’t look so formidable right now.

  1. Minnesota To Enter in 2017

Friday night brought the announcement that Minnesota United FC will begin MLS play at TCF Bank Stadium next March.

First, the good news: The club is being allowed to keep the United in its name. It’s a decision that buys MLS plenty of goodwill, and costs nothing. No one cares if three of the 22 teams in the league have United in their name.

The club will immediately have one of the best crests and nicknames in the league, and Minnesotans, who have supported soccer through various leagues and franchises over the last 40 years, should be incredibly proud and excited.

But the next seven months, and possibly the next few years, could be fairly miserable. Because its start-date in MLS was up in the air for so long, this club is behind the eight ball on almost every aspect of its transition to the league.

The team has already announced that it will be wearing generic, off-the-rack uniforms from Adidas next year, and while it will eventually have a beautiful new stadium in St. Paul, TCF Bank Stadium will be a poor man’s Citrus Bowl if Minnesota don’t draw great crowds week in and week out.

Competitively, the club can lean on its NASL outfit to fill out its roster for next season – but in comparison to Atlanta, which has been scouting and acquiring international players for the better part of a year, Minnesota is behind here as well.

In the long-term, the future is bright for this club and soccer in the state. Whether this team will be successful out of the gate next spring, however, is a more open question.