Bradley Carnell, the head coach of St. Louis City SC, began his playing career as a teenager with Bidvest Wits FC in Johannesburg, South Africa. He and the rest of “The Clever Boys” won an away match one weekend thanks to a late penalty kick. Dissatisfied with the outcome, opposing team fans stormed the field, bloodlust in their eyes.
“They got the referee,” Carnell said, according to ESPN. “They induced a coma in him.” We dashed into the tunnel and into the locker rooms, where we barricaded ourselves. Home team players assisted us in escaping by sneaking us out of the stadium. They loaded me into the trunk of one of their cars. “That was the only way out.”
This experience puts St. Louis’ upcoming match against rival Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park into context. Still, traveling in Major League Soccer is difficult – more difficult than any of the top five European leagues. Between 2015 and 2021, away teams in MLS won only 24% of the time, compared to 31% in the best European leagues and 29% in other North and South American leagues.
It’s been more of the same, only worse this season. Through October 9, away teams won 22.5% of the time, earning a truly dismal 0.97 points per game. More than half of the teams have three or fewer road victories, including
Despite winning only two road games this season, the Houston Dynamo, CF Montréal, Portland Timbers, and San Jose Earthquakes are all in the playoffs or fighting for a spot.
In 2023, road teams scored 500 goals compared to 809 for the home team, resulting in a 0.65 goal difference per game. However, expected goals are closer: 724.73 for home teams versus 536.44 for road teams, or 1.53-1.13 per game. This shows that players across the league struggle to finish on the road. In comparison, traveling Premier League teams outperformed their xG last season, while home teams scored about the number of goals their advanced numbers would indicate.
So winning away from home in MLS is difficult, but why is that? There are numerous reasons for this, some of which are unique to the structure of MLS as a league and others which are a product of the country in which the league operates.
One major and unavoidable factor is the size and variety of conditions in the United States. Nothing is more than a bus ride away. (Well, maybe NYCFC and the New York Red Bulls, but try getting from the Bronx to Harrison, New Jersey without experiencing mind-boggling frustration that would knock even the most mentally stable player off their game.) Even a team in the middle of the country, like St. Louis, is constantly on long-haul flights.
“We can go from coast to coast, frequently on short rest,” Carnell went on to say. “We’ll play on Wednesday and Saturday, in different temperatures, altitudes, and time zones.” Your body goes on a different schedule, and you’re waking up the boys at what feels like 6 a.m. for breakfast. “The body just goes haywire, you know?”
Other clubs are dealing with similar but distinct issues.
“We are the farthest team from everywhere,” said Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini to ESPN. “We rarely have a short flight and almost every time, we go to a different time zone and play in a completely different set of conditions than Vancouver.”
Elevation in Colorado and Utah, humidity in Houston and Florida, artificial turf in Atlanta, a tiny pitch in Yankee Stadium, a massive one at Dignity Health Sports Park, and eccentricities everywhere. Long distances also limit support; two of Sartini’s most memorable away matches occurred in Portland, a short distance from the Canadian club’s home base.
Then there are the never-ending road trips. Most leagues require teams to play a home game followed by a road game. Less so in MLS.
Sartini’s Whitecaps were in the midst of a seven-game road trip when he spoke.
He attempted to spin the experience in a positive light, saying, “It’s not a bad thing because it allows us to gather a couple of trips.” We went to Chicago and New York without returning. We try to turn the schedule’s ‘adversity’ to our advantage.”
Of course, you’d prefer to avoid the adversity of a seven-game swing in the first place. Sartini wore a sweatshirt with the words “Vancouver is home” during the game against Colorado.
Last season, Nashville SC began their season on the road with eight games before Geodis Park was completed. Adversity, albeit self-inflicted, is still adversity.
“We had two games at the end where we played San Jose one weekend and LA Galaxy the next weekend,” head coach Gary Smith told ESPN. “We went to San Jose two days before, flew back through the night, and arrived home around six or seven o’clock in the morning.” We returned to Los Angeles on a Thursday and did the same thing. That was rough.”
Smith’s exhausted team had only 32.8% possession and a single shot on goal in a 1-0 loss to the Galaxy.
Another consideration is parity. There are a few teams in the Premier League that will be favored on the road against a few other teams. In terms of international football, those are simple.
There are no great or terrible teams in Major League Soccer. It’s a league built on parity, on varying degrees of middle, where the difference in skill level is measured in degrees rather than vast chasms. Furthermore, with 18 of 29 teams making the playoffs, there’s little reason to call it quits on a season.
“The way that it’s set up, MLS keeps a lot of teams active until the very, very last kick,” Smith went on to say. “And, for the most part, the fans are engaged because they believe there is something to strive for.” There’s not much to choose between an awful lot of teams.”
Coaches benefit from domestic league experience when it comes to managing road trips. Sartini used to have the team travel to the city where they were playing as early as possible when he first joined Vancouver. However, after consulting with his research and analytics team, they discovered that flying at the last possible moment and adjusting the schedule to stay on Vancouver time whenever possible yielded the best results. The Whitecaps went 3-2-2 on their seven-game late-season road trip, securing their playoff spot and a home playoff match. (The Apple TV deal, which schedules most matches at 7:30 p.m. ET, also helps in this regard. It’s difficult to stay on West Coast time when the game starts at 1 p.m. ET, as some games do.
Smith of Nashville realized he needed to let go.
“In the early days, if we had long road trips, every single meal would be with the team,” he recalled. “I wanted the team around because I wanted to control what they were eating and where they were going.”
That control backfired, with players chafing against the constraints. They’d be free to eat whatever they wanted at home, so why was it any different on the road? Smith now trusts his charges and gives them an evening to themselves.
A key for Carnell’s St. Louis, who went 6-8-3 on the road in their first season, is changing their proactive pressing formula.
Smith of Nashville realized he needed to let go.
“In the early days, if we had long road trips, every single meal would be with the team,” he recalled. “I wanted the team around because I wanted to control what they were eating and where they were going.”
That control backfired, with players chafing against the constraints. They’d be free to eat whatever they wanted at home, so why was it any different on the road? Smith now trusts his charges and gives them an evening to themselves.
A key for Carnell’s St. Louis, who went 6-8-3 on the road in their first season, is changing their proactive pressing formula.
“It’s about making it through the summer,” he explained. “If we go play away, we might be just as aggressive but adjust our confrontation points to a different area where we are more connected, more compact so we have less distance to travel on the pitch.”
There are ideas about winning away from home in MLS, but no clubs have mastered the technique. Perhaps no one will ever. It’s challenging, but that’s part of the challenge and opportunity.
As the playoffs approach, winning the MLS Cup will almost certainly necessitate results on the road. The Portland Timbers reached the finals in 2018 as the fifth seed, the lowest seed in TAM history. That team used a smash-and-grab style of play, which can produce good results but can also be ugly.
What is the best path to winning the MLS Cup? Dominate at home, eke out some wins on the road, win the Supporters’ Shield, and host the final yourself.
Leave a Reply