A four-goal comeback, two six-goal thrillers, injury-time drama, a Hudson River Derby duel, a couple of key streaks extended, the year’s first Audi MLS Cup Playoffs qualification clinch, a wild rabbit, and both conference leaders asserting themselves.
Matchday 27 kept things moving. Let’s run it down.
Young Yanks shine
Those chosen to represent their country’s national team speak with reverence about the experience, many ranking the first call-up among the greatest moments of their lives.
Perhaps that helps explain why several rising MLS stars bound for the US men’s national team’s upcoming September/October camp shone so brightly over the weekend.
That’s Red Bull New York forward Julian Hall sniffing out James Sands’ underhit back pass to score the only goal in Friday night’s 1-0 Hudson River Derby win at New York City FC, the homegrown’s 10th of the campaign.
The 18-year-old showed grit and graft in enemy territory and broke a 12-game goalless skid, while fellow USMNT-bound teammate and holding midfielder Adri Mehmeti led his side in recoveries.
Up north in Massachusetts, Peyton Miller bagged a clinical brace to give New England a 4-2 win over Orlando City, a tense and chaotic match in which the Revolution led 2-0, got pegged back to level terms by the Antoine Griezmann-less Lions, then found another gear to snatch back the points down the stretch.
Miller’s fellow USMNT call-up Brooklyn Raines did solid work too, and was particularly instrumental in the buildup to the Revs’ fourth goal, while Justin Ellis was one of the visitors’ top performers.
The Revs have won three straight, four of their last five and five of their last seven, boosted by Miller’s six goal contributions (3g/3a) across that period.
During an even wilder tussle in Kansas City, Cavan Sullivan led the Philadelphia Union’s stunning second-half rally from 3-0 down to 4-3 winners over Sporting KC.
The 16-year-old phenom notched 1g/1a, while fellow USMNT newcomers Frankie Westfield (one assist) and Neil Pierre (10/10 duels and four defensive contributions) were also crucial.
Philly keep fighting
"You do not get in a fight with the boys from Philadelphia. It’s only going to inspire them."
Those were Kevin Egan's words during "MLS 360" on Saturday night, after SKC and the Union exchanged pushes, shoves and bad blood following referee Ekaterina Koroleva’s halftime whistle.
Sporting were up 3-0 at that point, buoyed by a quicksilver double from club-record signing André Luiz, and were seemingly in full control at Sporting Park, poised to snap Philly’s 10-game unbeaten run.
The story could not have changed more drastically after the intermission spat. An hour in, the Union dashed off three goals in four minutes to draw level, with brothers Cavan and Quinn Sullivan especially influential. Their pressure persisted until Sporting KC, wilting under Philly’s physicality, conceded a Zorhan Bassong own goal to complete the visitors' comeback.
And so the unbeaten streak rolls on for interim head coach Ryan Richter and the Union: 9W-0L-2D since the FIFA World Cup break, powering them up to sixth in the Eastern Conference, while Sporting KC spend another week last in the overall table.
Nashville clinch in style
Reports of a Nashville SC slump may have been greatly exaggerated.
The Supporters' Shield leaders were winless in three as they welcomed a very solid Chicago Fire side to GEODIS Park on Saturday. You’d never have guessed it, though.
Dominant throughout, Nashville shoved the Fire into the pain locker and never let them escape, showcasing head coach B.J. Callaghan’s principles with panache as all three of their Designated Players – Sam Surridge, Cristian Espinoza and Hany Mukhtar – hit the net.
The 3-0 victory officially booked Nashville’s postseason berth with eight matches to spare and keeps them eight points clear in the Shield standings, a race that looks likely to become a coronation in the coming weeks.
"It's a great moment to just take a pause and say, 'All right, the body of work is good enough that we were able to hit this milestone,’” said Callaghan postgame. “And then you get back to work."
Unbeaten streak continues
As excellent as Nashville are, they're nowhere near the hottest team in MLS.
That tag applies to St. Louis CITY SC, who booked their place in the US Open Cup final with a steely 3-0 win at the Colorado Rapids midweek, then returned home to Energizer Park and just about played Toronto FC out of the building in a 3-1 victory on Saturday, even with some rotation in head coach Yoann Damet’s starting lineup.
St. Louis CITY's unbeaten streak now extends to 16 league matches dating back to early May, and 18 games across all competitions. They’re in a three-way tie for second in the West and, with six-pointers against Vancouver and Houston still to come, can legitimately dream of reaching the summit between now and the regular season’s end.
While there was beauty in all three of STL’s goals, Carlo Holse’s might encapsulate the coordination and fluidity – the ‘champagne ball,’ as some of their fans call it – that’s paced this remarkable run.
Alexandru Mățan caps a slashing inward slalom from the flank with a perfectly-weighted, seeing-eye through ball into the Toronto penalty box, and his teammates are queuing up to apply the finishing touch – Rafael Navarro is on the scene, but lets Holse dash in to notch his fifth contribution (3g/2a) in about 300 minutes since arriving this summer.
Everything’s going right these days for the boys in magenta.
Smashing start for Diaby
While St. Louis splashed serious cash to reinforce their roster during the summer transfer window, Saturday also gave us a glimpse of several other newcomers who might be difference-makers out West.
First, let’s talk about Vancouver's new French-Guinean attacker Yadaly Diaby, the star of their 3-0 thumping of Real Salt Lake, who made his first league start since arriving from Ligue 2 side Grenoble.
That’s Diaby dishing up a deliciously inviting dime for Thomas Müller to smash into the top corner after some lovely buildup play from the Whitecaps, and he later scribbled an exclamation point on his big night with his first MLS goal, helping Vancouver turn the page on their midweek Canadian Championship semifinal exit at CF Montréal.
"You can see that he has some good understanding of his teammates already, and the assist he made was excellent," said head coach Jesper Sørensen. "It was a blind pass – he’d already figured out that Thomas was behind him."
Whittaker off and running
Over on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, Morgan Whittaker made his first MLS start as well.
The English winger showed the Colorado Rapids faithful why the club broke their transfer record – reportedly nearly $11 million – to bring him over from Championship contenders Middlesbrough.
Whittaker fired home twice off Paxten Aaronson assists to give the Rapids a 3-1 lead over Seattle Sounders FC at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, and his second was a scorcher to savor.
Will the Englishman prove the tipping point that pushes Colorado over the top in their playoff push?
Sounders late show
As gorgeous as Whittaker’s brace was, it was not sufficient to seal three points for the Rapids on home turf. That’s because the Sounders, despite all that’s gone wrong for them this year – head coach Brian Schmetzer’s injury-riddled squad hasn’t won a league match since May 13, dropping to 13th in the West – still have some fight left in them.
Two goals down in Colorado’s lung-searing altitude, the Rave Green dug deep. First they cut the deficit via a Dejan Joveljić banger aided by hard work from 20-year-old homegrown Sebastian Gomez. And then, Schmetzer’s final roll of the dice hit paydirt.
That’s new arrival Caden Clark, a bargain-bin pickup from D.C. United in the final hours of the transfer window, making the most of his seven minutes on the pitch in his Sounders debut via an absolute dagger from distance that snatched a 3-3 draw out of nowhere.
After all the hard miles of a bruising season, do the two-time MLS Cup presented by Audi winners from Puget Sound have enough in the tank to haul themselves back into the postseason reckoning? It’s a long shot, but they’re not out yet.
Herons held… again
It’s never a bad week when you get to hoist hardware, particularly in your own house in front of your fans, and that’s exactly what Inter Miami did with Wednesday’s Michelob ULTRA Campeones Cup win over LIGA MX giants Cruz Azul. Their Sunday nightcap surely left a bitter taste, though.
Even after dominating San Diego FC in several facets of play, Lionel Messi and the reigning MLS Cup champions fumbled away further points at Nu Stadium in a delightfully messy Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire slugfest, thanks to some cold-blooded breakaway work from Anders Dreyer and six saves from Miami alum CJ Dos Santos in a 2-2 draw.
With a 4W-2L-7D record at their beautiful new venue, Miami have now taken just 19 of 39 available points there. The Herons keep slipping up at home, and it’s seen them slide down to third in the East (below New England) and likely out of the Shield race.
Around the grounds
→ Believe it or not, Clark’s strike wasn’t the latest stoppage-time equalizer of the weekend. The San Jose Earthquakes and LAFC treated a big crowd at Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, to a pulsating affair with goals, antagonism, a red card and a last-gasp twist on Saturday afternoon.
Despite 1g/1a from Son Heung-Min giving the visitors a 2-0 advantage that lasted deep into the second half, the Quakes battled back to steal a point, with defender Reid Roberts stepping up to lace that lovely daisy-cutter into the bottom corner. The 2-2 draw in Walmart Saturday Showdown keeps San Jose one point ahead of LAFC in the table.
→ Lots of fun goals across this matchday, but was anyone more ruthlessly clinical than Allan Saint-Maximin? Despite a valiant push from D.C. United, Charlotte FC’s swaggy star made sure The Crown escaped Audi Field with all three points via a 2-1 win with this late finish, his first in MLS.
A cult hero during his English Premier League era with Newcastle United, Saint-Maximin is finding his feet in North Carolina and it’s elevating CLTFC, who have won four of their last six and lost once in league play since the World Cup break.
