Week 1 of the 2023 Major League Soccer season started with Minnesota winning 1-0 at FC Dallas on a 48th minute Mender Garcia goal. United goalkeeper Dayne St Clair made one save to keep the clean sheet.
“Typical first game of the season,” Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “A little bit crazy, you can see some of the results that have happened and how some games have turned a little bit. I think, we did everything that we could on the side of effort, the fight, the desire to fight this game. But I think we rushed in the worst moments.”
St Louis won 3-2 at Austin, with Tim Parker scoring the club’s first goal in the 24th. Austin’s Sebastian Druissi equalized four minutes into stoppage time and Jon Gallagher scored in the 72nd. St Louis equalized from a 78th minute Jared Stroud goal in the 78th and Klauss scored their winner in the 86th minute.
Philadelphia beat Columbus 4-1 at home after falling behind to a 28th minute own-goal. The Union’s Daniel Gazdag converted a penalty three minutes into first-half stoppage time with Julian Carranza scoring in the 52nd. Gazdag converted another penalty in the 72nd and Carranza scored again in the 80th minute.
Orlando beat the Red Bulls 1-0 at home with Facundo Torres converting a 56th minute penalty. City’s Pedro Gallese made four saves to keep the clean sheet in a game where Orlando had one shot on goal.
Inter Miami beat Montreal 2-0 at home. Serhiy Kryvstov scored for Inter in the 41st and Shanyder Borgelin made it 2-0 in the 76th. Inter goalkeeper Drake Callender made six saves.
“This franchise has never won their first game of the season, so I think today we overcame a psychological barrier,” Inter coach Phil Neville said. “This gives us all a boost.”
Cincinnati beat Houston 2-1 at TQL Stadium with Sergio Santos putting Cincinnati up in the 19th. Houston’s Tate Schmitt equalized two minutes into stoppage time, but Obinna Nwobodo scored for Cincinnati in the 48th minute.
“Probably the strongest part of our game tonight was winning balls and in the attacking half and turning that into some chance creation, Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “We’ll take the win and try to improve certainly leading into next weekend.”
DC United beat Toronto 3-2 at Audi Field, taking the lead from a 13th minute Mateusz Klich goal. Toronto’s Federico Bernardeschi equalized from the penalty spot int he 66th and Mark-Anthony Kaye scored in the 83rd. Christian Benteke equalized for DC in the 90th and Theodore Ku-Dipietro scored eight minutes into stoppage time.
New England won 1-0 at Charlotte with Henry Kessler scoring in the 89th minute. Revs goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic kept the clean sheet with four saves.
(I)t was a fast game from start to finish,” New England coach Bruce Arena said. “The field was wet from the rain today and it was a fast surface. The home team had a huge advantage with a fan base of 69,000 people, so they came after us real hard for 90-plus minutes. So, it was challenging. I think our guys kept their composure, created some good chances, and were solid throughout the game.”
Atlanta United won 2-1 at home over San Jose. The Earthquakes Jeremy Ebobisse scored in the 12th with Atlanta’s Thiago Almada equalizing three minutes into stoppage time and scoring again six minutes later.
“Obviously it was a tough end result,” San Jose coach Luchi Gonzalez said. “The product of 90+ minutes, 97, 98 minutes, were good, but it is disappointing that the result did not happen for us. This is a tough place to play, the crowd pushed until the end, you could see the players push until the end, and I am proud of our group.”
Nashville beat NYCFC 2-0 at GEODIS Park, taking the lead in the 34th minute from a Walker Zimmerman goal with Jacob Shaffelburg scoring in the 80th. Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis made two saves for the clean sheet.
“We knew they were going to be a direct team, and we knew that they were going to run at the back line and put a lot of players up against us,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “The one way to control those moments from happening is to have the ball, and we didn’t carry the ball enough.”
Real Salt Lake beat Vancouver 2-1 at BC Place after falling behind to a 24th minute Javain Brown goal. Justen Glad equalized for RSL in the 70th and Damir Kreilach scored in the 72nd minute.
On Sunday, Seattle beat Colorado 4-0 at home with Cristian Roldan putting the Sounders up in the 25th minute. Jordan Morris doubled the lead in the 45th and Heber made it 3-0 in the 53rd. Morris scored again in the 83rd. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei made two saves to keep the clean sheet.
Week 1 concluded on Monday with a rescheduled game that saw Portland beat Sporting Kansas City 1-0 at home. Juan David Mosquera scored the game’s only goal in the 6th minute and Timbers goalkeeper David Bingham made four saves to keep the clean sheet.
Photo by Steve Limentani – ISIPhotos.com
