Credit: Steve Limentani - ISIPhotos.com
Week 19 of the 2024 Major League Soccer season started on Friday at Yankee Stadium, where Columbus beat NYCFC 3-2. With NYCFC playing a man down from a 39th minute red card to Mitja Ilenic, Agustin Ojeda put them up a goal in the 44th. Christian Ramirez equalized for the Crew in the 48th, Mohamed Farsi gave them the lead in the 53rd, and Cucho Hernandez converted a penalty in the 65th. Santiago Rodriguez pulled a goal back for NYCFC in the 86th minute.
“What you saw tonight was probably two of the best teams in MLS going at each other… top level game,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “If we are going to be the best league in the world, that was top level. (It) reminded me of two real heavyweights going at each other. We were trying to tweak it and get the fix and then the red card moment is one of those moments that just flip the game on its head.”
On Saturday, Atlanta drew 2-2 at home with Houston after falling behind to a 5th minute Franco Escobar goal. Daniel Rios equalized for United in the 25th and Xande Silva scored in the 55th. Houston’s Latif Blessing equalized in the 89th minute.
“The positive I saw is also a negative, but it is the way we started the match,” Atlanta interim coach Rob Valentino said. “I told the team before the match that when you’re in a moment like this, you have two options, you can either stand up and fight, or you can give up, and the second option isn’t really an option for me. They stood up, they fought back, they got themselves back into the match and back into the lead, and that is the positive I will take from it, and then we will look at the little intricacies of how we can get better at training and in the time we have and can really go at it.”
Montreal drew 0-0 at home with Real Salt Lake, putting two shots on goal to RSL’s six. “On the one hand, we have to say that the performance was good,” Montreal’s Jonathan Sirois said. “It’s a fourth game with points, but we need to do more. We need to continue with this mentality and succeed in scoring to get more points.”
Charlotte shutout DC United 1-0 at home with Kerwin Vargas scoring seven minutes into first-half stoppage time.
New England beat Vancouver 3-2 at Gillette Stadium, going ahead from a 7th minute Noel Buck goal. Ryan Gauld equalized for the Whitecaps in the 13th. The Revolution retook the lead through Giacomo Vrioni in the 21st and Esmir Bajraktarevic scored in the 39th. Gauld scored again for Vancouver four minutes into stoppage time.
“Yeah, it was definitely one of our best performances of the season,” Bajraktarevic said. “Something to build on, for sure. We still are pretty low on the table, so we want to just keep collecting wins.”
The Red Bulls drew 0-0 at home with Nashville, putting six shots on goal to none for Nashville.
LAFC won 3-1 at Orlando City, with Denis Bouanga putting them up from the penalty spot in the 45th. Martin Ojeda leveled the score for Orlando in the 68th. LAFC retook the lead from a Mateusz Bogusz goal in the 80th and Bouanga scored in the 86th minute.
Inter Miami won 2-1 at Philadelphia after trailing from a 3rd minute Mikkel Uhre goal. Julian Gressel equalized for Inter Miami, who went two men down after red cards to David Ruiz in the 68th and Tomas Aviles in the 84th. Leonardo Afonso scored for Miami four minutes into stoppage time.
Chicago won 4-1 at Toronto, taking the lead from a Maren Haile-Selassie goal in the 41st. Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne equalized in the 44th. Hugo Cuypers returned the Fire’s lead in the 57th, Mauricio Pineda scored in the 60th, and Allan Arigoni finished off the goals in the 89th minute.
Dallas shutout St Louis 2-0 at home. Jesus Ferreira put Dallas up from the penalty spot in the 28th and Nkosi Tafari scored in the 81st minute. “It was more a team effort than a result of a few players,” Dallas defender Marco Farfan said. “Everyone ran hard, everyone brought the intensity. I think that we can see a big difference than before. It’s what helped us secure the win and allowed us to try and play more direct.”
Colorado beat Austin 2-0 at home. Cole Bassett put the Rapids up in the 22nd and Rafael Navarro doubled the lead in the 49th.
The Galaxy beat Sporting Kansas City 4-2 at home, going ahead from a 40th minute Dejan Joveljic goal. Gabriel Pec doubled the LA lead in the 54th. Sporting KC’s Stephen Afrifa pulled a goal back in the 66th. Joseph Paintsil made it 3-1 LA in the 75th. Robert Castellanos scored for Sporting in the 81st. Miguel Berry finished off the LA goals two minutes into stoppage time.
Cincinnati won 4-2 at San Jose, with Pavel Bucha’s goal giving them the lead in the 53rd. Hernan Lopez equalized for LA in the 57th and Cristian Espinoza put them ahead in the 72nd. Cincinnati’s Yuya Kubo scored in the 78th, 80th, and 87th minutes.
Seattle shutout Minnesota 2-0 at home, with Jordan Morris scoring in the 28th and Paul Rothrock doubling the lead in the 57th. United played a man down with a red card to Moses Nyeman in the 90th minute.
Moving to the USMNT players abroad, Alan Sonora was on the bench for Hurucan’s 1-0 home win over Independiente Rivadavia in Argentina’s Primera Division. Ignacio Pussetto scored for Hurucan in the 15th and Independiente Rivadavia saw red in the 67th minute.
Photo by Steve Limentani – ISIPhotos.com
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
