MLS returned from its World Cup break this weekend, marking the unofficial onset of the season’s midsummer grind, where seasons are often made or lost. Here’s a few notable flashpoints.
Borek’s world
Czech maestro Borek Dockal underwhelmed Philadelphia Union fans with some performances in his first few months with the club. That seemed like a distant memory at Talen Energy Stadium on Saturday evening, as the smooth left-footer bagged a brace to lead the DOOP squad to a 4-0 undressing of a clearly unprepared Vancouver Whitecaps side and continue his sterling form of late:
Tyler and Kellyn
Acosta and Adams | USA Today Sports Images
The New York Red Bulls and Tyler Adams got the best of Kellyn Acosta's FC Dallas in a clash of rising U.S. national team midfield talents at Red Bull Arena, just one of several key ingredients in the Tri-State bovines’ utter dominance of their North Texan counterparts, even with FCD holding a numerical advantage for more than an hour.
Acosta was substituted out early in this one, apparently for tactical reasons, a microcosm of his trying 2018 to date. Meanwhile the precocious Adams keeps climbing from strength to strength to inspire the surging Red Bulls:
SKC so lit
Sporting Kansas City pulled off the biggest magic trick of the weekend with their dramatic three-goal comeback win over the Houston Dynamo. Hit up the MLS app to take in the condensed version of this barnburner, and gaze in wonder at the potent alchemy of SKC’s home-field advantage at CM Park, which well and truly “lit up,” in supersub hero Khiry Shelton’s words, when he netted the winner...
Lions in summer
Orlando interim coach Bobby Murphy | USA Today Sports Images
The heretofore hapless Montreal Impact have suddenly won three of their last four. But an asterisk is needed, because two of those victories have come in back-to-back meetings with woeful Orlando City SC, who are without a permanent head coach and possibly drifting towards outright disarray, as their losing streak has now run to seven games.
“It’s not good right now,” admitted Lions interim boss Bobby Murphy after Saturday's luckless 2-0 loss to the Impact.
Another Edgar banger
While Orlando’s skid lives on, the Colorado Rapids finally ended their nine-game winless drought, springing another wild late comeback to beat Minnesota United3-2 thanks to Tommy Smith’s 97th-minute (97TH MINUTE!) corner-kick. The real highlight from this one, though, was wingback Edgar Castillo’s gorgeous strike into the postage-stamp corner, his second such golazo this month:
Welcome to NYC
The wait for his work visa limited New York City FC’s new head coach Domenec Torrent to just one training session with the team before their first match under his guidance, a Sunday afternoon visit from Toronto FC, and things got off to a rough start at Yankee Stadium with a David Villa injury and an early deficit:
Torrent was smiling by the final whistle, however, thanks to a Jo Inge Berget double and some assured NYCFC possession play in an intriguing 3-4-3 formation.
Timbers travel tough
Sunday also featured a nationally-televised showdown between two of the league’s hottest teams in Supporters' Shield leaders Atlanta United and the Portland Timbers. The resilient visitors were good value for their road point in a 1-1 draw that ebbed and flowed nicely. That said, there was nothing nice about the heartless nutmeg that Diego Valeri subjected Kevin Kratz to in the late going:
