Credit: Howard C Smith - ISIPhotos.com
The second week of the 2025 Major League Soccer season started at Bank of America Stadium with Charlotte shutting out Atlanta United 2-0 at home. Pep Biel put Charlotte up in the 49th and Wilfried Zaha doubled the lead in the 54th minute.
Real Salt Lake shutout Seattle 2-0 at home, taking the lead from an own-goal in the 8th. Forster Ajago made it 2-0 Salt Lake in the 79th minute.
Columbus won 1-0 at New England on a 51st minute Jacen Russell-Rowe goal.
The New York Red Bulls beat Nashville 2-0 at home. Mohammed Sofo opened the scoring in the 7th and Emil Forsberg scored in the 30th minute.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to learn,” Nashville coach BJ Callaghan said. “The Red Bulls are really well coached and it’s a team that came out with some real high intensity at the beginning of the game. I don’t think we matched it. It took us a little while to get up to that speed. Then I think once we were able to sort of adapt to it, there were some positives to take away. I think as we continue to learn and get better, I think there are opportunities to see the team that we’re starting to become.”
Orlando City won 4-2 at home over Toronto FC. Cesar Araujo put Orlando up in the 32nd, Alexander Freeman doubled the lead in the 35th, and Martin Ojeda made it 3-0 in the 63rd. Toronto pulled a goal back from Sigurd Rosted in the 72nd, but Orlando City’s Dagur Thorhallsson made it 4-1 in the 81st. Deybi Flores scored for Toronto in the 86th minute.
“A great night for us,” Orlando coach Oscar Pareja said. “I thought after the opener here, it was obviously not the best result. Today we had a complete performance. We played well, we scored goals, and we had our first win in front of our fans, so it was very healthy for the group. Many of the things that happened during the game excite us and make us feel very optimistic. Of course, our priority as coaches is to see what areas we need to get better. We are not happy with the two goals, but we will work on it. Again, happy to be in front of our fans again and have this win.”
Philadelphia beat Cincinnati 4-1 at Subaru Park with Tai Baribo scoring in the 6th, 30th, and 52nd. Evander pulled a goal back for Cincinnati in the 58th, but Bruno Damiani finished off the Union goals three minutes into stoppage time.
“Yeah, credit to Philadelphia,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “They were certainly the better team and deserved to win this game. So on our end, just a poor performance and maybe a good early wake up call. It could be maybe a blessing in disguise. I hope so. But we just had too many poor performances on an individual level and with the ball really struggled to control play and make the right passes.”
Chicago drew 2-2 at home with DC United after falling behind to a Christian Benteke goal in the 4th. Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers equalized in the 30th and went ahead in the 70th. DC failed to convert a penalty a minute into stoppage time. Jacob Murrell equalized for United in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Minnesota shutout Montreal 1-0 at home on a 69th minute Kelvin Yeboah goal. “I was really pleased that we won the game because I felt like it was certainly something we deserved,” Minnesota coach Eric Ramsay said. “It didn’t necessarily look cut and dry until we scored the goal, but I felt up until that point we were really good value for it. We restricted them to very little. We had a number of really good chances. I would say we controlled the game without really having the absolute lion’s share of the ball, but we were in control throughout.”
San Jose won 2-1 at Sporting Kansas City, going ahead from a Cristian Arango goal in the 3rd. Josef Martinez doubled the Earthquakes’ lead in the 19th. Sporting Kansas City’s Dejan Jovelic converted a penalty in the 27th. San Jose’s Hernan Lopez saw red in the 52nd minute.
“Always when we play at home, I think that the objective is to take three points,” Jovelic said. “Unfortunately, today we didn’t make it because we conceded two fast goals like from nowhere. It was hard to come back from 2-0 even though I think that we could. That’s it. It’s hard. The first two games, we could (have won) and we lost. So hopefully we are going to take the points as soon as possible.”
Colorado drew 3-3 at home with FC Dallas. Keegan Rosenberry opened the scoring for the Rapids in the 6th and Rafael Navarro doubled the lead in the 39th. Pedrino pulled a goal back for Dallas in the 43rd, Luciano Acosta equalized in the 45th, and Petar Musa scored in the 68th. Navarro equalized for Dallas in the 72nd minute.
“We had some really good stuff going on in the first half and we were on top of things in so many ways on the night, but we didn’t defend the goal as well as we should have,” Colorado coach Chris Armas said. “We didn’t take care of certain moments, and that’s part of learning. I’ve said we’re a young team, so there’s going to be nights where some things get away from us. We’ll keep working on some of the same things that show up, that might cost us, but that’s part of it.”
LAFC shutout NYCFC 1-0 at home on an 86th minute Ryan Hollingshead goal. “I thought it looked to me like the boys were a little reserved in half one,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “But I was very pleased with the reaction at halftime. Then around the 60th minute, with the formational change, we started pushing the tempo and putting pressure on New York and eventually they broke. So I was very pleased with the development of the second half and the effort from the boys.”
Portland beat Austin 1-0 at home with David Costa scoring in the 89th minute.
San Diego drew 0-0 at home with St Louis. San Diego put one of 15 shots on goal with St Louis going two for two. “I think the stadium was electric,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said. “The boys were electric. Considering we’ve been together for six weeks and we’re very disappointed with a tie, I think it shows a lot. I think we’re showing everybody that we’re serious when we talk about how we want to play and what type of culture we want to display.”
On Sunday, Vancouver beat the LA Galaxy 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a Sam Adekugbe goal in the 2nd. The Galaxy’s Gabriel Pec equalized in the 39th. The Whitecaps retook the lead from a Brian White goal in the 87th minute.
Week 2 ended in Houston, where Inter Miami beat the Dynamo 4-1. Telasco Segovia put Inter Miami up in the 6th, Tadeo Allende doubled the lead in the 37th, and Segovia scored again two minutes into stoppage time. Luis Suarez made it 4-0 Miami in the 79th. Nicolas Lodeiro scored for Houston in the 85th minute.
Photo by Howard C Smith – ISIPhotos.com
All quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
