By James NaltonJulian Zakrzewski Hall PassesInter Miami fans may have had their Lionel Messi moment at their new stadium, as he scored a goal in their first game at the new facility, but after two games there, they have yet to witness a win for the home team.What they did witness on Saturday, though, was another outstanding performance from one of the best young players in the league at the beginning of the 2026 season.New York Red Bulls emerged from their trip to South Florida with a 2-2 draw, thanks to another eye-catching display from 18-year-old Julian Zakrzewski Hall.Hall hails from Manhattan, New York City, across the Hudson River from the Red Bulls’ home in Harrison, New Jersey. He’s putting the New York in the New York Red Bulls, building on four starts and 22 appearances off the bench in MLS last season, with starts in every game so far this year under new head coach Michael Bradley.Hall has five goals already in the opening seven games, but this weekend he added his first assists. He set up goals for Jorge Ruvalcaba and Adri Mehmeti with some great holdup play and timing of the pass, carving out the space and drawing defenders so the goals could be scored. These moments for Hall, as he helped create chances for others, were as encouraging as his goals in this standout start to the new season.MLS benefiting from youth development Zakrzewski Hall is not the only young player making waves in MLS this year. The 2026 season has opened with something of a youth revolution, the kind of which makes any league immediately more interesting to follow.The majority of the teams putting in good performances so far this season are doing so with an accompanying narrative of impressive young players coming through their ranks.It is looking set to be one of the best seasons MLS has seen, not only in terms of the number of young players coming through, but also in the standard of play they are producing.Australian centre-back Lucas Herrington, 18, is a regular in the heart of the Colorado Rapids defence and has played more minutes than most players in the league so far this season. Few players in the league are more involved within games, too. Only San Diego midfielder Jeppe Tverskov has completed more passes than Herrington, who boasts a pass success of 95%.Herrington’s player traits comparisonIt will be a big year in America for the teenager, as he will also be part of the Australia squad for the 2026 World Cup. He could even be pushing to start games by the time the tournament comes around, thanks to his regular performances with the Rapids.Elsewhere, there is a whole host of young American homegrown players coming through the ranks. Though it is probably too late for any of them to be around the US squad for the World Cup, there is a big Olympic tournament coming up on home soil in 2028, which will offer a glimpse at the future of the USMNT and give them much-needed tournament experience.As well as Hall and Mehmeti at the Red Bulls, the likes of Zavier Gozo of Real Salt Lake, Luca Bombino at San Diego, Niko Tsakiris and Beau Leroux at San Jose Earthquakes, are among a group of young players featuring regularly for their teams and performing consistently.Montréal sack Marco DonadelCF Montréal were confirmed as the worst team in MLS this weekend, losing the basement battle against defending Supporters’ Shield champions Philadelphia Union, who picked up not only their first MLS win, but their first points of 2026.Questions have been asked of Union head coach Bradley Carnell, too, given their sharp decline from league leaders in 2025 to being the last team to pick up a win in 2026, but it was Donadel’s team that lost out in this head-to-head and the Italian who ultimately lost his job.Montréal sit bottom of the Eastern Conference and Supporter’s ShieldMontréal is one of the best and most historic soccer cities in the US and Canada, but it has not been often enough in recent years that it’s had a team to match that status.Apart from one Wilfried Nancy-inspired season in 2022, they have had little to get excited about in MLS.Historically known as Montreal Impact, or Impact de Montréal in the city’s primary language of French, the city lost part of that football heritage when the franchise changed its name to CF Montréal in 2020.The impact of this soccer team has been lost along with its name, and though Donadel is the latest coach to be fired, there will be little for his replacement to work with.Unless they can find a coach such as Nancy, who was able to instil a style of play and a mentality that meant the team overperformed, there will be little optimism that simply changing the head coach is the answer for the team that are now rooted to the bottom of the overall Supporters’ Shield standings.Well well Wells As Tottenham Hotspur struggle in the Premier League, with relegation now a real possibility, their former assistant manager has had a promising start to life in MLS.In a recent interview with Backheeled, Colorado Rapids head coach Matt Wells spoke of a desire he had to make the move from assistant to head coach in order to have more control over a team and put his thoughts and observations into practice more directly.His approach of directing certain plays from the sideline during games might seem like an extreme level of control, but it could be the kind of regular instruction a struggling team like the Rapids needed.Indeed, they are no longer struggling, at least not so far this season. It’s the type of turnaround the aforementioned Montréal will be looking for in their next head coach, as Wells’ approach has turned the Rapids into apparent contenders in the Western Conference.They showed this with a 6-2 win against Houston at the weekend, which featured a player of the round performance from Rafael Navarro. And with young players like Harrington and Paxten Aaronson impressing, there is cause for optimism in Commerce City.(Cover Image from IMAGO)You can follow every match from MLS with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including player ratings. Download the free app here.