Credit: Bill Barrett - ISIPhotos.com
Major League Soccer’s 2026 season started on Saturday, with 13 games on the schedule. Just a reminder that this is the final full season under the current calendar, with MLS eventually moving to the European schedule for 2027-28. Here’s our guide to the 2026 season. With all that in place, here’s the roundup for week 1 in MLS.
St Louis drew 1-1 at home with Charlotte, taking the lead from a Marcel Hartel goal in the 60th. Pep Biel equalized for Charlotte in the 73rd minute.
FC Cincinnati shutout Atlanta 2-0 at home. Kevin Denkey opened the scoring in the 80th and Nick Hagglund doubled the lead in the 90th minute. Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano made three saves to keep the clean sheet.
“A good start to the season,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “I think the majority of the performance was strong from the group, and while maybe the answers in the attack weren’t there early on, the guys stuck with it and found the lead late, and I liked the way we managed the end of the game outside of a few turnovers.”
Vancouver beat Real Salt Lake 1-0 at BC Place, with Aziel Jackson scoring the game’s only goal in the 57th minute. Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takoaka recorded the shutout with two saves.
The Red Bulls won 2-1 at Orlando City, with Julian Hall scoring in the 8th and 40th. Orlando’s Tiago pulled a goal back six minutes into stoppage time.
DC shutout Philadelphia 1-0 at home with Tai Baribo scoring in the 23rd. The Union’s Ezekiel Alladoh saw red in the 58th minute.
Austin drew 2-2 at home with Minnesota United. Brendan Hines-Ike opened the scoring for Austin in the 7th and Morris Duggan equalized for United in the 40th. Austin retook the lead from a Myrto Uzuni goal in the 76th, but United equalized again when Kelvin Yeboah scored in the 90th minute.
“You play all 90 minutes and stoppage time, and we saw that tonight,” Minnesota coach Cameron Knowles said. “That’s the importance of making sure you always have a chance of staying in the game.”
FC Dallas beat Toronto 3-1 at home. Petar Musa put Dallas up in the 9th with Djordje Mihailovic equalizing for Toronto in the 15th. A Logan Farrington goal returned the Dallas lead, but Derrick Etienne Jr leveled the score again for Toronto in the 67th. Musa scored again for Dallas in the 74th minute.
“It feels amazing,” Farrington said. “A lot of hard work that we put in this preseason is paying off. We still have some things we need to work on, but I think we had a great performance to win. Everybody in this locker room really appreciates the hard work and dedication that each person has towards this group of guys. Tonight felt great.”
Houston beat Chicago 2-1 at home after falling behind to a Hugo Cuypers goal in the 31st. Guilherme Augusto equalized for the Dynamo in the 66th and scored again in the 77th minute.
“We needed some resilience today,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said. “Chicago is a very good and well-coached team. For the first 20 minutes, we had a little trouble figuring them out and deciding how to go about it. As I have said, we are a work in progress, and sometimes it takes a bit of grinding it out. We gifted them a goal in an unusual moment, which I do not expect to be a regular thing, and the comeback shows the personality of this team.”
Nashville beat New England 4-1 at home, taking the lead from two Sam Surridge goals in the 5th and 16th. Hany Mukhtar made it 3-0 Nashville in the 39th and Warren Madrigal scored in the 49th. New England’s Leonardo Campana scored in the 47th minute.
LAFC shutout Inter Miami in front of 75,673 at the LA Coliseum. David Martinez put LAFC up in the 37th, Denis Bouanga doubled the lead in the 73rd, and Nathan Ordaz finished off the scoring four minutes into stoppage time.
Portland beat Columbus 3-2 at home. After falling behind to a Wessam Abou Ali goal in the 6th, Felipe Mora equalized for the Timbers in the 14th. An Antony goal in the 20th put Portland up, with Diego Rossi equalizing for the Crew in the 44th. Ariel Lassiter scored for Portland in the 88th minute.
“That’s sort of always hard to lose the game at 2-2,” Columbus defender Rudy Camacho said. “I think we had space to score a goal. We didn’t score. Yeah, we took a goal unfortunately late in the game. Tonight, we don’t deserve to win.”
San Diego shutout Montreal 5-0 at home. Christopher McVey opened the scoring for San Diego in the 14th and Amahl Pellegrino doubled the lead two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Montreal’s Tomas Aviles saw red in the 50th. Onni Valakari extended San Diego’s lead in the 53rd, Marcus Ingvartsen made it 4-0 in the 59th, and Bryan Zamble finished off the scoring in the 85th minute.
The San Jose Earthquakes beat Sporting Kansas City 3-0 at home, going up from a Daniel Munie goal in the 42nd. Preston Judd doubled San Jose’s lead a minute into stoppage time and Munie scored again in the 54th minute.
“I think opening at home, it’s important to get three points, and we accomplished that,” San Jose coach Bruce Arena said. “The performance wasn’t perfect, but it was a good performance. It’s a performance that gives our team confidence and we can continue to grow as a team.”
Week 1 continues on Sunday with two games on the schedule.
All quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by Bill Barrett – ISIPhotos.com
