Philadelphia Union interim manager Ryan Richter remembers it well.
He was mindful of midfielder Cavan Sullivan's mood earlier this season. Sullivan was finding playing time hard to come by for a side that was struggling mightily. Even as Richter was spending most of his time managing the Union's reserve team, he couldn't help but notice the demeanor of a player he first coached as an 8-year-old.
"He was pissed," Richter said of Sullivan in an interview with ESPN. "He wanted a chance to play."
He eventually got it, and he has been taking out that anger on the rest of MLS ever since.
As Sullivan and the Union head into this weekend's game against FC Cincinnati, the 17-year-old is nursing an ankle injury, but his rise has been the story of the MLS season. His 21 goal contributions have already broken the league record for a teenager, eclipsing the 20 recorded by the New England Revolution's Diego Fagundez in 2013. Ditto for goal contributions by a player younger than 17, with Sullivan -- who turned 17 in late September -- breaking the mark of 10 set by Freddy Adu in 2005.
His success has been accompanied by a feistiness, his brilliance often combined with a snarl. Such success has led to chatter that since the resumption of league play following the FIFA World Cup, Sullivan is the league MVP, non-Lionel Messi division.
There is a case to be made for slotting him in just behind the former Argentina captain given the Union's change in fortunes. Prior to the World Cup break, Philadelphia was dead last in MLS, with just seven points from 15 matches. Since the break, the Union have a league-best 39 points thanks to a 12-3-1 record and clinched a playoff spot on Wednesday. That the run has coincided with Sullivan's ascension is by no means a fluke.
When the subject of Sullivan's MVP candidacy is brought up to Richter, one can almost hear the grimace over the phone. Part of Richter's job description these days is to slow the collective roll surrounding his young star, and he's not about to stop now.
"There's time to look back and reflect on stuff like that after the season," Richter said about the MVP talk. "Forget about all the other outside noise of what could be. Let's have a f---ing great session today."
Numbers have also served to cool the MVP talk. According to TruMedia -- which doesn't count secondary assists to the same degree that MLS does -- Sullivan's 15 goal contributions since the World Cup break has him seventh in the league, behind such luminaries as Orlando City SC's Antoine Griezmann (22) and Messi (19). Sullivan's contributions aren't even the most on his own team, with Milan Iloski (18) leading the way. Other players, such as Cincinnati's Evander and Hany Mukhtar of the Supporters' Shield-winning Nashville SC have been utterly consistent over the course of the campaign.
The MVP moniker also gets thrown around rather casually, and with Messi taking up so much of the league's oxygen, it's an easy label to affix to a player like Sullivan who is enjoying a stellar run of form. In some respects, the chatter doesn't do Sullivan any favors. He's still just a teenager -- albeit an extraordinarily talented one -- and the MVP label doesn't tell the whole story of his season.
Sullivan's production seemingly came out of nowhere. His 14 league appearances prior to this season yielded no goal contributions. He had just five in MLS play in 13 league appearances through the end of May, but he logged just 549 minutes. There certainly wasn't any MVP talk during the first half of 2026.
Yet Sullivan's rise wasn't something that just happened. It was the result of some meticulous planning on the part of the Union from the time they signed Sullivan as a 14-year-old, as well as the player's hard work. Every step, from the academy and through the reserve team to the first team, was carefully choreographed. While it's easy to draw a demarcation line pre- and post-World Cup, there were signs of a breakthrough prior to the pause for the tournament, as Sullivan began to get on the field with more consistency. That extended playing time freed up his mind to begin playing closer to his best.
"In the very beginning of the season, if [Sullivan] got 10 minutes here and there, he would try to fit everything into those 10 minutes, and it's hard to play like that," Richter said. "And then towards the end -- I would say the end of the first half of the season -- when he got some extended runs and a couple starts, then he really showed that he could do something at this level."
When Richter took over after manager Bradley Carnell was fired at the end of May, he decided there was no way he was taking Sullivan out of the lineup.
"The first conversation with [Sullivan] was just that he's going to get the chance now, like a real chance, not just put him in and see how he does," Richter said. "It's, 'Cav, I believe that you are a great player at this level and I believe that you can be. Now you get a real opportunity with coaches who believe that fully, and you've got to take it.'"
Sullivan didn't wait for the regular season to try to repay that faith. His mentality has long been one of his best traits, and he was determined to maximize the time that the World Cup break afforded him. He played a match for Union II against the Ivory Coast prior to the World Cup, a period when most of the roster was on vacation. He trained with his brother, Quinn Sullivan, and his father Brendan, a former pro player, to maintain his fitness. He then played in four friendlies against MLS opposition, and impressed every time.
"That was an important period for [Sullivan] because he gained the respect of everybody," Richter said. "And then when the season started, it was no question of 'does he deserve to start?' Of course he deserves to start. He can be a difference maker for us at this level."
Even then, Sullivan's emergence was a bit of a slow burn. He had no goal contributions in his first four matches post-break, but a goal and assist against Necaxa in the Leagues Cup got him going, and there have been no shortage of highlight-reel moments since, for both club and country. These included an audacious back-heel for a goal against San Diego FC that showed jaw-dropping levels of skill and improvisation. Those traits were on display for the United States team against Mexico, when he stole an errant pass from El Tri keeper Raúl Rangel and lobbed him from 35 yards.
Even if Sullivan's campaign has been a few notches below MVP caliber, it has still been a season to savor, and a new face excelling in the league is always compelling. There's also the fact that MLS and the Union won't have Sullivan for much longer; he's slated to join Manchester City in January 2028, shortly after his 18th birthday. With the league calendar changing, all that's left of Sullivan's time in MLS is the 2027 sprint season and the first half of the 2027-28 campaign.
The impulse, then, is to enjoy Sullivan's presence in the league -- and shower him with praise -- for as long as it lasts. And who knows what the next 15 months will bring? This year's MLS Young Player of the Year award seems well within reach, but any future success is predicated on making the most of the present. With the postseason approaching, that is the challenge facing Sullivan and the Union coaching staff.
"This game changes so quick. If you look where the last five months have taken him, where's five months from now?" Richter said about Sullivan. "We have to continue to push every single day, focus on getting better.
"A lot can change in a few months, so let's make that a positive change. Every week that goes by, let's make it a positive. Let's make another step forward. That's my responsibility as his coach, is to continue to help him taking steps forward. I know he has a mentality that he'll continue to push to do that."
If Sullivan does that, then trophies of all sorts should come his way.