In what was another exciting weekend of MLS action, we saw an undisciplined Whitecaps team receive a heavy-handed defeat from SKC. Elsewhere Dallas maintained their unbeaten status, the only remaining MLS team to not have suffered a loss the season. LAFC came back from what would critics would have called a telling defeat to win with five goals over the Impact. The other LA-based team suffered a defeat to an Atlanta team that is continuing to do things right as a fresher expansion side. During the last little bit of action we saw on Sunday the Sounders earned their first win of the season against the other expansion team from last season that isn’t performing nearly as well.
Sporting Kansas City 6-0 Vancouver Whitecaps
SKC demolished nine-man Whitecaps to extend their lead over the West.
Johnny Russell opened the scoring for SKC in the tenth minute with a shot past Whitecaps keeper Stefan Marinovic from out wide, assisted by Roger Espinoza. Russell found the net again in the 16th minute from the opposite side of the box as his last goal, once again assisted by Espinoza. Jimmy Medranda made it 3-0 for SKC in the 30th minute with a long-range attempt that found the top-centre of the net, assisted by Daniel Salloi. After a questionable tackle, VAR determined that both Yordy Reyna and Efrain Juarez of the Whitecaps should receive red cards, thus bringing the Whitecaps down to nine men.
Russell earned his hat-trick in the 48th minute with a strike from close range following a corner, assisted by Matt Besler. Cristian Lobato scored in the 54th with a close-range shot into the top of the net, assisted by Yohan Croizet. Croizet scored a goal of his own in the 77th minute with a great finish of Ilie Sanchez’ through pass to round out the scoring at 6-0.
FC Dallas 2-0 Philadelphia Union
Dallas earned a solid win over the Union to stay undefeated in the MLS.
FC Dallas opened the scoring with a penalty confidently taken in the 64th minute by Mauro Diaz, earned by Matt Hedges for being brought down in the area during a corner. Maximiliano Urruti doubled Dallas’ lead in the 74th minute with a shot from wide after rounding Union keeper following a fantastic through pass from Roland Lamah.
Montreal Impact 3-5 Los Angeles FC
LAFC managed an impressive comeback against 10-man Impact.
Ignacio Piatti put the Impact on the board in the ninth minute with a confident finish from the centre of the box. Piatti netted his second in the 16th minute with a deftly converted penalty that he earned by being brought down in the box by LAFC keeper Tyler Miller. LAFC managed to get themselves on the board in the 24th minute thanks to an expertly taken freekick by Laurent Ciman. The collapse began for the Impact when Victor Cabrera was shown a red card in the 31st minute after fouling LAFC’s Marco Urena in the area. A penalty was awarded and Urena stepped up to take it, but his effort was saved by Miller. Piatti made his hattrick in the 43rd minute with a solid effort from the centre of the box, capitalising on a through-pass from Jukka Raitala.
Benny Feilhaber began the comeback in earnest with a quick finish assisted by Marco Urena in the 52nd minute. Jukka Raitala suffered the ignominy of scoring an own goal in the 57th minute to bring LAFC level. LAFC’s Diego Rossi earned a penalty after being fouled by the Impact’s Daniel Lovitz, Carlos Vela converted it in the 83rd minute to give LAFC their first lead of the game. Latif Blessing got himself on the scorecard for LAFC in the 89th minute with a finish from close-range to end the scoring at 3-5.
Houston Dynamo 5-1 Toronto FC
The Dynamo hammered a heavily rotated Toronto side that appears to be focusing on the CONCACAF Champions League fixture this mid-week.
Mauro Manotas brought the Dynamo into the game early on with a third-minute strike from the centre of the box, assisted by Romell Quioto. Leonardo doubled the Dynamo lead in the seventh with another goal from the centre of the box following a corner kick.
Eric Alexander made it 3-0 for the Dynamo with a close-range strike in the 46th minute. Mitchell Taintor got Toronto on the board in the 52nd minute with a close-range finish of Ager Aketxe’s cross. Alberth Elis got himself on the score-sheet for the Dynamo in the 60th with a neat finish of Quioto’s cross. Quioto finally got himself on the board in the 77th minute with a shot from wide to make it 5-1 for the Dynamo, assisted via a headed pass from Alejandro Fuenmayor.
New York Red Bulls 1-2 Chicago Fire
The Fire handed the Red Bulls their third defeat of the season despite small presence on the field.
The Fire found the net first, with a 30th-minute strike by Aleksandar Katai from outside the box.
Nemanja Nikolic doubled the Fire’s lead in the 69th minute with a confident finish of a penalty given for a foul on Katai by Red Bulls keeper Luis Robles. Bradley Wright-Phillips netted a consolation goal for the Red Bulls in the 81st minute with a close-range finish following a corner.
Columbus Crew SC 2-2 New England Revolution
Four goals in the first half left this game without a winner as neither the Crew nor the Revs could find the edge in the second half.
The Crew took the lead in the ninth minute thanks to an embarrassing own-goal by the Revolution’s Andrew Farrell. Teal Bunbury brought the Revs level in the 14th minute with a shot from wide, assisted by Cristian Penilla. Gyasi Zardes put the Crew back in the lead in the 43rd minute with a finish from wide, assisted by Federico Higuain. Penilla brought the Revs back level in the first minute of added time in the first half with a shot from the centre of the box, assisted by Juan Agudelo.
Orlando City SC 3-2 San Jose Earthquakes
Orlando took home all three despite a late attempt to come back from the Earthquakes.
Chris Mueller gave Orlando an early lead with a tight finish from a difficult angle in the second minute, assisted by Yoshimar Yotun. Sacha Kljestan made it 2-0 for Orlando in the 35th minute with a close-range finish following a break, assisted by Chris Mueller.
Dominic Dwyer scored Orlando’s third in the 69th minute with a strong shot from the centre of the box, assisted by Justin Meram. The Quakes finally found the net in the 78th minute with a goal coming via a close-range effort from Florian Jungworth. Jungworth scored his brace in the 90th minute with a strong headed finish of Magnus Eriksson’s cross.
Real Salt Lake 3-0 Colorado Rapids
Without Tim Howard for most of the game, the ten-man Rapids ultimately fell to a late onslaught from RSL.
The Rapids evening began to turn sour when keeper Tim Howard was shown a red card in the 20th minute for handling the ball outside of his box after he rushed to stop a promising RSL attack.
RSL did not manage to find the net until the 82nd minute, with a penalty conceded by Rapids defender Tommy Smith and converted by Joao Plata. Damir Kreilach made it 2-0 for RSL in the 89th minute with a shot from the left side of the box, assisted by Albert Rusnak. Rusnak netted himself a goal in the second minute of stoppage time with a well-placed freekick into the top-right corner.
LA Galaxy 0-2 Atlanta United FC
Atlanta blank the Galaxy in a huge statement win to keep them second in the East.
In the 20th minute, Atlanta were gifted a penalty which might have put them in the lead had Josef Martinez not struck it into the woodwork following a tricky approach. Martinez luckily managed to find the net in the 22nd minute with a close-range finish to make up for his missed penalty.
Miguel Almiron stepped up and confidently converted a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time, earned by Romario Williams for being fouled in the area by Jorgen Skjelvik.
Seattle Sounders 3-1 Minnesota United FC
The Sounders earned their first win of the season against a struggling Minnesota team.
Gustav Svensson got the Sounders off the mark with a solid strike from outside the box in the 23rd minute, assisted by Cristian Roldan. Will Bruin doubled the Sounders’ lead in the 25th minute with a strike from the centre of the box, assisted by Roldan.
Christian Ramirez got Minnesota in the game in the 66th minute with a header from the left side of the six-yard box, assisted by Darwin Quintero. Jordy Delem scored the Sounders third and the final goal of the game in the fifth minute of stoppage time with a shot from the centre of the box, assisted via through-pass from Clint Dempsey.
Portland Timbers 3-0 New York City FC
NYCFC suffered their first defeat of the season in a shutout loss to the Timbers.
The Timbers opened the scoring in the 26th minute thanks to a headed goal by Sebastian Blanco, assisted via a cross from Andres Flores. Fanendo Adi doubled Portland’s lead in the 38th minute with a close-range effort into the bottom corner of the net.
Larrys Mabiala made it 3-0 in the 66th minute with a strong headed finish of Diego Valeri’s cross to end scoring on the night.
