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The midweek slate brought us upsets of all kinds. Let’s talk it out.
INTER MIAMI - 1 | ATLANTA UNITED - 3
L. Messi (62') | S. Lobjanidze (44', 59'), J. Thiaré (73')
Well then.
Atlanta United snapped a nine-game winless skid and handed Inter Miami their first loss since March 23 in an absolute beatdown of a game that could have been a lot worse for the Herons. For once, Atlanta United created more xG than their opponent and actually won and Inter Miami created less than their opponent and actually lost. It’s not what we’re used to around here. But full credit to Atlanta for putting up 3.4 xG to Inter Miami’s 0.7. The Herons have now been outcreated by Atlanta and Vancouver in the last two games by a combined 6.2 to 1.5 margin. Maybe they really can’t outrun their middling stats forever?
It’s hard to overstate how big this is for Atlanta. This team has the roster to compete with the best teams in the league, but their confidence had started to wane. They were playing well for chunks of this nine-game winless run, but as the results stopped coming so did the encouraging performances.
Well, for the first time since their last win, they rolled out something close to a full-strength lineup last night. They even threw in a bit of a twist with a back-three setup. Pair that up with an Inter Miami tactical approach that doesn’t do all the things that had been making life difficult for Atlanta the last few weeks and, in the weirdest way, Inter Miami of all teams became a get-right game. Now, they have to keep that momentum going. We’ll see if it’s possible with international absences looming this summer.
FC CINCINNATI - 0 | NASHVILLE SC - 2
J. Maher (25'), J. Shaffelburg (29')
WELL THEN.
What a night, huh? Nashville didn’t quite deliver a beatdown here, but they flipped the game on its head in a four-minute stretch in the first half and were able to do what no one else had against FC Cincinnati in seven games: See out a result.
It’s a heckuva first win for interim manager Rumba Munthali and, like Atlanta’s win in Miami, a confidence builder for Nashville. They’ve now taken eight points in their last four games, including a 2-0 win over Toronto that resulted in Gary Smith’s dismissal. It seems like there are still questions about this roster, but they’re cohesive right now and getting the kind of grind-it-out results we’ve come to expect from this group. That’s all you can ask for right now with an interim manager in charge.
Cincy shouldn't stress too much over this one. They were gamestated hard here. And only having the second-longest winning streak in MLS history isn’t the worst thing. With Inter Miami losing they didn’t drop any ground in the Shield race and the status quo didn’t change. Although a few teams out West were more than happy to see both Cincy and Miami crash down to Earth for a night. If the RSLs and LAs of the world get involved in this race for real, we have something special on our hands.
Speaking of…
SEATTLE SOUNDERS - 1 | REAL SALT LAKE - 1
A. Rusnák (68') | A. Gómez (90'+9')
Oh man, Seattle, guys, not like this.
The Sounders went up on an Albert Rusnák free kick that just snuck by Zac MacMath and looked to be on their way to a critical win against the Western Conference leaders. They even appeared to score a match-killing stoppage time goal. But a foul before the goal forced the goal to be overturned by VAR and…well…y’all can see the final score.
RSL lumped the ball forward into the box, and had it bounce around a few times until it fell at the feet of Andrés Gómez and then fell again at the feet of Gómez who finally pushed the ball into the net.
RSL are on their way to reaching horror movie villain status. They don’t go away and they seem to will themselves back into games. That’s two consecutive road points they had no real business getting. And their 3W-1L-5D away record is a big reason why they’re still on top of the West.
Seattle…it’s truly a cursed season for them right now. Nothing wants to go their way. In a vacuum, a point against the top team in the West isn’t the worst thing, but they have one home win in seven tries this year. That’s disastrous.
LA GALAXY - 3 | FC DALLAS - 1
D. Joveljic (4', 66'), Riqui Puig (90'+4') | P. Delgado (22')
LA just rolled here. Dallas were totally outmatched in every way. It could have been worse too. Final xG tally: 4.4 to 0.5. Sheesh.
The Galaxy are now just two points behind RSL at the top of the West.
LAFC - 2 | MINNESOTA UNITED - 0
D. Bouanga (38'), M. Bogusz (82')
We talked last week about LAFC being our pick to win the West. This didn’t do anything to change my mind. LAFC controlled the game against a very, very good Minnesota side. Oh, and Mateusz Bogusz hit the absolute hell out of a ball. That was impressive too.
LAFC jumped the Loons for third place in the West with the win and are now just three points behind first-place RSL with a game in hand. We’re still about nine games away from the arrival of Olivier Giroud, but LAFC are on track to set themselves up to challenge for the top of the conference. Maybe more.
NEW YORK RED BULLS - 3 | CHARLOTTE FC - 1
E. Forsberg (74', 76'), A. Reyes (83') | B. Bender (90'+6')
The streak is over. And then it ended again. And then it ended again one more time.
Charlotte hadn’t given up a goal since April 27, but Emil Forsberg finally broke through in the 74th minute to give New York the lead. He then immediately added a second. The Red Bulls leaned on Charlotte just enough to finally break through and open the dam here. Throw the fact that this game had any goals at all onto our pile of upsets.
It’s a nice bounce-back win for New York after a rough Hudson River Derby a couple of weeks ago. They’re still equal on points with the blue half of the city.
AUSTIN FC - 0 | PORTLAND TIMBERS - 2
Evander (45'+3'), J. Rodríguez (66')
Just a hilarious win for Portland. It’s like the universe decided Austin needed to regress to the mean all at once. Before Jonathan Rodríguez’s second-half penalty put the Timbers up 2-0, Portland had generated a grand total of 0.08 xG to Austin’s 2.08. That includes a stunning free kick from distance for Evander and a missed penalty for Austin. There’s no other way to describe this than a brutal, brutal result for Austin and a comical smash-and-grab win for Portland on the road.
You never quite know what you’re going to get from Portland, but they’ve found their way in enough games this year to be sitting in a Wild Card spot. If you’re not going to be good every game you might as well be lucky in some of the games, right?
Austin fans should be frustrated with the universe at large, not their team. If they play like that more often, they’ll be fine.
CF MONTRÉAL - 4 | D.C. UNITED - 2
A. Lassiter (6') , S. Ibrahim (34', 73'), M. Choinière (38') | C. Benteke (29', 42'), M. Peltola (Red Card 45+5’)
Despite a ton of injuries, CF Montréal pounced early on D.C. United, kept piling on goals and finally pulled away after Matti Peltola’s red card tilted things in their favor for good. It’s a much-needed, stop-the-bleeding kind of win for Montréal.
For D.C….they’ve officially reached the top tier of frustrating teams in MLS. They should be getting better results than this. They lose control of games a little too often and it’s starting to feel like they’re really going to rue the points they’ve dropped from winning positions this year. Because, right now, they aren’t even getting into winning positions. That’s one point from their last four games.
HOUSTON DYNAMO FC - 3 | COLORADO RAPIDS - 1
A. Bassi (40'), L. Blessing (70'), S. Kowalczyk (80') | D. Mihailovic (49')
Houston…scored three times? Sure. Why not. It’s only like the 16th weirdest thing that happened last night.
Amine Bassi finished off a cross, Latif Blessing sent home an excellent volley and Sebastian Kowalczyk scored from outside the box. A couple of those probably aren’t repeatable, but the Dynamo needed a break or two in attack. We’ll let them have it.
Of course, if anyone needs a break in attack right now, they should welcome a visit from Colorado with open arms. The Rapids have allowed 14 goals in their last five games.
SPORTING KC - 1 | VANCOUVER WHITECAPS - 2
M. Tzionis (90'+2') | R. Gauld (39', 82')
A terrible, terrible giveaway handed Ryan Gauld a chance on goal and Vancouver earned a road win against a flailing SKC side. Sporting KC stayed stuck at the bottom of the West and it’s getting testy now. Peter Vermes and Vanni Sartini shared what we’ll call an awkward moment at the end of the game.
On the flip side, it’s Vancouver’s first win since April 20.
PHILADELPHIA UNION - 0 | TORONTO FC - 0
I think everyone expected a little more from this one. Oh well. At least the Union didn’t lose at home for the fifth straight game.
CHICAGO FIRE - 1 | ORLANDO CITY - 1
H. Cuypers (70') | F. Torres (4')
The first goal in this game gave me a concussion.
I don’t know if there’s anything more to add to it. Orlando have not been good this year. Chicago have not been good this decade.
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