Two games to close the weekend
New York City host Colorado at 4 pm ET and Seattle take on the Galaxy at 6:45 pm ET. Both games are free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
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Lionel Messi broke all the records, early-season favorites in the East continued to struggle and the Quakes picked up a huge win. Let’s talk it out.
Tani Oluwaseyi can’t stop scoring. His 60th-minute strike gave him five goals on the season and his third straight goal in as many starts. He’s been outstanding and the Loons were good enough yet again to get the job done on the road. They won duels across the field, held up defensively and took full advantage of their opportunities. There’s a reason they’re averaging two points per game.
Atlanta United can’t say the same. They’ve lost two of their last three at home and can’t stop self-inflicting wounds. The underlying numbers remain great. But no one in Atlanta is going to care about the analytics if avoidable missteps keep leading to dropped points.
Charlotte were never uncomfortable in this one as goals from Nikola Petkovic and Enzo Copetti (!) guided them to a straightforward home win. The Crown have a totally acceptable 14 points through 11 games. Portland have 10 through 11 and have allowed 23 goals. Neither of these teams are particularly inspiring, but at least Charlotte can defend consistently.
It looked like the Union’s miserable week might continue in D.C. after Philadelphia went down 2-0 in the first half. But a goal from Alejandro Bedoya and another stunning left-footed strike from Jack McGlynn rescued a road point for Philly against a rival. It’s a great road point all considered, even if it doesn’t exactly dismiss all the worries about the current state of the team.
D.C...buds…pals…y’all gotta learn how to hold a lead. There’s nothing else to add at this point.
Lionel Messi delivered five (5) assists and a goal in one of the best performances in MLS history. No player has ever contributed six goals in an MLS game before. Messi did it in a half. As long as he’s healthy, it doesn’t matter who else is. This team is a juggernaut.
Anyway, Luis Suarez got on the other end of three of those assists while new signing Miguel Rojas received the other two. You just aren’t going to stop this attack. It’s so inevitable it would be boring to talk about if it wasn’t so impressive.
Lucho Acosta scored immediately at the start of this one and Cincy held off a mostly 10-man Orlando side for the rest of the game. Cincy, for all their turnover, are still doing Cincy things and continuing to improve. They’re second in the East with 21 points on the year. They’ll be somewhere close to that spot for the rest of the season.
Orlando will not be. A second-straight 63-point season isn’t in the cards. At this point, a 45-point season may be in danger. It’s just not clicking right now for the Lions and they’re perilously close to the bottom of the East. They have nine points in 10 games and a -7 goal differential. There’s little reason right now to believe they’re much more than their record says they are.
Sometimes the Quakes just need a big crowd. San Jose rolled over LAFC in a 3-1 win at Levi’s Stadium on the same night their new DP Hernán López made his debut off the bench. It couldn’t have gone better. And it’s another reminder they haven’t been poor in attack. They have firepower. They’ve just been disastrous defensively. Limiting LAFC to one goal on the night is a step in the right direction.
There aren’t as many nice things to say about LAFC. They’ve allowed 19 goals in 11 games and seem to have limited ideas on how to approach each game. The current style of play isn’t clicking and they haven’t picked up consistent results this season.
Federico Bernardeschi scored a tap-in off a penalty just before the half and then scored what was very much not a tap-in just after the half as Toronto rolled to a 3-1 win. Toronto are third in the East with 19 points despite a goal differential of zero. I can’t call myself a believer, but full credit to them for getting the job done against teams they should get the job done against.
Everyone should be getting the job done against Dallas. It’s incredibly rough right now.
Tomas Chancalay slammed a shot from the top of the box home and the Revs kept the Fire quiet the rest of the way. They aren’t quite out of the cellar in the East yet, but they’re finally moving in the right direction after their second win of the season.
Chicago…that’s three straight home games without a goal and four straight games overall without a goal. And losing to this New England team…man, just when you think it couldn’t get worse.
Houston’s woes in attack continued. They’ve scored as many goals as you and I have over the last three games and just nine goals in 10 games on the season. To be fair, they put up 22 shots, but still, a trend is a trend.
St. Louis earned a road point. They’ve been nothing more or less than totally fine this season. Almost literally. Make it seven draws in 10 games.
Walker Zimmerman returned to the starting lineup and, well, look at that. Nashville rolled to their biggest win of the season as Zimmerman found the net (for both teams) and Sam Surridge picked up his first career MLS hat trick. The Coyotes and Gary Smith needed this one. Things were looking kind of bleak in attack.
Injuries are catching up with Montréal. Missing out on Mahala Opoku, Matías Cóccaro and Josef Martinez is rough. It’s not the only issue they have right now, but it’s fair to give them a bit of grace while they work through this stretch.
This one stayed quieter than expected, but Chicho Arango still found a way to make his mark. His ninth goal of the season put RSL up late and the Western Conference leaders picked up their sixth win of the season.
For SKC, it’s not quite last season’s start, but no one should be feeling great about 11 points in 11 games. They haven’t taken a step forward this year and it’s not clear if it’s coming.
Another point for Austin! It didn’t electrify anyone, but Austin keeps going up against the best teams in the West and holding their own. That counts for something. They’re sitting fifth in the West after an excellent stretch.
- Lionel Messi set two more MLS records in Matchday 12. Here’s a breakdown what he did.
- A vintage Nashville SC win marked the "first step in a long journey."
- Inter Miami marveled as Lionel Messi made more history in their RBNY rout.
- Minnesota United keep leaping up the Western Conference table.
Good luck out there. Deliver five assists today.
