
MLS Week 10: Once again, shutouts were the story
Week 10 of the Major League Soccer season started with Charlotte shutting out Inter Miami 1-0 at home. Andre Shinyashiki scored in the 68th minute with Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina making six saves to keep the clean sheet.
Montreal beat Orlando City 4-1 at Stade Saputo. Joel Waterman scored for Montreal in the 21st and Djordje Mihailovic doubled the lead in the 52nd. Orlando pulled a goal back through Joao Moutinho in the 72nd minute. Montreal added goals from Joaquin Torres (81st) and Zachary Brault-Guillard (84th).
Atlanta beat Chicago 4-1 at home. Ronaldo Cisneros scored for United in the 2nd with the Fire equalizing in the 11th. Cisneros finished off his hat-trick with goals in the 27th and 36th minutes. Brooks Lennon scored Atlanta’s fourth goal in stoppage time. Atlanta and USMNT defender Miles Robinson exited in the 18th minute with an injury.
NYCFC and Sporting Kansas City finished 0-0 at Citi Field. Both teams finished with three shots on goal.
The Red Bulls and Portland drew 1-1 at Red Bull Arena. Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored for the Timbers in the 53rd and Aaron Long equalized for New York in the 67th minute.
DC United shutout Houston 2-0 at Audi Field. Taxiarchis Fountas scored in the 35th and 43rd minutes. DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid subbed out in the 49th minute with Rafael Romo seeing out the clean sheet.
“The first half was poor for us,” Houston coach Paulo Nagamura said. “Defensively, we started well in that opening 30 minutes until we conceded a goal. Offensively, we gave the ball away too much, which made it challenging to defend at times. We lost too many easy balls in the middle of the park. We gave the momentum to D.C. to push us back and defend for most of the first half. We have to do much better on both goals, much better than what we did.”
New England and Columbus drew 2-2 at Gillette Stadium. Miguel Berry scored for the Crew in the 27th. DeJuan Jones equalized for the Revs in the 70th and Adam Buksa scored in the 82nd. The Crew’s Erik Hurtado equalized in the 89th.
“Well, we added a striker, went with three in the back, went with two guys out wide that we thought could get some balls in front of the goal, and gambled a little bit playing Polster in the middle there,” New England coach Bruce arena said. “And then at the end, we conceded two goals today with our center backs not being able to get inside their strikers. So, we did a very poor job in that regard. You know, we should’ve walked off the field with three points. Our guys played very, very well in the second half. They really performed well. So, I’m disappointed they didn’t get three points.”
Cincinnati won 1-0 at Minnesota. Brandon Vazquez scored three minutes into stoppage time with goalkeeper Roman Celentano making five saves for the shutout.
“That win was a testament just to the mentality of the group,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “I thought we had, I said it I think at halftime, we had heavy legs, you could see that. And when quality with the ball isn’t there, you have got to figure out how to defend well. And that was a lot of what we talked about before the game was understanding the importance of defending as a team. And we could never get into our attacking shape or any kind of rhythm with a lot of careless turnovers.”
Dallas shutout Seattle 2-0 at home. Jesus Ferreira scored for Dallas in the 65th and Paul Arriola doubled the lead in the 88th. Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes kept the clean sheet without needing to make a save.
San Jose shutout Colorado 1-0 on a 64th minute Nathan Cardoso goal. JT Marcinkowski made five saves to keep the clean sheet.
LAFC and Philadelphia drew 2-2 at Banc of California Stadium. The Union’s Daniel Gazdag scored in the 9th with Kwadwo Opoku equalizing in the 56th. Julian Carranza scored for Philadelphia in the 67th and Franco Escobar equalized for LAFC in the 82nd minute.
On Sunday, Vancouver shutout Toronto 1-0 at home. Tosaint Ricketts scored in the 90th minute. Whitecaps goalkeeper Thomas Hasal subbed out in the 70th minute, replaced by Cody Cropper.
Nashville shutout Real Salt Lake 2-0 at home. Dave Romney put Nashville up in the 62nd minute with CJ Sapong doubling the lead in stoppage time. Joe Willis kept the clean sheet with two saves.
Week 10 ended with Austin FC’s 1-0 home loss to the LA Galaxy. Marky Delgado scored the game’s only goal in the 6th minute with Jonathan Bond keeping the clean sheet.
Photo by Steve Limentani – ISIPhotos.com