Credit: Roger Wimmer - ISIPhotos.com
MLS week 8 began with Toronto drawing 0-0 at home with Minnesota. Toronto finished with five shots on goal to one for United. “I think we’re very comfortable in the way that we defend,” Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St Clair said. “Not only the back five, but we know that the guys up top do a lot of work for us, and we kind of showed some clips early in the week just showing, highlighting, some of the work that they’ve been doing for us too. But I think that us back five – we’re back six, if you include me – feel very confident in keeping the ball out of the back of the net.”
New England won 1-0 at Atlanta with Carles Gil converting a penalty in the 36th minute. “On Wednesday, we kind of rolled out this new shape,” New England coach Caleb Porter said. “We had to sell the players on it, obviously, because we had been playing well. But my pitch to them was this was our opportunity to go from good to great, to create a little more, hopefully, at times be a little better defensively in the box especially. In the end, it worked out really well today.”
Orlando and the Red Bulls finished 0-0 at Inter&Co Stadium. Orlando played a man down from the 56th when Rodrigo Schlegel saw red.
Charlotte won 1-0 at Montreal with Pep Biel scoring in the 16th minute. “We tried everything, we probably need a bit of good luck,” Montreal coach Marco Donadel said. “If we had a little bit more of this we would have four or five goals. We gave everything on the field, we gave everything during the week. I couldn’t ask for more of them at this moment.
FC Cincinnati beat DC United 1-0 at Audi Field. Gerardo Valenzuela scored Cincinnati’s goal in the 28th minute. “Well, certainly not our strongest performance, but where we lacked in attacking ideas and creativity, we made up for with how we defended the ball,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “That’s why we were able to win a game tonight, so a credit to the group as a whole with how we suffered in a lot of moments, especially in the second half, to keep a clean sheet against a team that was very dangerous in getting the ball into the box with wide service and set pieces.”
NYCFC shutout Philadelphia 1-0 at home. Alonso Martinez scored for NYCFC in the 55th minute. We were switched on from the start today, ready for a fight…,” NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen said. “Philly is a tough side to play, but the guys handled themselves quite well, especially when looking at the previous games we’ve played at home.”
Vancouver beat Austin 5-1 at BC Place, going ahead from a Brian White goal in the 13th. White scored again in the 38th and Emmanuel Sabbi made it 3-0 Whitecaps in the 47th. White extended the lead in the 59th. Vancouver had a penalty saved in the 72nd. White scored his fourth goal of the game in the 82nd. Austin’s Dani Pereira scored in the 90th minute.
Seattle won 1-0 at FC Dallas on a Daniel Musovski goal in the 17th minute. “I felt like they had a better mentality that we couldn’t match, and we let it dictate the game,” Dallas coach Eric Quill said. “We gave away too many chances from distance, and they found confidence in our inability to close them down. They scored a great first goal from a guy being open in space, and our reaction to the turnover is why he was open and scored. It was a choppy game with no rhythm, and we did not generate enough in the attack. We need to figure out why.”
Nashville beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 at home after trailing from a Dominik Marczuk goal in the 12th. Daniel Lovitz equalized for Nashville in the 30th and Sam Surridge converted a penalty a minute into stoppage time.
Colorado beat San Diego 3-2 at home, taking the lead from a Djordje Mihailovic penalty in the 37th. Luca de la Torre equalized for San Diego in the 49th. The Rapids retook the lead from a Darren Yapi goal in the 53rd and Rafael Navarro scored in the 60th. Tomas Angel scored for San Diego in the 89th minute.
“A tough game,” Colorado midfielder Cole Bassett said. “They’re a really good team. Talking to some of those guys after the game, they have really good ideas and they’re tough to defend, but we tried to use that to our advantage and create transition moments. We created a fair amount of chances and should probably have had four or five goals, but it was a good night for us. I think we played pretty exciting football for our fans and it was a good game overall.”
The LA Galaxy drew 1-1 at home with Houston. After falling behind to an Ezequiel Ponce goal in the 14th, the Galaxy played a man down when Mathias Jorgensen saw red in the 28th. Diego Fagundez equalized for the Galaxy in the 57th minute.
LAFC beat San Jose 2-1 at home to close out the Saturday schedule. Sergi Palencia put LAFC up in the 65th and Denis Bouanga doubled the lead in the 86th. Cristian Espinoza scored for the Earthquakes five minutes into stoppage time. “It’s a game we could’ve got something out of,” San Jose coach Bruce Arena said. “I think we played fairly well. It was a good game. It was a physical game, and I thought both teams competed very well.”
On Sunday, Portland won 4-2 at Sporting Kansas City, going ahead from a David Ayala goal in the 12th. Magomed Suleymanov equalized for Sporting in the 16th. The Timbers retook the lead from a Kevin Kelsy goal in the 25th, with Dejan Jovelic converting a Sporting penalty in the 33rd. The Timbers went ahead for good from a Kelsy goal in the 49th and an own-goal doubled their lead in the 54th.
“They scored on two throw-ins and two set pieces,” Sporting defender Jansen Miller said. “All four of them were moments, not the run of play, and those decide games. I think we had the highest expected goals of the season, 2.8 is what I just heard. We’re creating chances. It’s getting better. It’s just little moments. We have to focus more because we’re getting better as a team. I know the scoreline didn’t show that today, but you can look at the metrics and it’s better.”
Chicago and Inter Miami drew 0-0 at Soldier Field. The Fire had a 7 to 2 lead on shots on goal. “I think it’s a good confidence boost for us, obviously,” Chicago defender Jack Elliott said. “I think we deserve another few clean sheets already, but it just hasn’t happened for us. The ball bounced the wrong way, and things like that, but today it was the opposite. One clean sheet breeds more, so hopefully, that continues.”
Week 8 ended in St Louis, where Columbus won 2-1 on the road. St Louis took the lead in the 7th from a Joao Klauss goal. The Crew’s Steven Moreira equalized two minutes into first-half stoppage time and Diego Rossi scored in the 55th minute.
“I just think, like, it just feels like we’re all on the same page,” Columbus midfielder Max Arfsten said. “Like, player for player, position for position, like we work on stuff in training, specific things for each specific game. Every week we kind of have an idea of how the opponent is going to defend, and we just try and replicate that in training and then you see the product in the games.”
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by Roger Wimmer – ISIPhotos.com
