MLS Week 31: Inter Miami beats Philadelphia, Ream scores for Charlotte
Week 31 of the 2024 Major League Soccer season started in Atlanta, where Nashville won 2-0 on the road. Alex Muyl opened the scoring for Nashville in the 5th and Hany Mukhtar added a goal in the 76th minute.
Montreal beat Charlotte 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a Caden Clark goal in the 23rd. Bryce Duke scored for Montreal in the 26th. Charlotte’s Tim Ream pulled a goal back in the 35th minute.
“I thought it was coherent tonight,” Montreal coach Laurent Courtois said. “The guys wanted to work hard and were determined. We were able to hold on to our lead. It often comes down to a few things. The margins are often so slim. We’re still forcing things and we’re not calculating enough at times. We need to do a better job of recognizing the moments during the game. We want the players who are playing less to be able to perform in the same way.”
DC drew 1-1 at home with NYCFC after falling behind to a Santiago Rodriguez penalty in the 32nd. United’s Christian Benteke equalized from the penalty spot in the 67th minute.
“We were focused, we were switched on,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “We made sure that we won our duels and (it was) a real professional finish to a game that is difficult when they put it up in the air and it spends all the time up there.”
Cincinnati drew 0-0 with Columbus at TQL Stadium. Cincinnati finished with two shots on goal to three for the Crew.
“We have to be pleased with it because we weren’t creating a lot of good looks,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “Like I said, we had some transition moments, but didn’t capitalize on those. And we probably conceded the best two, three looks of the night and Roman (Celentano) makes a couple big saves. When you factor those things in, we should be pleased with a point because in both boxes, in terms of chance creation, they had the better of it.”
Inter Miami beat Philadelphia 3-1 at home after falling behind to a Mikkel Uhre goal in the 2md. Lionel Messi equalized for Miami in the 26th, scored again in the 30th, and Luis Suarez added a goal eight minutes into stoppage time.
Orlando City shutout New England 3-0 at home, taking the lead from a Rafael Santos goal in the 22nd. Facundo Torres converted an Orlando penalty two minutes into first-half stoppage time and Duncan McGuire finished off the scoring in the 74th minute.
Toronto beat Austin 2-1 at home, with Jonathan Osorio opening the scoring in the 7th. Deandre Kerr doubled the Toronto lead in the 30th. Austin’s Owen Wolff scored in the 75th minute.
Chicago beat the Red Bulls 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a Tom Barlow goal in the 31st. Dennis Gjengaar equalized for New York in the 47th, but Georgios Koutsias put the Fire ahead for good in the 75th minute.
Houston beat Real Salt Lake 4-1 at home. Amine Bassi put the Dynamo up in the 27th and Griffin Dorsey doubled the lead three minutes into first-half stoppage time. An own-goal made it 2-1 Houston in the 49th. Sebastian Kowalczyk extended the Dynamo lead in the 75th and Ezequiel Ponce finished off the scoring in the 80th minute.
Minnesota won 3-1 at St Louis after falling behind to a Cedric Teuchert goal in the 4th. Bongokuhle Hlongwane equalized for United in the 24th, and own-goal put them ahead in the 52nd, and Kelvin Yeboah converted a penalty in the 62nd minute.
“Tonight was a really good example of how I want to be as a coach,” Minnesota coach Eric Ramsay said. “How I want our squad to look, how adaptable I want us to be. As was demonstrated tonight, we’ve got lots of tools we can use on the bench, players with various qualities. We’ve got ways in which we can try and keep the intensity of our defensive work up by making regular changes and I think tonight was – in that sense – a real visible show of what I would like us as an organization to be.”
Colorado beat Portland 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a Jonathan Lewis goal in the 14th. Portland’s David Ayala equalized in the 24th. Rafael Navarro returned the Rapids’ lead in the 71st. Colorado finished a man down with a red card to Darren Yapi seven minutes into stoppage time.
The LA Galaxy beat LAFC 4-2 at home. Mateusz Bogusz put LAFC up in the 4th and Denis Bouanga doubled the lead in the 15th. The Galaxy’s Dejan Jovelic scored in the 53rd, Edwin Cerrillo equalized in the 55th, and Jovelic scored again in the 67th. LAFC went a man down with a red card to Lewis O’Brien in the 79th. Riqui Puig scored for the Galaxy in the 86th minute.
Vancouver shutout San Jose 2-0 at home, going ahead from a Fafa Picault goal in the 35th. Stuart Armstrong doubled the Whitecaps’ lead in the 86th minute.
Week 31 ended on Sunday in Seattle, where the Sounders shutout Sporting Kansas City 2-0. Jackson Ragen scored for Seattle in the 19th and Paul Rothrock doubled the lead in the 40th minute.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by Inter Miami
