MLS Weekly Update: Zlatan’s wrath continues

Wednesday Major League Soccer matches were back this week as we celebrated the holiday weekend with a ton of soccer! Toronto FC pulled off a wonderful win, while LA Galaxy continued to reap the benefits of Zaltan Ibrahimovic’s penalty shot. If you need a stress relief from playoff hockey, I got you covered with this weekend’s game highlights!

Wednesday

Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 LAFC

The reign of LAFC came to a close this week has they got their first loss of the season. The Vancouver Whitecaps shut them out 1-0 thanks to a goal from Hwang In-beom halfway through the first half (27’), his first MLS goal! Who saw this one coming?

Friday

Real Salt Lake 3-0 FC Cincinnati

The expansion team met another loss this weekend, thanks to Real Salt Lake. FC Cincinnati outshot them and controlled the ball more, but couldn’t get one in the net. Albert Rusnak had two goals, the first at 42’, the second at 59’ on a penalty shot. The other goal came from Sam Johnson’s boot during stoppage time in the first half (45+2’).

LA Galaxy 2-1 Houston Dynamo

The LA Galaxy are fully taking advantage of Zlatan’s penalty magic. The first goal of this match was scored by Zlatan on the penalty at 31’. The Houston Dynamo’s Alberth Elis got a penalty of his own to bring the score to a draw at 53’. The Galaxy weren’t done. Diego Polenta found the net at 88’, giving them their fifth-straight win.

Saturday

Chicago Fire 4-1 Colorado Rapids

The Chicago Fire had a huge game on Saturday, holding the Colorado Rapids to one goal and netting four past Tim Howard. Nemanja Nikolic scored the opening goal of the match for Chicago (34’), but Colorado’s Kei Kamara tied it up shortly thereafter (40’). The rest of the match belonged to Chicago. Three straight unanswered goals were to follow, thanks to C.J. Sapong (53’), Dorde Mihailovic (61’) , and Aleksandar Katai (80’). Colorado’s Jack Price was shown a red card at 88’, but the match was already over at that point.

Philadelphia Union 3-0 Montreal Impact

The Philadelphia Union had themselves one heck of a game over the Montreal Impact. They shut them out, scored three goals, and then received a red card? Yup, all of that. Cory Burke scored early (14’). Jamiro Monteiro would score next on a penalty shot at 45’. Alejandro Bedoya finished it off with his goal at 57’. Kai Wagner was given a red card at 90’, but Montreal failed to capitalize on the man advantage.

Orlando City 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps

The Whitecaps only got lucky once this week. Orlando City were able to push through and walk away with three points against them on Saturday. Their most notable recent signing, Nani, scored the lone goal of the match at 88’.

Atlanta United 1-2 FC Dallas

Atlanta United fell short again, this time against FC Dallas. Jesus Ferriera and his FC Dallas teammates came out hot, netting the first goal at 6’. Bryan Acosta got another goal for Dallas at 84’. The reigning league champions, Atlanta United, didn’t find the net until stoppage time in the second half. Josef Martinez scored on a VERY late penalty (90+7’). This one was a weird one.

New England Revolution 1-0 New York Red Bulls

The New England Revolution took only nine shots in this contest, but got one past Luis Robles in the second half. Cristian Penilla found the net at 73’ to score the only goal and give his team a welcomed three points over the New York Red Bulls.

Columbus Crew SC 1-3 Portland Timbers

The Portland Timbers gave themselves an early lead with two goals scored before the 40th minute. Larrys Mabiala struck first at 31’ and Jeremy Ebobisse followed suit with his goal at 35’. Columbus Crew then got themselves on the board thanks to Pedro Santos’ goal at 69’. Portland weren’t done yet, finding the net one more time in stoppage time. Jorge Moreira had the final goal at 90+1’.

San Jose Earthquakes 4-1 Sporting KC

I’m not kidding, guys. The San Jose Earthquakes got ANOTHER win. This time they smashed Sporting KC four goals to one. Danny Hoesen had himself a pair of early goals at 6’ and 12’. Shea Salinas gave them a 3-0 lead with his shot at 46’. Magnus Eriksson sealed the deal at 61’. Sporting KC attempted a revival with a goal from Felipe Gutierez at 66’ on a penalty, but that was all she wrote.

Sunday

D.C. United 0-2 NYCFC

D.C. United were handed a loss from NYC FC on Sunday. Alexandru Mitrita found the net first with his goal at 35’. Heber Araujo dos Santos brought the lead to 2-0 with a goal at 56’. NYCFC were back in the win column.

LAFC 4-1 Seattle Sounders

LAFC regained their composure and found a win on Sunday against the Seattle Sounders. Carlos Vela had a pair of goals (because of course he did) at 12’ and 55’. The other LAFC goals came from Eduard Atuesta (39’) and Christian Ramirez (61’). The lone Seattle goal was scored by Harry Shipp at 51’.