MLS round-up, May 25

A feisty old affair is a good place to start a round-up of Saturday's MLS action and another 40,000-plus crowd was at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to see Atlanta United take on Los Angeles FC. The game wasn't short on action in the first-half, despite a lack of goals, and Eduard Atesta petulantly picked up a yellow card that would come back to bite him later. The match turned fifteen minutes into the second-half when Brad Guzan raced out of his goal to head a deep ball, a trailing leg taking out Mateusz Bogusz. VAR ruled it was a red card offense and substitute 'keeper Josh Cohen's first job was to pick the ball out of the net from Bogusz's deflected free-kick. Both sides had further chances after that and the Five Stripes were given a boost for a last push when Atesta received his second yellow nine minutes from time, but LA held on to push Gonzalo Pineda into further trouble. The slide at Stade Saputo was at least temporarily arrested by CF Montréal, who drew 0-0 with Nashville SC on Saturday. Hany Mukhtar came closest to grabbing a goal, hitting the post from distance, but there was otherwise little to report from a nevertheless entertaining game. It was also 0-0 in North Carolina, where a big crowd of over 30,000 saw Charlotte FC and Philadelphia Union come together. The Crown dominated possession, an unusual situation for a side that likes to play on the break, allowing Union to have the best chances, with Quinn Sullivan lively on the wing.

Chicago Fire no doubt travelled to Audi Field more in hope than expectation, but escaped from their visit to DC United with a point after an enjoyable 1-1 draw. It looked like it was bad business as usual for Frank Klopas's side when United went ahead in the twentieth minute after Christopher McVey stuck out a leg to poke home after a free-kick was lofted into the box, but Fire kept at it and drew level eight minutes into the second-half with a lovely goal from Kellyn Acosta, exchanging passes with Hugo Cuypers before firing home. Another struggling side, Caleb Porter's New England Revolution, thought they'd managed to avoid defeat when a rampant New York City FC came to town on Saturday. In front of an encouraging crowd of 25,625, the Revs had much the better of the game but just couldn't make any of their chances count, something that proved costly when Keegan Parks made it 1-0 to the visitors with nine minutes to play. It was the Diego Rossi show down in Florida as Columbus Crew warmed up for next weekend's CONCACAF Champions Cup Final with a 2-0 at Orlando City. Playing two up top for a change gave the Lions an attacking edge but it was Crew who took the lead after a confusing sequence of events - a VAR check for offences committed in both penalty areas - resulted in a penalty being awarded for a foul on Aidan Morris. Rossi converted the spot-kick and then added a second sixteen minutes into the second-half with a delightful finish to chip Pedro Gallese in the Orlando goal. Cucho Hernandez again missed the game but is expected to line up against CF Pachuca on Saturday.

Crew's Ohio rivals FC Cincinnati came out on top of a seven-goal thriller north of the border as they outlasted Toronto FC 4-3 at BMO Field. With Federico Bernardeschi missing through yellow card accumulation, it was down to Lorenzo Insigne to inspire the home side and it was the Reds who scored the only goal of the first-half, Deybi Flores's header finding a way past Roman Celentano. The Garys struck back eight minutes into the second-half, Luca Orellano running onto a ball past a fouled Dado Valenzuela to slot home, and the visitors took the lead just two minutes later, Orellano pouncing on a lazy Toronto defender to get a shot off. That was saved by Sean Johnson but Kevin Kelsy netted the rebound. The Reds came back at it and pulled level midway through the half, a deflection off Ian Murphy for an own goal, but history repeated itself in the 79th minute when Orellano ran onto a ball after substitute Sergio Santos had been brought down to give Cincinnati the lead again. The drama was by no means over, though, and Insigne was given a chance to equalise from the spot when Miles Robinson fouled with just five minutes left on the clock, the Italian maestro duly slotting home. 3-3 would have been a fair result but Santos had other ideas, popping up in the third minute of stoppage time to slide the ball past Johnson and end a thrilling game in the visitors' favour.

It was slightly less exciting down in Missouri, where St Louis CITY welcomed Seattle Sounders to town for a game that really came alive in its final quarter. CITY had the better of a scoreless first-half but the second-half was more even, needing an own goal from CITY's Kyle Hiebert to put daylight between the sides in the 66th minute. A revitalised Jordan Morris doubled the visitors' advantage three minutes later, superior finishing the difference in a game where defences were very much on top. St Louis did pull one back through Tomas Totland with eight minutes to go but the Seattle revival continues apace. Western Conference leaders Real Salt Lake came to FC Dallas full of confidence that they could take advantage of the Texans' indifferent form to register another away win. In fact, it was Dallas who roared away into a 3-0 lead before the hour after opening the scoring in first-half stoppage time when Zac MacMath fumbled a simple save, with Patrickson Delgado and Paul Arriola piling further misery on the Real 'keeper. Luckily, his side are a formidable outfit and grabbed one back in the 61st minute through Diego Luna, before substitute Anderson Julio fired a rocket of a shot into the top corner from thirty yards to reduce the arrears to one. Still, it looked like the Toros might have earned an unlikely win, only for Nelson Palacio to equalise with virtually the final kick of the game in the 98th minute and break Dallas hearts.

There was also drama in Denver where Colorado Rapids and Minnesota United FC played out another six-goal thriller, although this time it was the home side that needed to make the comeback. Things started well for the Rapids but it was the Loons who opened the scoring, Jeong Sang-bin getting on the end of a perfect pass from Robin Lod to fire home. The home side did draw level in the eighteenth minute when Kevin Cabral lobbed Dayne St Clair, but the parity lasted for just six minutes before Tani Oluwaseyi - again preferred to Teemu Pukki up front - scored off the rebound, a decision confirmed by VAR. Things got worse for Rapids just past the half-hour when Jeong got his second from a breakaway move and Chris Armas had work to do at half-time. Whatever he said seemed to have an effect as Rafael Navarro headed in from Djordje Mihailovic's corner just past the hour, and they drew level on 71 minutes when Cole Bassett's cross found Cabral, the Frenchman heading home for his third of the season. United still could have won it in the closing stages when Pukki hit the post from a difficult angle, but honours even was probably a fair result here.

Los Angeles Galaxy were still without Joseph Paintsil as they took on Houston Dynamo in Carson but did have Riqui Puig sporting a new dye job. It was Dynamo, though, who went ahead in the eighteenth minute, Latif Blessing celebrating his 200th MLS appearance by capitalising on a howler from Galaxy 'keeper John MacCarthy. The home side drew level a minute before half-time when Gabriel Pec twisted in mid-air to head past back-up Dynamo 'keeper Andrew Tarbell, ending a first-half in which both goalkeepers were kept busy. The second-half wasn't quite as lively and Galaxy kept up their march towards the play-offs with a Puig special just before the hour, firing past McCarthy from the edge of the box to give the home side a 2-1 win. That was also how things finished up at Providence Park, where just 13,744 saw Phil Neville's Portland Timbers beat a game Sporting Kansas City. The visitors hadn't won since March 30th and it showed in a tentative first-half that finished goalless. Timbers opened the scoring six minutes into the second-half when Evander found Felipe Mora unmarked at the back of the box, the Chilean heading home for his seventh of the season. Sporting got back on level terms just past the hour, some good hold-up play by Alan Pulido leading to Memo Rodriguez's right-footed strike, but it was Timbers who grabbed the win, VAR confirming that Evander's shot past Tim Melia in the Sporting goal was, indeed, legit.

To say things are not going swimmingly for San Jose Earthquakes' coach Luchi Gonzalez would be an understatement, but the Quakes have had a few bright spots in an otherwise miserable 2024 season so far, a campaign perfectly illustrated by their 4-3 loss to USL Championship side Sacramento Republic in the US Open Cup last week. Austin FC didn't even enter the Open Cup this year, preferring to send their reserves, but they're on a good run recently, climbing up the Western Conference after a poor start. The home side got off to a good start ten minutes when a Cristian Espinoza pass to Jeremy Ebobisse gave the striker ample time to fire home, and the Quakes almost kept that lead through to half-time, only for Brendan Hines-Ike to head in from Owen Wolff's corner a minute before the break. Neither keeper had a save to make in the second half as both sides seemed content with a point but it looks like being a long season for Gonzalez, if he makes it that far. Saturday's final game came from British Columbia, where Vancouver Whitecaps had reportedly sold over 50,000 tickets for the visit of Inter Miami CF, only to find out the day before the game that Carles Busquets, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez wouldn't be travelling. The Herons controlled the game early on, going close through Leonardo Campana, Matias Rojas, Robert Taylor, and Jordi Alba, but took until the 38th minute to find a breakthrough, Taylor beating his defender to shoot past Yohei Takaoka. With Caps offering nothing solid, the visitors doubled their lead nine minutes into the second-half, Campana finishing from a great pass by Taylor to make it 2-0. The home side finally got a chance to get back in the game when Fafa Picault was fouled in the box by Tomas Aviles in the 68th minute, VAR taking almost four minutes to confirm the decision for Ryan Gauld to slot home his seventh of the season. Vancouver poured on some late pressure but Miami - Messi or not - were just too good for the Canadians on the night and extended their unbeaten run to ten games.