The final matchday before Leagues Cup is now in the books. We got a few debuts, some teams down below the line showing life, a statement win in Seattle, and an Inter Miami side starting to put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack.
Let’s jump in:
This time last week I had just about crowned the Crew, who were playing some of the best ball I’ve ever seen in MLS. Naturally they responded by taking just one point from two games – a goalkeeper was the culprit midweek, while on the weekend it was poor marking on set pieces as the Five Stripes reversed a 1-0 deficit with a pair of late corners.
Those corners were one problem. The way they dealt with Atlanta’s long balls from the back (particularly given that’s the exact way Charlotte got their equalizer) was another, and perhaps more difficult to fix. Though manager Wilfried Nancy sounded unbothered.
“We knew that Atlanta likes to play like this because of the video. The idea is to protect the ball in behind. After that, I think we did a good job with that. They played one ball that we were in trouble on the save of goalkeeper [Nicholas Hagen],” Nancy said in the postgame. “After that, we were able to deal with it. We could have done better, but it was not bad. Most of the teams, they do that.
“This is the difficulty sometimes between when we attack and for the rest defense.”
That rest defense just looked slightly off to me. Perhaps it’s a factor of dead legs, or maybe having a brand new central midfield in Sean Zawadzki and Alexandru Matan, as Darlington Nagbe was rested.
Whatever you want to pin it on, it was a bad week for the Crew, one that seriously damaged their Supporters’ Shield hopes.
For Atlanta, four points from two home games is a pretty good week - enough to pull them over the red line for the next month until league play starts up again. Their hope will be that they’ve added a couple of DPs by then, and that those DPs can make this team less reliant upon Route 1.
Miami aren’t just surviving without Leo Messi: They’re thriving. This win marked six in seven since Messi last took the field in pink.
It’s just an insane level of quality depth other teams can’t match. Sergio Busquets was once again in central defense in this one, which left rookie Yannick Bright to anchor central midfield, and Bright was awesome:
Yes, that’s our Face of the Week from Julian Gressel after his, uh, shot attempt.
Anyway, Bright’s never going to run the show the way Busquets does as a 6 (nobody in the world does), so Miami very happily change the way they play when Busi’s on the backline and Bright’s in central midfield. They drop their block to find more transition chances; they are willing to give up the ball and let opponents disorganize themselves by taking risks.
And when they win the ball, they go. You can see it all in the clips above.
Miami are now four points ahead of the second-place Galaxy, though they’ve got a game in hand on LA. They’re five points up on slumping and battered Cincy, and 10 points up on the team I thought would catch them, the Crew (though the Crew have two games in hand).
If you had last week “Miami or the field?” I think I’d have taken the field. After this week, I’m taking Miami.
The Fire, despite ~gestures broadly~ well, everything, are still just three points below the line in the East. But also second to last.
Goals like this are what was dancing through TFC fans’ heads when this team signed Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne two years ago:
The Reds didn’t have a ton of the ball or many chances at Montréal, but the one time they did, their top-end quality sliced open the opposing defense. And sometimes that is the entire story of a game.
I do think, at some point, John Herdman is going to need to rethink deploying Bernardeschi as an inverted right back. Toronto’s midfield isn’t good enough to dictate games and get him on the ball in spots like what you see above all that often. But that’s probably analysis for another week.
Montréal’s three-game unbeaten run came to an end, but they still head into the break with real postseason hopes as they’re just one point under the playoff line, and just three back of Toronto in 8th.
Vibes law: When the vibes are good, you’re more likely to catch a break. And the vibes are immaculate for FC Dallas right now.
The soccer on Saturday was not, as they spent 90 minutes in Foxborough as distinctly second-best to the short-handed Revs. Then the clock struck 90 and a bundle of added time was put on the board, and Dallas – playing without all three of their DPs, as well as veteran orchestrator Asier Illarramendi – dragged the game into the Tactics Free Zone™, where they found a 95th-minute Paul Arriola equalizer from the spot.
Los Toros Tejanos are now 5W-3L-1D since Peter Luccin took over for Nico Estévez. They are three points out of the final Audi MLS Cup Playoff spot in the West. This could happen (though that winless road record is a massive warning sign that things are maybe not as good as they seem).
New England’s lost season continues.
• FC Cincinnati vs. the New York Red Bulls in 2024: No wins, 2 losses, -3 goal differential.
• FC Cincinnati vs. all other MLS teams in 2024: 15 wins, 5 losses, 3 draws, +14 goal differential.
Neither result – the 2-1 RBNY win at Cincy back in April, or this weekend’s thumping in Harrison – felt remotely fluky. If anything it seemed like the Red Bulls would’ve been good for a fourth with some better finishing, or if Emil Forsberg was out in that left half-space going to work.
Without Forsberg more of the creative burden falls on Lewis Morgan, who’s been up to it. His brace gives him 12g/4a in 1700 minutes this year. The dude’s been one of the best attackers in the league, full stop.
One thing to note here: There was a gap between RBNY’s center backs and their young central midfield duo available to exploit:
Cincinnati, even after Lucho Acosta and Luca Orellano both subbed on at halftime, just could not find those gaps.
I think this is born of RBNY d-mids Daniel Edelman and Ronald Donkor being super energetic about cutting down lanes to keep Lucho, in particular, in one or the other’s cover shadow. I also think this is born of slower and less precise distribution from Cincy’s backline as the absences of Matt Miazga, Miles Robinson and Nick Hagglund take their toll.
The Garys held firm in their first few outings after the injuries hit, but they are staggering right now, riding a three-game losing streak into Leagues Cup play.
Orlando have climbed above the playoff line over the past month by largely excising plays like this from their repertoire:
Head coach Oscar Pareja seemed content to chalk it up to dead legs, and he’s probably not wrong.
“Big effort from the players after these couple weeks that we had been playing every three days. I would like to value that effort. Two teams tried to put a good performance, and from our side, in the first half, we had control, but we were not as dangerous as we were in the prior games,” Pareja said. “In the second half, it seems like we brought more energy and we started creating better chances and we have the game 1-0, which is something that this year has been a challenge for us to open the games.
“And then this goal that we concede, this is where we have that sensation of frustration for us that it was not that they did a lot of stuff to tie the game.”
New York City FC manager Nick Cushing had his team change their pressing triggers and line of confrontation throughout, which did a nice job of preventing Orlando from building any rhythm. And obviously the press led to the equalizing goal, so well done all around to the Pigeons.
NYCFC enter the break at 5th in the East, while Orlando are four points behind them in 7th. Both are good teams; both are clearly a piece or two short of the true contenders.
I’m curious to see if either gets busy in the transfer window.
Just like that, Philly have snapped out of their coma and, at the same time, helped induce one for a spiraling Nashville side.
Philly’s three goals:
- Beautiful back-to-front interplay with quick passing and players swapping positions. They looked like early ‘70s Ajax.
- Hammered a long ball to the top of the box, then won the second ball and slipped hat-trick hero Dániel Gazdag through. They looked like early ‘80s Leeds.
- Pressed high and pounced when Brent Kallman slipped straight into hell. They looked like early 2010s Red Bull.
This has been the underappreciated aspect of the Union over the past five years: they could beat you in multiple ways. Too many have thought of them only as a high-paced, direct, pressing side, and while they do that a lot, I straight up don’t think that’s the best club in their bag. I’d love to see them use the ball more:
The Union had one win over the course of three months from mid-April to mid-July. They’ve now got two on the bounce, and head into the break just a point below the playoff line.
Nashville have lost six straight. They are in hell.
I was surprised at how open this game was, as Charlotte have been very good at closing games down and turning them into slogs any time they’re on the road – which both Ohio clubs learned to their detriment over the past week.
But I’d wager that tired legs (three road games in a week is a lot) played their role here as Austin were able to get on the ball and ping it around a bunch. The Crown, meanwhile, were not doing much to connect passes through midfield:
To be clear, midfield possession isn’t really their game. But even by their standards this isn’t much, especially considering this game marked the return of DP Karol Swiderski, a linking No. 9 if there ever was one.
Swiderski got the first Charlotte goal, potting a PK after Iuri Tavares was clipped in the area during a set piece. Charlotte’s second goal came after an attacking throw-in when Austin just switched off and didn’t mark Ashley Westwood, who was able to find the winger on the back post for a clever finish.
Finding and winning the little moments like those – turning them into big moments – are why Charlotte are where they are in the standings.
But give credit to Austin for not just rolling over and dying, as they have so many times throughout this season. Both goals, Alex Ring’s early opener and Jon Gallagher’s late equalizer, were well-crafted and well-earned. They looked comfortable and dynamic with the ball in a way they mostly haven’t all year.
They are two points south of the playoff line heading into the break.
The tale told by the standings took some of the shine off of this one, though it did still seem to feel like a derby to the fans (who were loud throughout).
I will pick some good news for each side:
• Two of St. Louis’s three new signings debuted, in attacker Cedric Teuchert (who started) and d-mid Jake Girdwood-Reich (who came on late). Both looked fine.
• Willy Agada has, I think, answered the center forward question for Sporting going forward, and made it clear his injury-plagued 2023 was the outlier. He’s now up to 9g/2a in 1266 minutes this year, and 20g/4a in 2900 total MLS minutes since his debut two years ago. If he stays healthy, he’s the long-term No. 9.
The Loons finally snapped their nine-game winless skid, taking care of business at home against an Earthquakes side that is really finding some new ways to create despair in the fanbase. My own personal slice of it: I’ve been a Jeremy Ebobisse fan since he was in college. And right now that dude is cursed. While he’s in Minnesota let’s hope he stops to purify himself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka:
Even with the win it does not really feel like Eric Ramsay’s quite figured out how to right this ship, because look at that clip again. Focused on how rushed and unsure Minnesota look in possession, trying to force the ball into spots that create no actual advantage. And look a second time at their rest defense.
This is not a shape in possession that’s conducive to winning a second ball, or toward preventing a counterattack should you not win it:
Still, the win pulled Minnesota above the playoff line heading into the home stretch. They need to use this month to get a lot better.
Man, I don’t really know where to begin with this one, so I’ll just let Rapids coach Chris Armas – whose team officially claimed the Rocky Mountain Cup for just the 4th time in the past 18 years – sound off.
“Early on in my tenure here, the fans let me know what was important to them. That's what it was about, winning that Rocky Mountain Cup. Keeping that trophy here once it made the trip on the airplane. Securing that trophy for them,” Armas said in the postgame. “For the players to feel validated for the work that they did, they're winners.
“I can see that on a night like tonight, the way that the boys hang in there [through a one-goal deficit, a blown one-goal lead and a prolonged weather delay] and can persevere. It’s tremendous for them and I’m happy for them. So, our fans, the players, and then I see a lot of people around here in our organization that work really hard. Of course, there’s the staff that's to the left and right of me always, but the people that sell tickets and the extended staff. To see their faces tonight and they're congratulating us, but I just say ‘Hey, congratulations right back to you.’ Seeing that everyone can take a small piece of that makes it a really special night.”
The Rapids haven’t gotten a lot of nights like this one, but they’re starting to stack them under Armas. Cole Bassett is officially leveling up – he had a goal and two assists in this one, once again playing as a No. 10 with Djordje Mihailovic on international duty – and is up to 9g/6a on the year. Moise Bombito is going to command a record fee. Sam Vines, Oli Larraz, Kévin Cabral, Jonathan Lewis… the list of contributors is a mile long.
Much the same could be said about Pablo Mastroeni’s RSL side. These two great rivals are mirror images in a lot of ways, in terms of both roster building (leave no stone unturned is the guiding principle for both) and game model (toggling between a structured press and a mid-block, with creative freedom from within the structure).
The difference in this one ended up being a whistle on a corner kick that earned Bassett the late, game-winning PK. It looked like the right call to me, but I’ll let you guys yell at Wiebe for his Instant Replay takes instead.
Big picture, though, is this felt like the highest-level game of the weekend, even in the midst of all the delays, and even with the crucial absences on both teams. Colorado pressed high; RSL broke the press. RSL retreated into a shell; Colorado broke them down with clever interchange and overloads.
Give-and-take, adjustment-and-counterpunch. Just really excellent stuff.
I’m giving Kei Kamara our Pass of the Week:
Just pure fulcrum play. Between Kei and the soon-to-arrive Olivier Giroud, this pattern is going to be available to LAFC virtually every time they take a lead from here on out.
This one was much, much closer than the final scoreline as Hugo Lloris played himself an absolute blinder in net. I know that, just going by the scoreline, this one obviously worked out for the Black-and-Gold, but I really did not like Steve Cherundolo’s decision to go to a 5-3-2 and drop the line directly into Lloris’s lap.
Still, it was a great road win. And coming off of disappointing performances vs. Columbus and RSL, I think Cherundolo had the right postgame perspective:
"[It is a] very important signal also to the others that we’re still there."
I hope the change to the game model is a one-off aimed specifically at stopping a Sounders team that had been rolling.
Vancouver had also been rolling, taking 13 points of the previous 15 on offer heading into Saturday night. And then they went down 2-0, and then they staged a massive three-goal comeback to take the lead with 15 minutes left.
Brad Smith hit that like it owed him money.
And then this happened:
Griff Dorsey hit that like it owed him money.
I don’t know if you can take anything structural away from those two goals, save for the fact Vancouver got too stretched chasing a fourth when they were up 3-2, which led to Smith’s very low-percentage equalizer.
What happened in the first half, though, had to be more worrying for Vanni Sartini, as he watched Houston isolate left winger Ibrahim Aliyu on ‘Caps right center back Bjorn Inge Utvik time and time again, which led to each of the Dynamo’s first two goals. He was forced into a pretty obvious adjustment.
“We changed the way of defending in the second half, adding a midfielder, and trying to be aggressive, and it went perfectly, I would say. We scored three goals, [could] have scored even more. We played better than them [Houston],” Sartini said. “And then at the end, I think it was very – let’s call it unfortunate – the first goal that [Houston’s Brad] Smith scored is a fantastic goal. And the last one, I’ve got to rewatch it, but we had nine guys in front of their guys and we concede a goal… but we conceded basically four shots and they scored four goals.”
That’s not really true – Houston generated 16 shots overall, and had some good sequences in the second half – but this was very much an against-the-run-of-play affair down the stretch. And sometimes that’s enough.
“Away wins are the best, and the guys are celebrating in the locker room right now,” Houston boss Ben Olsen said afterward. “These road matches are hard, and it feels good to win them. We have also been able to find different ways to win recently. There were great portions of the game tonight, but the way we started the second half was poor.
“At halftime, we talked about what we were going to face from Vancouver from an energy, quality and adjustment standpoint. Many times, teams can’t come back from a 3-2 deficit on the road. It’s a hard thing to do, but we found a way.”
Ezequiel Ponce, Houston’s record signing, made his debut in this one, playing 45 minutes up top as a No. 9 before giving way for Sebas Ferreira at halftime. And Ferreira, who’s been on a tear, once again figured prominently, as it was his through-ball that released Smith into space for the equalizer.
Olsen’s got a fun problem to solve.
And finally, Joseph Paintsil was incredible deputizing at center forward for the injured Dejan Joveljic in the Galaxy's big win over the Timbers:
This man did not let the Timbers backline off the hook for a single second, constantly moving into and out of the channels and always looking to get downhill. He had a goal and two assists and that actually understates his influence over the game.
Credit to Greg Vanney for finding a solution to life without Joveljic, at least temporarily. The Galaxy have now scored six goals in the past two games with Paintsil up top, and he’s figured directly in all of them.
