MLS, USL Championship, NISA & MLS Next Pro round-ups, May 14-15

While the Philadelphia Phillies were overwhelming the New York Mets across town, Philadelphia Union made it four home games in a row without a win when they lost to Citi Field's other tenants, New York City FC last night. Alonso Martinez opened the scoring for the Pigeons in the second minute of the game and it got worse in added time at the end of the first-half when a Hannes Wolf free-kick wrong-footed the Union defence and sneaked over 'keeper Oliver Semmle for 2-0. The home side struck back early themselves in the second minute of the second-half, Julian Carranza firing in from a free-kick outside the box, and they then went in search of an equaliser, putting the City goal under heavy pressure. They thought they'd found it in second-half stoppage time but Jack Elliott's goal was disallowed for offside. The win lifted City up to fourth in the Eastern Conference table; Philly, by contrast, now haven't won since April 6th.

Although Lionel Messi was given the night off to avoid another case of burnout, Inter Miami still travelled to Orlando City for the Florida derby with a line-up that included plenty of stars. The Herons controlled most of the possession and forced three saves out of Pedro Gallese in the Lions' goal, but City were busy themselves, Miami 'keeper Drake Callender called into action on a number of occasions to ensure the game stayed scoreless. In the end, despite good chances for Luis Suarez, Robert Taylor, Martin Ojeda, and Luis Muriel, that's how it ended, a 0-0 draw extending Miami's unbeaten run to eight games and keeping them top in the East. FC Cincinnati closed the gap at the top to just a point with a win over beleaguered Atlanta United at TQL Stadium. Kevin Kelsy was on target early for the Garys when he headed in from Lucho Acosta's cross and the home defence locked the door after that, restricting the Five Stripes - who lost Thiago Almada to injury a quarter of an hour into the game - to just one shot on target. The 1-0 marks seven games without a win for United, whose coach Gonzalo Pineda has to be looking over his shoulder... New York Red Bulls sit third after a comfortable away win at DC United, the eightieth time the teams have met. The game was goalless until first-half stoppage time when Elias Manoel scored from 35 yards to give Red Bulls the lead. Cameron Harper and Lewis Morgan scored early in the second-half to make it 3-0, but DC got back into the game midway through the half when Lucas Bartlett turned one in from a corner. Christian Benteke had a great chance with eight minutes to go to reduce the arrears to just a single goal, but Carlos Coronel in the Red Bulls goal was equal to the effort. That was made moot, anyway, by Corey Burke's stoppage time fourth for the home side, a 4-1 win restating their play-off credentials.

Despite making the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup next month, Columbus Crew had gone five games without a win in the league before travelling to CF Montreal last night. The home side had lost at home to Inter Miami on Saturday after being 2-0 up, but this time found themselves behind in the nineteenth minute when Max Arfsten netted on the rebound after Jonathan Sirois saved Alexandru Matan's shot. The Canadiens did get back on level terms in time added on at the end of the first half, Mathieu Choiniere scoring from the spot after Patrick Schulte had brought down Joaquin Sosa in the box. The 1-1 half-time score lasted for almost a quarter an hour until Diego Rossi tapped in to give Crew the lead again, and Marino Hinestroza finished the job with a minute to spare as the away side eased to a win, even without Cucho Hernandez, rested with future games in mind. Austin FC made it three wins out of four in this year's Copa Tejas last night, but Houston Dynamo certainly made them work for it at Q2 Stadium. Verde 'keeper Brad Stuver had to make six saves to keep the visitors at bay and, although Houston dominated in terms of both possession and shots on target, Sebastian Driussi's goal three minutes from time was enough to give Austin the win, thrilling the 20,000 plus crowd and lifting them up to sixth in the Western Conference. More than a few pundits predicted there would be goals between Minnesota United and Los Angeles Galaxy and they duly served up a four-goal thriller at Allianz Field. Bongokuhle Hlongwane opened the scoring for the Loons on the half-hour but Galaxy got back into the game midway through the second-half, Dejan Jovelic and Diego Fagundez - on as a substitute for the injured Joseph Paintsil - on target to give them a 2-1 lead. It looked like that might be how it finished but Kevin Arriaga headed in an equaliser for United in the eightieth minute to give his side a share of the points, and both sides now sit joint second, four points behind leaders Real Salt Lake in the West.

Los Angeles FC came to the Gateway City and absolutely robbed St Louis CITY last night, a 2-0 victory going very much against the run of play. The first-half ended goalless after Hugo Lloris saved Omar Campos's penalty for CITY, also denying Tomas Ostrak's follow-up, and Anthony Markanich had a goal ruled out by VAR. Things continued in a similar vein after the break, at least until Denis Bouanga got on the end of Matheusz Bogusz's through ball to give the Black & Gold the lead just before the hour. CITY's chances of getting back into the game were dealt a blow fifteen minutes later when Anthony Markanich was given a second yellow card for reasons known only to the referee, and Bouanga secured the win for LA with a chipped goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time. There were just 12,000 at Soldier Field last night, a symptom of Chicago Fire's wider woes which continued with another home loss, this time to Charlotte FC. Fire actually controlled the game for much of the ninety minutes, enjoying two-thirds of all possession, but Ashley Westwood's free-kick goal on the hour was the only statistic that mattered in the end, with Kristijan Kahlina called into action right at the end of the game to ensure winless streak reached six games . Nashville SC were on an unwanted streak of their own, seven games without a win before they hosted Toronto FC at GEODIS Park last night. Coach Gary Smith picked an attacking line-up in the hopes of taking the game to the Canadians, but the first-half passed largely without incident or goal mouth action. In fact, it took until the 81st minute for Shaq Moore, who came on as a substitute at half-time, to bundle the ball over the line for the opening goal. The Reds were without coach John Herdman, goalkeeper Sean Johnson, defender Richie Laryea, and midfielder Federico Bernardeschi as a result of Saturday's ruckus with New York City, but were once again able to call on Lorenzo Insigne from the bench, although his influence was limited. The Coyotes finished the job in stoppage time when Teal Bunbury finished from Tyler Boyd's cross, and Toronto will have better days at the races.

Colorado Rapids joined the clutch of teams sitting on 21 points in second place in the Western Conference when they turned away Vancouver Whitecaps at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Rapids had the better of the game, but it took a penalty kick from Rafael Navarro in first-half stoppage time - given for a handball by Bjorn Utvik, for which he was very harshly dismissed - to separate the teams. The leaders in the Western Conference are Real Salt Lake, who have gone nine games unbeaten in the league since surprisingly losing at home to the Rapids in early March. Their latest victims were a Seattle Sounders side which had been buoyed by their derby win in Portland at the weekend but were nevertheless very much second best in Utah last night. The visitors gave a debut to Tacoma Defiance prospect Georgi Minoungou in defence, but they still conceded first, Andres Gomez's 27th minute opener finishing off a smart counter-attack started by Diego Luna. Luna grabbed one himself midway through the second-half to secure the points for Real, who now look forward to another visit from Colorado at the weekend. Wednesday's final game came from Providence Park, where Portland Timbers were hoping for better fortune than they'd had at home to Seattle Sounders on Sunday. Visitors San Jose Earthquakes had won three on the trot ahead of last night's game and took the lead just past the half-hour when Amahl Pellegrino headed in from a Cristian Espinoza corner, and new signing Hernan Lopez scored his second in as many games four minutes later to make it 2-0. Quakes, who have never won in Portland in MLS, controlled the game into the second-half, with Lopez hitting the bar, at least until Bruno Wilson was red carded for a unavoidable handball inside the box that gave Evander the chance to reduce the arrears from the penalty spot. Eight minutes later, Jonathan Rodriguez equalised for Timbers when he found space in the area, and it looked like San Jose might be happy to settle for a draw. However, just before the final whistle, Quakes 'keeper William Yarborough clattered into Rodrigiuez and the ref pointed to the spot, Felipe Mora stepping up to put Portland into an unlikely lead, and Rodriguez added a fourth in stoppage time, a 4-2 taking some pressure off Phil Neville.

There were two games in midweek in the USL Championship, the first of which on Tuesday pitted the youngsters of Loudoun United against promoted side North Carolina FC at WakeMed Park in Cary. North Carolina gave the home fans something to cheer in the 24th minute when Paco Craig scored following Rafa Mentsingen's corner, and although United tried to get back in the game, the home side made certain of the points in stoppage time when Ezra Armstrong scored a breakaway goal. There was still time, though, for Lamar batista to see red for the home side when he picked up his second yellow, but they'll treasure their second win of the season. Charleston Battery won their seventh game in a row on Wednesday, travelling to Birmingham Legion and coming away with a 1-0 win. The game was an even affair, only settled by Emilio Ycaza's goal just past the hour following great work by Mark Segbers, and although Legion pressed forward for a leveller, Battery 'keeper Adam Grinwis was equal to everything they threw at him, extending Charleston's lead at the top of the Eastern Conference.

In the NISA league, Savannah Clovers got revenge on local rival Georgia FC for their derby defeat earlier in the season by beating the new boys 2-1 at Memorial Stadium last night. English midfielder Zack Hargreaves opened the scoring for the home side when he converted a penalty in the 15th minute, and Georgia were unable to get back in the game before former Detroit City man Roderic Green doubled Clovers' lead just past the hour. Try as they might, the visitors couldn't land a blow on their hosts, at least until Patrick Okonkwo scored his fifth goal in six games from the penalty spot in the 95th minute.

Independent club Chattanooga FC fell to their first MLS Next Pro regular time defeat of the season in Matthews, North Carolina, last night as Crown Legacy took them to pieces in an utterly one-sided first-half. Legacy - Charlotte FC's reserve side - scored four without reply, a brace from Ben Bender (who played seventeen times in MLS last year) bookending goals for Dylan Sing and Nicholas Scardina. The second-half was a much more sedate affair, with just a couple of chances as Legacy locked up, although former Lexington SC man Jalen James was able to grab what turned out to be a consolation with thirteen minutes to go. The Boys in Blue stay top of the Eastern Conference but will not have enjoyed their trip north.