Credit: FC Cincinnati
Week 13 for MLS started with Montreal drawing 1-1 at home with Columbus. Luca Petrasso put Montreal up in the 29th and the Crew’s Jacen Russell-Rowe equalized in the 63rd minute.
“Everybody was sad in the locker room that we tied against Columbus, which is one of the best teams in this league,” Montreal coach Marco Donadel said. “This means that we are building something. Six weeks ago, if we tied against Columbus, everybody would be happy. The way we played the first half was exactly the way we wanted to prepare the game. There was everything. There was preparation, focus and desire to win.”
DC and NYCFC drew 0-0 at Audi Field. NYCFC put five shots on goal to United’s two. “We were very forward-minded, attacking-minded,” NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen said. “We created loads of opportunities to score the goals we needed to win this game. So, overall, I’m satisfied – but not all the way – because we should have won this away game. That’s for sure.”
Orlando City beat Charlotte 3-1 at home, going ahead from a Luis Muriel goal in the 8th. Martin Ojeda doubled the Orlando lead in the 24th. Charlotte’s Wilfried Zaha pulled a goal back in the 34th. Ramiro Enrique doubled the Orlando lead in the 82nd minute.
Philadelphia came back to beat the LA Galaxy 3-2 at Subaru Park. The Union fell behind 2-0 to goals from Maruicio Cuevas in the 31st and Diego Fagundez in the 37th. Nathan Harriel pulled a goal back for Philadelphia in the 48th. The Union’s Tai Baribo equalized in the 50th and scored again six minutes into stoppage time.
“Where to even start,” LA Galaxy midfielder Diego Fagundez said. “I think everybody sees how frustrating it is. You go up 2-0 in Philly which is a hard place to play, and I thought we were doing so well in the first-half. Come into the break and in five minutes, the whole game changes for us and then we try to hold off as much as we can and we gave up a late goal and it’s a hard one to swallow. Frustrating. Things are not going our way. We’re trying so hard to give stuff back to our fans, to ourselves. It’s just hard.”
FC Cincinnati won 1-0 at Toronto FC. Kevin Denkey scored the Cincinnati goal in the 18th minute. “Pleased about the result, but certainly not our best performance,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “I don’t think even close, anywhere close to the standard that we expect. But we know we have a quick turnaround and an important game, so we’ll try to keep the mood right going into you know, a tough matchup. So pleased about the result.”
Houston shutout Minnesota 2-0 at home. Pablo Ortiz opened the scoring a minute into stoppage time and Felipe Andrade doubled the lead in the 77th minute.
“It was a good win with a different lineup tonight,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said. “We were without some regulars, but we got the job done. The guys followed the game plan very well and created a bunch of chances in the first half. We were unlucky to not get on the scoresheet earlier, but we kept plugging away, putting balls into the box and earning corner kicks.”
Nashville beat the Red Bulls 2-1 at GEODIS Park, taking the lead from a Patrick Yazbek goal in the 34th. Eric Choupo-Moting equalized for New York in the 56th. Nashville retook the lead from a Hany Mukhtar goal in the 63rd minute.
St Louis drew 2-2 at home with Sporting Kansas City. Celio Pompeu put St Louis up in the 15th and Cedric Teuchert doubled the lead in the 44th. Sporting KC’s Tim Leibold pulled a goal back in the 70th and Dejan Jovelijic equalized in the 77th minute.
“A bad start, but in the end we showed that we can come back and I’m happy because I scored and we bounced back,” Joveljic said. “It’s huge and a good one point. Maybe we could take all three points, but at the end I think that’s a fair score to share the points.”
Austin drew 1-1 at home with Atlanta, taking the lead from a Brandon Vazquez goal in the 55th. Atlanta’s Jamal Thiare equalized two minutes into stoppage time.
Real Salt Lake drew 0-0 at home with Portland. The Timbers put four shots on goal to two for Real Salt Lake.
LAFC shutout Seattle 4-0 at home, going ahead from a Gengiz Under goal in the 26th. Jeremy Ebobisse doubled the LAFC lead in the 51st, Denis Bouanga made it 3-0 in the 80th, and Yaw Yeboah finished off the scoring in the 86th minute.
San Diego shutout Colorado 2-0 at home, taking the lead from a Christopher McVey goal in the 33rd. Anders Dreyer doubled San Diego’s lead in the 58th minute. “After three difficult games, now we are back on track,” Dreyer said. “Listen, if it’s me or somebody else who’s scoring, I’m happy, no matter what. It’s nice, of course, confidence wise and stuff like that of course, scoring goals and you believe a little bit more in the things you do.”
The Wednesday schedule ended with San Jose coming back to draw 3-3 at home with Inter Miami. The Earthquakes fell behind to a Maximiliano Falcon goal in the 1st, but Cristian Arango had them level in the 3rd. San Jose took the lead from a Beau Leroux goal in the 37th. Inter Miami equalized through Tadeo Allende in the 44th. Ian Harkes put the Earthquakes back in front four minutes into first-half stoppage time. Allende equalized for Miami in the 52nd minute.
“We’re getting better as a team,” San Jose coach Bruce Arena said. I’m hopeful that as we get through the first half of the season, we have a really good feel for who we are and where we need to go in the second half of the season.”
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by FC Cincinnati
