MLS Week 14: Philadelphia shuts out New England, Toronto wins at home
Week 14 of the 2024 MLS season began with Nashville drawing Atlanta United 1-1 at home. Hany Mukhtar converted a Nashville penalty in the 40th and Atlanta’s Bartosz Slisz equalized in the 55th minute.
“I think that in terms the moment we are in, in terms of confidence and previous results I think it was important to have something to build on,” Atlanta coach Gonzalo Pineda said. “I think today the performance, in terms of energy, commitment, fighting, grinding was really good. I was really pleased with the fight that this team has.”
Charlotte drew 0-0 at home with the Galaxy. Charlotte finished with two shots on goal to the Galaxy’s five. “I think we still need to improve,” LA Galaxy defender Maya Yoshida said. “Today, they drop a lot and they didn’t press high. We could dominate most of the time in the game. So only a few moments, opportunity they had from our mistakes. So very solid, good solidarity.”
FC Cincinnati beat St Louis City 3-1 at home, taking the lead from a Luciano Acosta penalty in the 26th. Yuya Kubo doubled the Cincinnati lead in the 49th. Cincinnati gave up an own-goal in the 54th. Sergio Santos scored for Cincinnati in the 80th minute.
“Really, really pleased with the performance tonight,” FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “Both sides of the ball, I thought you know, we were really strong at the tail end of a busy week and a challenging week. For us to come out and play that way, I was really, really pleased with the performance and outcome, because I thought that was well deserved.”
Philadelphia won 3-0 at New England, going a man up from a 14th minute red card to the Revolution’s Ryan Spaulding. Julian Carranza opened the scoring for the Union in the 38th and Daniel Gazdag added goals in the 47th and 80th minutes.
NYCFC beat the Red Bulls 2-1 at home, going ahead from a Hannes Wolf goal in the 3rd. Cameron Harper equalized for the Red Bulls a minute into first-half stoppage time. Monsef Bakrar returned NYCFC’s lead in the 64th. The Red Bulls finished a man down with Sean Nealis seeing red three minutes into stoppage time.
Toronto beat Montreal 5-1 at home, going up in the 6th when Matthew Lonstadd scored. Federico Bernardeschi doubled the lead in the 12th, Prince Osei Owusu scored in the 19th, and Bernardeschi added goals in the 58th and 59th. Montreal’s Sunusi Ibrahim scored in the 67th minute.
“We’re in a situation where we’re not executing on the pitch,” Montreal’s Jonathan Sirois said. “It’s as simple as that. I think it’s up to us, the players, the 11 on the pitch, to find solutions. I think at the moment it’s much more in our heads than technically. In the last few games, we’ve shown that we’re capable of playing ball, but as soon as we switch off for a few seconds, we pay the price. Tonight, at the start of the match, it was the same thing.”
Inter Miami shutout DC United 1-0 at home with Leonardo Campana scoring four minutes into stoppage time. Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender made three saves to keep the clean sheet.
Austin beat Sporting Kansas City 3-1 at home after falling behind to a Johnny Russell goal in the 18th. Jader Rafael Obrian equalized for Austin in the 28th and scored again in the 39th. Sebastian Driussi extended the Austin lead in the 46th. Sporting KC’s Jacob Davis scored in the 63rd minute.
“I think you can see the effort and the response is definitely there,” Russell said. “The effort is something that should be there every week. It’s not really something that you should be praised for. That should be the very little that you give. There was a definite response. I think you could see that. But ultimately, the same mistakes – individual mistakes and team mistakes and it cost us three points.”
Columbus won 3-1 at Chicago, going ahead from a 30th minute Diego Rossi goal. Christian Ramirez scored for the Crew in the 55th. Chicago’s Carlos Teran pulled a goal back in the 85th. Jacen Russell-Rowe finished off the Columbus scoring in the 88th minute.
Houston drew 1-1 at home with FC Dallas, taking the lead from an Amine Bassi goal six minutes into first-half stoppage time. Petar Musa equalized for Dallas in the 69th minute. “We felt like we could win this game,” FC Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “We had one of the best first halfs on the road this season tonight. We just had a moment late in the first half after the water break where we dropped our level.”
Minnesota beat Portland 2-1 at home after falling behind to a 17th minute Jonathan Rodriguez goal. Robin Lod equalized for United in the 65th and Jeong Sang-Bin scored in the 82nd. Minnesota’s Miguel Tapias saw red a minute into stoppage time.
“I was really pleased with the way we won the game, not necessarily the manner from a technical, more tactical perspective,” Minnesota coach Eric Ramsay said. “But to see the game out in the way we did was really impressive. That’s the mark of a team that is really together, that knows how to use the crowd and the energy. That was arguably for everything else that went with the game, us on the ball, all of the chances we created, that’s the most pleasing part of the game. That’s the part everyone remembers.”
Real Salt Lake beat Colorado 5-3 at home after falling behind 2-0 to goals from Cole Bassett in the 5th and Rafael Navarro in the 19th. Cristian Arango pulled a goal back for RSL in the 23rd and Andres Gomez equalized in the 40th. Djordje Mihailovic returned the Rapids’ lead in the 56th. Arango equalized for Real Salt Lake in the 85th, Andres Gomez put them up in the 88th, and Anderson Julio scored six minutes into stoppage time.
Orlando won 1-0 at San Jose with Jack Lynn scoring in the 89th minute. “We had the opportunity to take the points tonight, at the very least, one point,” San Jose coach Luchi Gonzalez said. “It was a disappointing goal to give away. Some innocence in terms of not putting the ball over immediately, getting back in the box, maybe fouling early to kind of kill the play. It’s a pretty disappointing one to give away. We know that.”
Week 14 ended in Seattle, where the Sounders drew 1-1 with Vancouver. Jordan Morris put Seattle up in the 8th minute. The Sounders’ Nouhou Tolo saw red four minutes into stoppage time and Ryan Gauld converted the Vancouver penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
