MLS Week 21: Revs beat Cincinnati, LAFC scores six
Week 21 of the 2024 Major League Soccer season started with Columbus shutting out Sporting Kansas City 4-0 at home. Cucho Hernandez put the Crew up in the 32nd with an own-goal doubling the lead a minute into first-half stoppage time. Christian Ramirez made it 3-0 Columbus in the 66th and Hernandez finished off the goals in the 71st minute.
Houston won 4-1 at DC United after falling behind to a 38th minute Christian Benteke penalty. Sebastian Ferreira equalized with a 51st minute Dynamo penalty, putting them ahead in the 54th. Benteke saw red for DC in the 66th. Ferreira scored again for Houston in the 86th. United would see red again four minutes into stoppage time when Matai Akinmboni saw red. Houston’s Gabriel Segal scored five minutes into stoppage time.
“It’s been a long time since I have scored three goals, so I am very happy on a personal level, Ferreira said. “I am happy that I was able to help my team, because at the end of the day, that is what is most important.”
New England won 2-1 at FC Cincinnati., taking the lead with Giacomo Vrioni scoring in the 21st and 41st. Yamil Asad pulled a goal back for Cincinnati in the 65th. Cincinnati’s Obinna Nwobodo saw red in the 69th minute.
“We just won a game against arguably the best team in the league, last year’s Supporters’ Shield winner,” New England coach Caleb Porter said. “We won the game on the road. I thought the set piece, we can see did kind of give them momentum, but I thought we weathered the storm from there, really. We played an excellent game first half, obviously got two goals deservedly and it was a great win.”
Orlando City beat Chicago 4-2 at home, going ahead from a Facundo Torres goal in the 4th. Luis Muriel doubled the City lead from the penalty spot in the 20th and Ivan Angulo added a third goal in the 29th. Chicago’s Maren Halle-Selassie converted a penalty in the 53rd. Torres got Orlando’s fourth goal in the 60th. The Fire’s Hugo Cuypers scored in the 69th minute.
Charlotte won 2-0 at Philadelphia, with Patrick Agyemang scoring in the 56th and 63rd minutes.
Nashville shutout NYCFC 1-0 at home Tyler Boyd scored in the 23rd minute. “There were positives in the performance,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “However, this league is about executing results, and when the game is the way it was, we must develop the ability to execute a result. Every time we’ve conceded on the road, we have been able to open teams up and create goal chances, and when we do, we have to take them, and if we don’t, we can’t execute results on the road.”
Austin won 1-0 at Minnesota, playing a man up with United’s Hassani Dotson seeing red in the 26th. Austin’s Diego Rubio equalized in the 31st minute.
“For us, the level of belief, the way the fans supported us from the 26th minute on, that’s going to bode well for us in the future,” Minnesota midfielder Wil Trapp said. “Yes we lose this game, yes that’s frustrating, yes we would’ve loved to win. Three games in a row losing is not something we want to be about, but the underlying trends of a group that stays together and grinds through that, creates chances. Those are always positive things. While we don’t feel great about it, there are things looking to the future that will be beneficial for us.”
St Louis drew 1-1 at home with Atlanta, taking the lead through Indiana Vassilev in the 50th. United’s Daniel Rios equalized in the 71st minute.
“The goal we have for the outcome is always the same, we always want to win,” Atlanta interim coach Rob Valentino said. “Three points is always what we’re going for, no matter home, away, who is on the field, who is not on the field. So, I think you always have a little bit of disappointment, but I will say that before the game, and even going into the road trip, but before the game we talked about some things, and I saw that out there. Yeah, we bent a little bit, but we were never broken, and I hope that this carries us a long way.”
After a weather delay, the Red Bulls shutout Toronto 3-0 at home. Elais Manoel opened the scoring for New York in the 29th, Dennis Gjengaar doubled the lead in the 47th, and Cameron Harper finished off the goals in the 75th minute.
Colorado beat Montreal 4-1 at home, going ahead from Calvin Harris goals in the 28th and 45th. An own-goal made it 2-1 in the 53rd. Djordje Mihailovic converted a Rapids penalty in the 90th and Rafael Navarro scored two minutes into stoppage time.
The LA Galaxy won 1-0 at Real Salt Lake on a 74th minute Gabriel Pec goal.
LAFC beat San Jose 6-2 at home with Mateusz Bogusz putting LAFC up in the 15th. Denis Bouanga doubled the lead in the 26th, Kei Kamara scored in the 33rd, and Ryan Hollingshead extended the lead in the 42nd. San Jose’s Rodrigues scored three minutes into stoppage time. Bogusz scored again in the 48th. Benjamin Kikanovic pulled a goal back for the Earthquakes in the 57th, but Tomas Angel finished off the LAFC goals in the 87th minute.
“I don’t want to pass Wondo,” LAFC forward Kei Kamara said when asked about moving into 2nd-place on the MLS all-time goals list. “Being in California and growing up here I remember going to Cal State Dominguez Hills and I was one year behind Chris Wondolowski who was at Chico State. We ended up playing in Houston together and that was where we started our brotherhood and love for representing CCAA and representing division 2 soccer because it wasn’t easy for players to make it from division 2 to the league. He just kept setting the bar higher and higher for me every year and I said to him, “You keep going and I’m gonna be right behind you.” To be 1 and 2 is a dream. People are going to say, go and chase him, but I just want to be 1 and 2, me and Wondo, that’s good there.”
Portland shutout Vancouver 2-0 at home, taking the lead from a 26th minute Jonathan Rodriguez goal. Felipe Mora doubled the Timbers’ lead in the 43rd. Vancouver’s Allesandro Schopf saw red in the 52nd minute.
Seattle beat FC Dallas 3-2 at home after falling behind to goals from Patrickson Delgado in the 66th and Petar Musa in the 70th. Raul Ruidiaz pulled a goal back for the Sounders in the 78th with Jordan Morris equalizing in the 88th and scoring again four minutes into stoppage time.
“We showed that we can play at a high level for most of the game,” FC Dallas forward Logan Farrington said. “But unfortunately, the game is longer than 70 minutes and we need to keep the high level for the whole game if we want to get results. If we play good teams, then this happens, we will drop points. So I think we need to stay a bit sharper towards the end of the game.”
In Europe, Aron Johannsson wasn’t in the squad for Valur’s 5-1 win at Vestri in Iceland’s topflight.
On Monday, San Jose parted ways with coach Luchi Gonzalez.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
