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We have a handful of very important post-Matchday 4 takes to get to in just a moment. But first, we’ve got to talk a few games out in a mini recap.
Yeah, not a whole lot happening here for an FC Cincinnati squad coming off Concacaf Championship Cup action and a D.C. United team missing Christian Benteke and Ted Ku-DiPietro. Cincy were the better side, but couldn’t find a breakthrough. It’s just that time of year for CCC teams.
A heavily rotated Nashville side missing Walker Zimmerman due to injury took a surprising 2-0 lead in what looked to be a classic “road games are hard” game for the Galaxy. Then their attack woke up, and Riqui Puig and Dejan Joveljic got LA back into the game. In the end, it’s a solid road point for LA and a disappointing-but-totally-fine home point for Nashville before their Wednesday CCC matchup at Inter Miami. Which, hey, speaking of…
The Herons also rotated heavily, keeping Lionel Messi out of the lineup entirely and putting Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets on the bench. CF Montréal took full advantage. Fernando Álvarez found the net off a set piece and Matias Cóccaro and Sunusi Ibrahim put Montréal back ahead after they relinquished the lead late.
For the first time this year, Inter Miami couldn’t drag themselves to points by sheer force of will. For the first time this year, a team finally made sure they were out cold. Although, it did take a late equalizer from Miami to really refocus Montréal in this one.
They got the job done, though. And Montréal have now taken seven points from three road games to start the season. Even if they lose the rest of the three remaining road games on their six-game trip to start the season, the start of the year has been a success.
Which brings us to the main part of our newsletter today…
Are Montréal for real?
It’s a heckuva start. Plenty of teams would have come up totally empty over three games on the road to start the season. It seems like new forward Matías Cóccaro and his Best XI-caliber mustache are very promising. They’re finding ways to get the job done on the road. They’ve succeeded without dynamic attacker Mahala Opoku as of late. There were seven teams last year who didn’t win more than two road games all year, and Montréal already have two. It’s going about as well as it possibly could.
But it’s only Matchday 4. I think we’re going to need more time.
Verdict: Needs more time
Are New England in trouble?
The Revolution have zero points through their first three games. They got run over on Saturday in Atlanta and looked exhausted by the end. They haven’t been able to find any kind of balance between their CCC form and MLS play. That’s not unusual, but the scary thing here is there isn’t much margin for error in this year’s Eastern Conference. There are too many good teams.
It’s not going to get much easier either. They have to travel to Costa Rica to face Alajuelense on Thursday for another CCC game. The good news is they’re up 4-0 and can theoretically rotate their lineup without worrying too much. The bad news is they’re up 4-0 and are theoretically set to play even more CCC games. It sure seems like they’re set to take on Liga MX juggernaut Club América in early April. They’ll basically get one free MLS game before they start worrying about CCC again. Considering their fixture congestion and their issues at the No. 9 spot, they could be fighting an uphill battle the rest of the way.
Then again, kind of early. Seems like we should probably pump the brakes a bit.
Verdict: Needs more time
What about Orlando City?
It’s kind of the same thing, right? CCC is hard. Even still, they created 4.0 xG worth of chances to Minnesota United’s 1.0 xG on Saturday night. They still lost because of some defensive brain malfunctions, but those seem like more of a product of post-CCC fatigue rather than a trend with a group we know pretty well by now.
Still, one point through three games isn’t ideal and I’m going to guess it hasn’t been enjoyable at all to be an Orlando fan the last week. Getting routed by Miami, creating chances but failing to go ahead against Tigres, and whatever happened Saturday night is a tough, tough stretch.
But it’s early and Orlando did get much, much better as the year went on last season, even if some of that got inflated by extreme underlying number overperformance. Don’t think we can make a call here yet.
Verdict: Needs more time
Uhhh… New York City FC?
Well, the new stadium looks like it’ll be pretty cool. And, yeah, it’s all gone sorta pear-shaped on the field for about a year and a half now. Then again, it’s also kind of early in the season.
Verdict: Needs more time
Well, the other New York team is good at least, right?
Oh, yeah, I’m close to being all-in on this group. Emil Forsberg has been everything we thought he might be so far, and Lewis Morgan has been outstanding ever since he arrived in MLS. The importance of having Morgan back healthy can’t be understated. And they still seem to have some roster flexibility to potentially add another attacking piece up top. My gut call right now is we’re looking at the best Red Bulls side since 2018.
Verdict: Needs more time
You haven’t mentioned a single Western Conference team.
Right, that’s because it’s the West and I’m not even going to try and drag this one out. Anyone saying they have any idea what’s going on over there at this point does not have an idea of what’s going on over there. I think the Galaxy are probably pretty good at least. And San Jose are very not good. Still…
Verdict: Needs more time
…Chicago?
Ok, that’s not going well at all.
Verdict: History repeats itself.
…You want to go back and hedge on that, don’t you?
Yeah, felt kind of mean.
Plus it’s only Matchday 4!
- Matt Doyle’s Sunday column is up and good.
- CF Montréal have been road warriors to start the year.
- Here’s why Lionel Messi missed Inter Miami’s 3-2 loss to CF Montréal.
Good luck out there. Home is where you make it.
