Your Sunday Kickoff: Toronto-Cincinnati, Colorado-Minnesota & Dallas-RSL go off the rails

Last night gave us some of the best games of the year. It also gave us some other games. Let’s talk it out.

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Moments after Sergio Santos put FC Cincinnati up 4-3 in stoppage time, Lorenzo Insigne appeared to have tied the game at four. Insigne crept just offside before making his run though, and Cincy held on for a remarkable 4-3 win over a Toronto side that looks prepared to start competing with the best teams in the East again.

With their seventh straight win, the Garys are now on a 2.2 points-per-game pace. You can’t say enough about how well their front office has done to manage the roster turnover this offseason. It speaks volumes that new wingback Luca Orellano led the way in this one, with new striker Kevin Kelsy also finding the net. They haven’t missed a beat and they never stop pushing for three points. We have a heckuva Supporters’ Shield race on our hands.

Full credit to Toronto. They were up for this in every way. Missing Federico Bernardeschi to a yellow card accumulation suspension loomed pretty large by the end. The Reds still put up a fight. Everything is still well ahead of schedule for John Herdman and company.

Somehow a game that delivered a Kévin Cabral brace, a Sang-Bin Jeong brace, a Dayne St. Clair penalty save, a Dayne St. Clair howler and another Tani Oluwaseyi goal in a 3-3 draw wasn’t the runaway game of the night in MLS. We still got something special here though.

There isn’t quite as much to take away from a team perspective for either side, but I think we can say it’s good to see Cabral finally reward himself for getting into good positions, it’s encouraging to see Navarro find the net for fifth consecutive game, it’s fun to watch Sang-Bin score three goals in two games, and it’s remarkable to watch Oluwaseyi turn into the latest SuperDraft pick turned elite MLS striker.

Seriously, Oluwaseyi has the best non-penalty xG per 90 numbers in MLS and now has six goals and three assists in five starts. He’s the real deal. And he’s a key reason why the Loons are unbeaten in their last six and second in the West.

Well. For a moment it seemed like we were priming to write the “Have FC Dallas woken up??” takes thanks in large part to two very unfortunate moments from RSL keeper Zac MacMath that led directly to goals. But even after Dallas went up 3-0, RSL kept fighting. It started with a tap-in from Diego Luna, continued with a worldie from Anderson Julio and ended with Nelson Palacio scoring from the top of the box in the final seconds of stoppage time.

RSL are now unbeaten in their last 11 games. This might be the most remarkable result from the bunch. They were dead and buried on the road and kept pushing. It’s not how they want to approach every game, but this is MLS. Weird things happen. You have to work through them. And Pablo Mastroeni’s team always seems to these days.

That being said, Dallas will be kicking themselves here. They were moments away from a signature win and a full narrative reversal. They’ve been getting results lately, but they haven’t taken down a top team. They missed a huge opportunity.

Robert Taylor picked up the slack for the Messi-less Herons with a stunning goal and a crispy assist as Inter Miami made the longest road trip in MLS and came out with a win. The Whitecaps are winless in their last four and Inter Miami are still atop the Supporters’ Shield standings.

Anyway, you won’t believe this, but Vancouver had 2.8 xG to Inter Miami’s 0.8. Nothing matters and trying is pointless.

Remember, everyone uses the wrong Breaking Bad quote when talking about Inter Miami. It’s not Jesse Pinkman’s pained “THEY CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!” (They can.) It’s actually Jesse Pinkman’s explanation of why Walter White keeps winning.

“Look, you two guys are just...guys, okay? Mr. White? He's the devil. He is smarter than you, he is luckier than you. Whatever you think is supposed to happen, I'm telling you, the exact reverse opposite of that is gonna happen, okay?”

Miami has plot armor, the rest of MLS are just guys and this is just going to keep happening.

LAFC immediately capitalized on a DOGSO red card for Brad Guzan with a deflected free kick from Mateusz Bogusz that found the back of the net. Atlanta couldn’t get back in the game and the Five Stripes fell at home for the fourth consecutive game. They’re now winless in nine.

Credit to LAFC for their second road win of the season, but it’s hard not to focus on Atlanta here. Teams have figured out the formula to earn results against them and despite multiple tweaks and changes week over week, Atlanta haven't found a way to work through it. LAFC came out with a three center back setup for the first time this season in this game simply because Atlanta have come up short against teams with a three center back setup time and time again this season. In typical fashion, the Five Stripes had the advantage in possession and xG by the final whistle, but it simply didn’t matter.

It feels like every marginal difference has gone against them this season, and it’s not clear how to fix it. LAFC fans who were around for the 2021 season can tell you exactly how frustrating that is when those differences pile up like this.

Well, y’all. Can you believe it? The Crew got a break from Concacaf Champions Cup for a bit and now they’re grabbing wins. Who could have guessed?

Diego Rossi led the way for the Cucho-less Columbus side as they rolled to their third straight win, all on the road. Next up: At Pachuca on June 1 for a regional title.

Meanwhile, the Lions’ streak of three-games unbeaten came to an end here. 2024 still isn’t going as planned.

A road point for the Fire! That’s the first good thing in a while. They’re still winless in their last eight, but you take what you can get, right?

D.C…man, they should be getting better results than this. Frustrating team. But they’re veering toward “They are who their record says they are” territory. Tough place to be.

A Keaton Parks header made the difference for New York City FC as they eased by the Revs for their fourth straight win and their seventh win in eight games. This team is for real.

The Revs are also real, but in like a “the universe has bad things within it and we must wrestle with their existence to know more about ourselves” kind of way. They have seven points through 13 games.

Don’t look now, but Seattle are above the playoff line. That’s not quite the standard they were looking to meet when the season started, but it’s fair to say priorities have shifted over the last couple of months. They’re starting to find their way though. Even with Pedro de la Vega out of the matchday lineup for this one, they found a way to score twice and earn a road win. They have a totally fine seven points from their last six games.

That’s three consecutive losses for St. Louis. A run of LAFC, Cincy and Seattle will do that to most teams. Good thing they get a break next weekend with…[checking]...ah man, I forgot again, it’s Inter Miami.

Houston went up early, but Gabriel Pec and Riqui Puig stepped up in Joseph Paintsil’s absence to give the Galaxy a needed home win. LA snapped a five-game winless skid in this one. Houston have just one win in their last seven games.

I can’t believe there were only three goals.

Two of them went to Portland and the Timbers earned their second win in three games. Sporting KC are now sitting at the very bottom of the West. They have two wins in 14 games this season.

It’s a road point for Austin. The Quakes had their chances, especially in a wild sequence in stoppage time that featured a couple of shots off the post, but couldn’t find a way through. The good news for San Jose though is they’re technically not in last place anymore. I still think this team can work their way into a playoff spot.

Austin have just one loss in their last seven games by the way.

That’s five straight clean sheets for Charlotte. Personally, I can’t believe they’re just going to steal Nashville’s whole deal like this, but it seems to be working pretty well. Now imagine if they get their two DP signings this summer right…

CF Montréal aren’t healthy. Nashville are taking baby steps post-Gary Smith. Not much else to say here.

• FC Cincinnati outlasted Toronto FC in a thriller.
• Real Salt Lake pulled off an epic comeback.
• The Crew stayed hot ahead of their upcoming Champions Cup final.

Good luck out there. Find another level.