Canada’s Dayne St. Clair and two Vancouver Whitecaps named to MLS Best XI

He was the only goalkeeper in 2025 to record a goals-against average of 1.00 or lower and a save percentage above 75.0 percent.

The 28-year-old from Pickering, Ont., was the starting ‘keeper in the July 23 MLS all-star game against the Liga MX all-stars. St. Clair is the first Canadian Best XI selection since Tajon Buchanan, with New England, in 2021

Blackmon anchored a stingy Whitecaps defence that conceded 38 goals in the regular season, second-fewest in the league. Vancouver allowed 1.08 goals per game in games Blackmon played, compared to 1.22 goals per game when he did not.

The centre back also appeared in 11 of Vancouver’s 13 shutouts in 2025, starting 10 of those matches. At the other end of the pitch, he scored two game-winning goals.

Blackmon is the second Vancouver defender to earn Best XI honours, joining Kendall Waston (2015 and 2017).

Berhalter set single-season career highs in goals (four), assists (11), minutes played (2,296) and game-winning goal contributions (three). He is the first Whitecaps midfielder to be named to the MLS Best XI.

Miami’s Lionel Messi, LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and San Diego’s Anders Dreyer lead the Best XI attack.

Messi, who was also in last year’s Best XI, won the league’s Golden Boot with 29 goals this season. The Argentine captain added 19 assists, with his 48 goal contributions one shy of Carlos Vela’s league-record 49 for LAFC in 2019.

The 38-year-old Messi is the second player in MLS history to lead the league in both goals (29) and assists (19).

Bouanga, meanwhile, makes the Best XI for the third straight year. The Gabon international scored 24 goals and added nine assists.

Dreyer was named Newcomer of the Year after scoring a team-high 19 goals and adding 19 assists. The 27-year-old Danish international became the first player in club history to record at least 30 goal contributions and the eighth in MLS history. Dreyer’s 38 goal contributions tied for the third-most in a season in MLS history and tied for the most by a first-year MLS player (Sebastian Giovinco in 2015).

Messi, Bouanga and Dreyer are among the five finalists for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP.

Berhalter is joined in the Best XI midfield by FC Cincinnati’s Evander, also a Landon Donovan MVP finalist, and Seattle’s Cristian Roldan.

The defenders joining Blackmon in the Best XI backline are Orlando City’s Alex Freeman and Philadelphia’s Kai Wagner and Jakob Glesnes.

The Best XI features five players from the U.S. and Canada, which is the most in a single season since 2015, when there were also five.

San Diego becomes the third expansion team since the start of the decade to have a player named to the MLS Best XI in their debut season, joining St. Louis City SC in 2023 (Roman Bürki) and Nashville SC in 2020 (Walker Zimmerman).

Like San Diego, Orlando celebrates its first Best XI selection.

At 21 years 88 days old, Freeman is the youngest player to be named to the Best XI since Philadelphia’s Brenden Aaronson (20 years 29 days) in 2020.

The 2025 Best XI salary list ranges from US$108,000 for Freeman, named MLS Young Player of the Year, to $20.4 million for Messi.

MLS Best XI

Goalkeeper: Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United.

Defenders: Alex Freeman, Orlando City; Tristan Blackmon, Vancouver Whitecaps; Kai Wagner, Philadelphia Union; Jakob Glesnes, Philadelphia Union.

Midfielders: Evander, FC Cincinnati; Sebastian Berhalter, Vancouver Whitecaps; Cristian Roldan, Seattle Sounders.

Forwards: Lionel Messi, Inter Miami; Denis Bouanga, LAFC; Anders Dreyer, San Diego FC.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Canada’s Dayne St. Clair and two Vancouver Whitecaps named to MLS Best XI

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