Leaning on the words of MLS players and coaches, here’s a game-by-game breakdown of everything that transpired in Matchday 21.
Onwards:
Growth and development are often topics when Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy has the mic, and things were no different after his team’s 2-0 win over Nashville SC at Lower.com Field.
Nancy, notably, drew a contrast between their 1-1 draw at Yankee Stadium two weekends ago. They had allowed Gabriel Segal to score a 94th-minute equalizer for New York City FC, holding the Crew to a road draw. Then on Saturday, Max Arfsten forced a 95th-minute own goal to double Columbus’ advantage and move them to five games unbeaten (4W-0L-1D).
Those moments and small differences might get lost in the grind of a season. To Nancy, they stick out and are worth reflecting upon.
“We work on momentum,” Nancy explained. “So, what does it mean? It means that we like to do exercises [where] sometimes you score goals so you have to manage the five minutes or the six minutes of the rest of the game or the exercise, and you have to be better to recognize the moment to defend or to attack. We try to reproduce this kind of situation, but at the end of the day, we cannot reproduce the mental aspect. There are emotions, there were people, there were fans.
“It is not the same, but we try to yes, replicate this kind of situation. The fact that they are able to live what happened against New York City FC, then today, this is the best way to learn. Now it’s all about consistency.”
Finding that consistency, as Columbus fans know too well from 2022’s late-game defensive errors, can be the difference between areas like making the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and watching from home.
For Nashville, they’re emerging from a two-loss week away from GEODIS Park. They’ve dropped to third in the East, but Walker Zimmerman is cautioning not to sound the alarm bells (I tend to agree):
At a 10,000-foot view, it’s not like the Seattle Sounders aren’t creating chances or looks on goal. They lead the league in total expected goals generated (31.55), per Opta.
The main problem is they can’t buy a dang goal. They’re underperforming their xG at the fifth-highest rate in MLS (7.55), offering an explanation (at least in part) for why the club is 2W-5L-4D since a late-April draw at Real Salt Lake and hasn’t scored in five of their last seven matches.
Injuries have played a big role. The Sounders also played without striker Raúl Ruidíaz (family reasons), forward Jordan Morris (Gold Cup duty) and midfielder Cristian Roldan (Gold Cup duty) for Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Orlando City SC. This context matters. The talent, even in their absence, is there.
When hearing head coach Brian Schmetzer speak postgame, it sounds more like a mental hurdle than anything else.
“We just need someone to start scoring goals.”
“We created some good chances, we just need that final action to go in. But of course, we're missing some key players. It's MLS, we get through it. We have to get through it, that's just the way it is.”
“It just comes down to individual decisions and when I say individual decisions it's not just the guy with the ball. … There are things obviously we need to work on to get that breakthrough and get the team to believe that we can score goals and win games.”
Those are various soundbites from Schmetzer speaking at Lumen Field, fielding questions after another frustrating result. And odds are, long term, the Rave Green will be just fine (they’re still third in the West). That’s despite the clear emotions everyone around the club is feeling right now.
Speaking of, Orlando felt they did enough to earn all three points from this cross-country road trip on short rest. They had some great chances, particularly through Facundo Torres as he returned from international duty with Uruguay. They just couldn’t complete the final move.
“We walk off the field with the sensation that we could have won it and that feeling is heavy right now in the locker room because we had our chances at the end, especially in the second half,” said head coach Oscar Pareja. “Even in the first half, we had [chances].
“It’s a game very well played by the players with a lot of personality in a very difficult place against a very good team. I think we dominated the game in terms of the clear options. We’re going to walk off with that point and take it proudly and take it to Orlando with our commitment to be heavy at home and keep ascending in the standings.”
If you just saw the scoreline, a 2-1 victory over Toronto that kept New England unbeaten at home this year (7W-0L-3D), there’s a pretty positive picture. Add in how two of the Revs’ strikers (Bobby Wood and Giacomo Vrioni) tallied in the comeback result, and the overarching sentiment remains.
Head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena saw things slightly differently when speaking postgame at Gillette Stadium.
“We didn't play well,” Arena stated. “We had a poor game and were fortunate to get three points. I give Toronto a lot of credit, they played hard and they made us earn the three points. Whether we earned them or not is subject to an argument for sure, but we didn't have a good night tonight.”
Arena, recognizing the grind of the summer months in MLS, provided more context.
“That's the best thing I could take out of the game, that we walked off the field with three points on a night where we didn't play well,” said Arena. “Last year, we lost those games frequently. You can see around the league, it's a tough time of the year. Teams are tired and they're losing players. It's just an awkward time.
“The month of July is going to be crazy in the league with the Gold Cup and the [Leagues Cup]. It's just going to be crazy, and you could see it's affecting teams. You can see some of the results tonight, you'd never pick these results. We are probably, like every team, just going to try to hang in there and try to collect points as we go.”
Toronto, meanwhile, have won just three times in 20 games this year. They've gone almost a month without a victory.
It was a good week to be an Austin FC supporter.
The Verde & Black are 5W-3L-0D since the middle of May. After an injury-filled, struggle-defined start to the year, the club’s suddenly back in the Western Conference pack and above the playoff line.
Also, it turns out center back Julio Cascante is Austin’s secret weapon in the final third?!
With the lopsided result, Houston came crashing back down to Earth after a three-game winning streak. Head coach Ben Olsen chalked it up to fatigue more than anything.
“We looked tired,” said Olsen. “We looked like the season caught up to us tonight. The schedule is brutal. It's brutal for Austin as well. We rolled the same team out and we just didn't look sharp.”
Vancouver head coach Vanni Sartini tossed out an unexpected tactical wrinkle on the road, utilizing Ryan Gauld as a left wingback. As a quick reminder: the Scottish DP is normally their No. 10.
It worked.
LAFC, lamenting what head coach Steve Cherundolo called “soft goals” conceded, just ended a stretch of playing six league matches in two-and-a-half weeks. They went 2W-3L-1D, battling injuries, fatigue and a possible emotional letdown from losing the Concacaf Champions League final at the start of the month.
Now comes a much-needed, though brief, rest period.
“We’re looking forward to giving the guys a couple of days off, recover physically and mentally and also take some time to train during the week,” said Cherundolo postgame.
“Some of the things we talked about and saw tonight, when you have games every three, four nights, you don’t have time to train and work on things. You just move forward and try to stay as close to your game model as possible. That’s what we’re trying to do, but now we can actually make some corrections and show the guys some video and improve.”
LAFC aren’t exactly going idle. They’ll play five more league games in early-to-mid July prior to the Leagues Cup and All-Star pause. But these moments, just to catch your breath and get players back healthy, can be massive.
While Brandon Vazquez was doing this for the US men’s national team in their 1-1 draw vs. Jamaica in the Gold Cup…
… FC Cincinnati’s 10-game unbeaten run (8W-0L-2D) was ending via a 3-0 loss at Audi Field to D.C. United. They’re still atop the Supporters’ Shield race by a seven-point margin, but an uncharacteristic result stings.
“I don't think they're mistakes, obviously, that we've made all year,” head coach Pat Noonan said postgame. “And we haven't been behind like that, so that part was new. But they kept pushing it in a way where I thought there was some chances to get back into the game in the second half with a goal.”
The important added context is, aside from Vazquez, Cincy were also without center backs Matt Miazga and Yerson Mosquera and midfielder Junior Moreno. They’re a few weeks away from new DP striker Aaron Boupendza being available for selection, too. That’s all to say: this wasn’t a full-strength group.
On the D.C. side, head coach Wayne Rooney feels if they can corral that first-half performance, then the Black-and-Red can “beat any team in the league.” Bold statement!
The Samuel Adeniran game.
St. Louis are back atop the Western Conference table after a 2-1 win at San Jose, a result powered by a striker who only joined up with the team Friday. Before starting his third MLS game and scoring his first MLS goals, the expansion side had Adeniran on loan at USL Championship side San Antonio.
“He came prepared, kept his head down and worked hard, and you could see that tonight,” said head coach Bradley Carnell postgame. “And then how it translates on the field now, he's a menace. He uses his body well. He can run the line. There's different weapons – he's a left-footer, it's always dangerous when he's going down the left-hand side. So it was fun to watch.”
With DP striker João Klauss still sidelined by a quad injury and Nicholas Gioacchini in strong form, St. Louis have more No. 9 depth than most probably realize.
For the San Jose side, this ended a nine-match home unbeaten streak and a 12-game undefeated record at PayPal Park dating back to August 2022. Quakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez looks at it more as a blip than anything symptomatic.
“We created our first goal, and I was really confident we were going to turn the game around,” Gonzalez said, referencing Jamiro Monteiro’s brief equalizer after halftime. “Credit to St. Louis, they are an efficient team. Now we have to bounce back.”
The Red Bulls may have figured some things out.
Goals from three midfielders – homegrowns Daniel Edelman and Frankie Amaya (he got a brace), as well as Venezuelan international Cristian Casseres Jr. – were the difference in this blowout. And now, New York moved to 5W-0L-2D against Atlanta United across all competitions at Red Bull Arena. It’s a house of horrors for the Five Stripes.
What stood out, though, was the diversity through which the Red Bulls scored. Head coach Troy Lesesne explained.
“The goal with Cristian comes in a way that's familiar to Red Bull,” Lesesne said. “We press, we win the ball up the field and he goes and he scored. Daniel's is off a throw-in. Frankie, he gets two goals against a run of play and credit to all these guys for capitalizing on their opportunity.
“We were able to capitalize and be opportunistic on chances that aren't necessarily always how you score goals and how we typically score goals. But you have matches like that and it's great to finally feel that way and feel like any time you went forward, you had a chance to score.”
Atlanta got Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis back into the starting XI, but that didn’t matter much in the end. They had a Miles Robinson-sized hole in the backline and were gashed open a few times on preventable goals.
“I felt that they were better in the important moments, the transition moments,” head coach Gonzalo Pineda said postgame. “The transition moments against those types of teams, physical, direct, they are always willing to do the effort, press, counter-press, to cover for each other – they are all fast and strong, you have to be better on the ball. You have to be much better. Connect better passes, not too much dribbling, but connecting better passes to progress the ball forward. And even though today we had more possession than them we were not progressing the best possible way.”
Atlanta’s unbeaten streak was snapped at seven matches (2W-0L-5D).
A+ trolling. No notes.
Inter Miami, after losing seven straight games, remain at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table. Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets, looking set to reprise their FC Barcelona glory days with the Herons (they’re not yet officially signed!), would need to galvanize the group.
Even with a lopsided final scoreline, and leading 3-0 at halftime, Union head coach Jim Curtin wasn’t too satisfied with their performance. Far from it.
“The fans go home happy with a 4-1 win, but I don't think we played our best soccer. Not even close,” Curtin said.
“They gave us some problems. It was difficult for us to get around the ball. We chased a lot and we talked at halftime about how we're at our best when we're all sprinting together 10 yards rather than jogging around for 100-plus yards, and I think they understood that. Didn't really fix it in the second half, but give the guys credit for grinding out a 4-1 that maybe wasn't indicative of the game.”
Also, as if it needed any reinforcing, Philadelphia handily won that loan/trade for Julián Carranza last year. And that’s probably understating it.
Sympathies to anyone who tries to predict MLS results.
After going 0W-3L-3D in the last month, the Fire won two road games in the past week – first a 2-1 result at Portland on Wednesday, then a 1-0 result at Kansas City on Saturday. Fabian Herbers scored two goals across that stretch, including the winner at Children’s Mercy Park over the weekend.
“I'm extremely proud of the group,” said head coach Frank Klopas postgame. “In both games, the effort, the attitude, the mentality, the ability to stick with the game plan and really in difficult moments, improve as a team and from game-to-game manage situations better.
“Two difficult places to come in Portland and here, and to start the second half of the season with two huge, huge, massive wins for the team and obviously [a] really good performance – we played well. We created good opportunities, and everybody just stepped up.”
Sporting KC’s attack, with previously red-hot Alan Pulido held under wraps, didn’t have many answers in the final third. Sporting director and manager Peter Vermes highlighted shot selection as a fatal flaw – they’re now winless in three games.
“I think we were just impatient, to be honest with you,” said Vermes. “I think from the get-go, we were impatient. We were trying to do everything in two and three passes, and like I said when you get in the other team's half, you work hard to get the ball in the final third.
“Now all of a sudden you get there and you're moving the ball a little bit, and all of sudden, you take a shot from 35 yards out. You're not scoring from there, I'm telling you. When you do, it's one out of 100. You don't need to be taking those shots, and we've talked about that many times. We took way too many shots from distance today. We could have been much more patient with the ball, and we weren't, and I think that came to haunt us at the end.”
The only thing missing from Justen Glad’s 98th-minute golazo? It was an equalizer, not a game-winner.
RSL have only taken 10 of 30 possible points (2W-4L-4D) at America First Field this season. Turn any of those losses into a win and we’re talking about the third-place team in the Western Conference table, if not higher.
Minnesota must be kicking themselves for settling for a point. But it’s undoubtedly a positive Emanuel Reynoso scored in his first start this season since returning from suspension and a months-long absence.
“Every time he got the ball, he created something,” head coach Adrian Heath said of their No. 10. “Every time he got in space, he looked like he would find the pass. I thought some of his touches and movements are as we expect from Rey and we have to do better.”
That last part is why Minnesota are searching for a new lead-the-line striker, reportedly adding Finland international Teemu Pukki in the Secondary Transfer Window. The Loons need someone to reliably put chances away, especially now that Reynoso is back to pulling the strings.
In a vacuum, NYCFC earned two important road draws this past week – 2-2 at Atlanta on Wednesday and then 1-1 at Portland on Saturday. You take those results in MLS when you can get them.
Placed in broader context, NYCFC have now gone two months without a win and are stuck in a 0W-5L-6D stretch. They’ve drawn five straight games as well.
Head coach Nick Cushing knows the juxtaposition of all this, and how everyone around the club is desperate for three points.
“I think ultimately, coming to these places are incredibly difficult,” Cushing said postgame after Keaton Parks’ header cancelled out Evander’s knuckling strike from distance. “Atlanta, the atmosphere; Portland, just the travel distance alone going from Atlanta to Portland, Wednesday to Saturday.
“I think the nature of our league is that if you go to these places and you pick up a point, it’s not so bad. We obviously want to win, but I think in the nature of the run we’re on, we want to win a football game. But to go one-nil down in Portland and come away with a point, we have to look at the positives and we’ll continue to understand that we need to win football games because we need to climb the table.”
It’s, uh, not so rosy from a Rose City POV. They’re now three points below the Western Conference’s playoff line.
Not too much to write home about from this one, although…
Canada should have called in CF Montréal homegrown Jonathan Sirois for the Gold Cup.
