What a crazy week in the Supporters’ Shield race!
Six teams are going for the title and only Columbus Crew won in Matchday 26. Inter Miami also won... by not playing and watching every other team in the race drop points.
FC Cincinnati lost at home, LA Galaxy lost on the road, Real Salt Lake lost away, and LAFC got demolished at home by Columbus.
Let's dive into the rest of the league.
I thought nobody could take all three points from BMO Stadium this season. The Crew proved me wrong.
Wilfried Nancy’s team didn't steal the three points – they fully earned it. They demolished LAFC, 5-1, doing so with style and class in a rematch of MLS Cup 2023. I love everything about this team and Cucho Hernández is inching up the Landon Donovan MLS MVP race every week.
Special shout out to Christian Ramírez, who played close to home in front of his family in Southern California and got a brace. He has come on strong lately to form one of the best attacking trios in MLS along with Cucho and Diego Rossi.
The Crew have now won five in a row by a combined score of 20-2. Unreal. Are they the favorite to repeat as Cup champions?
You have to beat the teams in front of you. Yes, Orlando have had a pretty easy schedule lately, but their "mini turnaround" continues. Oscar Pareja’s side has won three in a row and four of their last five to move into seventh in the Eastern Conference.
Now, are Orlando for real? Or is this just a product of recent games against D.C. United, Toronto FC, New England Revolution and Chicago Fire FC? We will see.
Regardless, I like what I'm seeing out of Facundo Torres and Martín Ojeda lately. Reverting back to last season's 4-2-3-1 formation has also helped give this team some consistency and confidence.
Spots five through seven in the Western Conference are currently taken by Cascadian teams – Portland Timbers are fifth, Vancouver Whitecaps are sixth and Seattle Sounders are seventh. Remember: All three clubs have experienced their ups and downs this season, but all can push higher in the West and into the top four.
Portland are surging, winning five of their last six behind the stellar attacking play of Evander, Felipe Mora, Santiago Moreno and Jonathan Rodríguez.
Vancouver have four wins and a draw in their last five across all competitions, led by the stellar duo of Brian White and Ryan Gauld (reminding me a lot of my partnership with BWP back in our Red Bulls days).
Lastly, Seattle are unbeaten in seven and have won five straight in all competitions (they also booked their US Open Cup semifinal spot last week).
The interim manager bump for Rob Valentino and Atlanta United has worn off. They have now lost three straight league matches and were just knocked out of the US Open Cup at home against second-division side Indy Eleven.
The transfer window opens in a couple of days and Garth Lagerwey says they have more than $50 million to spend. Can they get the right players ASAP to turn this around, especially with two open DP spots?
Another club with an interim manager that has fallen flat lately is Nashville SC. Losers of four straight, they face a big week ahead of the All-Star break.
Can Nashville find a way to gather some momentum? Are they going to go on another magical run in Leagues Cup?
Wherever the answers lie, I don't think Sam Surridge as a left winger is the answer. New head coach B.J. Callaghan needs to get immersed in this team as soon as possible.
Fragile.
That’s what head coach Jim Curtin called his team after another loss this past weekend. The Philadelphia Union led 1-0 away to Toronto FC and coughed up the lead in the second half. Jack Elliott gave away a terrible pass up the middle and poof, the points were gone.
It’s now 10 games without a win and Philly are bottom of the table in the East. They have to get back to the Union way and stop shooting themselves in the foot. That’s easier said than done, of course.
