MLS, USL Championship, Canadian Championship & USL Jägermeister Cup round-ups, May 29

An almost full programme of MLS matches last night began with CF Montréal breaking their run of nine games without a win when they beat DC United 4-2 at Stade Saputo. Ariel Lassiter put the home side in front after just six minutes, but they found themselves pegged back just before the half-hour when - who else? - Christian Benteke scored his twelfth of the season for United. The parity lasted for just five minutes before Sunusi Ibrahim - on as an early substitute for the injured Jules-Anthony Vilsaint - headed home from close range, with Mathieu Choinière extending their lead four minutes after that with a smart shot from outside the box. Benteke popped up again to reduce the deficit three minutes before half-time, taking advantage of some confusion in the Montréal box, but there was still time, though, for Matti Peltola to receive his second yellow card in first-half stoppage time, sending the visitors down to ten men for the entirety of the second-half. Seeking to take advantage, the Canadiens went on the offensive after the break and eventually got their reward on 73 minutes, Sunusi notching his second to give Montreal a much-needed win. Another run was ended in Ohio where FC Cincinnati had won their last seven games before entertaining Nashville SC at TQL Stadium. The home side, second only to Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference, dominated the game but lost 2-0 to first-half goals from Jack Maher and Jacob Shaffelburg, ensuring the Coyotes remain unbeaten under interim coach Rumba Munthali.

Continuing the run of runs ending, the return of their Galacticos didn't help Inter Miami extend their unbeaten run to eleven league games, falling at home to an under pressure Atlanta United side. Another capacity crowd at Chase Stadium were quietened just before half-time when Saba Lobjanidze put the visitors in front, going one better a quarter of an hour into the second-half to make it 2-0 on the back of some great work by Thiago Almada. Lionel Messi did manage to pull one back three minutes later, but Jamal Thiare restored the Five Stripes' two-goal advantage with sixteen minutes left to play, a gap that proved insurmountable as Gonzalo Pineda's men celebrated a 3-1 win. The slips by Cincinnati and Miami allowed New York Red Bulls to make up ground at the top of the Eastern Conference when they beat Charlotte FC 3-1 at Red Bull Arena. Still, it took a full 74 minutes until Emil Forsberg was able to breach the Crown defence for the first time in 523 minutes, rubbing salt into that wound by adding a second two minutes later. Andrés Reyes made it 3-0 with seven minutes left of normal time, and Benjamin Bender's strike in the sixth minute of stoppage time proved nothing more than a consolation. The clash between Philadelphia Union and Toronto FC at Subaru Park last night featured two teams who are anything but goalshy and so, of course, the game finished 0-0. That's not to say there wasn't plenty of incident, but of twenty-five shots, just four found the target and none of them the net. Depending on results elsewhere, a win at home for Austin FC over Portland Timbers could have propelled the Texan side to second in the Western Conference and so the 2-0 loss that resulted from a bitty game was doubly disappointing for fans of the Verde. The pattern was set early on when Sebastian Driussi saw his sixteenth minute penalty saved by Timbers 'keeper James Pantemis, and he generally looked out of sorts all night. That turned the spotlight on Portland's Evander and he duly delivered, opening the scoring the third minute of first-half stoppage time. Timbers were awarded a penalty of their own midway through the second-half when Brendan Hines-Ike was ruled to have fouled Anthony, and Jonathan Rodríguez stepped up to score his sixth of the season to send the points to Oregon. 

Given Chicago Fire's recent form, I suspect Frank Klopas would have taken the 1-1 draw his side achieved against Orlando City, even if the Fire did end up creating more chances than their visitors from Florida. It was the Lions, though, who opened the scoring after just four minutes, Facundo Torres tapping in from close range after an almost comical series of rebounds in the Chicago box. Chicago held their nerve to avoid going further behind and got back on level terms with twenty minutes to play when Hugo Cuypers deflected shot crawled past Pedro Gallese in the City goal. Houston Dynamo were in fine form against Colorado Rapids last night, although they were given a game by their unpredictable visitors. Amine Bassi put Dynamo 1-0 up five minutes before half-time when he slotted home from Griffin Dorsey's cross, but that lead only lasted until four minutes into the second-half before an unmarked Djordje Mihailovic equalised at the back post for Rapids. Colorado had chances to take the lead after that but it was substitute Latif Blessing who grabbed his second in two games to put Houston back in front, a situation confirmed by Sebastian Kowalczyk's strike from outside the box ten minutes before time for a 3-1 final score. Sporting Kansas City now haven't won a league match in two months after their latest setback, losing 2-1 at home to Vancouver Whitecaps at Children's Mercy Park. Sporting were second best all night and it was no surprise when they fell behind to Ryan Gauld's strike six minutes before half-time. Gauld's finishing was the difference between the sides in the end, the Scotsman converting both of Caps' shots on target when he doubled their lead eight minutes from the end, but the home side did gain some brief hope two minutes into stoppage time when Marinos Tzionis finished Khiry Shelton's cross. That's how it stayed, though, and KC still find themselves propping up the Western Conference.

After winning their first game in six on Saturday, Los Angeles Galaxy made it two out of two at home to FC Dallas last night, the lively play of Riqui Puig simply too much for the Dallas backline. Dejan Joveljic got back to scoring ways in the fourth minute to open the scoring for the home side, but the Texans got back on level terms midway through the first-half when Patrickson Delgado fired home from a Marco Farfan cross. Galaxy had a chance to get back in front just past the half-hour when Dallas 'keeper Maarten Paes brought down Joveljic in the box, but Gabriel Pec's penalty was saved by Paes and the sides went into the break level. It took 21 minutes to break the deadlock, Joveljic on target again for his ninth of the season, and it was Puig - who'd been busy all game - who secured the points for LA when he slotted in four minutes into stoppage time. Dallas had gone down to ten men twelve minutes earlier when Nkosi Tfari picked up his second yellow card. Across town, Los Angeles FC entertained Minnesota United at BMO Stadium and sent the visitors away with a flea in their ear and a 2-0 defeat. Denis Bouanga opened the scoring for the Black & Gold with a penalty - given for a foul by DJ Taylor - seven minutes before half-time, and a wonder strike from Mateusz Bogusz finished things off in the 82nd minute. In between, LAFC controlled the game, giving the Loons few chances to score, although Robin Lod did draw a decent save out of Hugo Lloris early on. Wednesday's final game came from Lumen Field in Seattle, where Western Conference leaders Real Salt Lake were the visitors to Seattle Sounders. Real rested Chicho Arango on the bench for the match and the game was still goalless when he made his entry just before the hour. Despite that move, it was Sounders who got the first goal, Albert Rusnak scoring against his old side in the 68th minute and it could have been 2-0 had VAR not ruled that a foul had been committed in the build-up to Danny Musovski's finish six minutes into stoppage time. Real had been on the wrong side of a VAR decision themselves when they were denied a penalty early in the game, but they did at least come away from Washington with something after Andres Gomez squeezed the ball past Stefan Frei nine minutes into time added on to keep up their pace at the top of the conference.

The first of two games in the USL Championship last night provided plenty of entertainment as Louisville City thwacked Detroit City 5-1 at the Lynn Family Stadium in front of another 10,000-plus crowd. It was the visitors who got their noses in front first, though, when Matt Sheldon tapped in from a corner, and Le Rouge were never really out of the game, despite the gap in terms of goals. Louisville got back on level terms just before half-time when centre-back Arturo Ordoñez scored his first for the club since his winter move from Pittsburgh, and they went ahead just three minutes into the second-half, Adrien Perez put through by Jorge González and finishing smartly. Wilson Harris scored his first in three games just past the hour to extend LouCity's lead, and Jake Morris made it 4-1 from distance with a quarter of an hour left to play. There was still time for Harris to score his second - and Los Morados' fifth - with a penalty six minutes from time, and Detroit will have much better results from very similar efforts in future. The night's second USL-C game came from Seaside, California, where Monterey Bay FC held Charleston Battery to a 0-0 draw, ensuring that Louisville closed the gap on Battery to just two points, with two games in hand. Battery had the better of the game but were unable to find a way past Gerold Ngnepi in the Union goal.

The semi-finals of the 2024 Canadian Championship are now set after last night's final quarterfinal, in which Pacific FC overcame Canadian Premier League leaders Atletico Ottawa at Starlight Stadium in Langford. A crowd of almost 3,000 were given early cheer when the referee awarded the home side a penalty just before the half-hour for a Ruben del Campo handball, duly converted by Ayman Sellouf to give the Tridents the lead on the night and on aggregate after the 0-0 first leg in Ontario. Six minutes later, Josh Heard doubled Pacific's lead, and it stayed that way until the hour mark when Samuel Salter reduced the arrears to one, minutes after Sellouf had missed a great chance of putting the game beyond the visitors. Atletico knew they only needed one more goal to go through on away goals but that proved beyond them as Pacific saw out the game. The semi-final draw paired the Vancouver Island side with their near neighbours from MLS, Vancouver Whitecaps, while the other tie is an all-Ontario affair, the CPL's Forge FC taking on Toronto FC of MLS.

The final game in the third round of matches in the inaugural USL Jägermeister Cup saw Union Omaha pushed to the limit by a game Central Valley Fuego side in front of over 3,000 at Werner Park. With no pressure on the game, Fuego were lively throughout and forced Owls 'keeper Wallis Lapsley into a number of saves, but were ultimately unable to register a goal on the night. Neither were the home side, though, and the game went to a shootout for the extra point, won by Omaha after they scored all four of their kicks and the visitors missed their second and third attempts. Still, Jermaine Jones can't fail to be encouraged by his side's performance away at one of USL League One's strongest teams.