Two Eastern Conference clashes close the weekend
New England Revolution host FC Cincinnati at 2 pm ET and Atlanta United welcome Orlando City SC at 7 pm ET. Both games are free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
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Everything that could have happened yesterday happened. Let’s talk it out.
The above is real. All of it. And it doesn’t even begin to capture just how absurd this game ended up being.
It appeared we were on track for yet another disappointing Chicago Fire performance. With the Fire down 3-1 and time running out, a Montréal red card opened a razor-thin crack in the window for Chicago. Somehow, they made their way through it. After a penalty-kick goal from Brian Gutiérrez and Hugo Cuypers' first MLS goal tied things up at three, Chicago took one last shot at finding a winner. Kellyn Acosta lofted the ball into the air from midfield and a higher power did the rest.
The wind carried the ball forward and carried the ball forward some more until Montréal ‘keeper Jonathan Sirois fumbled a Wrigley Field pop-fly off his hands and into the net. Seriously, you gotta see this thing.
With the win, the Fire became the first team in MLS history to win in regulation after trailing by multiple goals in the 84th minute or later. It’s an incredibly needed moment for a team that has been on the end of similar losses far too often.
We’ll say it again: You can only outrun the horror movie monster for so long.
D.C. United had their chances, didn’t finish them and Inter Miami punished them for it. We even had Inter Miami turn around a potential D.C. chance and head the other way to immediately take the lead. Just to be on the nose. You can’t let the Herons stay close. Even without Lionel Messi.
Man, Seattle can’t catch a break right now. Josh Atencio picked up a second yellow early in the second half and the Rapids took control of the game. Eventually, the equalizer arrived. And if that weren’t tough enough for the Sounders, it came on Kévin Cabral’s ninth career MLS goal in nearly 4,900 minutes. Nothing is going their way.
Great road point for the Rapids; that’s four points from two challenging road tests in a row.
The Crew and Cucho Hernandez shrugged off the Red Bulls press to score one of the prettiest goals you’ll ever see against New York. From there, they were off and running. In case y’all needed a reminder, Columbus are pretty good at this. The Red Bulls still have a ways to go before they can go toe-to-toe with the champs.
That’s more like it.
Toronto FC took an early lead and it seemed like the hard conversations being had in The Bronx might get harder. But Santiago Rodríguez sent home an absolute dot of a free kick, Kevin O’Toole headed home a gorgeous trivela pass from Julián Fernández, and NYCFC held on after a red card from Keaton Parks to earn a critical 2-1 win. NYCFC finally have something to feel good about this season, which came at a much-needed time.
The Union were able to shake off some CCC rust and shake off a nearly devastating one-two punch from Austin to earn a road point. Austin are still looking for their first win of the year.
The Whitecaps look great and have seven points through their first three games… but it’s hard not to focus on how much of a bummer Dallas have been so far. Nico Estévez’s side has three points through their first four games and their switch to a back three hasn’t gone smoothly. They’re dealing with injuries to players like Paxton Pomykal and Asier Illarramendi, who are injured a little too often for comfort, and new DP Petar Musa hasn’t lived up to the price tag so far. It’s far too early to bury them, of course, but there haven’t been encouraging signs since their late win on opening weekend.
Ibrahim Aliyu handed the Dynamo the lead and their first win of the MLS season. There’s still a long way to go for this Houston team, but any points without Héctor Herrera in the lineup feel like a blessing. Maybe now that CCC is behind them they can start to reset and resettle.
Not much is going right for the… Ok, yeah, nothing is going right for the Quakes. It’s very not good right now. They have no points through four games and a negative-6 goal differential. On the other hand, Sporting Kansas City might have scored one of the best team goals of the weekend after a gorgeous pass sequence ended with an Alan Pulido goal.
Are… are the Loons about to haul off and win the Western Conference?
I know, I know – we’re light years away from the finish line, but they’re sitting atop the conference after four games and have looked decent to great in every game so far. Against LAFC they looked great. And they did it in front of their home fans. That’s big for a team that had bizarre issues at home last year. If they had won just nine games at home last year instead of just four, they would have equaled St. Louis on points. Heck, last year’s Montréal won 10 at home and they missed the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. Nine is totally doable.
Anyway, the Loons look great, they have a strong manager, Emanuel Reynoso is getting healthy and Robin Lod is back and playing a key role again after missing most of last season due to injury. Lod’s return has quietly played a critical part in Minnesota’s hot start and his injury quietly played a role in their struggles down the stretch last season. Things feel a bit different this year.
…Oh man, almost totally forgot about LAFC, which says a lot about where LAFC are right now. They have four points and two goals through their first four games. It feels like some of the worries we talked about this offseason are already manifesting.
Sam Surridge redirected a cross and Alex Muyl Moss’d a defender to give Nashville two headed goals and three points in a win over a southeastern rival(ish). After this week’s tough CCC loss to Inter Miami and the news Walker Zimmerman underwent surgery, The Boys In Gold needed this one.
It makes sense the lone late-night game would give us this. It had all the MLS After Dark energy to itself. I don’t even know what we can truly take away from it other than to say “That’s MLS, baby.” Joakim Nilsson scored off an overhead kick; that’s all you truly need to know. Unless you just need me to remind you how Joseph Paintsil is a dude and that MLS is weird. Honestly, I don’t even know if anything I just saw in this game was real. It feels like it all came to me in a dream.
- Luis Suárez lifted a Messi-less Inter Miami.
- Chicago Fire dug deep for a crazy comeback and Kellyn Acosta had a miracle moment in the win.
- Cucho powered the Columbus Crew to another win.
- New York City FC believe their first win of 2024 "reinforces the process."
- Alan Pulido's game-winner left San Jose "chasing shadows" versus Sporting KC.
Good luck out there. Send it forward and let the universe do the rest.
