MLS Week 9: Montreal wins at home, Nashville and LAFC draw

Week 9 of the 2023 MLS season started at Stade Saputo where CF Montreal shutout the New York Red Bulls 2-0. An own-goal put Montreal up in the 25th. Montreal played a man down from the 65th with a red card to Ilias Iliadis, but Mathieu Choiniere doubled the lead two minutes into stoppage time. Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois kept the clean sheet with five saves.

“The three points were very important tonight,” Montreal coach Hernan Losada said. “There are times when you must be combative and smart. I don’t think we gave away many chances, even when we were a man down. Defense is a collective effort. I am happy for the players because we are very united. We tried to stay calm in the tougher moments.”

Charlotte won 1-0 at Columbus on a 37th minute Karol Swiderski goal. Charlotte goalkeeper George Marks recorded the shutout with three saves.

FC Cincinnati beat Portland 2-1 at home. Sergio Santons opened the scoring for Cincinnati in the 34th and Brandon Vazquez doubled the lead in the 58th. Portland’s Dairon Asprilla pulled a goal back in the 60th minute.

“An entertaining game,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “Another hard-fought win, but credit to Portland. They were very difficult on the evening. Very dangerous in transition. I think you could see both teams with space did a good job of creating some chance chances in transition moments. Fortunately, we were able to hold them off. But it was a difficult match, certainly, and I’m happy that we found another way to win a game.”

New England won 2-1 at Sporting Kansas City with Giacomo Vrioni scoring for the Revs in the 31st and 35th minutes. Sporting got a 50th minute goal from Johnny Russell, playing a man down from the 61st with a red card to Andreu Fontas.

“I think getting three points, we’re missing a number of players,” New England coach Bruce Arena said. “So, it’s nice to be able to get three points and get some guys opportunities to play. But we have to play better than we did tonight.”

NYCFC beat FC Dallas 3-1 at Citi Field. Santiago Rodriguez scored for New York in the 44th and 50th minutes and Talles MAgno made it 3-0 in the 55th. FC Dallas’s Jose Martinez scored in the 77th.

“I really love these types of games because both teams want the ball and both teams want to dominate possession,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “Both teams want to build the play and control the game with the ball. So there are real problems to solving the way that you retain the ball but also the ways that you stop them [FC Dallas] from controlling you with the ball. We knew that we would have to do work.”

DC United won 3-1 at Orlando, taking the lead from a Taxi Fountas goal in the 15th. Duncan McGuire equalized for Dallas in the 23rd. United got the lead back from a Donovan Pines goal in the 52nd and Christian Benteke scored in the 62nd minute.

Philadelphia beat Toronto 4-2 at home, going up through a 16ht-minute own goal and with Mikkel Uhre scoring in the 20th, 43rd, and 56th. Lorenzo Insigne pulled a goal back for Toronto in the 66th and Richie Laryea scored two minutes into stoppage time.

Houston shutout Inter Miami 1-0 at home on a 72nd minute Daniel Steres goal. Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark kept the clean sheet with five saves.

I feel good about our resiliency and our belief to win games,” DC United coach Ben Olsen said. “That turning of the mentality here is important. It is not perfect and you’re still under it at times. You bend, you don’t break and see these games out. But it feels good. When we watch that game back there is a lot of work to do here with this group.”

Nashville and LAFC drew 1-1 at GEODIS Park. Hany Mukhtar scored for Nashville in the 35th and LAFC’s Denis Bouanga equalized in the 59th minute.

Colorado came back to draw 1-1 at home with St Louis City. Rasmus Alm put St Louis up in the 57th and the Rapids equalized through Michael Barrios two minutes into stoppage time.

Real Salt Lake beat San Jose 3-1 at home, taking the lead from a 39th minute Japser Loeffelsend goal. San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza equalized in the 49th. Real Salt Lake retook the lead from a 54th minute Jefferson Savarino goal and Andres Gomez scored in the 80th minute.

The Galaxy shutout Austin 2-0 at home. Javier Hernandez scored in the 54th and Ricard Puig made it 2-0 in the 64th. LA goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann made two saves to keep the clean sheet.

Seattle shutout Minnesota 1-0 at home on a 79th minute Albert Rusnak goal. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei kept the clean sheet with four saves.

Week 9 ended in Atlanta where United beat Chicago 2-1. Giorgos Giakoumakis scored for Atlanta in the 13th with Kacper Przybylko equalizing in the 90th. Atlanta went up fro good from an own-goal nine minutes into stoppage time.