MLS Week 9: Score draws and a win for Inter Miami
Week 9 of the 2024 MLS season started with Montreal’s 2-2 home draw with Orlando City. Mason Toye put Montreal up in the 16th with Orlando’s Facundo Torres equalizing from the penalty spot in the 22nd. Montreal’s Ariel Lassiter scored in the 88th and City’s Ivan Angulo equalized two minutes into stoppage time.
“We’re still in a process, but in a good position,” Montreal coach Laurent Courtois said. “It’s tough. We’re subject to the opponent’s transitions. It’s risky, and they know it. We were in too much of a hurry to score a second goal and I didn’t want to compromise the team defensively.”
NYCFC shutout DC United 2-0 at Citi Field. Santiago Rodriguez put NYCFC up in the 20th and Julian Fernandez doubled the lead a minute into stoppage time.
“It shows that last week and the performances that we’ve had from not necessarily a points standpoint but from a performance standpoint of how well we’re playing shows that we’re pretty much into results now and that’s very important,” NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese said. “And again, the important thing is going on to the next one.”
Toronto beat New England 1-0 at home on a 66th minute Prince Owusu goal. “It was a better performance today,” New England defender Henry Kessler said. “Obviously, our record is very poor. We’ve started poorly. I thought we played better today, but we need to find ways to win.”
Cincinnati won 2-1 at Atlanta United after falling behind to a 59th minute Thiago Almada goal. Luca Orellano equalized for Cincinnati in the 62nd and Luciano Acosta scored in the 64th minute.
Columbus drew 2-2 at home with Portland after falling behind to a 10th minute Felipe Mora goal. The Crew’s Cucho Hernandez equalized in the 51st. The Timbers went ahead in the 57th when Santiago Moreno scored, but the Crew’s Steven Moreira equalized in the 74th minute.
Inter Miami beat Nashville 3-1 at home after trailing from a 2nd minute own-goal. Lionel Messi equalized in the 11th, Sergio Busquets scored in the 39th, and Messi converted a penalty in the 81st minute. “It’s two consecutive wins, we are top of the table, and hopefully we can still add points and fulfill our goals,” Busquets said.
Austin won 1-0 at Houston with Emiliano Rigoni scoring in the 86th minute. We are disappointed because we did so much well over the course of the game,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said. “We had 17 shots, and our defense has been great at putting up zeros this year. The guys gave everything tactically and implemented the gameplan well, but soccer is a little bit of a cruel game sometimes.”
Real Salt Lake beat Chicago 4-0 at Soldier Field, going ahead from an Andres Gomez goal in the 24th. Cristian Arango doubled the lead in the 33rd and scored again in the 37th. RSL’s Diego Luna finished off the goals three minutes into stoppage time.
Sporting Kansas City drew 3-3 at home with St Louis, taking the lead in the 17th from an Alan Pulido goal. Joao Klauss equalized for St Louis in the 31st and Celio Pompeu put them up three minutes into first-half stoppage time. Daniel Salloi equalized for Sporting in the 65th and Erik Thommy scored in the 77th. Thomas Totland equalized for St Louis two minutes into stoppage time.
“Frustration again,” Sporting KC’s Johnny Russell said. “It’s the same old story of recent games, especially the home games. We have dropped way too many points from winning positions. It’s the same answers in the last few weeks as well. It’s not good enough. You can’t continue to get yourself in winning positions and continue to drop points when you’ve got the lead.”
Colorado beat FC Dallas 2-1 at home, taking a 2-0 lead from own-goals in the 45th and 49th. FC Dallas’s Petar Musa pulled a goal back in the 87th minute. “The numbers showed that we did better than usual road games,” Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “Some of the stats are positive but I think we need to change that to results. We can’t rely on a solid 45-minute performance when it needs to be a full 90-minute effort.”
Vancouver won 2-0 at Seattle, playing a man up from a red card to Jackson Ragen in the 43rd. Ryan Gauld put the Whitecaps up in the 58th and Brian White doubled their lead in the 71st. The Sounders saw red again in the 74th with Alex Roldan exiting.
LAFC and the Red Bulls drew 2-2 at BMO Stadium, with an own-goal putting New York up in the 8th. Denis Bouanga converted an LAFC penalty in the 67th, but New York retook the lead from an Emil Forsberg goal in the 81st. Bouanga equalized again five minutes into stoppage time.
Sunday’s schedule started with Minnesota winning 3-0 at Charlotte. Tani Oluwaseyi scored in the 31st, Robin Lod doubled the lead in the 49th, and Hassani Dotson finished off the United goals in the 53rd minute.
Week 9 ended in Carson, where the LA Galaxy beat San Jose 4-3. Gabriel Pec put the Galaxy up in the 14th with the Earthquakes equalizing in the 32nd. The Galaxy retook the lead from a Joseph Paintsil penalty in the 24th, Maya Yishida scored in the 30th, and Riqui Puig made it 4-1 in the 56th. Benji Kikanovic pulled a goal back for San Jose in the 58th. LA’s Eriq Zavaleta saw red in the 70th and San Jose’s Jeremy Ebobisse converted a penalty in the 72nd minute.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
