MLS Takeaways: Week 5
Photo from the Columbus Crew
While the rest of the world is on an international break, MLS is still playing!
Probably because they need to find time to make up for the whole month they’ll miss due to the expanded League’s Cup.
It’s a move I don’t particularly care for, but we still have games to go over!
Portland draws LA Galaxy 0-0
Portland, who is off to a slow start this year, didn’t even sort of look like they wanted to score until the final 10 minutes.
It’s like something clicked in their heads that said “Oh wait, we need to get some wins!”
Still, it was too late to matter.
But it does at least show they have a level of urgency to them.
Charlotte draws New York Red Bulls 1-1
Charlotte got a much needed win last week, and a draw this week against a tough Red Bulls team isn’t the worst result in the world.
Baby steps for Charlotte after a horrid start.
Columbus defeats Atlanta 6-1
Last week, I questioned how Atlanta would look without young star Thiago Almada once he likely leaves for Europe in the summer.
Well, we saw a slight glimpse of it Saturday, and it wasn’t great!
Columbus absolutely took them to the woodshed, and while I don’t think Atlanta will continuously be that bad without Almada, it does show they need some help to replace him.
New England defeats DC United 2-1
Once again, Rooney ball in DC is exciting, even when he isn’t there due to illness.
But once again, the team just is not talented enough to get results yet.
The framework is there, though.
Chicago defeats Miami 3-2
I said it last week, and I’ll say it again.
Ezra Hendrickson has done a great job early on with a Fire team many expected nothing from.
It’s good to see Chicago outperform expectations.
Orlando defeats Philadelphia 2-1
As I said earlier, there is an international break going on, so Philly was missing some players.
But even still, and even with the CCL games weighing on Philly, it doesn’t take a professional soccer player to figure out Philly doesn’t look as good as they could.
It’s not the players, it’s the breakdowns in Jim Curtin’s system that we are not used to seeing.
Austin draws Colorado 1-1
Not only did Colorado score another goal, they didn’t lose!
But boy, Austin FC is really, really struggling right now.
Houston defeats New York City 1-0
This wasn’t a lesser team snatch and grab from Houston.
They were, by far and away, significantly better than NYC was Saturday night.
People forget the quality years he had in DC.
Ben Olsen is a hell of a coach.
Seattle defeats Kansas City 4-1
With Ruidiaz on international duty and Heber injured, Seattle turned to Jordan Morris at striker, where he has not played since he was a rookie back in 2016.
The result? The first four goal game in Seattle Sounders history.
Just like we all expected.
Minnesota draws Vancouver 1-1
Vancouver, who has spent all season dropping points from winning positions, stole points from a losing position on the road in the last seconds.
Progress!
Cincinnati defeats Nashville 1-0
Last year, Cincy was a good team that could score at will but struggled to keep the ball out of the net.
So far this year, they have done a tremendous job defensively.
It was the step needed for them to become title contenders, and they’re doing it well so far.
St. Louis defeats Real Salt Lake 4-0
Two takeaways from this game.
St. Louis is actually really, really good. There’s no question now. They are good.
Defenders: Please, PLEASE, stop giving St. Louis the ball needlessly!
Seriously, it is remarkable that St. Louis has benefited from a horrible back pass so many times this year.
LAFC defeats FC Dallas 2-1
Denis Bouanga keeps making me look stupid for saying LAFC would struggle to score goals.
That’s not very nice, Denis.
San Jose draws Toronto 0-0
At least Toronto didn’t lose?
