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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Ben Steiner

MLS Cup Playoffs: The Five Best Players From Round One—Ranked

MLS Lionel Messi MLS Cup Anders Dreyer Ralph Priso Son HeungMin MLS Cup Playoffs round one Dayne St Clair Game 3

The 2025 season started with 30 teams dreaming of MLS Cup playoff glory, but only eight remain after the first round best-of-three series concluded on Sunday.

Anders Dreyer’s San Diego FC showed their credentials as they thumped Portland Timbers 4–0 in a decisive Game 3 outing, advancing to the Western Conference semifinal. There was also joy in the Eastern Conference for, you guessed it, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami—they got their act together to blast past Nashville SC, with Messi unsurprisingly at the center of everything good for Javier Mascherano’s side.

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