Soccer <\/p>\n
It felt like the Philadelphia Union<\/a> made a pretty big statement about the gap between the best teams in the league and the chasing pack. Orlando City<\/a> made a statement as well \u2013 that they\u2019re probably in that second group, not the first.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n San Diego FC<\/a> are awesome. Charlotte FC<\/a> might have their Patrick Agyemang<\/a> replacement in-house (and should respect that). xDAWG\u2019s back in style, and the defending MLS Cup champs are showing a little bit of life.<\/p>\n We are very, very close to the home stretch. In we go:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Yes, Lionel Messi<\/a> scored both goals in Inter Miami<\/a>\u2019s 2-1 win<\/a> over Nashville SC<\/a> on Saturday night, snapping the \u2018Yotes\u2019 15-game, three-month-long, all-competitions unbeaten streak. One was a clever-as-hell free kick (not his signature bender to the top corner, but a seeing-eye joint through the wall). The other came via a WPIOOTBGW<\/a> special from Joe Willis<\/a> \u2013 the expected punishment for a disastrous moment.<\/p>\n Those are the types of wins Messi can get you. It\u2019s the type of win Miami rode to last year\u2019s record-setting Supporters\u2019 Shield title. Because he is who he is, Miami can get those \u2013 have gotten those \u2013 at a rate other teams can\u2019t replicate.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not the greater truth. The greater truth Messi\u2019s GOAT-ness has sometimes obscured is that the Herons look more like a complete team these days.<\/p>\n Earlier in the year, this group leaned heavily on talent and moments of brilliance (mostly from Messi, obviously), but could get played through too easily. There were holes in midfield, lots of lapses in transition and more than a few unforced errors at the back. They were winning in spite of their structure, not because of it.<\/p>\n Over the past two months, that\u2019s changed some. The shape is noticeably tighter through central midfield, and the spacing is better overall. A large part of this \u2013 maybe the largest \u2013 is the fullbacks aren\u2019t releasing quite so recklessly into the attack. But even when mistakes are made, Miami have been better about limiting risk and having the pieces in place to contain counters:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Terrible turnover from Federico Redondo<\/a>? Yes. But that\u2019s followed by smart, positional soccer. Jordi Alba<\/a> and Marcelo Weigandt<\/a> push up to offer width, but neither takes themselves out of the play. At the same time, the midfield closed ranks behind Redondo to snuff out any direct play from the visitors.<\/p>\n It\u2019s who they are now, and who they\u2019ve been throughout their excellent FIFA Club World Cup<\/a> showing and their five-game regular-season winning streak. To that point, immediately after this turnover, they knocked the ball around for a minute, owned the tempo of the game and created a decent chance.<\/p>\n No wild, unnecessary risks. You can see it in the network passing graphic:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n That\u2019s much lower than the fullbacks were stationed a few months back.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that Nashville SC is a very good team,\u201d Miami head coach Javier Mascherano said post-game. \u201cBut that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about \u2013 being a serious team, knowing how to deal with tough moments and respond to what the game needs at any given time.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd clearly, we\u2019ve been grinding out results that are really good for us. We know there\u2019s still a lot to improve, but in this kind of rhythm, everything becomes much easier.”<\/p>\n Nashville want the ball, but had around 46% possession. They\u2019re not afraid to play through a press, and when they do pull you apart, they go straight for the throat. Their goal came that way: a quick midfield combination that slid things to an isolated Andy Najar<\/a>, whose early cross to Hany Mukhtar<\/a> was absolutely perfect. That kind of sequence is what Nashville do well \u2013 understated buildup into a sudden strike. It’s also the kind of play they\u2019ve used to carve the heart out of some of the better teams in the league.<\/p>\n But this wasn\u2019t early-season Miami. They absorbed pressure, kept their shape and never let the game get open. Sergio Busquets<\/a> and Benjamin Cremaschi<\/a> quietly controlled the middle third, while the backline (mostly) stayed compact and didn\u2019t get stretched out by Nashville\u2019s movement. The only real misstep was the one they paid for \u2013 otherwise, they limited one of the most tactically coherent teams in the league to mostly half-chances.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a big step forward. They are now atop the Shield race on points per game (2.0) and I regret to tell you, folks\u2026 I think they\u2019re gonna stay there.<\/p>\n As for Nashville, this loss won\u2019t bother them too much. They went on the road on the back of a landmark midweek win \u2013 they\u2019re through to the US Open Cup<\/a> semifinals for the first time in their existence \u2013 to face the league\u2019s most talented team, and didn\u2019t back down. They played with confidence if not perfect clarity, and on another night, they maybe leave with a 1-0 win instead of a 2-1 loss.<\/p>\n Instead, it was Messi, again, who made the difference. And that will be the case for much of the rest of 2025. But if you\u2019re Miami, the encouraging part isn\u2019t that he can win you games (we already knew that \u2013 this was their fifth straight, and he\u2019s got a brace in each). It\u2019s that the group around him is doing the work to give those moments a foundation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n For 40 minutes on Saturday night, FC Cincinnati<\/a> had the Columbus Crew<\/a> in hell.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It took them 39 seconds to go up 1-0, after Pavel Bucha<\/a> neatly finished Lukas Engel<\/a>\u2019s pullback to the top of the box. It took them four more minutes to go up 2-0, Evander<\/a> sending the packed house into a frenzy when he laced one home from 24 yards. This was not a derby so much as a demolition, with the Brazilian DP gliding to and through the most valuable spots on the pitch, generally at the heart of everything good that was happening for the hosts.<\/p>\n Cincy had the lead. They had the crowd. They had the momentum.<\/p>\n But they didn\u2019t have the game under control. For all the great individual moments and impressive individual talent Cincinnati put on display in the first half, they still don\u2019t look like an entirely cohesive team. The spacing in midfield is inconsistent. The front two didn\u2019t always press as a unit. And when Columbus started to get comfortable on the ball, Cincy had no clear plan to disrupt it. They backed off instead of stepping up, didn\u2019t rotate and allowed Columbus to pull them apart:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Two things are true here:<\/p>\n Columbus, for their part, never panicked. That\u2019s been a defining trait of Wilfried Nancy\u2019s team: they stay committed to their style, no matter the situation. Down two goals on the road to their biggest rival, they didn\u2019t start launching balls or rushing things. They stayed on the ball, trusted their structure (with a slight tweak, as Nagbe started dropping deeper \u2013 dragging Cincy’s man-oriented press out of shape \u2013 to get on the ball at the beginning of the Crew\u2019s builds), and started to tilt the game.<\/p>\n It worked, as Nagbe and Dylan Chambost<\/a> took control of midfield. The wingbacks \u2013 Max Arfsten<\/a> on one side, Ibrahim Aliyu<\/a> on the other \u2013 started dragging Cincinnati\u2019s wingbacks wider and deeper. That opened gaps between the lines, and the Crew did what they do best, connecting passes in and out of dangerous areas. The first goal came from that Nagbe magic; the next two from the type of push-and-pull build-ups Columbus have perfected over the past two years.<\/p>\n It ended 4-2<\/a> to the Crew. It\u2019s one of the best rivalry games this league\u2019s seen in a minute.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do it at Cincinnati, coming from behind like this\u2026\u201d Nancy said afterward. \u201cTo add it with the context of the game, this is a good feeling obviously for the players, because again, they are so strong mentally. I think that we try to challenge them all the time, that the difference between greatness and to be good is that mental aspect. If we’re able to do it consistently, it can be really interesting.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m happy for the fans, I’m happy for the club and I’m happy for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n That \u201cmental aspect\u201d isn\u2019t just the lack of panic, but the resoluteness with which they stay executing on their own principles. They still want to draw the defense, and want to have to break the press. One part of the mentality (don\u2019t panic) feeds the other (be courageous on the ball) and vice versa. Get them in that virtuous feedback loop and they start dictating the tempo, controlling territory, and looking more organized, even as they have center backs underlapping and forwards dropping deep and wingbacks attacking, ball on foot, right up the middle and through the lines.<\/p>\n Cincy couldn\u2019t match that. The Crew kept stretching the field, pulling defenders into wide channels and even opening space for a little bit of Route 1 at the end. That\u2019s how the fourth goal \u2013 homegrown midfielder Taha Habroune<\/a>\u2019s first in MLS \u2013 was conjured.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were still a lot of good things,\u201d head coach Pat Noonan said afterward. \u201cTaking our foot off the gas would have meant we stopped playing. We could have scored two or three more goals after the two-nil lead. \u2026 Columbus is also a very good team \u2013 they found their rhythm in the first half towards the end there. So I wouldn’t say it was foot off the gas as much as missing opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of truth in there. The first half-hour really was all Cincy, and they could\u2019ve had a third, which maybe would\u2019ve killed the game.<\/p>\n But they didn\u2019t, and still sometimes look like a collection of talented players who haven\u2019t quite figured out how to become more than the sum of their parts. Evander is a game-breaker, as is K\u00e9vin Denkey<\/a>. But the group overall have yet to settle into a clear identity, and it showed once the game turned.<\/p>\n For Columbus, it\u2019s another win that reinforces what we already know: this is one of the most tactically disciplined and mentally tough teams in MLS. They\u2019re never out of a game because they always know who they are.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n 13. The biggest, scariest and hopefully<\/strong>, eventually, not saddest story of the week came when Atlanta United<\/a> president and CEO Garth Lagerwey announced<\/a> he\u2019s taking an indefinite leave of absence after a cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n I know Garth a little bit from doing this job for 15 years. He\u2019s one of the handful of funniest, nicest and smartest folks I\u2019ve come across in MLS, and like a lot of folks around the league, my heart\u2019s in my throat a little bit, hoping there\u2019s a quick and positive update about the battle he\u2019s going through. Please get well soon, Garth.<\/p>\n His Atlanta United side showed some resilience this past weekend, as Emmanuel Latte Lath<\/a> buried a late penalty to give them a 1-1 draw<\/a> at Toronto<\/a>. The Five Stripes are 10 points below the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line in the Eastern Conference, and the Reds are 11 back. Both have 13 games left, so a late charge at a postseason berth is possible\u2026 but seems really, really implausible for each.<\/p>\n 12. The Union saw their midweek<\/strong> US Open Cup meeting with the Red Bulls<\/a> postponed by some biblical rain, and it looks like they took that pent-up frustration and expressed it pretty emphatically this weekend in their 2-0 win<\/a> in Chester. The first goal came off a corner kick; the second goal came when they caught RBNY napping (and down a man) on a quickly taken free kick out at midfield:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Bruno Damiani with the clever tally and the Union double their lead on the Red Bulls ???? pic.twitter.com\/6C2zAj44o3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Little opportunistic moments like that\u2026 you can build a Supporters\u2019 Shield campaign on those. The Union are doing their damnedest (and are back leading the overall table).<\/p>\n One note I want to make here: Quinn Sullivan<\/a> coming into the half-space like that and playing one-touch into the space behind the Red Bull backline was a pattern of play we saw repeatedly, especially in the first half. By the time Sandro Schwarz adjusted, switching from a back three to a back four at the break, it was all done but the shouting.<\/p>\n Philly snapped their two-game losing skid. The Red Bulls are now winless in five and are sliding down the table.<\/p>\n 11. Orlando City have officially hit<\/strong> the summer doldrums, as a late Prince Owusu<\/a> PK gave CF Montr\u00e9al<\/a> a 1-1 draw<\/a> down in central Florida.<\/p>\n Several things went wrong for the Cats, who were playing without captain Robin Jansson<\/a> in the middle of the backline. And Jansson\u2019s distribution is key for this team \u2013 virtually irreplaceable.<\/p>\n But still:<\/p>\n “We\u2019re exploring different ways to improve. We haven\u2019t had a bad record offensively this year,\u201d head coach Oscar Pareja said afterward, and while he is technically correct \u2013 Orlando\u2019s 40 goals put them among the league leaders \u2013 there have been a lot of these types of performances in which they fail to put the game away. \u201cI think, in that regard, we\u2019ve been good. But still, we want to do better. When you try to make those improvements, sometimes the game tells you, \u2018Not that way.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not as easy as just moving pieces around and expecting results. That\u2019s a lesson for me, especially.”<\/p>\n I\u2019m disagreeing somewhat with that last bit. I think Orlando\u2019s game model is good and has been flexible (Pareja deserves credit for both those things), and\u2026 the guys out there eating up starter\u2019s minutes are not delivering.<\/p>\n Young Nico Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> got a late cameo. Shakur Mohammed<\/a> has been a consistent goalscorer down in MLS NEXT Pro<\/a>. Could 18-year-old Justin Ellis<\/a> get a run?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s time to see if there are other answers here.<\/p>\n Good result for Montr\u00e9al, who nonetheless finished the weekend bottom of the league table. They made further news on Sunday with the reported sale<\/a> of center back George Campbell<\/a> to West Bromwich Albion in the English Championship.<\/p>\n 10. Minnesota United did the PSG kickoff<\/strong> routine, lumping it down in the corner to force the opponents to take a deep throw-in straight from kick-off. The point of that routine is to immediately press, which the Loons<\/a> did. That forced a change of possession, which led to a long Michael Boxall<\/a> throw-in, then a corner, and eventually a 1-0 Minnesota lead inside of three minutes.<\/p>\n The Quakes<\/a> must\u2019ve felt like they got hit by a truck. That truck then threw it into reverse and backed over \u2018em (Minnesota made it 2-0 on the break in the 42nd minute), and then shifted it back into drive and hit \u2018em again (3-0 off another corner just before halftime).<\/p>\n It finished 4-1<\/a>. I wrote last week that the Loons are maybe the best MLS team I\u2019ve ever seen on restarts. They looked like it. Again.<\/p>\n The win capped off what might\u2019ve been the best week in the team\u2019s history, as it started with a 2-1 win<\/a> at FC Dallas<\/a>, hit its midway point with a commanding 3-1 win<\/a> over Chicago<\/a> in the US Open Cup quarterfinals, and culminated with this absolute thumping to move up to second in the Western Conference. Across all competitions, the Loons have lost just once in their last 11.<\/p>\n San Jose have gone the other direction, with three wins in 12 \u2013 including a PK shootout loss to Austin<\/a> midweek in Open Cup play \u2013 over the past two months.<\/p>\n 9. That PK shootout win might end up<\/strong> being one of the highlights of Austin\u2019s year, as they\u2019re stuck in neutral in league play. Head coach Nico Est\u00e9vez got our Face of the Week here from their scoreless home draw<\/a> against the Revs<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Nico Estevez, Face of the Week. pic.twitter.com\/BE7lnkOZLZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) July 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n \u201cWe were disconnected at the end of the game, and it was at the end of the game that I didn’t think we would deserve to win the game,\u201d Est\u00e9vez said afterward. \u201cWe were pushing, we were having effort, but not clear ideas. I think, until then, we had clear ideas on how to score goals.”<\/p>\n I think he was largely correct: in their first game since losing Brandon Vazquez<\/a> for the year with a torn ACL<\/a>, Austin actually created a lot of danger. Diego Rubio<\/a>, who replaced Vazquez in the XI, dropped into the half-spaces and facilitated a lot of the final-third play, which let Osman Bukari<\/a> find space on one side and \u017dan Kolmani\u010d<\/a> on the other.<\/p>\n They just can\u2019t put the ball into the back of the net. They’ve scored a league-low 15 goals all year.<\/p>\n The Revs have a few more than that and tested Brad Stuver<\/a> several times. But they\u2019ve now won just once in their past 12 across all competitions, and it feels like the wheels have come off.<\/p>\n 8. And now, the usual brief<\/strong> from Armchair Analyst special correspondent Calen Carr, who was on hand for Charlotte\u2019s much-needed 2-0 home win<\/a> over New York City FC<\/a>:<\/p>\n With Patrick Agyemang\u2019s reported transfer to Derby County in the EFL Championship taking all of the attention during the past week, the logical next step in the conversation had already begun to shift towards what Charlotte would do in the transfer window at the No. 9 position to replace him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n And Idan Toklomati<\/a> (seemingly) took that personally\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n For being only 20 years old, Toklomati\u2019s game has a very refined look to it. At the start of the sequence that led to the opening goal, his movement in behind to relieve pressure when Wilfried Zaha<\/a> came underneath was sublime (and timed well, with NYCFC left back Kevin O\u2019Toole<\/a> keeping him on), as was his darting run moments later for his tap-in winner off an assist from Pep Biel<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n And while Toklomati doesn\u2019t have the physical profile of Agyemang (a rarity in MLS and one of considerable value far beyond it), his strengths appear more polished in areas that Agyemang is still developing \u2013 box efficiency, recognizing and varying runs, pressing, and coming to combine underneath.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n I always felt that the best way to keep my place up top was to have the best players back you (read: make them look good). Biel crossed into double-digit MLS assists for the first time Saturday night, and the connection between the two is clear. In fact, three out of the four Toklomati goals this season have come directly from Biel passes in different phases of play, including of a stretch ball in behind vs. Nashville, a first-time slip ball in Zone 14 vs. Chicago, and this weekend where the two start their runs together on top of the box vs. NYCFC, split off, but sense each others’ final destinations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n \u201cToklo Time,\u201d as it\u2019s quickly becoming known, has translated into six goal contributions in less than 750 minutes. And while the sample size is small, it\u2019s been enough to give a peek into his bag of countermoves and box finishes that make you wonder what else is in there.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n The Pigeons (hey, it\u2019s Doyle again) are truly a Jekyll-and-Hyde team this year, especially over the past six weeks. They\u2019ve gone win-loss-draw-win-loss-win-loss since the end of May.<\/p>\n 7. William Agada got his second goal<\/strong> as a member of RSL<\/a>, stabbing home a loose ball in the box off a corner just before halftime. That 1-0 lead eventually became a hard-fought, 1-0 final<\/a> over visiting Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s four straight results \u2013 three wins and a draw \u2013 for the Claret-and-Cobalt, who are starting to xDAWG folks again.<\/p>\n “We played some really pretty games early on in the season,\u201d head coach Pablo Mastroeni said after the game<\/a>. \u201cAnd we lost on the margins.”<\/p>\n That\u2019s a very Pablo framing, and I\u2019m not really going to argue with a guy who gets his team to the playoffs every year. I\u2019ll just say that I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a binary \u2013 you can play pretty soccer and<\/em> xDAWG the hell out of teams. RSL have done it! With Diego Luna<\/a> back, Diogo Gon\u00e7alves<\/a> finally playing some good ball and Agada<\/a> dragging opposing defenders around, I\u2019m confident in their ability to do it again.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still holding my Houston stock, by the way, and they didn\u2019t play badly in this one. It\u2019s just a constant question of whether they have match-winners in the box.<\/p>\n Occasionally, the answer is yes. An uncomfortable amount of time, the answer is no.<\/p>\n 6. Djordje Mihailovic is one of Colorado\u2019s<\/strong> match-winners, and he absolutely thrashed the spiraling Whitecaps<\/a> with a hat-trick of assists in the Rapids<\/a>‘ dominant 3-0 win<\/a> on Saturday night.<\/p>\n There\u2019s so much about this opener that I love:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n First, Ted Ku-DiPietro\u2019<\/a>s comfort in tight spots means he can get on the ball in those spots, but then still has the confidence\/technique to turn pure possession into penetration, putting his team on the attack.<\/p>\n Second, the chance to do that isn\u2019t there if Mihailovic<\/a> doesn\u2019t read the pattern \u2013 not just Ku-DiPietro on the ball, but what\u2019s happening across Vancouver\u2019s backline \u2013 early and slip into space. You can see him orchestrating the play before it even unfolds.<\/p>\n And finally, Djordje makes the final touch simple by playing the pass square and early into Calvin Harris<\/a>\u2019s run. Harris just has to guide it home.<\/p>\n Mihailovic is one of the very best in the league at that, and with him, Ku-DiPietro, Cole Bassett<\/a> and Zack Steffen<\/a> all back in the lineup, and Rafael Navarro<\/a> doing fundamentally sound things up top, I like Colorado\u2019s chances of staying in that seventh spot in the West.<\/p>\n Vancouver have now lost four of five. They\u2019ve looked spent.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that we were on the back foot, that we were slow and indecisive,\u201d is what head coach Jesper S\u00f8rensen said afterward. \u201cWe were a little undisciplined, our positioning was not that good and we had difficulties defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n The big thing, I think, is that indecision. A buddy \u2013 a Rapids fan \u2013 pinged me at halftime and asked what\u2019s gone wrong for the \u2018Caps over the past month, and my answer was I\u2019d wager my life\u2019s savings that they\u2019re not sprinting as much. I don\u2019t mean \u201cthey\u2019re not covering as much ground.\u201d I mean they spent the first half of the year literally sprinting into space (LOTS of sacrificial off-ball runs) in a coordinated way, and there\u2019s just not much of that happening anymore. There\u2019s no burst of movement that unbalances an opposing backline or breaks their shape, and without that, the \u2018Caps are spending 90 minutes every game playing against an organized defense.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a good sign S\u00f8rensen has identified this, and I think the formation change \u2013 they moved from their typical 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 at halftime \u2013 actually helped shake things up a little bit.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not enough, though. This isn\u2019t a tactical or a formational thing, and it\u2019s not even really a talent thing. It\u2019s a \u201cthe players absolutely emptied the tanks during that remarkable first half of the season, and now they\u2019re out of gas\u201d thing.<\/p>\n 5. San Diego bounced back<\/strong> from last week\u2019s disappointing home loss to Houston with a good, 2-1 win<\/a> at Chicago \u2013 the fourth straight road win for los Ni\u00f1os.<\/p>\n Anders Dreyer<\/a> had both goals. Chucky Lozano<\/a> had both primary assists. Young Luca Bombino<\/a>, the 19-year-old left back loanee from LAFC<\/a> (San Diego<\/a> will 1,000% exercise their purchase option at the end of the year), had both secondary assists.<\/p>\n This result was just a good example of Mikey Varas trusting his guys. There is space to attack behind Chicago\u2019s fullbacks, so San Diego attacked that space:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n From there, it was just a matter of locking in and holding on, because the Fire threw everything they had at reeling San Diego in during the second half.<\/p>\n \u201cThese guys gave everything. I mean, they ran so hard for the entire game against a team that was also playing with a ton of intensity and initiative, and that’s what happens at the highest level,\u201d Varas said. \u201cMan, you play against a good team and you’re going to have to solve for the moments. And these guys were able to suffer together in the moments that they needed to suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n San Diego are atop the West on both points and points per game. None of this is a fluke.<\/p>\n Chicago have lost four of five. In a vacuum, that\u2019s very bad. But those four losses were against the top four teams (Philly, San Diego, Cincy, Nashville) in the Shield race, and the Fire had a total goal differential of -5 in those games.<\/p>\n In all other games this season, they are 8W-5L-4D with a +7 goal differential.<\/p>\n I think the results tell the truth: The Fire are a good team who are not good enough to hang with the best.<\/p>\n They are also back under the line with 13 games to go. But the rest of the schedule \u2013 save for late August, when they travel to Philly and Miami back-to-back \u2013 is much kinder than what they\u2019ve had to run through recently. So if they don\u2019t make it back to the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade, they\u2019ll have no one to blame but themselves.<\/p>\n 4. Make it five results in six, and two wins<\/strong> on the trot for the LA Galaxy<\/a> after their 2-1 victory<\/a> over visiting D.C. United<\/a> on Saturday night. LA also peeled themselves off the bottom of the table for the first time all year, and are playing well enough to be pretty confident they won\u2019t drop back down into the abyss.<\/p>\n Well enough to make a real run at the final Wild Card spot, though? Probably not. They\u2019re 12 points back with 12 games to go, and there\u2019s a lot of playoff teams between here and Decision Day. Still, though, if they get all three points from Austin\u2019s visit on Wednesday night, we might have something to talk about. At least a little bit.<\/p>\n D.C. were playing their first match of the post-Troy Lesesne era<\/a> after the coach was let go following their 5-2 midweek loss<\/a> at Nashville in the US Open Cup quarterfinals. Kevin Flanagan was the interim boss this weekend while United reportedly work to get a deal for veteran Swiss head coach Ren\u00e9 Weiler across the finish line.<\/p>\n 3. LAFC pressed their way to the opening goal<\/strong> courtesy of Nathan Ordaz<\/a> a half-hour in, then made it 2-0 just before halftime when Denis Bouanga<\/a> converted a PK after being brought down in the box\u2026 and that was that. They held on for the 2-0 win<\/a> over visiting FC Dallas.<\/p>\n It was a dominant performance that was only missing the third goal \u2013 Maarten Paes<\/a> was excellent for the visitors \u2013 but also a pyrrhic victory because veteran center back Aaron Long<\/a> was, I think, pretty badly injured in the 75th minute.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look good, so that’s a big blow, but injuries are part of professional sports,\u201d head coach Steve Cherundolo said in the postgame. \u201cAaron will get through this and so will we.\u201d<\/p>\n For the time being, the Black & Gold are down to two healthy center backs in Nkosi Tafari<\/a>, who came off the bench to replace Long, and incumbent starter Eddie Segura<\/a>. Maxime Chanot<\/a> is expected back sometime in the next month (there\u2019s no return date yet), and after that, the cupboard is bare (though left back Artem Smolyakov<\/a> can, in theory, play left center back).<\/p>\n Co-president and general manager John Thorrington probably has some work to do.<\/p>\n Everyone in Dallas, meanwhile, has work to do, as it\u2019s now four straight losses and just one win since April. There\u2019s no north star for this team \u2013 no youth development, no go-to formation, no partnership between the attacking DPs, no rugged defense. Everything is patchwork and nothing has a clear direction.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> St. Louis snapped their five-game winless<\/strong> skid and put three points of distance between themselves and the hard-charging Galaxy \u2013 I\u2019m serious! Stop laughing! \u2013 with a 2-1 win<\/a> over Portland<\/a> in the Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire spotlight.<\/p>\n CITY<\/a> weren\u2019t perfect. They lost David Da Costa<\/a> in transition midway through the first half and found themselves in a 1-0 ditch because of it; Roman B\u00fcrki<\/a> had a couple of big saves to make to stop it from becoming 2-0; and they still haven\u2019t figured out how to get Cedric Teuchert<\/a> involved.<\/p>\n But they were more good than bad, and played with a good bit of energy throughout. Then when Eduard L\u00f6wen<\/a> came on midway through the second half, they added a bit of orchestration and quality on the ball deep in midfield to that energy. It\u2019s a good formula, one that immediately led to Marcel Hartel<\/a>\u2019s game-winner (he had a brace).<\/p>\n Timbers head coach Phil Neville was steamed heading into halftime despite the 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need more quality on the ball and we need to be more intense with our defending,\u201d he told our Michele Giannone. \u201cIf we do that, then we\u2019ll win the game. If we don\u2019t, then we won\u2019t win the game because they\u2019re dangerous in attack.\u201d<\/p>\n Neville\u2019s right \u2013 there was a lack of quality and intensity in his team, save for about a 15-minute stretch in the middle of the first half. But also, there are a lot of times where I don\u2019t understand the way they\u2019re arrayed both in the build-out, and once they make it to the final third.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t look like a team that knows how it wants to get forward to find an equalizer:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Diego Chara<\/a> ended up salvaging that build \u2013 he\u2019s still brilliant, and underrated on the ball \u2013 but part of having quality on the ball is having chemistry off of it, and the Timbers have been lacking that too often.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve now lost three straight on the road. The good news? Their next two are at home.<\/p>\n 1. And finally, I\u2019m giving the Sounders<\/strong> our Pass of the Week for this one:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Seems like they\u2019re conjuring up one of those 20-pass, minute-long build-ups every single week now, and Jordan Morris<\/a> \u2013 in his long-awaited return to the XI \u2013 is clearly very comfortable with that. He was excellent in his 45 minutes.<\/p>\n So were the Sounders<\/a>, but about that second 45\u2026 it turns out Seattle really needed all three first-half goals because they just collapsed over the game\u2019s final 25 minutes. Danny Musovski<\/a> tracked back to concede one penalty. Reed Baker-Whiting<\/a> dove in to concede a second. In between, Nouhou<\/a> was sent off for chucking the ball into the stands during a Video Review break, making it four straight games with a red for the Sounders.<\/p>\n They turned a laugher into a nail-biter, and barely held on to beat Sporting KC<\/a>, 3-2<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came out flat in the second half. We knew the message was we knew that this was a proud team \u2013 they’ve got a new coach, they’re trying to play for their jobs, their livelihoods,\u201d Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said post-game. \u201cWe knew they were going to come out in the second half and we didn’t adapt. We didn’t deal with it very well. We gave the ball away a few times unnecessarily. Nobody really could step up and, you know, take control of the game, and so they put us under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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