It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled is here to dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. Let’s get right to it!
Winner: Our brand
Shoutout to Cavan Sullivan for spreading the good word about Backheeled. Went ahead and did the finish and everything on Sunday night to kickstart his brace in the Philadelphia Union’s 5-0 victory over San Diego FC:
CAVAN SULLIVAN BACKHEEL?! 😲
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 14, 2026
The 16-year-old gives @PhilaUnion the lead in San Diego just before halftime! pic.twitter.com/oSvyKnvfRp
The kid is different, man. The first U.S. men’s national team roster of the new World Cup cycle drops later this week. Sullivan’s name needs to be on it. - Joe Lowery
Winner: Rafael Navarro, unleashed in St. Louis
It’s well documented that we here at Backheeled love the cashfer rule, which not only helps keep good players in MLS but adds intrigue and stories to a league desperately crying out for them. Based on early returns, Rafael Navarro’s move to St. Louis City is going to go down as one of the best cashfers in the rule’s brief history. The Brazilian has only appeared in three games for St. Louis, but he’s already netted four goals, with back-to-back braces in his two starts, including in their 4-2 win over Minnesota United on Saturday.
Not everyone was a proponent of the move – or at least the price tag, with St. Louis sending $12 million to the Colorado Rapids. That’s potentially more than FC Cincinnati sent the Portland Timbers for Evander (who is, admittedly, a cheat code). Some criticized the fee, doubting Navarro’s ability to produce in the attack to justify the acquisition cost. He doesn’t score enough goals. He doesn’t get into enough good spots to warrant such a hefty fee. To be fair to that crowd, a lot of Navarro’s underlying numbers in Colorado backed up those concerns.
The thing is, those underlying numbers don’t actually tell the whole story.
One of the things that makes Navarro special, other than his relentless out-of-possession pressing, is his ability to drop into midfield to link play. It’s surely one of the things that made him the top target for St. Louis, given their system is built on fluidity. And now that he’s starting games for his new team? Navarro could genuinely have a Cucho Hernandez-in-Columbus like impact. Now, I’m not saying he’s as good as Cucho, but Navarro has the profile of a guy who can impact games in the same sort of way.
