The final word on MLS team performances at the FIFA Club World Cup | OneFootball

The Club World Cup has now reached the quarterfinals after a group stage with a couple of upsets that reshaped the groups and a round of 16 that was maybe even more surprising.

South American teams showed up in the groups and made strong claims for their brand of football. All four Brazilian teams, Fluminense, Flamengo, Palmeiras, and Botofogo, qualified for the next round, and two are into the last eight. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal is also a quarterfinalist.

Teams from Major League Soccer, however, did not fare well and in contrast to South America had two out of the three teams finishing bottom of their groups, with only Inter Miami making it to the round of sixteen. Los Angeles Football Club finished with a meager one point but somehow did even better than Seattle Sounders, which finished with zero points.

Here's a final look back at how the three MLS teams fared.

Inter Miami Advances in Second Place

Inter Miami, which undoubtedly had the biggest names and the most quality, opened the tournament with a 0-0 draw with Egyptian giants Al Ahly but went on to get a surprise win against Porto courtesy of a classic Messi free kick, and then relinquished a 2-0 lead and drew Palmeiras two-two in the final match.

While Inter Miami stands as the victor of MLS in terms of advancement, it’s important to note that their achievement might not say as much about American soccer as fans would like. This is because Inter Miami, again possessing the most quality, has only two American players on their roster. Conversely, LA FC and Seattle Sounders have eleven and nineteen, respectively. Those two teams were overwhelmingly poor performers. Additionally, Inter Miami was thrashed by PSG, whom Botofogo beat, 4-0, to be sent home in the earliest round.

LA FC and Seattle Sounders Flop

FBL-WC-CLUB-2025-MATCH05-BOTAFOGO-SEATTLE | PABLO PORCIUNCULA/GettyImages

LAFC was in a group where advancing was a distinct possibility. They lost 2-0 to Chelsea, but they had a chance against Flamengo and the Tunisian team ES Tunis. The SoCal club couldn’t make it work, though, losing 1-0 to ES Tunis, although controlling possession and then drawing 1-1 with Flamengo with two late goals. Despite a decent performance against the Brazilians, Flamengo and Chelsea dominated LAFC in almost every metric except for yellow cards.

Seattle Sounders were worse in terms of results, but their group included PSG, Atlético Madrid, and Botafogo. The matches against the French and Spanish giants went as expected, outclassed in every aspect, and defensive heroics were the reason the scorelines weren’t larger. The match against Botafogo, however, was a much better fight. Sounders FC went down by two goals but had a chance at earning a point with a late goal with time to play.  They also had better possession and strung together over 150 more passes. Like LAFC’s draw against Flamengo, Seattle Sounders were a case of too little, too late.

What It Means For MLS

Overall, MLS did not make the statement it needed to make, especially with the World Cup next year. While the strength of domestic leagues is not always aligned with the talent of the national team, it’s still necessary for producing exciting prospects. It’s good that at least one team from the host country has made it to the knockout rounds, but this tournament allowed teams to make a statement about football in their countries, and America didn’t capitalize. This is what makes Inter Miami’s advancement a little bittersweet: one step forward for MLS, but two steps back for the image of American soccer.