Credit: Matthew Dingle - Atlanta United
The midweek MLS schedule started with Atlanta United beating Orlando City 3-2 at home. Cesar Araujo put Orlando up on the road in the 4th with Atlanta’s Alexey Miranchuk equalizing in the 19th. Ramiro Enrique put Orlando back up in the 32nd. Araujo saw red for Orlando in the 77th minute. Bartosz Slisz equalized for Atlanta in the 83rd and Jamal Thiare scored five minutes into stoppage time.
“I think tonight was about character,” Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. “It was about belief. It was about resilience. I think some of the other guys had said it, but I couldn’t be more proud of the guys to stick with it and continue to fight. I think you can see what it means to everyone to pull off a big win like this. We know it wasn’t perfect throughout the 90 minutes, but sometimes a win like this goes a little farther.”
DC drew 1-1 at home with New England. Ilay Feingold put the Revolution up three minutes into first-half stoppage time and United’s Gabriel Pirani equalized a minute into stoppage time.
“At the end of the day, it’s still a point on the road,” New England coach Caleb Porter said. Obviously, it’s two points lost for sure. It’s very simple. We have to either score the second goal, or we need to see the game out, and we didn’t do either. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. And you have to give them credit too on the goal, it’s a great strike by them.”
Cincinnati drew 3-3 at home with FC Dallas, taking the lead from a Pavel Bucha goal in the 30th. Kevin Denkey converted a Cincinnati penalty in the 42nd. Dallas’ Petar Musa pulled a goal back in the 50th and Anderson Julio equalized in the 68th. Gerardo Valenzuela returned Cincinnati’s lead in the 86th but Sebastien Ibeagha equalized for Dallas two minutes into stoppage time.
“The mentality of not giving up,” FC Dallas forward Luciano Acosta said. “I think we kept trying until the last minute. They scored two goals in the first half, which were very easy. We said in the second half that we had to come out differently, with more intensity. We did it, we were able to get a point here at their place, which is very difficult, and we are very happy.”
Inter Miami beat Montreal 4-2 at home, going ahead from a Lionel Messi goal in the 27th. Luis Suarez doubled the Miami lead in the 68th and made it 3-0 in the 71st. Dante Sealy pulled a goal back for Montreal in the 74th but Messi scored again for Miami in the 87th. Victor Loturi scored for Montreal two minutes into stoppage time.
“We know that Miami has quality and that sometimes there is nothing you can do about it like on the first goal,” Montreal’s Geroge Campbell said. “At the same time, we know that the effort could have been better. We also know that we just need to be less timid and more cutthroat in both boxes.”
Houston won 3-0 at NYCFC. An own-goal put the Dynamo up in the 25th. Gabriel Segal doubled the lead in the 50th and converted a penalty four minutes into stoppage time.
The Red Bulls beat Charlotte 4-2 at home, taking the lead from a Wiktor Bogacz goal in the 14th. Charlotte’s Kerwin Vargas equalized in the 26th. The Red Bulls retook the lead from a Mohammed Sofo goal in the 29th and extended it from an Eric Choupo-Moting penalty in the 70th. Lile Abada pulled a goal back for Charlotte in the 76th, but Choupo-Moting converted another New York penalty seven minutes into stoppage time.
Philadelphia won 2-1 at Toronto after falling behind to an Ola Brynhildsen goal in the 75th. Nathan Harriel equalized for the Union in the 86th and Kai Wagner scored two minutes into stoppage time.
Columbus drew 2-2 at home with Nashville. Falling behind to a Sam Surridge goal in the 2nd, Diego Rossi equalized for the Crew in the 69th. Hany Mukhtar returned Nashville’s lead in the 78th, but an own-goal leveled the score in the 78th minute.
“Yeah, obviously we want to win,” Rossi said. “Football sometimes is like this. Yeah, it’s hard to win. It’s hard to win and football is about those moments and yeah, we need to still work in the week to try to get that win, and that’s going to be good for everyone.”
Seattle shutout San Diego 1-0 at home on a Jesus Ferreira goal in the 58th minute. “I think we had a good momentum in both halves,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said. “I mean they had 0.38 expected goals on the night, on six shots, we had over one (expected goal) with 16 shots, 15, 14, 16, shots. So, at the end of the day, we just put together a road performance against a very, very good team and a historically winning club that you would say you play that game 10 times, you’re going to win it more often than not.”
Austin drew 1-1 at home with Real Salt Lake, falling behind in the 67th to a William Agada goal. Diego Rubio equalized for Austin three minutes into stoppage time.
San Jose won 1-0 at the LA Galaxy on an Ousseni Bouda goal in the 74th minute. “We’re getting better but we’re still missing some players,” Earthquakes coach Bruce Arena said. “We probably were without three or four starters tonight, and when we get our full team together, I think we can have a good second half of the season. So I give a lot of credit to our team. The complete roster has contributed.”
Portland came back to beat Colorado 2-1 at home after falling behind to a Djordje Mihailovic goal in the 33rd. The Timbers failed to convert a penalty in the 42nd. Antony equalized for Portland in the 59th. The Rapids played a man down from the 67th when Wayne Frederick saw red. Kevin Kelsy scored for Portland in the 76th minute.
Week 16 ended with Vancouver drawing 0-0 at home with Minnesota. The Whitecaps put three shots on goal to one for United.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by Matthew Dingle – Atlanta United
