MLS Weekly Wrap-up: Montreal on the mend, NY is red

This weekend was certainly a good one for Toronto FC fans. It was also an interesting one across the league. The Montreal Impact broke their four-game losing streak, meanwhile, the LA Galaxy fell short again. The New York Derby came and went with a bang. Here’s what you may have missed while you were celebrating the Reds’ victory.

Saturday:

Montreal Impact 4-2 New England Revolution

It’s no secret the Impact have had a rough start to the season. They were in the midst of a four-game losing streak headed into the weekend. That ended on Saturday when they took on the Revolution. It took a bit for this game to get going, the first goal coming at 45+2’ from the Impact’s Anthony Jackson-Hamel. He would score again at 52’. Raheem Edwards brought the Impact’s lead to 3-0 with a goal at 65’. Ignacio Piatti then found the net at 68’, putting the Impact up 4-0. New England’s Wilfried Zahibo would fight back with two goals (78’ and 86’), but it was too little too late. The match ended in Montreal’s favour.

New York Red Bulls 4-0 New York City FC

The battle of New York is a fun one to watch, especially this season when both teams are doing fairly well. The Red Bulls were coming off a win against the LA Galaxy and brought that momentum over to defeat their inner-city rivals 4-0. Although they only had 38% possession, they took more shots and that was enough. The match started with two quick Red Bull goals scored by Alejandro Romero (Kaku) (2’) and Florian Valot (4’). Bradley Wright-Phillips struck at 38’. Derrick Etienne had the final Red Bulls goal of the match at 79’.

Minnesota United FC 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps

Although Minnesota United was down a man from the 50’ mark on due to Mason Toye receiving a red card, they still managed to pull off a win. Vancouver had 19 shots to Minnesota’s 4, but Minnesota persisted. Miguel Ibarra had the lone goal of the match at 60’.

Los Angeles FC 1-1 FC Dallas

LAFC had their first-ever draw this weekend against FC Dallas. Possession and shots certainly favoured them at 64% and 15 respectively, but it just didn’t seem to be enough. All the scoring came from former Reds — LAFC had the opening goal of the match from Steven Beitashour (!!!) at 9’. Maximiliano Urruti responded with a Dallas goal at 55’. The match ended all tied up.

Seattle Sounders 0-0 Columbus Crew SC

Another draw, but this game had a little less action to it. Columbus managed to maintain a draw after losing a man at the 15’ mark. Pedro Santos was shown a red card after a fairly nasty challenge. Seattle took a total of 15 shots with the man advantage, while Columbus only had 5. Regardless, the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

Chicago Fire 1-2 Atlanta United

Atlanta United continues to dominate. They maintained 51% possession and took a total of 10 shots. Ezequiel Barco had the opening goal of the game at 53’ for Atlanta. Josef Martinez brought the lead to 2-0 with a goal at 57’. Kevin Ellis would attempt to revive Chicago with a goal at 61’, but it wasn’t enough. Atlanta took home another win.

Houston Dynamo 3-2 LA Galaxy

The Galaxy stumbled again this week, losing this game by a goal. Possession was in their favour at 55%, but shots were not. They took six fewer shots than Houston did. Houston started out strong with a goal from Alejandro Fuenmayor at the 2’ mark. Giovani dos Santos would tie it up at 39’. Houston responded with two goals, one from Romell Quioto (47’) and the other from Jose Rodriguez (90’). LA’s Ola Kamara had a goal in the middle there at 85’. LA lost another one.

Sporting Kansas City 1-0 Colorado Rapids

Sporting KC dominated this match. They took a total of 24 shots and maintained 59% possession. The lone goal came from Daniel Sallol early in the match at 16’ and that was it!

San Jose Earthquakes 0-1 Portland Timbers

Portland found themselves their third straight win this week in San Jose against a struggling Earthquakes team. The Quakes took more shots and maintained more ball possession but just couldn’t get balls into the net. It looked like it was going to end in a draw until Diego Valeri scored the late Portland goal at 88’, giving them the win.

Sunday:

Orlando City 3-1 Real Salt Lake

The lone Sunday game was all about Orlando. They kept ball possession at 53% and took a total of nineteen shots. Even though Real Salt Lake’s Corey Baird had the opening goal of the match at 12’, Orlando fought back. They’d score three goals in the second half. Dom Dwyer found the net at 60’, Lamine Sane at 63’, and Yoshimar Yotun at 78’. This was Orlando’s sixth straight victory.

Here’s how the table looks currently, courtesy of MLSSoccer.com