MLS Week 32: Atlanta beats Inter Miami at home, LAFC wins derby

Week 32 of the 2023 MLS season started with NYCFC and the Red Bulls drawing 0-0 at Yankee Stadium. NYCFC finished with two shots on goal to the Red Bulls’ three.

Atlanta beat Inter Miami 5-2 at home after falling behind to a 25th minute Leonardo Campana goal. Tristan Muyumba equalized for United in the 36th and an own-goal put them up in the 41st. Atlanta’s Brooks Lennon added to the lead in the 44th but Campana converted a Miami penalty in the 53rd minute. Giorgos Giakoumakis added a goal for Atlanta in the 76th and Tyler Wolff finished off the scoring in the 89th minute.

“I could not be more proud of the team,” Atlanta coach Gonzalo Pineda said. “The mentality of the team is something we talk about a lot during training sessions and message during film, so I cannot be more proud of my team. Tonight, they showed heart, passion, intelligence, good football, but also, they showed a good mentality.”

Charlotte and DC drew 0-0 at Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte put two of its 14 shots on goal while DC went six from 14.

Vancouver won 2-1 at Toronto after falling behind to a 50th minute Deandre Kerr goal. Tristan Blackmon equalized for the Whitecaps in the 56th and Brian White scored in the 66th minute.

Orlando beat Columbus 4-3 at Exploria Stadium with the Crew’s Julian Gressel opening the scoring in the 16th minute. City’s Martin Ojeda equalized in the 48th. Diego Rossi returned the Crew’s lead in the 56th and Cucho Hernandez made it 3-1 Columbus in the 68th. Facundo Torres pulled a goal back for Orlando in the 73rd and Ramiro Enrique equalized in the 86th and scored again seven minutes into stoppage time.

Montreal and Chicago finished 0-0 at Stade Saputo with both teams putting four shots on goal. “Obviously going into the match, we had given up 11 goals in four games, and I think our main focus was really just our defensive organization,” Chicago coach Frank Klopas said. “I think our ability to stay compact and make it really difficult for them. We had the opportunity, really, to work on a lot of concepts and movements that they kind of created in the match, and I thought on the whole, we had a really good performance.”

Philadelphia and Cincinnati drew 2-2 at Subaru Park with Josef Martinez opening the scoring for the Union in the 23rd minute and Daniel Gazdag converting a 37th minute penalty. Cincinnati’s Aaron Boupendza pulled a goal back in the 49th and Brandon Vazquez equalized in the 76th. Both teams finished a man down with Cincinnati’s Yerson Mosquera seeing red in the 84rd and Philadelphia’s Jack Elliott exiting four minutes into stoppage time.

“I would say, too many things led to us being down two goals at the break,” FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “So, you know, once you go down one goal to this team in this building, a point’s a good thing.”

Houston and St Louis drew 1-1 at Shell Energy Stadium. Corey Baird scored for the Dynamo in the 42nd and Joao Klauss equalized in the 87th minute. “I think that we’re defending as a team, but also, when you have the ball more, you defend less,” Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark said. “You are seeing some of that. They’re a very good pressing team, and I thought that we went toe-to-toe with them. It wasn’t always perfect, but I think that was a good mentality piece for us.”

FC Dallas and Seattle finished 1-1 at Toyota Stadium. Jack Obrian put Dallas up in the 14th and Alex Roldan leveled the score in the 57th minute. “It was really good tonight,” Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “Everything that we’ve talked about and worked on during the week, we accomplished which was good. The team had an amazing response.”

Sporting Kansas City won 1-0 at Minnesota. Gadi Kinda scored in the 84th and Sporting goalkeeper Dayne St Clair kept the clean sheet with five saves. I would say this is a mature performance by us,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “It’s really nice to see, with all the different ups and downs that we’ve had over the season and at a time when we needed a mature performance, guys executed on it.”

Colorado beat New England 2-1 at home. Cole Bassett scored for the Rapids in the 48th and Calvin Harris doubled the lead in the 62nd. Omar Gonzalez pulled a goal back for the Revolution two minutes into stoppage time.

San Jose won 2-1 over Real Salt Lake at PayPal Park, taking the lead from a 2nd minute Jeremy Ebobisse goal. Rodrigues made it 2-0 Earthquakes in the 15th with Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango scoring in the 44th minute.

LAFC beat the Galaxy 4-2 at home with Denis Bouanga putting them up in the 23rd. The Galaxy’s Bill Sharp equalized in the 25th but Ryan Hollingshead returned the LAFC lead in the 33rd. Maya Yoshida got the Galaxy’s second equalizer in the 59th. Bouanga scored again in the 33rd and Timothy Tillman finished off the LAFC goals in the 84th minute.

Week 32 ended on Sunday with Portland winning 2-1 at Austin. Felipe Mora put the Timbers up in the 39th and Evander doubled the lead in the 64th. Austin’s Sebastian Driussi scored in the 75th minute.