Was the rule of four in effect across MLS this weekend?
We were treated to four-goal thrillers in Seattle, New Jersey and San Diego. The runaway league leaders pinned four unanswered on a pretty good team at GEODIS Park. And some guy named Leo sniffed out four all by himself to ensure a ‘new coach bump’ down in Miami, and give us a new Golden Boot presented by Audi leader.
Let’s take a quick foray into Matchday 23.
Cavan keeps climbing
Sports Illustrated Stadium hosted a much-ballyhooed clash of elite teenage phenoms - and future US men’s national team stars, perhaps –on Saturday as Red Bull New York welcomed the surging Philadelphia Union. There was only one team on the pitch for most of the night, however, as Philly dominated their cross-New Jersey rivals in a 3-1 victory.
And a child did lead them.
That’s 16-year-old wunderkind Cavan Sullivan bagging the winner with gusto, his second goal in as many games and his fifth goal contribution in Philly’s last four. With that tally, he’s on 10 goal contributions in league play, which ties Freddy Adu as the most-ever in an MLS season by someone his age or younger.
“He has gained the respect of his teammates,” interim head coach Ryan Richter said. “They also give him the freedom that he can go into these moments, because he can create something out of nothing.”
The Union are flying, still unbeaten in MLS action since the FIFA World Cup break, and if you peek at the standings, you’ll note they’re now just one paltry point out of the Eastern Conference playoff places after languishing at the bottom for most of the season’s first half.
With Cavan and his fellow teenage homegrown Neil Pierre – who also scored yet again – so central to that resurrection despite their tender age, will it prove impossible for USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino to leave them off his roster for the September/October international window?
Messi doing more Messi things, again
With just one win in their first seven matches of a very busy August, Inter Miami have had one of the tougher months they’ve experienced in the Lionel Messi era. In retrospect, we can conclude things came to a head with last week’s shock 2-1 home loss to scuffling Toronto FC, because it prompted the hiring of a new head coach, former Rosario Central manager Cristian “Kily” González, to succeed Guillermo Hoyos.
Neither was on the touchline at Nu Stadium for Saturday’s visit by CF Montréal, thanks to Kily’s wait for his paperwork to be completed and Hoyos serving a disciplinary suspension for the Herons’ repeated violation of the League's Late Kickoff Policy. That didn’t matter one bit, though.
Sometimes it feels like Lionel Messi is just out there playing a video game, and no one on the opposing team even has a controller. It was one of those nights for CFMTL, who were only down 3-1 as the game entered the 80th minute yet nonetheless found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-1 beatdown in the South Florida humidity, with the GOAT rippling the net four times in a vintage display.
“For 15 years, many teams and players have been trying to stop him. It’s not easy,” said Montréal coach Philippe Eullaffroy in French postgame. “We could have solved this problem collectively, but today, the last 30 minutes were nonexistent. That doesn’t help against a player of this quality, who is also surrounded by very high-level players.”
The result snaps IMCF’s five-game winless skid and catapults Messi ahead of Petar Musa into the Golden Boot lead.
Coyotes keep cruising
As good as Miami were, the gap between them and Supporters’ Shield and Eastern Conference leaders Nashville SC remains a 10-point chasm. That’s because the Coyotes just took an inconsistent but still quite accomplished FC Cincinnati side to the woodshed in what we chose to characterize as a fitting tribute to the passing of Tennessee’s timeless icon Dolly Parton.
Much like Miami-Montréal, the 4-0 final scoreline got distorted a bit thanks to two injury-time strikes from relentless NSH, though make no mistake: They were fully in control throughout, paced by their prolific Designated Player trio of Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and Cristian Espinoza. All three wrote their names onto the scoresheet here, and all told, they’re up to 53 goal contributions combined on the season.
Nashville are a daunting 11W-0L-1D at home in league play. On their current torrid pace, both the Supporters’ Shield and a new single-season points record will be theirs come late October. And perhaps an MLS Cup presented by Audi a few weeks after that?
Deki at the double
Riding a 10-game winless skid, wracked by injuries and bereft of confidence, the Seattle Sounders badly needed some inspiration as Robert Lewandowski and the in-form Chicago Fire swung through Lumen Field for a Saturday matinee. And they got it, via the instant impact of their brand-new, $6 million man.
Making his first Sounders start just four days after a big cash-for-player trade from Sporting Kansas City, Dejan Joveljić met the moment and then some, scoring twice and generally elevating the level of everyone around him – as did the long-awaited return of club icon Cristian Roldan, who came off the bench for his first appearance since picking up an injury on World Cup duty with the USMNT.
“You saw glimpses of not just what Dejan can do,” head coach Brian Schmetzer said postgame. “He's going to make everybody around us better... That locker room feels like they have something.”
Unfortunately for Schmetzer and the Rave Green faithful, Seattle’s defensive fragility persists. Their entire rearguard was all too static in allowing Lewandowski to ghost in at the back post and nod home a perfectly placed cross from Leonardo Barroso for an 82nd-minute equalizer that stole a point for the Men in Red. Still, with so many key contributors finally returning to health, we suspect Joveljić x Sounders will be a tough out down the stretch.
Allianz Field insanity
Regular readers will recall our previous passages about MLS as a league of chaos. And folks, the brand is strong. Just settle in with a snack or a tasty beverage and watch some highlights from the weekend’s 3-3 Heartland barnburners with us.
First to Allianz Field in St. Paul, where Minnesota United and Orlando City played out a truly wild clash up north. Daryl Dike and Antoine Griezmann staked the Lions to an early 2-0 lead. Then the Loons stormed back with three goals in five second-half minutes, with Kelvin Yeboah’s delicious bike the pick of the litter...
… before Tyrese Spicer, teed up by a superb pass over the top from Griezmann, struck back with a last-gasp, 3-3 leveler to split the points.
Sunday Night slugfest
Some 24 hours later, it was St. Louis’ turn: to host FC Dallas for a riveting Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental slugfest that ultimately left the home side frustrated.
Up 3-1 as the game entered its final 10 minutes of regulation, STL CITY SC were well on course for their seventh home win in league play, with new DP Carlo Holse opening his account to keep Energizer Park rocking. Eric Quill’s FCD are a doggedly difficult adversary to vanquish, however, as they displayed yet again with an amazing late rally to tie the score deep into injury time thanks to supersub Logan Farrington.
Though CITY’s unbeaten run rolls on, they’ll be devastated by the 3-3 draw, which keeps Dallas just a nose ahead of STL in the West table as they, at long last return to under-renovation Toyota Stadium after a lengthy swing of road fixtures.
Carles cooks Columbus
With Sunday’s stylish 3-1 road win over the flatlining Columbus Crew, the New England Revolution have quietly climbed up to fourth in the East and sixth in the overall table. Dor Turgeman is contributing, Matt Turner is back to being Matt Turner in goal and summer signing Jack Harrison has been an excellent addition, slotting smoothly into the attack with six assists in his first five appearances.
Yet as has been the case for many years now, Carles Gil remains the straw that stirs the Revs. With a filthy goal of his own and assists on both of their other two tallies, the silky Spanish maestro leads his team in both goals and assists (8/8) in league play and at 33 years young, remains capable of jaw-dropping moments of brilliance at any juncture.
Like his exclamation point on Sunday’s win, an outrageous chip over Patrick Schulte with that left wand of his – an incredible cap to an afternoon on which he played six key passes, covered 6.6 miles of ground and touched the ball 96 times:
“The team trusts him so much in all those moments where there is adversity on the field, where we need someone to put a foot on the ball,” said Revs head coach Marko Mitrović afterwards. “We can just see that players organically play the ball to Carles and he gives us that calmness, he gives us that confidence, he gives us that belief.”
Around the grounds
After racking up 10 goals in their first three matches after the World Cup break, all of them comfortable wins, it’s all gone “dry,” in coach Marc Dos Santos’ words, in front of goal for LAFC.
The Black & Gold got shut out for the third time in their last four matches on their visit to D.C. United, a 0-0 deadlock before a spirited sellout crowd at Audi Field, where goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Sean Johnson were the stars. LAFC remain third in the West, but with Son Heung-Min, Denis Bouanga and all their other firepower, Dos Santos has got to change something to get the goals flowing again.
Even if he’s headed out of town, you can call him "Rocky Mountain Rafa."
We’re talking about Rafa Navarro, of course, who helped the Colorado Rapids claim this year’s Rocky Mountain Cup with a tense 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
The talented Brazilian striker is said to be nearing a reported blockbuster $12 million move to St. Louis, yet with that deal not complete yet, ‘Pids coach Matt Wells kept him in the starting XI – and Navarro made sure to get his goodbyes in after the final whistle, bidding a tearful farewell to teammates and fans alike.
The emotions were powerful out at Snapdragon Stadium, too, albeit of a different flavor. The LA Galaxy’s visit to San Diego FC marked Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano’s first time back in town since he departed for Los Angeles on loan after falling out with coach Mikey Varas and the rest of the SDFC brain trust, and the fans made sure to boo his every touch.
Naturally, the Mexican superstar just had to find the net:
But it was just a consolation, as San Diego shook off a Jeppe Tverskov red card to snatch a delirious 3-1 win. Take note, too, of the fact that it was a foul by Chucky, spotted on Video Review, that chalked off what would have been a massive equalizer (2-2) by Galaxy striker Kyōgo Furuhashi.
While SDFC sit above the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line with this win, the Gs drop to third-from-bottom in the West.
