Credit: Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications
It’s week 3 of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, starting with Columbus drawing 0-0 at home with Houston. The Crew put five shots on goal with one for Houston. “Over the past two seasons, it is how strong we were on the defensive end that put us in the playoffs,” Dynamo coach Ben Olsen said. “That’s what we have to focus on now until we become a more well-oiled machine and relationships continue to build. The offensive part will continue to grow, but when you look after each other, outwork the opponent and defend the box like we did tonight, that stuff goes a long way.”
Seattle beat LAFC 5-2 at home, going ahead from a Kalani Kossa-Rienzi goal in the 11th. LAFC’s Nathan Ordaz equalized in the 37th. The Sounders retook the lead from a Paul Rothrock goal in the 57th, Jordan Morris scored in the 77th, and Cristian Roldan added a goal in the 84th. David Martinez scored for LAFC in the 37th, but Albert Rusnack finished off the Seattle goals two minutes later.
“Yeah, feels great, you know, huge honor,” Morris said of setting the new club scoring record with his 87th goal. “And even be, have my name on that list with other great players from the present and past of this group. And having grown up here, being a fan of the team, going through the academy, you sit in the stands going, I want to be on the field someday to being here now. It’s a huge honor.”
Atlanta drew 0-0 at home with the New York Red Bulls. United put six shots on goal to none for the Red Bulls.
DC United came back to beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 at Audi Field. Erik Thommy put Sporting KC up in the 53rd. DC’s Christian Benteke equalized from the penalty spot in the 60th and Hosei Kijima scored in the 68th minute.
“I think that we’re actually playing pretty well for the most part,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “We have got to clean up still some things defensively, but we have some really positive things to look forward on the attacking side and that part is really good.”
FC Cincinnati shutout Toronto 2-0 at home, going ahead from a Kevin Denkey penalty in the 73rd. Yuya Kubo doubled the lead in the 87th minute.
“A really strong performance in all aspects,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “I was really pleased with the individual performances and just the overall team performance. I thought we attacked in a good way despite not being able to find a goal early, and defensively, we were outstanding. So, very pleased for the group to have some guys step in, change the structure and perform really well. Everybody was up for it, and they deserved a win.”
Philadelphia won 2-0 at New England, taking the lead from an own-goal in the 76th. The Union’s Jovan Lukic scored seven minutes into stoppage time.
NYCFC beat Orlando City 2-1 at Yankee Stadium, with Adrian Martinez giving them the lead in the 59th. Orlando’s Luis Muriel equalized in the 69th. NYCFC retook the lead from a Hannes Wolf goal in the 71st and played a man down from the 86th when Kevin O’Toole saw red.
“It was a high-energy game,” NYCFC’s Keaton Parks said. “Obviously, there was a lot of emotion going into it, with the city, the fans, and us on the field. It might have gotten a little loose and spread out at times, but the energy was high. Even with the fast-paced game, I think we were all playing well and were in the right positions. It’s something we need to work on – calming down and maintaining control – but overall, the energy was just really high tonight.”
The Colorado Rapids won 1-0 at Austin on an 18th minute Rafael Navarro goal. “It’s a big three points on the road,” Colorado coach Chris Armas said. “We have been hunting for those points. I think it was a gutsy performance by our guys on the road. Another fairly strong performance on the road against a good team that is hard to break down.”
Chicago beat FC Dallas 3-1 on the road after falling behind to a Logan Farrington goal in the 57th. Andrew Gutman equalized for the Fire in the 82nd, Leonardo Barroso gave them the lead in the 84th, and Hugo Cuypers converted a penalty a minute into stoppage time.
“First win for us this year, it feels amazing,” Gutman said. “You know, all the work we put in in preseason, the turnaround we’ve done with this team has been unbelievable and it’s nice to get three points to show all of our hard work. And then obviously for me scoring my first goal, I feel like the first one of the year is always the hardest. So hopefully I can build on it.”
Nashville shutout Portland 2-0 at home after having penalties saved in the 6th and 18th minutes. Andy Najar gave Nashville the lead three minutes into first-half stoppage time and Ahmed Qasem scored in the 68th minute.
“But really, just really proud of the response from the group, starting the game, and
then obviously with the missed penalties early, you saw the way that the team just continued to rise in the face of that adversity,” Nashville coach BJ Callaghan said. “So again, a testament to the guys in the locker room. A complete performance by everybody.”
San Diego won 3-1 at Real Salt Lake after falling behind to an Ariath Piol goal in the 17th San Diego’s Franco Negri equalized in the 43rd, Anders Dreyer scored a minute into stoppage time, and Marcus Ingvartsen finished off the goals in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Vancouver shutout Montreal 2-0 at home, going ahead from a Mathias Laborda goal in the 32nd. Tate Jonhson doubled the lead in the Whitecaps lead in the 49th minute.
“I think that we’re too staggered sometimes, and it has to come from the players to understand where to be and when to be in that space,” Montreal’s Caden Clark said. “Being on the road shouldn’t be an excuse, half of your season is on the road. You can’t have half of your games where you’re not playing your style. We have to figure out a formula and a way to push forward. We created a couple of really big chances in the last 20 minutes, and there were a couple in the first 70 minutes. We just got to be better, finish those off and tidy up defensively.”
The Saturday schedule finished in San Jose, where Minnesota won 1-0 on the road. Kelvin Yeboah scored for United in the 32nd minute. “They have an experienced team and obviously they have a very good defensive posture, and they were hard to break down,” Earthquakes coach Bruce Arena said. “We need to be a little bit cleaner technically to try to create some other chances and give them a lot of credit. Our team played hard. They played well, in segments of the game, but not well enough to get a goal and at least walk off the field with a point.”
On Sunday, Inter Miami shutout Charlotte 1-0 at home. Playing a man down when Oscar Ustari saw red in the 39th, Tadeo Allende scored Inter Miami’s goal in the 46th minute.
“I think that when we were 11 against 11, the match was fairly balanced,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. “They started better in the first five minutes, but then we equalized, we were feeling each other out, in a way, and also the pace of the game was slow because of the heat and the circumstances we were facing. After that, clearly, the performance with ten players was very good.”
St Louis won 3-0 at the LA Galaxy to close out the MLS week 3 schedule. Cedric Teuchert opened the scoring in the 44th, Marcel Hartel doubled the lead in the 49th, and Simon Becher finished off the goals in the 84th minute.
“We really have to understand that our standard, even in training, has to be higher than last year,” LA Galaxy midfielder Marco Reus said. “Because every club who is playing against us, they want to win. We have to, find a solution and find the chemistry in our team to build the mentality of winning each game.”
Photo by Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications
All quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
