MLS Week 26: Five goals for the Union, Dallas beats Austin
Major League Soccer’s midweek 26 started with Atlanta drawing 2-2 at home with NYCFC. Daniel Rios put United up in the 1st and Saba Lobjanidze doubled the lead in the 38th. NYCFC’s Mounsef Bakrar equalized in the 65th and Talles Magno converted an 82nd minute penalty.
“This has to definitely go down as a three-point draw, although we’ll only get one point,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “When you go 2-0 down on the road in a difficult place like Mercedes-Benz Stadium, when you don’t have Thiago Martins, Tayvon Gray, Kevin O’Toole, James Sands, Santi Rodriguez, and Maxi Moralez just coming back from injury… To get a point after being down 2-0 shows the character and the togetherness of the team.”
The Columbus Crew drew 1-1 at home with Charlotte, opening the scoring from a Cucho Hernandez goal in the 31st. Charlotte’s Patrick Agyemang equalized in the 83rd minute.
Chicago won 1-0 at FC Cincinnati with Brian Gutierrez scoring in the 69th. Cincinnati’s Alvas Powell saw red in the 88th minute.
“They tried different things, and at moments we had to step up and be aggressive in between the pockets with the center backs,” Chicago coach Frank Klopas said. “We had to be in 1v1 situations, and if you need to be aggressive, there are moments you have to be like that. We won our duels, and everything starts from there.”
Inter Miami beat Toronto 3-1 at home, taking the lead from a 43rd minute Diego Gomez goal. Miami’s Federico Redondo scored in the 53rd and 59th. Toronto’s Derrick Etienne Jr pulled a goal back in the 79th minute.
Philadelphia beat New England 5-1 at home, with Tai Baribo scoring in the 29th, Jacob Glesnes doubling the Union lead in the 39th, and Baribo scoring again in the 44th. Ian Harkes scored for the Revs in the 50th. Baribo added another goal in the 52nd and Quinn Sullivan finished off the Philadelphia scoring in the 84th minute.
FC Dallas beat Austin 3-1 at home, going ahead from a 10th minute Paul Arriola goal. Gyasi Zardes equalized for Austin in the 16th. Dallas’s Petar Musah converted a penalty in the 56th. Austin played a man down with Sebastian Driussi seeing red in the 60th. Marco Farfan scored for Sallas in the 74th minute.
“It means a lot, especially with this hard week,” Musah said. “We have a really hard schedule right now with so many games in a short time. I’m really happy because tonight we saw this team’s spirit, maybe we didn’t play that nice soccer, but we fought together as a team until the end. I’m happy for this teamwork and three points.”
DC United won 3-2 at Minnesota. Christian Benteke put DC up in the 14th. United’s Tani Oluwaseyi equalized in the 32nd and Teemu Pukki put Minnesota up in the 80th. Aaron Herrera equalized for United in the 90th and Benteke scored a minute into stoppage time.
“It is a matter of concentration, wanting to win,” Minnesota coach Eric Ramsay said. “And in that sense, I am very disappointed because we have a group that really wants to win but in these moments like right now they are not demonstrating that, and we need to work on finding that feeling of wanting to finish those games with a desire, and that is needed.”
Orlando shutout Nashville 3-0 on the road. Cesar Araujo scored for Orlando in the 19th, an own-goal doubled the lead in the 40th, and Ramiro Enrique finished off the goals in the 81st minute.
The Red Bulls drew 2-2 at home with Montreal, taking the lead from an 18th minute Wikelman Carmona goal. After a lengthy halftime weather delay, Josef Martinez equalized for Montreal in the 67th. An own-goal returned the Red Bulls’ lead in the 75th. New York’s Sean Nealis saw red in the 80th and Martinez converted a Montreal penalty in the 81st minute.
“We watched a little bit of video of the first-half, during the weather delay,” Martinez said. “We have to be better because we conceded the first goal but the rain helped us a little bit. They pushed a lot in the first-half, they were at home so obviously they are more confident but the weather helped us a little bit and you know, it’s soccer.”
Vancouver beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 at home. The Whitecaps took the lead from a 34th minute own-goal with Sporting KC’s William Agada equalizing in the 69th. Fafa Picault scored for Sporting in the 76th minute.
Houston won 1-0 at San Jose on an 86th minute Daniel Steres goal. “We’re really excited about the performance because San Jose is a tough place to play,” Dynamo coach Ben Olsen said. “It was about concentration and being pragmatic, gritty and physical, while still building and trusting our structure. We grew into the game, and I haven’t seen that from the group in a while. For us to go to the next level and evolve, we must have the mentality we had tonight.”
Seattle shutout St Louis 2-0 at home, going ahead from a 27th minute own-goal. Jon Bell doubled the Sounders’ lead in the 49th.
The Galaxy beat Colorado 3-2 at home, with Diego Fagundez opening the scoring for LA in the 12th minute. Colorado’s Kevin Cabral equalized in the 31st. Joseph Picault returned the Galaxy lead and Ricard Puig doubled it in the 42nd. Cole Bassett pulled a goal back for the Rapids ten minutes into first-half stoppage time.
“We all have one goal in mind and we all want to make sure that every playoff game for us is here at home, you know, in our atmosphere, which that is important for us,” Galaxy midfielder Mauricio Cuevas said.
LAFC drew 1-1 at home with Real Salt Lake, taking the lead from a 5th minute Cristian Olivera goal. Brayan Vera equalized for RSL in the 33rd minute.
“Yeah I think it’s a tough one,” LAFC defender Aaron Long said. “We always want three points at home. We are never going to be satisfied with a draw. I don’t think it’s our best performance; it’s also not our worst. There are plenty of things we can build on and lucky for us we have another game coming up really soon
in Seattle so try to turn the page quickly and get a result on the road.”
On Thursday, Aron Johannsson was on the bench for Valur’s 4-0 win at Vllaznia to advance 6-2 on aggregate from the first qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League. Kristinn Sigurdsson put Valur up on the night in the 13th and Gudmundur Tryggvason doubled the lead in the 15th. Patrick Pedersen added a goal in the 36th and Tryggvi Haraldsson finished off the scoring in the 67th minute.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
