Credit: New England Revolution
The MLS regular season resumed after the break for phase one of the Leagues Cup, starting with Montreal drawing 1-1 at home with Atlanta. Dante Sealy opened the scoring for Montreal in the 40th and Alexey Miranchuk equalized in the 87th minute.
“As a soccer player, football player, you just need to do your job,” Atlanta midfielder Alexey Miranchuk said. “You need to do your task no matter what. We’ve been speaking in the team that no matter what is happening on the field, whether it’s down or it’s up, we have to do our job tactically, offensively, defensively. It’s very simple. We need to do our job.”
New England shutout DC United 2-0 at home. Leonardo Campana scored for the Revs in the 62nd and Carles Gil doubled the lead in the 70th. Matt Turner made three saves in his return to the Revolution.
“I wouldn’t say I had any expectation,”. Turner said. “For me, it was just more about showing up, but also understanding that there’s something to achieve, something to do. I want to also put in good performances. I always wear my heart on my sleeve when I’m on the pitch, so it felt really nice to be well-received and to be back.”
Philadelphia and Toronto drew 1-1 at Subaru Park, with the Union taking the lead from an Indiana Vassilev in the 4th. Toronto’s Deandre Kerr equalized a minute into stoppage time.
Austin drew 2-2 at home with Houston, taking the lead from an Ilie Sanchez goal in the 31st. Guilherme Biro made it 2-0 Austin in the 41st. Jack McGlynn converted a Dynamo penalty in the 80th and equalized in the 89th minute.
Chicago and LAFC drew 2-2 at SeatGeek Stadium. Carlos Teran scored for the Fire in the 10th and Ryan Hollingshead equalized for LAFC in the 19th. Chicago retook the lead from a Jonathan Bamba goal in the 70th. Denis Bouanga converted an LAFC penalty in the 81st minute.
FC Dallas shutout Portland 2-0 at home, going ahead from a Petar Musa goal in the 5th. Lalas Abubakar doubled the Dallas lead in the 62nd minute.
“I am pleased with the fight tonight from the start to the end, I didn’t think we let our guard down at all,” FC Dallas coach Eric Quill said. “Typically, sometimes when we’ve been in the lead, we’ve been doing that to ourselves. Tonight, even when we were leading, everybody was fighting with concentration and effort in the organization of the lines, dealing with crosses, dealing with the wide area.”
St Louis beat Nashville 2-1 at home. Jaziel Orozco scored for St Louis in the 23rd, Joao Klauss doubled the lead in the 39th, and Jeong Sang-Bin made it 3-0 in the 66th. Hany Mukhtar converted a Nashville penalty in the 85th minute.
San Diego won 2-0 at Sporting Kansas City, with Hirving Lozano scoring in the 23rd. Anders Dreyer added a San Diego goal in the 70th minute.
“I wouldn’t want anything else other than the result,” Sporting Kansas City interim coach Kerry Zavagnin said. “I think the game can be cruel sometimes and, as I tell the players, it’s very difficult to control the result. You can control the performance and your attitude and your thoughts and how you go about your business. I thought from that perspective, the result didn’t match the performance. I think we deserved more in the game.”
San Jose beat Vancouver 2-1 at home. The Whitecaps played a man down from the 27th when Edier Ocamp saw red. Josef Martinez converted a San Jose penalty in the 54th and Brian White equalized for the Whitecaps in the 88th. Preston Judd scored for the Earthquakes four minutes into stoppage time.
Week 27 continued on Sunday, starting with Charlotte winning 1-0 at FC Cincinnati. Playing a man up from a red card to Cincinnati’s Tah Anunga in the 70th, Wilfried Zaha scored Charlotte’s goal in the 85th minute.
“We said at halftime, it was probably going to be one moment, and we couldn’t find it obviously before we go down a man,” FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “Even to the end, guys pushed in a good way and almost found one on a set piece there. A tough loss.”
Colorado won 2-1 at Minnesota United. Darren Yapi scored for the Rapids in the 60th and 70th. United’s Tani Oluwaseyi pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute.
“We come to win,” Colorado coach Chris Armas said. “A mindset to win, a plan to win, and the guys are up for that. This is what any player would want. We don’t play it safe – home or away. It’s always about attacking football and being proactive and we did that tonight with a different structure. The team’s been through some ups and downs recently, some tough stuff with injuries and different things, but they’re an impressive group with the way they stick together. We’ll take one game at a time.”
The Red Bulls beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 at home after trailing from a Zavier Gozo goal in the 3rd. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting equalized for the Red Bulls in the 52nd. RSL’s Diego Luna saw red in the 85th. The Red Bulls’ Kyle Duncan exited to a red card in the 90th. Choupo-Moting converted a Red Bulls penalty nine minutes into stoppage time.
Orlando beat Inter Miami 4-1 at home, going ahead from a Luis Muriel goal in the 2nd. Yannick Bright equalized for Miami in the 5th. Orlando retook the lead when Muriel scored again in the 50th. Martin Joeda added an Orlando goal in the 58th and Marco Pasalic finished off the scoring in the 88th minute.
Week 27 ends in Carson with the Galaxy hosting Seattle.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by the New England Revolution
