LAFC cruise past New England
After putting together a 3-0 win in CCL on Thursday, LAFC struggled to look fresh and vibrant against New England last night, causing serious concerns about their ability to handle two competitions at—oh hahahaha no, no, just kidding they totally thumped them. Denis Bouanga’s brace, Timothy Tillman’s first LAFC goal and Stipe Buik’s first LAFC goal powered them to an impressive 4-0 win that would have been by a lot more if New England didn’t have Djordje Petrovic in goal. LAFC are still very good at soccer.
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Three Matchdays done. Only 31 or so to go before we actually learn anything other than “home teams are more likely to win and even then they sometimes don’t.” Even still, we’ll try our best here to consider the information we gathered from Matchday 3 and use it all to give you a whole bunch of opinions you probably didn’t ask for and which may prove to be invalid in about a week or so. And they said journalism is dying?
Atlanta United look like what you think an Atlanta United team looks like
Atlanta haven’t looked much like Atlanta over the last three years. They’ve struggled to press effectively. They’ve been slow to pounce on transition moments. They’ve been wholly disjointed at times. This Atlanta United team has, so far, rejected all of those attributes. And they still have starters to add to the mix.
The Five Stripes' 3-0 thumping of Charlotte was the performance (non-LAFC category) of the weekend in MLS and rightfully turned heads. With the talent Atlanta have across the field, they only needed to prove their tactical setup and chemistry would allow them to execute effectively. It took them a little too long to prove that against San Jose in Matchday 1. They nearly accomplished it against Toronto in Matchday 2. They showed proof of concept and a little more from the first whistle against Charlotte on Saturday.
Last year, at the end of the season, you started to see a more consistent and healthier lineup for Atlanta. Subsequently, you started to see the Five Stripes build on the tactical principles Gonzalo Pineda had been attempting to install all season. Now, you’re starting to see the team build on those principles and have the personnel to make it matter.
Atlanta won’t be on a steady climb up the ladder for the rest of the season. That’s not how progress works. But they will be something to worry about every time out. That hasn’t been true for a while.
Charlotte are on the other side of the coin
That was \rough\ from The Crown. Yes, Atlanta played very well. However, the kinds of mistakes Charlotte made defensively were largely inexcusable. And the attack looks completely disjointed. They have no points through their first three games.
We talked forever ago in this very newsletter about the risks of moving Karol Swiderski out of his role as a No. 9 to make way for Enzo Copetti. The plan, at the time, seemed to be moving Swiderski to a No. 10/second striker kind of role reminiscent of Sebastian Driussi’s in Austin. Instead, Swiderski has spent most of his time as a winger so far, to less than stellar results.
It would be unfair to put Charlotte’s struggles on him though. There are players out of position elsewhere too. The entire product is just off right now. It may be a while before it gets better. I’m not sure the year two bump they’d been hoping for is coming.
Let’s talk about St. Louis again!
We’re just going to make this a weekly installment where we remind everyone that winning your duels, being effective on set pieces and putting consistent pressure on your opponents with and without the ball is a really, really excellent way to get results in MLS. In this case, it just happens to be an expansion team reaping the rewards.
St. Louis have three wins through their first three games and there’s no real reason to expect them to slow down too much. They will slow down of course. But too much? That’s starting to feel unlikely. Because in addition to all of the xDawg, Energy Drink Soccer, MLS-buzzwordy things they’re doing, they also have quality players in key positions. Striker Joao Klauss and midfielder Eduard Löwen have star qualities that would be more than welcome (to put it gently) in other high effort teams like RSL and Red Bulls.
They’re not going to win the Shield or anything…probably. But the odds of making the playoffs after winning your first three games are high. This is somewhat sustainable, right?
Either way, don’t overthink this one too much. Just enjoy one the most outstanding beginnings in MLS history while you can.
FC Cincinnati power through
Alright. I’m sold.
After Cincy’s first game against Houston, I saw a sentiment that winning despite being outplayed by Houston was a good sign. A sign Cincy had learned how to grind out wins in a way they didn’t last season. I don’t think that’s a bad sentiment or anything, but a large part of me wanted to differ to worrying about them being outplayed by Houston rather than celebrating three somewhat lucky points. I needed more data points.
Well, we got a heckuva data point this weekend. FC Cincinnati weren’t at their best and earned a 1-0 win against Seattle anyway. That’s the kind of win that can convince folks to start believing that this is a new and improved Cincinnati team. Yes, we know they have better in them. But that’s what makes their first seven points exciting. If seven points out of nine can come from this team’s C-game, what happens when they’re at their best? If last year’s results mean anything, a lot of very, very good things will happen. Including becoming a genuine threat to win trophies.
Now they just have to find that next gear. It feels like they will. There’s just always a worry a team might get stuck in second and never get out.
Seriously, LAFC are very, very good.
There’s a chance they might actually end up better than last year? They at least might be deeper at a couple of spots. Which…man, how did they pull that off?
You can easily envision them making a run to a CCL title right now. In fact, they might be the favorites considering how they’ve looked through three games.
- St. Louis CITY SC have equaled MLS expansion history.
- LA Galaxy and USMNT prospect Jalen Neal shined in his first MLS start.
- Minnesota United played their home opener in wintry conditions.
- Austin FC shook off some CCL woes with what they called an "incredibly strong" win at Real Salt Lake.
- Nashville SC are finding a "better balance" at GEODIS Park.
- Toronto FC are “hopeful” for Lorenzo Insigne’s return as points begin to slip away.
- FC Cincinnati notched a statement win over Seattle.
Good luck out there. Here is a picture of a large man holding a falcon.
