Major League Soccer is back! Who will win what in the new season?
LAFC hosts Inter Miami tonight in a possible preview of MLS Cup 2026. Our writers pick which teams will take home the hardware and which players win the major individual rewards.
The new Major League Soccer season starts today with a new set of storylines:
Will Lionel Messi win an unprecedented third-straight MVP?
Can Inter Miami become the first team to win consecutive MLS Cups since the 2012 LA Galaxy ?
Is Son Heung-min about to become the face of MLS?
For your edification and/or amusement, Southeast Soccer Report MLS writers Ken Garner (Inter Miami) and Ronan Briscoe (Nashville SC) do their best to answer these and other questions below.
Only one Southeast Soccer Report writer predicted Inter Miami CF would lift its first MLS Cup in 2025. Can the Herons repeat this year? CREDIT: Major League Soccer
The Year of Pink and Black and Gold?
Ken and Ronan agree, with many other MLS watchers, that Inter Miami and LAFC will meet for the MLS Cup title Dec. 18. Miami will be a contender as long as Messi dons the Herons’ colors, and the team of Son and Denis Bouanga is expected to elevate LAFC from a very-good squad to one threatening to win major trophies.
Who takes home the hardware? Ken likes the new-look champs, who lost iconic stars Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets to retirement after Miami won the 2025 MLS Cup. Ronan expects the Black & Gold, who lifted the Cup in 2022, to win their second league title.
The guys also expect Messi to win a third-straight MVP, and Ronan thinks the Argentine great will win a second-straight Golden Boot (Ken gives Bouanga, who thrived after Son’s arrival last summer, his nod to lead goal-scorers).