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What you need to know

USMNT begins Copa América campaign

The US men’s national team face Bolivia tonight in their first match of the tournament. Kickoff is set for 6 pm ET on FOX, TUDN, and Univision.

Kamara moves ahead of Landon Donovan on MLS all-time goals list

After tying the record on Wednesday, Kei Kamara scored the 146th goal of his MLS career to pass Landon Donovan as the second-highest goalscorer in league history on Saturday night.

The Recap

The Galaxy pulled out a big win, the Revs stayed hot and MLS MLS’d. Let’s talk it out.

REAL SALT LAKE - 0 | LA GALAXY - 1
G. Pec (74')

Chicho Arango left the match just 21 minutes in after a head-to-head collision resulted in a laceration that needed 20 stitches. RSL were fighting uphill from there, but still largely controlled the match until Gabriel Pec found a sliver of space at the top of the box in the 74th minute. Pec gave LA the lead and the Galaxy held on for a massive win that put them equal on points with LAFC and RSL at the top of the West.

A six-point week against New York City and RSL is about as good as it’s going to get for any team in MLS this year. Despite missing Riqui Puig for the last three games, the Galaxy have followed up their loss to Chicago with three consecutive wins. Now, they have three more games left in what’s the most important stretch of their season. They’ll face San Jose in a Cali Clasico on Saturday, then prepare for LAFC at the Rose Bowl on July 4. They’ve got Minnesota after that.

They’re already well on their way to outperforming expectations during this run. If that continues, they could find themselves in the driver's seat at the top of the West by the time we hit Leagues Cup. It’s a big ask. But they just pulled off one of the most impressive results of the season.

FC CINCINNATI - 1 | NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION - 2
Y. Asad (65'), O. Nwobodo (Red Card 69') | G. Vrioni (21', 41')

Don’t let the Revs get hot?????

Make it four-straight wins for New England, a team that looked on track to be one of the single worst in MLS history a few weeks ago. You don’t need to understand how or why this is happening, you only need to sit back and appreciate it. Were they outshot and outcreated? Maybe. Did they face a Cincy team starting two fullbacks as center backs in a back three? Sure, but what’s your point? Have they faced teams in pretty optimal scenarios where their opponents are either just not that good at soccer, traveled across the country, or were missing multiple key players? Well, why do you gotta go pointing that out and ruining everyone’s good time?

DON’T LET THE REVS GET HOT.

Anyway, Giacomo Vrioni had a brace for New England and, man, it just doesn’t matter how these wins are coming, the Revs had seven whole points four games ago. You take what you can get. Now they’re 12th in the East and two points out of a playoff spot. They were always too talented to be quite so bad. It’s nice to see them putting it together. We’ll see how long it holds up.

Meanwhile, FC Cincinnati lost center back Nick Hagglund to a broken fibula last night. With Miles Robinson gone on international duty and Matt Miazga out and needing surgery on his knee, Cincy are in the midst of a genuine crisis at center back. This may be the toughest moment they’ve been in since the team pulled itself out of expansion mediocrity. It’s not the kind of thing MLS teams are built to overcome. It could easily derail their Shield hopes.

LAFC - 6 | SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - 2
M. Bogusz (15', 48'), D. Bouanga (26'), Kei Kamara (33'), R. Hollingshead (42'), T. Ángel (87') | Rodrigues (45+3'), B. Kikanovic (57')

This felt like it could have been worse, even if LAFC were enjoying some finishing luck. Call it a revenge game for San Jose’s win back on May 4. Coincidentally, that’s the last time LAFC lost a game. Make it 22 points from the last eight games for them. LAFC were far and away the better side and are now officially on top of the West. Are they ever going to give that spot back?

COLUMBUS CREW - 4 | SPORTING KC - 0
Cucho (32', 45+2', 71'), C. Ramírez (66')

Sporting KC were just out here vibing. Living in the moment. Taking it all in. Glad to be outside. Fresh air. Sunlight. Oxygen. Not a phone in sight. Getting some cardio in.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC - 3 | FC DALLAS - 2
R. Ruidíaz (78'), J. Morris (88', 90+4') | P. Delgado (66'), P. Musa (70')

Raul RuidĂ­az skied for a 78th-minute header and Jordan Morris provided a last-second brace that gave Seattle a huge win and left FC Dallas wondering how they could let another team get one over on them late.

It feels hard to overstate how much Seattle needed a moment like that. Even when they’ve won this year, things have felt pretty dour. It might not be a full turning point, but it’s definitely a morale boost. Even if it’s fair to wonder what they were doing going down 2-0 to Dallas at home in the first place. The Sounders have 11 points from their last six games.

Dallas seemed on the verge of a third straight win until they weren’t. It’s the second multi-goal lead they’ve blown in the last month.

PHILADELPHIA UNION - 0 | CHARLOTTE FC - 2
P. Agyemang (56', 63')

Goals in quick succession from Patrick Agyemang guided Charlotte to a road win over the flailing Union. He really only needed one goal though. Charlotte always seemed destined to keep another clean sheet. Their outstanding defensive efforts have them first in the league on goals allowed per game and fourth in the East after 20 games. It’s by far the best season in club history right now and I hope the folks in Charlotte are appreciating it.

I hope the folks in Philadelphia are ok. The Union have one home win in 10 tries this season. It’s the worst mark in MLS and it’s starting to feel like being at home is making things worse for Philly at this point. Beyond that, I don’t know what else to add that we (and a few Union players) haven’t said already.

NASHVILLE SC - 1 | NEW YORK CITY FC - 0
T. Boyd (23')

Tyler Boyd provided Nashville’s lone goal and Nashville’s defense did the rest. Kind of. New York City FC took 14 shots and didn’t put a single one on target. Either way though, the Coyotes are now sitting seventh in the East and have taken 15 points in the last eight games. That includes Gary Smith’s last game in charge. We’ll see if they can carry that momentum into a two-game stretch that sees them take on Miami and Columbus in the span of four days.

NYCFC are finally hitting the kind of lull you’d expect the youngest team in MLS to hit. They’ve lost three in a row now. Not many teams would come out unscathed in a run of Columbus, LA and Nashville though. They’ll be fine. But they are all the way back in sixth place now.

NEW YORK RED BULLS - 3 | TORONTO FC - 0
E. Manoel (30'), D. Gjengaar (47'), C. Harper (75')

A weather delay didn’t stop the Red Bulls from rolling over Toronto. They were able to put a little more distance between themselves and New York City FC and did it without Lewis Morgan. Any points without him around are good points. With Emil Forsberg missing from this one, we can call these three points very, very good points. Even if they came against a Toronto side that’s tumbling downhill right now. Make it two points from their last six games. The Reds are suddenly in very real danger of falling out of a playoff spot.

MINNESOTA UNITED FC - 0 | AUSTIN FC - 1
H. Dotson (Red Card 26') | D. Rubio (31')

Hassani Dotson earned a first-half yellow card and then earned a second 40 seconds later to put the struggling Loons down to 10 men early. They didn’t recover. Diego Rubio found the net moments later and that was that. Minnesota have really, really struggled without their international players. That’s three straight losses now and just one win in their last seven games. Any longshot Shield hopes they had are long gone. Now they need to focus on getting back into the top four in the West because…

COLORADO RAPIDS - 4 | CF MONTRÉAL - 1
C. Harris (28', 45'), D. Mihailovic (90'), R. Navarro (90+2') | L. Abubakar (53' OG)

The Rapids rolled here. A brace from Calvin Harris led the way and Djordje Mihailovic and Rafa Navarro put it away for good. Colorado have three straight wins and have outscored opponents 9-1 in a span that’s put them into fourth place in the West. They have a big one on the way against LAFC on Saturday.

D.C. UNITED - 1 | HOUSTON DYNAMO FC - 4
C. Benteke (38', Red Card 66'), M. Akinmboni (Red Card 90+4') | S. Ferreira (51', 54', 86'), G. Segal (90+5')

Sebas Ferreira had maybe his best game in a Dynamo uniform and Houston rolled over a D.C. United side that went down to 10 men with Christian Benteke’s second yellow. Houston are starting to put it together a little in attack and have scored 13 goals in their last five games. D.C. don’t have much of anything together right now. They haven’t won since May 11.

PORTLAND TIMBERS - 2 | VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC - 0
J. Rodríguez (26'), F. Mora (43') | A. Schöpf (Red Card 52')

Jonathan RodrĂ­guez and Felipe Mora found the net in the first half and a Vancouver red card sealed the ‘Caps’ fate in the second. Portland is all the way up to sixth in the standings (tied with two other teams on 27 points but still) while Vancouver is all the way down to ninth (on 25 points but still).

It’s been a rough moment for the Whitecaps. They’ve earned nine points from their last 10 games.

ORLANDO CITY SC - 4 | CHICAGO FIRE FC - 2
F. Torres (4', 60'), L. Muriel (20'), I. Angulo (29') | M. Haile-Selassie (53'), H. Cuypers (69')

Orlando woke up and decided bangers were the way to break a five-game winless streak. The Lions picked up their second (!) home win of the season thanks to a stunner from Facundo Torres that set the tone and another stunner from Torres that capped a big win.

Chicago’s four-game unbeaten run is over and they’re back at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

ST. LOUIS CITY SC - 1 | ATLANTA UNITED - 1
I. Vassilev (50') | D. Ríos (71')

The biggest star from this game ended up being the referee for making a fun VAR announcement. So. Not a ton to say here.

Atlanta have earned eight points from their last four road games. St. Louis are the first team to 10 draws.

Other Things

St. Louis CITY SC sign Klein from MLS NEXT Pro affiliate: St. Louis CITY SC have signed midfielder John Klein from MLS NEXT Pro affiliate CITY2 to a one-year contract with club options for 2025 and 2026, it was announced Saturday. The 24-year-old Columbia, Missouri native has made four appearances for St. Louis CITY SC on short-term loan agreements this season and six overall over the course of two seasons.

The Reading Rainbow
Full Time

Good luck out there. Take over in big moments.