Credit: Columbus Crew
Our week 32 MLS roundup starts at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Columbus beat Atlanta 5-4 on the road. Diego Rossi put the Crew up in the 14th and doubled the lead in the 16th. Wessam Abou Ali added a Crew goal in the 25th, Andres Herrera scored in the 29th, and Rossi made it 5-0 in the 29th. Miguel Almiron converted a United penalty three minutes into first-half stoppage time, and Pedro Amador scored in the 46th. Jamal Thiare scored for Atlanta in the 50th and 88th minutes.
“I’m not surprised,” Columbus coach Wilfried Nancy said of the five early goals. “Again, this is something that we did in the past but we didn’t score, and in this situation, we scored. This is our offense with a lot of humility. We had the opportunity to kill the game a few times, but we didn’t do it. At this time, it worked. It was almost not enough.”
St Louis shutout Montreal 2-0 at Stade Saputo, going ahead from a Conrad Wallem goal in the 11th. Marcel Hartel doubled Montreal’s lead in the 55th minute.
“I think that we created some decent chances but we just couldn’t score today,” Montreal’s Dawid Bugaj said. “That’s football, sometimes you have more luck, sometimes you don’t but we struggled a little bit more today. Probably because they did a good job, or we didn’t do as well as we did the other games. We will have to watch the game back and see what we did wrong and good.”
Charlotte shutout Inter Miami 3-0 at home. Idan Toklomati scored for Charlotte in the 34th and 47th. Miami’s Tomas Aviles saw red in the 79th. Toklomati converted a Charlotte penalty in the 84th minute.
DC drew 1-1 at home with Orlando City, going ahead from a Jackson Hopkins goal in the 33rd. Alex Freeman equalized for Orlando in the 53rd. United played a man down from the 57th minute when Lukas MacNaughton saw red.
FC Cincinnati beat Nashville 2-1 at home, going ahead from a Brenner goal in the 73rd. Nashville’s Sam Surridge leveled the score in the 84th. Evander returned the Nashville lead eight minutes into stoppage time.
“Based on form, based on results, and how late in the game, you know, we find the goal, and the energy in that moment is something that this building hasn’t experienced enough recently,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “So hopefully we can take a little bit of momentum from it and confidence from it and continue moving forward. But you know, the timing of it, and the guys sticking with it to find that is important to see.”
New England came back to draw 1-1 at home with Toronto FC. Theo Corbeanu put Toronto up in the 75th with Lica Langori leveling the score in the 90th minute.
NYCFC beat Chicago 3-1 at Soldier Field after falling behind to a Philip Zinckernagel goal in the 13th. Nicolas Fernandez equalized for NYCFC in the 40th, Alonso Martinez gave them the lead in the 57th, and Seymour Reid scored three minutes into stoppage time.
FC Dallas shutout Austin 2-0 at home, taking the lead from a Petar Musa goal in the 2nd. Bernard Kamungo finished off the scoring in the 49th minute.
“I feel like this is probably the best performance I’ve seen this year, from beginning to end on both sides of the ball,” FC Dallas coach Eric Quill said. “We had some great goals, chance creations, defended crosses beautifully and we showed commitment tonight. I thought every phase was really good. I couldn’t be more proud as a coach. If you’re looking sharp on all phases and you win the game, that’s all credit to the players.”
LAFC beat San Jose 4-2 at Levi’s Stadium, with Son Heung-Min scoring in the 1st. Denis Bouanga added LAFC goals in the 9th and 12th. Preston Judd pulled a goal back for the Earthquakes in the 18th. Bouanga scored again for LAFC in the 87th. LAFC gave up an own-goal in the 90th minute.
“I’m preparing a team to try to win these last four games,” San Jose coach Bruce Arena said. “If we come out the way we did tonight, we’re not going to win any of them. So hopefully, I’d like to say we can learn something from this, but this has been a bit of a broken record this year, some of the mistakes we’ve made.”
Seattle drew 2-2 at home with the LA Galaxy. Jesus Ferreira opened the scoring for the Sounders in the 5th and Daniel Muscovski made it 2-0 in the 41st. The Galaxy pulled a goal back through Maya Yoshida in the 44th and Miki Yamane equalized in the 87th minute.
Colorado beat Houston 2-1 at home, with Cole Bassett putting the Rapids up in the 10th. Jack McGlynn equalized for Houston in the 68th. The Dynamo gave up an own-goal six minutes into stoppage time.
Real Salt Lake beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 at America First Field. Diego Luna scored for RSL in the 40th and Alexandros Katranis made it 2-0 in the 62nd. Real Salt Lake gave up an own-goal in the 71st minute.
“It is a difficult place to play,” Sporting KC forward Daniel Salloi said. “They have a lot of really good individuals, and they can shine in different moments in the game. They just know how they want to break a team down, and they did it well. I thought we came back and had a little energy in the second half, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
Vancouver shutout Philadelphia 7-0 at home, going ahead when Mathias Laborda scored in the 18th. Emmanuel Sabbi doubled the lead in the 24th, with Thomas Muller converting penalties in the 30th and a minute into first-half stoppage time. Sabbi scored again in the 61st, Rayan Elloumi extended the lead in the 80th, and Muller scored in the 88th minute.
Portland beat the Red Bulls 2-1 at Providence Park. Matias Rojas opened the scoring for the Timbers in the 28th, with Emil Forsberg equalizing for the Timbers in the 70th. Portland retook the lead from an Antony goal in the 73rd minute.
Week 32 ended at Snapdragon Stadium, where Minnesota beat San Diego 3-1 on the road. Anthony Markanich put United up in the 74th, Carlos Harvey doubled the lead in the 77th, and Nectarios Triantis made it 3-0 two minutes into stoppage time. San Diego’s Jeppe Tverskov scored five minutes into stoppage time.
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by the Columbus Crew
