The Armchair Analyst joins Mic'd Up to discuss MLS playoffs, reassesses remaining Cup contenders with Miami out
Matt Doyle has been a fixture of Major League Soccer’s digital landscape for nearly two decades, witnessing the league's transformation from a fledgling startup to a global trendsetter with a multi-billion-dollar Apple TV deal.
As MLS's digital platforms have expanded, Doyle’s role has evolved alongside them. From launching the Armchair Analyst column to hosting Extratime Radio and now serving as a featured analyst on Apple TV, Doyle has remained at the forefront of soccer media. Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, he hopes this momentum will continue to elevate the league.
"I hope it means we got it right with this deal – that we’re the trendsetters – and that it’s going to pay off both in the short and long term with how we’re positioned," Doyle told GOAL. "Especially over the next 18 months in the run-up to the World Cup, because we all know what a catalyst the '94 World Cup was for the game here in the U.S., and specifically for MLS. The hope is we can slingshot out of that into an even better position."
Part of Doyle's staying power comes down to his unique analysis of the game. He's a tactics geek and he's generated a large following basically by highlighting and explaining the finer nuances of the game.
"The tactical aspect came from my love of smart criticism – reading Pauline Kael or Roger Ebert was as enjoyable as the films themselves," Doyle explained. "When I started writing about MLS in the early 2000s, Sepinwall was redefining TV criticism, Pitchfork dominated music, and basketball bloggers were thriving. I realized nobody was applying that level of analysis to soccer, so I leaned into it, driven by my instinct to dissect how things work."
With the first round of the MLS playoffs complete, Doyle shared his insights on the postseason and what lies ahead in the latest edition of Mic’d Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspectives of broadcasters, analysts, and pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and beyond.
AFPON MIAMI'S DOWNFALL
GOAL: So first things first, where did it go wrong for Miami?
DOYLE: They stunk defensively. They were a bad team disguised as a good one because of their overwhelming attacking talent and its not just Lionel Messi. They have more attacking talent, and more talent than arguably any team in MLS history. But they were so disorganized through midfield. They were so turnover-prone playing from the back and they were never able to institute a real level of pitch control.
And at the highest levels of the game – and not that MLS is there yet – but even so, pitch control is the first thing that I think most good teams think about. Teams can do it in different ways. Liverpool, under Jurgen Klopp, were more oriented towards pitch control without the ball, whereas obviously, Pep [Guardiola] is pitch control through positional play. In MLS, the Crew, also losers of a huge upset against the Red Bulls, but they pitch control with the ball but with more dynamic off-ball running.
Miami never really did any of that. They were always vulnerable because they didn't seem to know how [to do that] and maybe it was just a talent level with their center backs, but they were never able to dominate the pace of the game and where it was played.
If you look at the scope of this season…they lost virtually every high-level game they played, the only one they won was the regular season game against the Crew in September. And the only reason they won that is because Drake Callender made a huge PK stop on Cucho Hernandez. So that vulnerability that we saw throughout three games against Miami against Atlanta was baked in. It's just who Miami were this year…There were red flags and warning signs blaring all season long.
AdvertisementAFPON WHERE MIAMI GOES FROM HERE
GOAL: Do you feel like this team needs to embrace MLS players more in roster building than it has? The star-studded teams in the league's past like the 2011 Galaxy or 2018 Atlanta United have always incorporated strong MLS vets and youth.
DOYLE: There's a lot of truth to that. And I think that this winter all the resources that they have – and they'll have some resources because the way this roster is set up – they should be able to clear around $2.5M in budget room. All those resources are going to go to center backs, and they should, because they did such a good job getting low-cost capable players in the attack in midfield Yannick Bright, David Ruiz, Benjamin Cremaschi from the academy, guys like Robert Taylor, Facundo Farias coming back — they're set in midfield and up top.
They need to address the center backs and they'll have the space to do it if they do it. If they do an above-average job of getting center backs in there, they should be a better team next year. They should break the points record again and they should absolutely win more than one trophy.
GOAL: So everyone keeps talking about this Neymar rumor. Two questions, is it realistic, and more importantly, is he what Miami needs?
DOYLE: So, it is realistically possible…if Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba, who were both on TAM deals this year – if both are willing to come back on TAM deals next year, then Miami would have a third open DP slot. So it would be Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Neymar. Then you would have to address the U22 situation because right now they have five U22s for next year. One of those guys, Diego Gomez, is going to be sold. So now you're down to four… you could then shift whichever one of those guys is on the smallest number to a regular roster slot which you would have room for because guys like Serhiy Kryvtsov is coming off the books and very obviously they're going to trade Julian Gressel, right?
You don't have a $1.1M salary [invested in a guy like Gressel], not play him in the playoffs and then come back the next year. So, they would have the ability, I think, pretty easily, to add Neymar. And that's a credit to [Miami sporting director] Chris Henderson, who did a fantastic job of setting up this roster in a way where they would have that flexibility. But it hinges upon Suarez and Alba coming back in 2025 and if they're willing to accept $1.7M each, which is the maximum TAM amount.
GOAL: Is he what Miami needs, though?
DOYLE: I don't think they need Neymar. But if you can sign Neymar, you probably sign Neymar.
USA Today ImagesON TATA MARTINO AND ROB VALENTINO
GOAL: Reviewing all of the tactical decisions Tata made during the playoffs, what did he get wrong there?
DOYLE: The one decision that made me scratch my head was benching Gressel in the playoffs. That was insane to me, especially in the last 15 minutes of Game 3. Just think back to what Gressel did last year in that exact situation for Columbus in the Eastern Conference, he won Columbus that game against Cincinnati – so that was a big one. The rest of it he was handcuffed by the center backs.
In general, I don't think the team was structured with the ball and without the ball as well as it could have been, but it's hard to structure around Messi at this point in his career because he's not going to add anything for you defensively. Suarez is a negative defensive player at this point and Sergi Busquets is great in his [own] way, but he doesn't cover ground and make up for mistakes anymore. Jordi Alba is always going to be [playing up] high…The fact that they ended up on 74 points, I think is – well done to Tata. but he could only do so much given the situation at center back.
For example Tomás Avilés, he's a young kid. He's got a lot of talent but he was terrible this year. he was absolutely terrible. And it's not on Tata to replace him. In an ideal world, coming into 2025, he's third on the depth chart. They're not looking at him to play 3,000 minutes next year. And if that's the case, I think that Tata will figure out the structure a little bit better.
GOAL: Moving on to Atlanta, what are you making of Rob Valentino as a coach? Do you feel like his recent success is a byproduct of the matchup Atlanta had with Miami or does he have really strong potential?
DOYLE: He's clearly promising as he's holding that team together, getting them to rally down the stretch. They needed six points from their final two games just to get into the playoffs. that's huge. And then having them not intimidated for this series, which came after they went on the road and won a PK shootout against Montreal. That's not nothing.
Still, this series was about Miami's insanity with how they used the ball and leaving themselves open to quick-hitting strikes like the two that we saw in Game 3. And it was about Brad Guzan being on an absolute heater. I think [Guzan's performance] is a great story given how good Guzan's been over the course of his career and where he is in his career, but it was more that than any tactical genius that I saw in this series.
USA Today ImagesON MLS PLAYOFFS, CUP FAVORITE
GOAL: Surveying the rest of the MLS playoffs, what's the biggest storyline in your mind?
DOYLE: All the upsets. I think last year only one lower-seeded team won in the best of three and now four out of eight in the Eastern Conference. It's not supposed to be that way – one of the real arguments for the best-of-three in the first round is that the better-seeded team has two games at home. So you can have one bad game and still recover from it. That's what the talent disparity is supposed to do. I still prefer single elimination, but in single elimination, one bad day, one early red card, you're done. And so it's supposed to actually enhance home field advantage. And I guess it did the opposite this year. I expect this year to be an outlier.
GOAL: You mentioned you prefer single elimination. Do you think MLS should consider that route in the playoffs moving forward?
DOYLE: It's probably too early to say, this is only the second year of the best-of-three format, so it's probably too early to give a verdict, good or bad. In the single elimination scenario, we wouldn't have had games where there were 70,000 people in Atlanta or 40,000 people in Charlotte. We wouldn't have had BC Place packed for probably the best performance in Vancouver Whitecaps history. Those are pretty strong arguments for the best-of-three where everybody gets at least one home game.
But I mean, single elimination, it really produced some memorable moments and I like the feel of it. It's almost like when you get to the World Cup knockout stages or even like March Madness, where it occupies so much mind share in American sports consciousness – it's three weeks and it's done. So, I can see the arguments for both sides.
GOAL: Who is your favorite for MLS Cup now?
DOYLE: So, I still have LAFC, [but] I think they looked a little bit leggy against Vancouver. They played now the same amount of games as Columbus. And I thought a big reason that Columbus lost was they just ran out of gas. It's now, I think, 50 games or maybe 51 games in 37 weeks. And to put that into perspective, Real Madrid last year played 55 games in 42 weeks. So, it's a lot, and you could see it taking its toll on LAFC and the Crew in particular.
And I'm like, I was super confident going into the playoffs it was going to be one of Miami, Columbus, or LAFC. I am no longer that confident. You could definitely talk me into the Galaxy. You could even talk me into Seattle. You could probably even talk me into Orlando City, which would be a great story.