Young Players: Who stood out in Matchdays 33 & 34?

Reality is setting in across MLS over the past week. You can tell by the steadily growing list of clubs who’ve clinched their places in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs, and even more so by those whose hopes of qualification have officially died.

Whether they’re surging towards the finish line, raging against the dying of the light or just staying alive, teams need all hands on deck, and that includes young players – especially during a double game week, as this was for most of the league.

And the kids were truly pitching in all over the place: This edition of YPPOTW was one of the most competitive of the entire season. That meant contributions from the likes of David Ruiz, David Martínez, Daniel Edelman, Oscar Verhoeven and Fernando Álvarez didn’t quite make the cut.

We’ll begin our Matchday 33/34 rundown in the Keystone State, where an established Eastern Conference power roared back above the playoff line with a six-point week.

Powered by a nine-goal explosion, the Union grabbed full points from their two six-pointers, routing New York City FC 5-1 in The Bronx on Wednesday before thumping D.C. United 4-0 at Subaru Park, and the elder Sullivan brother had a hand in half of those tallies, give or take.

First he came off the bench to tee up Jesús Bueno for the late DOOPers’ exclamation point at Yankee Stadium. Then he made the most of a start on Sunday with a livewire performance, playing a game-high five key passes and bagging assists on Philly’s first and third goals – both of them aggressive displays of quickness and individual skill that presented his teammates with point-blank tap-ins. We also don’t overlook it was his smart through ball that sparked the sequence preceding Dániel Gazdag’s finish on the second goal of the evening.

“Sullivan has been an absolute nightmare for D.C. United,” exclaimed MLS Season Pass commentator Nate Bukaty, and it was no exaggeration. The homegrown is up to 10 assists in league play this year; he and Diego Luna are the only 22 Under 22-eligible players in MLS to reach double digits.

Amazingly, considering how woeful they were for long stretches earlier this season, it’s now CFM who sit just two points back of Philly and the East’s playoff line, thanks to the Quebecois snatching seven points from nine in their last three games.

“This little run is being driven by the play of Nathan Saliba in central midfield and an utterly reborn Caden Clark – playing what’s by far the best soccer of his career – in attack,” is how our Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle explained it, and wouldn’t you know it, both of them are repeat YPPOTW subjects.

Saliba scored a banger to complete his side’s comeback from 2-0 down to a 2-2 draw at New England, then pulled the strings as the Chicago Fire were put to the sword at Stade Saputo on Saturday. One week after earning Doyle’s “Pass of the Week” nod, Saliba bagged his first assist in ‘24 MLS play with a lovely weighted pass to Josef Martínez for CFM’s opener. The 20-year-old also won 8/13 ground duels and 3/6 tackles, made eight recoveries and totaled 11 defensive actions while completing 88% of his passes.

“We don't really know what Jesse Marsch told him or put in his coffee when he invited him to the Canadian national team, but Nathan Saliba has come back transformed from his time with the Reds,” writes Eric Chenoix on the Viau Park blog.

“The shy midfielder has now bulked up; he no longer hesitates to project himself forward or take charge of the game to contribute to the offensive animation. And if the main player concerned is reaping the benefits directly, by filling the goal and assist columns on his statistics table, his team is obviously benefiting greatly in terms of the fluidity of the game.”

Four appearances, two starts; an assist in the first and a goal in the second. It’s been a pretty decent start to life in MLS for RSL’s new Polish winger, who arrived via a seven-figure transfer fee in the summer window as the like-for-like replacement for Andrés Gómez.

Here’s Marczuk creating the game-winning goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt in their rollicking 3-2 win over FC Dallas at midweek, via a lung-bursting flank run and gilt-edged delivery to the foot of Anderson Julio:

And here he is maneuvering into space deep in Portland’s penalty box for a calm finish in the wild 3-3 draw in Utah on Saturday:

So far Marczuk, 20, looks like a great fit for both club and league. Across this week's two matches, the Pole played two key passes, completed 41/49 passes (84%) overall, drew two fouls and also offered five defensive actions and seven recoveries.

One week after suffering an EXTREMELY harsh red card via some apparent gamesmanship from Dario Zuparic in the dying moments of Colorado’s win over the Timbers, “Yaps” rebounded to be a true difference-maker in the Mile High Club’s 2-0 playoffs-clinching home win over Toronto FC.

That’s Yapi showing composure and vision to hold up play down the right channel before setting up Reggie Cannon with a lovely centering pass for the opening goal. The teenager also earned the late penalty kick that enabled the Rapids to ice the victory, which resulted in a yellow card to Aime Mabika, one of two cautions awarded to TFC players after fouls on Yapi.

Not only that, the homegrown completed 92% of his passes, won 7/9 ground duels, and was one of his side’s most active defensive presences.

Word of Andre Blake being ruled out of a vital late-season playoff six-pointer by injury is enough to fill Philly fans with dread. But his 18-year-old understudy stepped up massively to quell those fears on Wednesday.

As emphatic as the Union’s 5-1 W over NYCFC looks on paper in retrospect, the result might have gone very differently were it not for Rick, who made seven saves, one of them a genuine show-stopper that not only earned Energy Moment of the Matchday presented by Celsius honors, but also took the No. 2 spot on ESPN SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the day.

“We got some timely big saves from Andrew Rick, which you need to win games,” said Union coach Jim Curtin. “We know this is the standard Andrew has, so he’s capable of that. That’s what he has in his skillset, and he made some big saves tonight when we needed them most, and he’s going to get better and better.”

Caden Clark: With this ice-cold chip to seal Montréal’s win over the Fire, the kid from Minnesota is now up to 2g/2a in his first five games with CFM, and he’s clearly enjoying life under Laurent Courtois, saying “I've never had more fun playing in a team” and “I feel like I'm in a backyard playing soccer,” which is music to the ears of the YPPOTW selection klatch.

Diego Luna: Moon Man has become so trusted, so productive for RSL in 2024 that tabbing one goal, seven key passes and 10 recoveries (among other contributions) across his team’s two matches this week merely lands him in this segment of the YPPOTW rundown. Yes, expectations have risen, and yes, that’s very much a good thing for all involved.

Julian Hall: The New York Red Bulls’ 16-year-old homegrown got on the scoresheet again, and again in very dramatic circumstances, coming off the bench to notch an assist and help secure a point in an overall disappointing home duel with Atlanta United.

Esmir Bajraktarevic: It was a mostly miserable week for New England, who blew a 2-0 lead vs. Montréal and absolutely melted down in every possible way at Charlotte over the weekend. But at least Esmir scored his third goal of the year after some smart movement to combine with Carles Gil.