MLS Winners and Losers: Lionel Messi's Inter Miami prove they can't be counted out, but what's next for Marc Dos Santos at LAFC?

The current state of affairs of Inter Miami is really hard to get your head around. Basically, it goes something like this: Miami, objectively are not a very good soccer team. However, they keep making it happen.

Yes, a lot of the time, it's the Leo Messi hard carry. He has 31 goal contributions in 23 MLS games. This has been a "worse" season for the Argentine, and he is still averaging 1.4 goal contributions per 90 minutes. It's not just him, though. Luis Suarez is up to 13 goals in MLS. Rodrigo De Paul, despite catching plenty of heat for taking regular flights to South America to watch his pop star girlfriend in concert, has eight assists in the league.

And, yes, Miami didn't win this weekend. They actually settled for a 2-2 draw after Anders Dreyer, the best player on the pitch, bagged a late equalizer to send the Nu Stadium crowd home disappointed. But the point is, this team should be worse. Yet they're sticking around. And who can actually write them off?

Last winter, Marc Dos Santos spoke of his admiration for PSG. And aren't we all fans, Marc? But in an interview with GOAL, when it was suggested that Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga prefer to play in the same position, the new LAFC manager said that he saw them as a switchable duo of sorts, with a third attacker thrown in to create something that mimicked Luis Enrique's back-to-back Champions League winners.

So, we might have set the bar a little high here. But if the broader points apply - attacking verve, control, ruthlessness in the final third - then Dos Santos has missed on his projection. Six teams in the West alone have scored more goals than LAFC. Son has found the net six times. And after allowing a 98th-minute winner to San Jose, LAFC are down to sixth in the West. Surely, Dos Santos will be given the rest of this season. But his staying power beyond that? Tough to see.

What do these names have in common? Cavan Sullivan, Peyton Miller, Julian Hall, and Frankie Westfield. If your answer was "they were called up to the USMNT and tallied a goal contribution last weekend," then you are correct!

This has been a good year for the kids in MLS. Yes, Sullivan leads the way in both numbers and star power. But there are plenty more, too. Miller, Hall, Westfield, Justin Ellis; these guys are all really good footballers playing roles for MLS teams. Pochettino is not necessarily the first USMNT manager to call in a bunch of teenagers. But he might just be the one who has done so when he had the choice not to. There isn't really a blueprint for what this U.S. camp should look like. Yes, common sense stipulates that you should go young. But every talented teenager in MLS young? That's bold.

The good news for Poch is that the teens delivered in style this weekend. Sullivan spearheaded a fine comeback over Sporting KC, with the Union overturning a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3. Miller bagged twice in a 4-2 win over Orlando. Hall settled the New York derby (apparently we can't call it the Hudson River Derby anymore).

This is all good stuff. And just in time, too. Camp starts Monday. The first game is Saturday. It's getting very real, very quickly.

Spare a thought for the D.C. United fans in your life. What a baffling team this is. For nearly a decade, DC United have flirted with a strong offseason. They dip their toes in with a big signing or two - this year it was Louis Munteanu and Tai Baribo. But they don't make enough improvements elsewhere to round out the side. For example, midfield creativity and defensive solidity were clear issues heading into this season. Neither was really addressed.

And the great irony is that for the $10 million spent on the attack - a significant outlay by DCU standards - they aren't that much better going forward. Baribo has bagged 14 goals. The rest of the team around him have combined for 17. Their goals per game have gone from 0.88 to 1.26 - a decent uptick. But that's like going from woeful to just "sort of bad".

Saturday was perhaps the worst of them all. DCU tallied 31 shots against Charlotte. They racked up 3.4 xG. They lost 2-1. A playoff spot is still attainable. But this hasn't exactly been a year of revival.

Shoutout to Brian Schmetzer for steadying the ship. Seattle were in a franchise-record slump a few weeks ago. They lost eight games in a row from July to August. And while they haven't exactly responded with an emphatic winning run, the Sounders have found a little bit of grit. Take Saturday's fixture at Colorado for one. Shortly after learning that Paul Rothrock could be out until the playoffs - joining Jesus Ferreira on the treatment table - Seattle rallied.

They were down 1-0, then 2-1, then 3-1. But two goals from the 79th minute onwards snagged a valuable 3-3 draw on the road. It's a bit of a question of staying alive for Seattle at the moment. It would also, admittedly, be nice to get back into the win column after a recent slide.

There's life to this old chase yet.

Before the World Cup, there was folksy chat about how Petar Musa of FC Dallas could be the one to dethrone Messi of MLS's golden boot. It all felt temporary. Musa is a truly excellent goalscorer, and hasn't gone more than two games without finding the net all season. He has 18 in 19 starts, a fine return. But then Messi can just turn it on and put up video game numbers when he fancies it (four against Montreal on August 29 is pretty compelling proof).

However, this weekend might just have taught us that there is a chance that there could be a bit of a fight for the top scorer in MLS. Messi leads with 20. Musa is at 18. Sam Surridge and Brian White have 16 apiece. Nico Fernandez is at 15. Five players are tied on 14 goals. Chief among them? Kevin Denkey, who has found a tidy uptick in form after a terrible run. He failed to find the net for the whole month of August, no doubt contributing to Cincinnati's slide. But a goal and an assist against Houston in a gutsy, controversial 2-2 draw showed that he might just have a run in him.