You'll rarely see a busier midweek MLS slate than the one that played out on Wednesday night. Here's a quick rundown.
Oddities in Ohio
Columbus wasn’t in the “path of totality” for this week’s solar eclipse, yet Crew SC fans could have been forgiven for wondering if celestial events were influencing Wednesday’s wild visit from the LA Galaxy. An early red card, two penalty kicks – both of them saved by LA’s Jon Kempin – three key Video Review decisions, a bright debut from new Crew SC Designated PlayerPedro Santos and a nine-game Galaxy winless skid give everyone plenty to talk about:
D.C. own Atlanta
Eastern Conference stragglers D.C. United have won just seven games this season. Amazingly, three of them have come against Atlanta United, as the founding MLS club completed a season sweep of the expansion newcomers with Wednesday’s 1-0 win at RFK Stadium:
The Reds can beat you in so many ways, from Sebastian Giovinco’s brilliance to the cultured passing of Victor Vazquez and Michael Bradley – and now even the shot-stopping of Alex Bono, too.
Quakes get shelled again
The San Jose Earthquakes have generally been fun to watch under new coach Chris Leitch, who wants his team to play expansive, attacking soccer and tactically sets them up to do so. But he’s been unable to find any sort of tonic for their woeful road form, and it might just spell doom for their playoff hopes. Wednesday’s 4-0 thrashing by Real Salt Lake means the Quakes have now lost six straight league road games, and by a combined score of 21-3.
Dare to Darlington
We still have 11 more games to play in Week 25, but Darlington Nagbe might just have the AT&T Goal of the Week stitched up already. The Portland Timbers linchpin conjured up what proved to be the game-winner against Colorado with a graceful, almost languid half-turn punctuated by a simply divine curling chip into the far top corner that left goalkeeping legend Tim Howard a mere spectator like the rest of Providence Park. It was special, and so is Nagbe:
Fredy and the Edmonton Kid
What is it about Cascadia Cup games that spark Fredy Montero? Since the regional rivalry arrived in MLS in 2011, the former Sounder turned Whitecap has scored about a third of his regular-season goals against Cascadian opponents – and he did it again with a clutch late equalizer in the latest Vancouver-Seattleclash:
A big chunk of the credit here is due to supersub Alphonso Davies, however, who victimized veteran defender Chad Marshall to set up the strike. It’s been a stop-start season for the talented ‘Caps teenager – that was his first MLS goal or assist of the year – but Vancouver are hoping he aids their playoff push down the stretch.
