MLS Week 26: Montreal beats Charlotte, New England shuts out DC, Minnesota and LAFC draw

Week 26 in MLS began with Orlando City coming back to win 2-1 at Atlanta. Caleb Wiley put United up in the 22nd. City’s Antonio Carlos equalized in the 25th and Duncan McGuire scored in the 60th minute.

Montreal shutout Charlotte 2-0 at Stade Saputo with Kwadwo Opoku scoring in the 29th and Chinonso Offor doubling the lead in the 31st. Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois kept the clean sheet with Charlotte finishing without a shot on goal.

New England beat DC United 4-0 at home, taking the lead from a 45th minute Gustavo Bou goal. Ian Harkes added goals seven minutes into first-half stoppage time and in the 49th, with an own-goal finishing off the scoring in the 73rd minute. DC finished a man down when Mateusz Klich saw red a minute into stoppage time.

“It was a really good performance,” New England coach Bruce Arena said. “I thought he (Harkes) and Matt Polster played very well in the central part of midfield, and obviously two goals by Ian is very good.”

Philadelphia beat NYCFC 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a 23rd minute Jose Martinez goal. Chris Donovan scored for Philadelphia in the 81st and New York’s Andres Jasson pulled a goal back in the 86th minute.

“Ultimately, this is another game where we are six goal chances to three,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “We had the game that we wanted but we gave away two really, really poor goals. We have to improve. I think we’ve been relentless in our play but not ruthless enough and it’s the same again.”

Chicago shutout Toronto 1-0 at home on a 90th minute Kacper Przybylko goal. Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady kept the clean sheet with one save. “They really laid it all on the line, fully emptied out the gas tank,” Brady said of the Fire defense. “And that’s one for the team, but also makes me look a little better. They really put in just an absolute shift tonight.”

Minnesota and LAFC finished 1-1 with LAFC taking the lead on the road from a 21st minute Carlos Vela goal. United’s Emanuel Reynoso equalized in the 24th.

“Well done,” Minnesota coach Adrian Heath said. “I thought they were excellent. Playing the reigning champions and we should have won the game. I thought our football in the first half was probably the best we had played all season. I’m trying to think of somebody who has not done well tonight. But, couple of errors that have cost us, but overall, outstanding at times.”

FC Cincinnati came back to beat Nashville 3-1 at home after falling behind to a 31st minute Walker Zimmerman goal. Luciano Acosta equalized from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute. Nashville dropped to nine men after red cards to Taylor Washington in the 68th and Fafa Picault in the 70th. Santiago Arias put Cincinnati in front in the 74th and Aaron-Salem Boupendza scored nine minutes into stoppage time.

St Louis shutout Inter Miami 3-0 at home. Samuel Adeniran put St Louis up in the 28th, Tim Parker doubled the lead in the 40th, and Eduard Lowen finished off the goals in the 80th minute. Roman Burki made three saves to keep the clean sheet for St Louis.

Austin beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 at home. Gyasi Zardes put Austin up in the 17th and Ethan Finlay doubled the lead in the 19th. Daniel Rosero pulled a goal back for Sporting in the 33rd.

Colorado and Houston finished 0-0 with the Rapids putting three shots on goal to the Dynamo’s two.

Real Salt Lake beat the Red Bulls 3-1 at home with Diego Luna scoring in the 2nd and 53rd. New York’s Frankie Amaya pulled a goal back in the 80th, but Jefferson Savarino finished off the RSL goals in the 81st minute.

Portland beat Columbus 3-2 at Providence Park with Dairon Asprilla scoring in the 28th and 30th minutes. The Crew’s Lucas Zelarayan pulled a goal back three minutes into stoppage time and equalized in the 65th. The Timbers went up for good from an 80th minute Sebastian Blanco goal.

The Sounders and Dallas drew 1-1 at Lumen Field, where Seattle went up from an own-goal in the 32nd. Bernard Kamungo equalized for Dallas in the 42nd minute.

“This was an important week for us returning to identity and style of play,” Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “We want to be the team that, when we don’t have the ball, we fight, battle and press and help each other. And when we have the ball, we want to be brave from the back and have the control of the possession to get to the opponent’s box.”

Week 26 ended with Vancouver beating the LA Galaxy 4-2 at home. Brian White opened the scoring for the Whitecaps in the 2nd with Ryan Gauld adding a goal in the 10th. The Galaxy went a man down with a red card to Chris Mavinga in the 21st. Gauld converted a 23rd minute penalty to make it 3-0 Vancouver. LA’s Gaston Brugman pulled a goal back in the 61st and Marky Delgado scored in the 74th. Sergio Crodova finished off the scoring for Vancouver four minutes into stoppage time.