No Sunday games
That's all she wrote on Matchday 11. Check out MLS Wrap-Up for analysis of Saturday's 14 games.
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Austin FC pulled off an upset, Inter Miami scored for fun and D.C. United got back on track. Among other things.
Let’s talk it out.
Told y’all.
After a brief interlude, welcome back to 2022. Diego Rubio scored early, Jáder Obrian added another and Austin limited the Galaxy’s chances as they rolled to a 2-0 win. Austin didn’t win the xG battle, but they absolutely won’t care.
Underlying numbers and 2022 jokes aside, it’s worth pointing out Austin have solid pieces. Rubio, Sebastián Driussi, Alex Ring, Dani Pereira and Brad Stuver provide enough down the spine to win games in MLS. They’re still a few pieces away from resembling a contender, but they may keep pulling out results anyway. We’ve seen this before, right?
Luciano Acosta went to work again and the Rapids couldn’t slow him down. There’s not much more to add here. The reigning Supporters’ Shield winners did what they expect to do at home. The Rapids ran into a great team on the road.
The Crew should be thrilled with this. They rotated their lineup for CCC purposes and still came out with a point. Montréal earned a road point of their own. Carry on.
We predicted one team’s fanbase would be panicking after this one, and Seattle did everything in their power to ensure we were right. Stefan Frei picked up an early red card after denying a goal-scoring opportunity inside the 18. Christian Benteke finished off the subsequent penalty and skied for a headed goal to seal the match.
It’s a much-needed win for D.C. United. They deserved a break, to be honest.
It’s… pretty much the worst-case scenario for Seattle. They needed a break and got the opposite. To be fair, they had chances and largely outplayed D.C. despite going down to 10 men. That probably won’t make anyone in Seattle feel much better, though. The Sounders have six points through their first nine games. It’s the worst start in the club’s MLS history.
In front of a record crowd of 65,612, the Revs kicked things off with a goal from Tomas Chancalay just seconds into the match. From there… well, Inter Miami have some quality. Lionel Messi scored twice and delivered an assist, Luis Suárez found the net and Benjamin Cremaschi scored as well. The Herons flexed against a floundering team. New England have four points from their first nine games.
Brian White scored on his return to Red Bull Arena, but Lewis Morgan canceled it out in the second half as two good teams fought to a stalemate. It’s a great point for Vancouver after going across the continent and facing a fellow playoff-caliber team on the road. They might feel disappointed to not get more after a, um, unique red card from Noah Eile. But it’s still another good result for one of the West’s best teams.
By the way, White became Vancouver’s all-time leading goalscorer (44 all-comps) with his first-half goal against his old team. It’s fair to say the Whitecaps won that trade.
New York City left it late, continuing a stellar homestand by picking up their third consecutive win thanks to Alonso Martínez’s late goal. The mood around the team has flipped over the past month and they now have 14 points from 10 games after a tough start. We’ll see if they keep it up as they head on the road a little more… but they’ve earned a major morale boost (for now).
Meanwhile, Charlotte are trending downward despite the arrival of new DP Liel Abada. That’s three losses in their last four games.
The Cardiac Reds?
Orlando had the script flipped on them last night, as Toronto pulled off a stunning comeback on the road. Tyrese Spicer found the equalizer, then Federico Bernardeschi weaved through a couple of Orlando defenders in the box and lofted a cross to Prince Owusu on the back post. Owusu didn’t even need to jump to head it in and earn three huge points.
It’s honestly unclear what this says about either team, but it feels like a dose of MLS karma for Orlando after swiping so many points in the last few weeks. Full credit to Toronto for fighting back and continuing to outperform expectations. I’m still not convinced they’re a playoff team, but they’ve made exactly the kind of progress you would hope for as a Toronto fan.
Philadelphia… lost? Philadelphia… lost at home?? Y’all, I think RSL might be pretty good at this.
Andres Gómez continued his outstanding start to the season with a first-half goal that somehow found its way into the net. The Union equalized in the second half thanks to a flick from Dániel Gazdag, but Alex Katranis delivered three points for RSL with an incredible volley from distance.
That’s three road wins in RSL’s last four road games, plus 14 points from their last six games. They ended the night atop the West and there’s reason to believe they can stay there for a while. They’ve been excellent defensively, Chicho Arango is putting up MVP-caliber numbers and they’re getting production from the supporting cast.
In addition to being their first loss of the season, this is a rare home loss for Philly. It’s not a disastrous result for the Union, but it was coming. They were undefeated heading into last night, but they’ve been far from their best.
Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady stood on his head and the hosts held on for a point. Atlanta will be disappointed to miss out on their first road win of the year despite being in control, but we’ll always stand by our “road points are good points” mantra.
FC Dallas picked up their first win since MLS is Back weekend and just so happened to do it against their biggest rival. It helped that Houston’s Griffin Dorsey picked up a red card in the fifth minute, but still. When you start as poorly as Dallas have, you take what you can get.
DP forward Petar Musa found the net for the third time this year and Dallas moved up to 12th in the West.
Houston… y’all good? It seemed like things were heading in the right direction with Héctor Herrera returning and the Dynamo picking up points consistently. Instead, they’ve face-planted against in-state rivals in back-to-back weeks.
Michael Boxall scored off a corner kick and Tani (!) Oluwaseyi (!!) scored (!!!) again to hand Minnesota a 2-1 home lead (!!!!) they wouldn’t relinquish (!!!!!).
Ok, elephant in the room here: You could absolutely talk me into Oluwaseyi being offside on the second goal. But Minnesota played well on the night and I don’t have to yell at them for losing home games this time. That’s great news for the Loons, who have had an excellent few weeks and may have a gem in Oluwaseyi. He has two goals in two starts and four goals on the season.
The Loons have 17 points through nine games now and two (!) home wins on the season. They’re a real threat in the West. Meanwhile, SKC have 11 points from 10 games and can’t seem to find any luck. It’s been a weird start.
Nashville will be glad to see Hany Mukhtar score for the second time this season, but San Jose aren’t who you want to drop points at home to. The Coyotes didn’t play poorly, but the vibes are bad.
Portland worked back from a 2-0 deficit, but Diego Chara celebrated his historic 377th match with the Timbers by picking up a red card and Denis Bouanga sent a screamer off the post in stoppage time to give LAFC a late win. It’s a bummer for Chara and the Timbers, but it’s also a reminder they have issues defensively. They’ve allowed 21 goals on the year. That’s the second-worst mark in MLS.
LAFC will be happy with the result, but displeased with the process. It feels like they haven’t figured out how to put together a full 90-minute performance.
- Inter Miami were fueled by a historic crowd at Gillette Stadium.
- Luciano Acosta reached another milestone for FC Cincinnati.
- Petar Musa stepped up for FC Dallas in a massive Texas Derby win.
- Diego Chara set the MLS single-club appearances record.
- Brian White made Vancouver Whitecaps history in his Red Bull Arena return.
Good luck out there. Start off hot.
