Atlanta and New England drew, Columbus beats Colorado, Cincinnati beats NYCFC

Thursday’s soccer news starts with round 16 of the 2023 MLS season, where Atlanta and New England drew 3-3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. New England took the lead in the 1st minute when Carles Gil scored and Bobby Wood doubled it in the 37th. United’s Giorgos Giakoumakis pulled a goal back in the 56th, Thiago Almada equalized in the 74th, and Miguel Berry scored in the 87th. Gil equalized for New England three minutes into stoppage time.

“Obviously, it was a difficult game since the beginning,” Gil said. “We started with the quick goal, but we didn’t feel good in any moment, I think. We didn’t have the ball. They play many times in our half, so yeah, in the end we keep a point, but we need to play better. If we want to be one of the best teams, we need to change a little bit this situation.”

Columbus came back to beat Colorado 3-2 at home, falling behind to a 9th minute Sam Nicholson goal. Lucas Zelarayan equalized for the Crew in the 37th with Sean Zawadzki scoring in the 62nd and Cucho Hernandez making it 3-1 in the 72nd. Colorado’s Cole Bassett pulled a goal back five minutes into stoppage time.

FC Cincinnati won 3-1 at NYCFC, taking the lead from a 38th minute Luciano Acosta goal. Alvaro Barreal made it 2-0 in the 59th with NYCFC’s Braian Cufre scoring in 64th. Cincinnati’s Brandon Vazquez converted a Cincinnati penalty in the 70th minute.

“I’m very pleased for not just the players, you know, there’s a lot of that backroom staff and the coaches that are working really, really hard right now and doing things to keep things on track in a way where we’re not getting ahead of ourselves,” FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “And I think that’s important for where we’re at and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Philadelphia shutout Charlotte 1-0 at home on a 70th minute own-goal. Union goalkeeper Andre Blake made two saves to keep the clean sheet.

DC United and Montreal drew 2-2 at Audi Field. Donovan Pines put United up in the 44th and Theodore Ku-DiPietro made it 2-0 in the 59th. Montreal’s Sunusi Ibrahim pulled a goal back in the 80th and Ariel Lassiter leveled the score in the 82nd.

“It is an important point earned, because we didn’t concede the three points to a direct conference rival,” Montreal coach Hernan Losada said. “This momentum will be good for Saturday’s game and the Canadian Championship final too.”

Toronto FC and Chicago drew 0-0 at BMO Field. Toronto put seven shots on goal to Chicago’s one.

The Red Bulls won 1-0 at Inter Miami, taking the lead from a 52nd minute Tom Barlow goal. New York played a man down from a red card to Cameron Harper four minutes into stoppage time. Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel made one save for the shutout.

“You’ve got to dust yourself down and get up,” Inter Miami coach Phil Neville said. “We believe in this group of players, I believe in this group of players, I believe 1000% that they can deliver those passes, those shots, those goals.”

Austin beat Minnesota 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a 19th minute Jon Gallagher goal. United’s Joseph Rosales equalized in the 26th but Austin’s Sebastian Driussi scored in the 82nd minute.

Sporting Kansas City beat FC Dallas 2-1 at home in a game that started just under an hour late due to weather. Sporting took the lead from a Gadi Kinda goal in the 41st and Daniel Salloi made it 2-0 in the 60th. Jesus Ferreira pulled a goal back a minute into stoppage time.

“Our guys were ready to go, but the weather delay definitely had an impact on our guys,” FC Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “We started off slower than what we wanted, but overall we did a good job to wait and get ready to go. We played well and we did deserve to score more than the lone goal we had today.”

The LA Galaxy won 3-2 at Real Salt Lake, taking the lead from a Gaston Brugman penalty four minutes into first-half stoppage time. Real Salt Lake’s Danny Musovski equalized in the 51st and Pablo Ruiz scored in the 67th. The Galaxy’s Memo Rodriguez equalized in the 72nd and Tyler Boyd scored in the 74th minute.

Vancouver beat Houston 6-2 at BC Place, taking the lead from a Pedro Vite goal in the 1st minute. The Dynamo equalized through Corey Baird in the 8th and Amine Bassi scored in the 16th minute. Vancouver’s Julian Gressel scored in the 18th, Brian White put the Whitecaps up in the 46th, and Gressel scored again in the 59th minute. Playing a man up from a 69th minute Nelson Quinones red card, Vancouver’s Sebastian Berhalter scored in the 88th and Ryan Gauld finished off the Whitecaps scoring five minutes into stoppage time.

San Jose shutout Seattle 1-0 away to close out the round 16 games. Jeremy Ebobisse scored for the Earthquakes in the 48th minute with goalkeeper Daniel keeping the clean sheet with eight saves.

Moving to the first-leg of the Concacaf Champions League final, Club Leon took a 2-1 lead over LAFC at home. William Tesillo scored for Leon in the 8th and Angel Mena converted a penalty five minutes into first-half stoppage time. LAFC’s Denis Bouanga pulled a goal back six minutes into stoppage time. The series concludes on Sunday night at BMO Stadium.

In the Copa Do Brasil round of 16 second-leg, Johnny Cardoso subbed out in the 66th minute of Internacional’s 3-1 win on the night over America-MG, drawing 3-3 on aggregate and exiting 5-4 on penalties. Nicolas Hernandez scored for Internacional in the 20th, Igor Gomes doubled the lead on the night in the 33rd, and Pedro Henrique equalized on aggregate from the penalty spot two minutes into first-half stoppage time. America-MG scored in the 77th to send the game to penalties. Internacional failed to convert in the third round with America-MG going five for five from the spot.

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