MLS Decision Day fallout Rondo: Was sacking Pascal Jansen a mistake? How do LA Galaxy pick up the pieces? And which playoff clash is must-see?

Tom Hindle: Yes, even if it feels a bit harsh. No club would be able to fully cope with the loss of Riqui Puig, but there is a serious need for some fresh ideas in the dugout. In fairness, the Galaxy have always supported Vanney and handed him a new deal at the start of last season. He probably still has a bit of credit in the bank from a memorable MLS Cup run. Still, it's tough to say that he should stick around. As harsh as this is, a fresh face might do the club some good.

Alex Labidou: Yes. Vanney has proven he can get results when he’s got a good hand in front of him, and his 2024 championship squad showed that. But rebuilding and getting more out of an imperfect roster are also part of the job description in MLS. Since that title, he hasn’t delivered consistently enough and he faced similar challenges at Toronto FC. Ironically, he might have been a better fit for the Galaxy’s rivals at LAFC.

Last year was excusable given the salary cap constraints and injuries - Riqui Puig missing another season matters, too. But the Galaxy retooled multiple times this year and still failed to find enough consistency. They went into Decision Day with their fate in their own hands and threw it away. That falls on Vanney.

Ryan Tolmich: It's easy to see why the knee-jerk reaction would be "yes" given the results of the last two years, but those years came after Vanney delivered the team an MLS Cup. Even so, at the very least, the pressure is on. It may depend on what candidates are on the market, but if there isn't a slam-dunk hire on the table for the Galaxy, Vanney also does deserve one more crack at righting the ship after two Riqui Puig-less disappointments.

TH: Not even remotely. Jansen is an immensely talented coach who got NYCFC to the Eastern Conference finals last year. He was dealt a tough hand due to a glut of injuries, too. Club failings are sometimes pretty holistic, and NYCFC were punished, more than anything, for failing to put together a winning squad. Jansen deserves another go with a more complete side. How long until he's Sporting KC manager, though? A week? Two?

AL: No. NYCFC dealt with their share of injuries throughout the season, including spending much of it without Alonso Martínez, who scored 17 league goals for Jansen last year. It also wasn’t his fault that Nicolás Fernández Mercau, an attacking star recruited just a season ago, reportedly wanted out after the club rejected a bid for him.

If there was a misstep, it was publicly questioning whether recruitment had adequately addressed the squad’s needs. That’s coaching 101: once you put those concerns out there, you risk becoming a dead man walking if neither the Front Office backs you nor results don’t improve.

Still, Jansen deserves another MLS job. Last year’s run to the Eastern Conference final showed he can get a team punching above its weight. One difficult season shouldn’t change that.

RT: Probably. NYCFC are entering a new era, and Jansen didn't do anything particularly fantastic to show why he should be a part of it. Heading into the new stadium, NYCFC will want some splashy signings and, most likely, a strong head coach to lead them. Jansen didn't give them a reason to believe that could be him, and that's why the partnership is over.

TH: It depends. Toronto are a weird case because they're still recovering from two terrible DP signings in Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi. This is still an imperfect squad, and this year's big signing, Josh Sargent, has not been the main man through the middle that many might have hoped. If Toronto have someone lined up, and can go after a massive name to be as much of a leader as an expert tactician, go for it (ironically, Jesse Marsch would be a great hire here). If not, it looks a little rushed.

AL: Yes. Fraser had some hard luck with injuries, but when you consider that Philadelphia Union, Real Salt Lake and Columbus Crew all recovered from poor starts to make the postseason, Toronto FC’s absence feels like a massive missed opportunity.

This is a club that isn’t lacking in ambition. It paid one of the biggest transfer fees in MLS history for Sargent, having already made significant moves for Djordje Mihailovic and Walker Zimmerman. That investment should have delivered more. Toronto have big questions this offseason, especially with yet another coaching search ahead.

Lastly, a shout for coaching diversity, which has never been among MLS’s strengths despite the diversity on the pitch. And to be fair, this is a global issue, not just an MLS problem. But with Jansen and Fraser out, the league has lost its only two Black head coaches. Here’s hoping owners and front offices cast a wider net and give the best candidates a real opportunity, regardless of their racial background.

RT: If you were Fraser, you'd feel pretty hard done. Injuries totally ruined Toronto FC's season, which meant Fraser never really got to manage the full-strength team that he signed up for. That said, he didn't elevate the weakened group he got, either, which is a big part of the job. That will be why Toronto decided it was time to move on: Fraser's inability to raise the floor and salvage the season.

TH: WEIRD. Wicky was a rebuilding hire for a rebuilding club. Everything about Sporting KC's roster suggested that they would struggle. And so it has proved. Feels like the manager is being punished for failing to take them on an improbable run.

AL: Every offseason, there are usually two or three managerial hires that leave you scratching your head. Sometimes they work out, as Jesper Sørensen has shown in Vancouver. But then you get the Henrik Rydströms and Olof Mellbergs of the world - hires that felt like the wrong fit from the outset. Raphaël Wicky largely falls into that category. He had already struggled in MLS with Chicago, so the decision to give him another shot felt ill-advised.

Still, if Wicky has one thing to feel aggrieved about, it’s the roster he was handed. SKC were clearly in rebuild mode, and the squad didn’t look ready to compete at MLS level in the opening months. André Luiz brought genuine star quality after arriving in August, scoring eight goals down the stretch, but Wicky had already spent much of the campaign working with an unfinished roster. The front office has to own its share of this, too.

RT: Wicky’s firing is harsh, but he did himself no favors, either. To put it bluntly, SKC was hardly an MLS-level team until Andre Luiz arrived, but, even with 13 games of his brilliance, they still finished as the league’s worst team. That was largely expected given the state of their rebuild and, ultimately, the club didn’t see enough from Wicky to believe he was the guy who could oversee the next phase of it. Fair enough, but to be clear, this is a tough job, and the rebuild is nowhere near over.

TH: Inter Miami-Columbus. Laurent Courtois' side are cooking at the moment, and they beat Miami back in September. They will fancy their chances here, and it will be fascinating to see how this iteration of Miami fares in playoff soccer.

AL: It’s not technically a first-round matchup, but how about the Orlando City–FC Cincinnati wild-card game? This feels like a meeting of two clubs at very different moments.

Orlando, despite finishing eighth, look to be entering a new era with Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. Cincy, on the other hand, might be approaching the end of one after their expensive squad fell well short of expectations. With reported transfer interest in Kévin Denkey and a ninth-place finish that should put Pat Noonan under scrutiny, there could be major changes at TQL Stadium if FCC fail to advance.

RT: A surging St. Louis City SC team vs a maybe/maybe not LAFC team that could go any which way. On talent, LAFC remain one of the best in MLS, but we simply haven't seen that since July. That's why they're the six seed and matched up against a St. Louis group that is both in-form and already trophy winners this season. Can LAFC turn it on and, even if they do, is St. Louis riding so high that it won't matter? That's the question that makes this one fun.

TH: St. Louis CITY, by far. Rookie head coach, inexperienced front office, injuries, best player leaves halfway through the season. Credit to them for backing Yoann Damet midseason, but very few would have thought that they would be playing LAFC in the playoffs - let alone hosting them.

AL: Everyone will likely say Philadelphia, and for good reason. They leaned heavily on youth and a coaching change to get back here. But let’s go with Columbus, who looked dead heading into the final stretch.

They also changed coaches and lost key players, including Diego Rossi and Max Arfsten, to midseason transfers. That’s not even accounting for star striker Wessam Abou Ali, who suffered a season-ending injury. Yet interim manager Laurent Courtois, a former Crew 2 head coach under Wilfried Nancy, has helped them rediscover some of the identity that made the era so special under the top French coach. The summer reinforcements helped, but winning eight of their last nine games is still some turnaround. Not expecting a deep playoff run from this group, but the fact they’re in is impressive.

RT: It's Philly. They were dead and buried pre-World Cup break and, not only are they in the playoffs, they played their way past the Wild Card game, too. With Cavan Sullivan leading the charge, they're a scary team to play, at least partially because the youth that got them here won't know they aren't supposed to be doing this. That's what makes the Union scary: that youth, and the scariest part is that they may not be at their best yet.

TH: LAFC. Before the season started, they were among most people's MLS Cup favorites - and certainly a top team in the West. That they ended up sixth in the table is absolutely baffling.

AL: Can we go with the Chucky Lozano special: both San Diego FC and the LA Galaxy? Both clubs have invested enough to expect much more, and the Galaxy have a history of success to uphold.

San Diego completely mismanaged their attempt to move Lozano on and finished 25 points below last year’s impressive total. The Galaxy made some big moves, but their recruitment lacked the same ambition and creativity that brought Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil to LA in 2024. There’s still no way an RSL side that lost Diego Luna to injury and Zavier Gozo to a transfer should have pipped them to a playoff spot.

RT: The Red Bulls will look back at two games that effectively ruined their season. In October, they played both D.C. United and Toronto FC, two teams near the bottom of the league, and they lost both. As a result, the home stretch was played with immense pressure. Even with wins over Miami and Atlanta, hard-fought losses at New England and Nashville ended their playoff hopes. It wasn't those games that doomed them, though; it was the six dropped points against teams they should have crushed in crunch time.