MLS Takeaways: Week 6
Photo by Rick Ulreich from Getty Images
It took until the 6th week of the season to not have a single team to not draw or lose a game.
It’s pretty rare for that to happen.
So let’s just get right to it.
Atlanta defeats New York Red Bulls 1-0
You can learn a lot about a team from how they respond to a butt whoopin, which is exactly what Atlanta got last week at the hands of Columbus.
Gonzalo Pineda had their team prepared to shake it off and get back to work, and got a relatively comfortable 1-0 win against a team who had their number.
Decent response.
Cincinnati defeats Miami 1-0
Another week, another 1-0 win for Cincy with solid defensive play.
This wasn’t a thing for Cincy last year, so you have to be thrilled about their defensive effort so far.
The goals will come. They’re too talented up front not to.
Columbus defeats Real Salt Lake 4-0
As mentioned above, Columbus beat down Atlanta last week at home.
And just like how you can learn a lot from how a team responds to a beat down, you can learn a lot from the team who put the beat down on.
Columbus was far from overconfident this time around, and didn’t let their 6-1 win get to their heads.
That’s the Wilfried Nancy effect.
I said Columbus would be a playoff team this year, and yet I still feel like I undersold them.
Seattle defeats LA Galaxy 2-1
It took until the 2nd half for the Galaxy to finally wake up, but it was unfortunately too late for them.
But the season is still early. And while they haven’t started hot, they can use a very good 2nd half performance to potentially jump start their season.
New England draws New York City FC
New England went from Matt Turner to Djordje Petrovic in goal.
I’m curious to see what happens to the Revs after Petrovic leaves, because he and Matt Turner saved their bacon many times the past few seasons, Saturday included.
Nashville defeats Orlando 2-0
Nashville sat back, defended well, and let Hany Mukhtar make magic.
It’s a winning recipe.
Philadelphia draws Sporting Kansas City 0-0
Has anyone considered unplugging Philly and plugging them back in?
It’s a long season, but the fact that Philly isn’t banking wins before their CCL schedule gets incredibly tough is a little bit worrisome.
Not enough to fully panic, but enough to start asking questions.
Toronto draws Charlotte 2-2
Charlotte started terribly but have become very scrappy.
Down 2-0 at halftime on the road, and they fought their way back to get a crucial road point.
As for Toronto, at 1-1-4 they seem like they’re allergic to wins and losses.
Only draws up North!
Chicago draws DC United 0-0
This wasn’t worth watching.
FC Dallas draws Portland 1-1
Boy, did Portland desperately need that last second equalizer?
Four losses out of six games isn’t going to aspire confidence.
But they escape Texas with something to show for it, and now they can build.
Minnesota defeats St. Louis 1-0
Minnesota, despite their best player going rogue with no return in sight, is unbeaten this season so far.
Adrian Heath always had that “Oh everyone doubted us” mindset that I find pretty annoying.
But this time? He’s right to do so.
I did not expect this from the Loons.
Colorado draws LAFC 0-0
Colorado’s lack of goal scoring options just makes me sad.
San Jose defeats Houston 2-1
Any time you can watch a game where every single goal is a penalty kick, you gotta take advantage of that!
Especially when some of the calls were pretty questionable.
Vancouver defeats Montreal 5-0
It felt like this was coming from the Whitecaps.
After a season where they let leads slip away but showed prominence in attack, smacking down a poor Montreal team was the perfect medicine.
