MLS Week 4: A late winner in Chicago and late reds across the league
Week 4 of the 2024 MLS season started at Soldier Field, where Chicago came back to beat Montreal 4-3. Matias Coccaro converted Montreal penalties in the 7th and 12th with the Fire’s Maren Haile-Selassie pulling a goal back eight minutes into first-half stoppage time. Dominik Yankov made it 3-1 Montreal in the 70th. Montreal’s Raheem Edwards saw red in the 82nd and Brian Gutierrez converted the Chicago penalty. Hugo Cuypers equalized for the Fire five minutes into stoppage time and Kellyn Acosta scored four minutes later.
“That was pretty epic, pretty crazy,” Acosta said. “The match had a bit of everything I would say but it was a good result so we’ll take it. In the midst of adversity we find out who we really are.”
Inter Miami won 3-1 at DC United after falling behind to a 14th minute Jared Stroud goal. Leonardo Campana equalized for Inter Miami in the 24th and Luis Suarez scored in the 72nd and 85th. DC’s Pedro Santos saw red in the 90th minute.
Seattle and Colorado drew 1-1 at Lumen Field. Raul Ruidiaz converted a Seattle penalty in the 11th and the Sounders played a man down when Joshua Atencio saw red in the 57th. Kevin Cabral equalized for the Rapids in the 87th. Ruidiaz saw red for Seattle in the 89th minute.
Columbus shutout the Red Bulls 3-0 at home. Chucho Hernandez put the Crew up in the 13th, Jacen Russell-Rowe doubled the lead in the 56th, and Aidan Morris scored in the 66th. New York’s Daniel Edelman saw red six minutes into stoppage time.
NYCFC beat Toronto 2-1 at Yankee Stadium with Toronto taking the lead from a 7th minute Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty goal. NYCFC’s Santiago Rodriguez equalized in the 24th and Kevin O’Toole scored in the 64th. NYCFC played a man down from the 68th with a red card to Keaton Parks.
“The victory is really important for the team because they have a huge desire to win so, it’s payback for the hard work,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “When I say hard work, I don’t mean just exercise or running. I mean the hard work of looking at why we didn’t retain the three points last week, accepting it, and taking honest and respectful feedback.”
Austin drew 2-2 at home with Philadelphia after falling behind to a 13th minute Daniel Gazdag penalty. Diego Rubin equalized for Austin in the 56th and Jon Gallagher fave them the lead in the 58th. The Union’s Mikkel Uhre leveled the score in the 65th minute.
Vancouver won 3-1 at FC Dallas, going ahead in the 25th from a Mathias Laborda goal. Brian White doubled the Whitecaps’ lead in the 29th. FC Dallas’s Sebastian Llletget scored in the 40th. Fafa Picault finished off the Vancouver goals in the 42nd minute.
“Yeah it’s not one you want to celebrate,” Lletget said of his goal. “You just want to get back to the halfway line and just get the next one. But we conceded too early right after we scored and then it’s very tough to get back into the game. This is a tough one, not gonna lie. This one hurts because losing three in a row, with this team, we know we’re better than this.”
Houston shutout the Timbers 1-0 at home with Ibrahim Aliyu scoring in the 43rd. We made a lot of little plays that mattered in the box tonight, whether it was blocking a shot or helping your teammate,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said. “That has not happened in other games that haven’t gone our way recently. It was a good effort from everybody today.”
Minnesota beat LAFC 2-0 at home. Robin Lod put United up in the 16th and Bongokuhle Hlongwane doubled the lead in the 88th minute.
“We looked organized, disciplined, and difficult to break down throughout the counter-attack,” United coach Eric Ramsay said. “We showed real energy togetherness, and a spirit the team has shown up until this point which I was really reliant on the team continuing with. We want to evolve toward being a team that looks like that really consistently, where we are really difficult to break down and we are a real threat on the counter-attack and I think you saw that for large portions of the game at least.”
Nashville beat Charlotte 2-1 at GEODIS Park, going ahead from a 32nd minute Sam Surridge goal. Alex Muyl made it 2-0 Nashville in the 40th with Brecht Dejargere pulling a goal back for Charlotte four minutes into first-half stoppage time.
Sporting Kansas City beat San Jose 2-1 at home after falling behind to an 11th minute. Vitor Costa goal. Daniel Rosero Valencia equalized for Sporting in the 18th and Alan Pulido scored in the 29th minute.
“I think we played good,” Pulido said. “The team knows how San Jose is playing the last couple matches. We were ready. We were very focused in this match. It is the second game at home and we won. This is the most important. Three points for us is amazing.”
The LA Galaxy and St Louis City drew 3-3 at Dignity Health Sports Park. Dejan Jovelic put LA up in the 3rd with Tomas Ostrak equalizing for City in the 27th. LA retook the lead from a Joseph Paintsil goal in the 51st. St Louis equalized through Joakim Nilsson in the 60th and went ahead from an 88th minute own-goal. The Galaxy’s Maya Yoshida leveled the score five minutes into stoppage time and LA’s Martin Caceres saw red four minutes later.
“Of course, it’s frustrated game,” Jovelic said. “We should have won that game. I should have scored more goals than one. I want to say that goalkeeper of St. Louis was amazing today and big shout out to him, and I’m going to keep working, even harder, and we are going to come back for sure and the good thing is that we are unbeaten. Unbeaten four games.”
On Sunday, FC Cincinnati won 2-1 at New England. Cincinnati took the lead from a Yuya Kubo goal in the 52nd and Luciano Acosta scored in the 54th. The Revolution’s Giacomo Vrioni pulled a goal back in the 62nd minute.
“Yeah, certainly a nice way to cap off this stretch of eight games in whatever it was, 25 days,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “You know, I said it before the game, it’d be nice to see these guys rewarded with a good result after what they’ve endured. And I say endured, it’s not to be dramatic, it’s taken its toll on the group. And you could see in the game, there was heavy legs, tired minds, but they found a way.”
Week 4 ended in Atlanta on Sunday night with United beating Orlando 2-0. Saba Lobjanidze put United up in the 9th and Giorgos Giakoumakis made it 2-0 in the 70th minute.
Photo by Chicago Fire FC
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.