Portland's secret weapon, Seattle get a spark & more from Matchday 8 | OneFootball

By Matthew Doyle

Let’s switch it up a bit and cruise through the weekend’s games in chronological order. We’ll explore a big question from each game.

In we go:

TORONTO FC 0-0 MINNESOTA UNITED FC

Has Robin Fraser figured some things out defensively?

It looks that way following Toronto’s scoreless home draw against a very good Minnesota United side. It marks three draws in three games against, in order, Vancouver, Miami and Minnesota. That’s about as tough a run of games as you could find in this league (though it should be noted that the ‘Caps were short-handed, and two of the three were at home).

The catalyst has obviously been the defense, as well as the return to form of Sean Johnson: they’ve conceded once in this three-game stretch after conceding 12 times in their first five outings. The improvement has come hand-in-hand with a switch to a pretty bog-standard 4-2-3-1 shape. There are no bells and whistles.

It’s a reason for some mild optimism in what’s otherwise been a pretty rough few years.

The Loons did the thing I warned of: they’ve put all their eggs in the counterattack basket. As such, they've struggled all year to create chances against low blocks, and I think they’ll be facing a lot more of those in the weeks and months to come.

ATLANTA UNITED 0-1 NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Are Atlanta in trouble?

On paper, it should work. And even on the field… I mean, this is not the shot chart of a team that loses 1-0 because it doesn’t know how to get into good spots:

But I can’t just write “sometimes ball not go in” every single week, right? And yet it feels like I have for the Five Stripes.

So there are, I think, two things at play here:

That’s a team struggling to fix structural problems. Ronny Deila sounds frustrated any time he’s speaking to the public or the press these days, and it’s easy to understand why.

Meanwhile, Caleb Porter believes he fixed some structural problems with his team’s shift to a 3-5-2.

“I felt like there were a couple of wrinkles that we can do that would push us over the top,” Porter said afterward. “We’ve been playing well, we’ve been in every game, but I’m always trying to think about ways to make it even better. On Wednesday, we kind of rolled out this new shape. We had to sell the players on it, obviously, because we had been playing well. But my pitch to them was this was our opportunity to go from good to great, to create a little more, hopefully, at times be a little better defensively in the box especially. In the end, it worked out really well today.”

The Revs are definitely playing better than they were a few weeks ago, but I’m not sure how many times this kind of performance ends up with three points.

ORLANDO CITY SC 0-0 NEW YORK RED BULLS

Will Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting deliver for RBNY?

This was brutal and it’s worth noting the Spanish broadcast crew called it out as well:

This is not the whole thing for the Red Bulls right now – there are defensive issues this year in ways there haven’t been for a long time, and I think it’s fair to be at least a little disappointed at the lack of progress from most of the young players on the team – but the inability to generate a consistent attacking threat, even when up a man against a not-great defensive team missing multiple starters, was glaring. And that non-effort is a piece of what we’ve seen from Choupo-Moting, in terms of goal-hungry off-ball movement (or the lack thereof).

He’s not useless out there. His hold-up play is very good and he makes his penalties. But I said what I said in that tweet.

Orlando… they were an order of magnitude better than the Red Bulls up until Rodrigo Schlegel’s red card. Carlos Coronel’s absolute blinder is the main reason the game ended as a scoreless draw.

I’m sure they’re bummed not to have picked up the three points at home (Oscar Pareja said as much in the postgame), but logging two straight shutouts probably takes some of the sting out of that.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC 5-1 AUSTIN FC

Are the Whitecaps actually this good?

I mean, it sure seems like it, and did even before their 5-1 evisceration of Austin on Saturday. It was one of the most comprehensive, one-sided beatings I can remember seeing dished out in this league.

Here, enjoy some of it. This is such great ball, both on a fundamental and a conceptual level:

The fundamental aspect is in the tweet above: early crosses are good. (So good, in fact, that we’ve got executives in the mentions talking about how they should be logged as a separate analytical entity from the types of crosses I was scolding Atlanta for above).

On a conceptual level, it’s an understanding that, with Daniel Ríos forced to start as a false winger due to a rash of injuries, the ‘Caps were basically playing two No. 9s. And if you’re playing with two No. 9s against a back four, you should be getting them to work off each other in the box as often as possible.

Which they did, again and again and again. Ríos’s touch here is our Pass of the Week, but Brian White is absolutely going to be our Player of the Week after his four-goal outburst.

Now, there is a reason to be at least a little bit wary about Vancouver’s 2.38 points-per-game pace, because they’ve played a very easy MLS schedule thus far.

I’m tossing that wariness in the trash, though, because they’ve been doing this same thing to LIGA MX sides in Concacaf Champions Cup play, and because they’ve done this while battling through injuries and squad rotation. So don’t expect them to go away any time soon.

Austin… I don’t expect them to disappear or anything, but the limiting factors I was worried about in preseason (the attackers don’t quite fit together and there’s no pure chance creator in midfield) have limited what they’re capable of with the ball.

The thing I keep thinking about with them is that great 2019 LAFC side that really blossomed after shifting Latif Blessing to a pressing 10 in a 4-3-3. The more I watch Owen Wolff, the more convinced I am that’s his best spot.

NEW YORK CITY FC 1-0 PHILADELPHIA UNION

Is it Tai Baribo or nothing?

Baribo got off to a scorching start; the Union got off to a scorching start. Baribo has gone cold; the Union, who lost 1-0 at NYCFC on Saturday, have now gone cold, with just one win in their past five games. They’ve scored three goals in that span, and have now been shut out twice on the trot.

I don’t think they were wrong to sell Dániel Gazdag for $4 million (along with another $500k in incentives) to Columbus. Getting that kind of cash for a 29-year-old No. 10 who’s actually not much of a playmaker – watch me eat those words as he blossoms under Wilfried Nancy – is good business.

But there’s not really a secondary goalscorer in this squad at the moment. Bruno Damiani keeps knocking on the door, and I trust a striker with his instincts (his movement around the box is really, really good) will eventually start putting the ball in the back of the net. Union fans, though, are frustrated.

The Pigeons needed that one, and the goal came courtesy of – who else? – Alonso Martínez, who punished a big error from the Philly backline and a bigger one from young goalkeeper Andrew Rick, who was in for Andre Blake. Longer term, however, the more interesting thing to note is that it looks like 17-year-old academy product Jonathan Shore has locked down a starting job in central midfield, and slightly older academy product Justin Haak has solidified himself as a starting center back, according to head coach Pascal Jansen.

"Justin, today, again, he was strong in the air, strong on the ball, and he gives us a lot of options playing from the back because he's that comfortable on the ball as well,” Jansen said. “Very calm and composed."

You could see how important that calm was against a team that presses like hell.

I do wonder, with the spine sorted, if NYCFC start looking more like what they were four or five years ago, when they used the ball as well as anyone. That’s still, I think, part of their DNA.

CF MONTRÉAL 0-1 CHARLOTTE FC

Are Montréal starting to get more comfortable with the ball?

Weird question after a 1-0 home loss to Charlotte, right? Especially one in which the game’s only goal came from a horrible misplay when Fernando Álvarez Bill Buckner’d a back-pass.

And yet even after going down a goal and being forced to chase the game, Montréal used the ball a ton (they had 65% possession), created danger (19 shots, which resulted in 1.6 xG) and didn’t leave themselves exposed to turn the 1-0 deficit into 2-0 or 3-0.

They also had, on average, their longest passing sequences of the year in this one – both the opponents and game state have something to do with that, of course – as well as their longest passing sequences that lead to a shot.

Cold comfort when you’re winless on the season and are propping up the entire table. But there was at least a little bit of spark.

Pep Biel continues to be awesome for the Crown. As with Minnesota, though, I’m waiting for this team to show more in other phases of play before I’m convinced they're contenders.

D.C. UNITED 0-1 FC CINCINNATI

How big a part does Dado Valenzuela play this year?

The 20-year-old attacker got his first start of the year, and took his chance extremely well with the game’s only goal in a 1-0 win at D.C. My guess is he’ll stick in the lineup for a bit after this performance, especially with Evander nursing a knee injury.

This is obviously crucial for a Cincy side that hasn't had, to this point, great attacking depth. It was supposed to be Sergio Santos and Corey Baird who would provide that, but Santos is just really a pressing option and Baird hasn’t fit (for reasons I can’t quite figure out – he’s a talented player!) in Pat Noonan’s system.

Valenzuela’s comfortable getting on the ball in half-spaces and is decisive about punishing scrambled defenses. He’s not a playmaker, really, in that he won't unlock a settled defense or pick a pass that nobody else sees. But he plays with directness and pace on and off the ball in a way that can inject some life into a Cincy attack that has, at times, looked a little unsure of itself this year.

One other Cincy note: Matt Miazga returned to action after missing 301 days with a knee injury suffered last year. It’s a very good bet that this team will be better in two months than they are right now.

As for D.C., they just need talent.

NASHVILLE SC 2-1 REAL SALT LAKE

Will the goals start to come for Nashville?

The ‘Yotes put together another really attractive, aggressive, attacking performance in their 2-1 win over RSL. And yet they needed a PK from Sam Surridge in second-half stoppage to come away with three points from a game they’d otherwise dominated. This came without Walker Zimmerman, it should be noted (a lack of Zimmerman has been something close to a guaranteed L for this team in the past).

The data’s not showing it yet, but Edvard Tagseth is good, Gastón Brugman is still good, the center backs have been very good in their distribution, and the fullbacks are still capable of winning (or tying, in this case) a match.

Surridge, Hany Mukhtar and the wingers have to figure out how to put the ball in the back of the net from open play. Otherwise, no matter how pretty they play, we’re talking about a team that’ll scrape into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.

Face of the Week here from Daniel Lovitz:

All the focus so far this year has been on the lack of a starting-caliber No. 9 for RSL, which is understandable.

But the defense has really fallen apart, hasn’t it? Thirteen goals allowed in eight games isn’t a disaster, but they’ve allowed 2+ expected goals in six of their eight outings, which is.

I dug into the American Soccer Analysis database and most of the issue seems to come down to allowing opponents easier passes (especially in the defensive third), and more of them. It’s been a deadly combo.

FC DALLAS 0-1 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Is Pedro de la Vega a difference-maker?

De la Vega wasn't clean in his return to the starting XI after missing the past four weeks via injury – he completed just 11 of his 16 passes – but he was busy (35 touches in 45 minutes) and offered some of the conscience-free, “screw it, I’m shooting this” the Sounders’ attack has been missing. And obviously that mattered on the game’s only goal in their 1-0 win at FC Dallas:

When de la Vega’s been healthy this year, he’s passed the eye test. If they get more of this from him, they’ll leave this pretty miserable two-month start to the season in the rearview (especially with Jordan Morris coming back soon).

Dallas have been up and down, and I’m not sure they’re any closer to figuring out who they are and how they want to play than they were on Matchday 1.

One to watch for: Petar Musa left the game with a sprained ankle. Hopefully it's not too serious.

COLORADO RAPIDS 3-2 SAN DIEGO FC

Are San Diego uniquely vulnerable to two-forward set-ups?

Los Niños have played eight games, and they’ve looked really good in six of them. They won the xG battle in all six and, not at all coincidentally, took results (four wins and two draws) out of each.

In their other two games, which includes Saturday’s trip to Colorado, they’ve faced teams playing out of a 4-4-2. In the first of those games – a trip last month to Austin – they won the possession battle (as they almost always do) but gave up chance after chance on the break, lost the xG battle, and subsequently lost the game. Against Austin, it was 2-1; against the Rapids, it was 3-2.

Watch how Darren Yapi, one of Colorado’s two forwards, drags right center back Chris McVey into the channel here at the start of this sequence:

That’s not necessarily fatal. But it absolutely can be, and obviously is here, if there are no subsequent rotations to compress space. The primary culprit in this case is Paddy McNair, who’s chilling eight yards deeper than the rest of the backline. We can also find some blame for Jeppe Tverskov and Jasper Loffelsend, though, since they get lost in no-man’s land, neither getting pressure on the ball nor keeping attackers in their cover shadows.

This is pretty close to the same type of breakdown we saw time and again in Austin. These inside-out runs seem to cause this team, which has looked so comfortable against everyone else, all kinds of trouble.

Great and necessary win for the Rapids, who not only got three goals, but also got a debut from Ted Ku-DiPietro. I think he’ll thrive there.

LAFC 2-1 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Are the Quakes cooked if Daniel is out for any length of time?

Based upon what happened in goal for San Jose last year when Daniel was hurt, and the performance of back-up Earl Edwards Jr., who came in after Daniel had to leave the game in the 20th minute after being kicked in the head by Olivier Giroud… probably. Both of LAFC’s goals in their 2-1 win came off mistakes from Edwards, and I don’t blame any Quakes fan who found themselves having unpleasant flashbacks.

San Jose were fine, bordering on good, outside of the two goals they conceded (the first was a save that Edwards pushed straight to Sergi Palencia at the top of the box; the second was a flubbed goal kick that led to Denis Bouanga’s first goal of the year). I think they have a real chance to be a playoff team.

But not if Daniel is sidelined for a significant amount of time.

For LAFC: If Bouanga’s back, they’re back. I suspect he’s back and they’ll be fine in the regular season, though the way they lost to Miami in the CCC is the same way they’ve been losing big games for the past couple of years. And until/unless they change that, it’s hard to imagine big games against the region’s best will have appreciably different outcomes than we saw in 2023 and 2024.

LA GALAXY 1-1 HOUSTON DYNAMO FC

Do the Galaxy have any way to build a reliable central defense?

A big part of the theory regarding LA’s ability to maintain a good level this year – despite shipping off players like Dejan Joveljić, Mark Delgado and Gastón Brugman, and despite being without Riqui Puig until summer at the earliest – was, hey, at least the backline is still together! And hey, it’s been reinforced by the addition of Zanka, a veteran with plenty of experience in top European leagues, the Champions League, the Euros and the freaking World Cup!

Well, Maya Yoshida has underperformed and got hurt two weeks ago. Emiro Garcés has struggled with the way the game model has shifted in Puig’s absence. And Zanka? Zanka’s… not been great.

He picked up a (totally deserved) red card a half-hour into a 1-1 home draw against Houston on Saturday after his flubbed clearance led to a breakaway which he stopped by pulling down Ezequiel Ponce on the edge of the box. LA, to their credit, held onto that one-goal deficit for the next 25 minutes, then tied it up on a Diego Fagúndez free kick, then held onto that 1-1 for the final half-hour.

But still, the already-in-bad-shape Galaxy are looking at a really, really dodgy situation in the one part of their XI that was supposed to be solid. They are winless – tied for dead last – with the season nearly a quarter done. And they haven’t shown much reason to think things are about to get better.

Houston at least have a theory for that: Jack McGlynn continues to look more comfortable as a half-space merchant, U22 attackers Lawrence Ennali and Nelson Quiñones should be back soon, and DP attacker Ondřej Lingr should be available soon. They’re about to get a real talent influx.

Of course, they are just 1W-4L-3D with only six goals scored. So they need it.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY 2-4 PORTLAND TIMBERS

Are we sleeping on the Portland midfield?

Phil Neville thinks so! Here he is, waxing poetic about David Ayala following Portland’s 4-2 win at Sporting KC.

“He's the best midfield player in MLS. Simple as that. The kid has got everything – on the ball, tackling, desire, discipline, aerial ability. For me, he’s the best midfield player in MLS. I don't see anyone better at this moment in time.”

The Argentine is finally fully healthy and is having a good season. I am not quite as enthusiastic as Phil is, but his ability to do the job of disruption next to Diego Chara, while also getting forward to add to the attack, has added real dynamism to the Timbers. Here, have a taste:

That is really nice work!

And the goal, of course, was not his – it took a deflection off of Kevin Kelsy. The young Venezuelan No. 9 is toolsy as hell and had himself a brace, but struggled with Cincy last year in doing the main job of a striker: being in the right spots to make goals happen. It’s why he eventually drifted out of the rotation there and became available for the Timbers to sign on a U22 deal.

“Kelsy’s gonna be a massive player for us,” Neville said afterward. “We're just going to be patient with his development; we've got to push him. He's driven and everything about the kid I love. Even when he doesn’t train well, play well, I see someone that we can develop over the next 12 to 18 months into being a top, top striker in this league and in his career.

“His movement was good. He’s simplified his game, one-two touches, he's been having some great work with [assistant] Dave van den Bergh. We’ve been trying to simplify his game, get him into the box. The first one, obviously it was a ricochet, but it's a goal. The second one was a proper finish.”

Sporting took it on the chin here, particularly young John Pulskamp in goal and even younger Jansen Miller in central defense. There are definitely going to be days like this over the rest of 2025.

But interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin should keep playing these guys. Run the tough yards now, and give them a chance to be the long-term answers at spots where there have only been questions for so long.

CHICAGO FIRE FC 0-0 INTER MIAMI CF

Can Brian Gutiérrez be a game-changing No. 10 on a contender?

A scoreless draw against unbeaten Inter Miami is not a bad result. But Chicago had the better chances on the day, including chances that didn’t even officially turn into chances:

Gutiérrez is a very good young player, the type who’d be an asset for any team in this league, and who likely has a clear path to Europe either this summer or, more likely, next winter.

You can’t leave money on the table here, though. Yeah, Toto Avilés deserves some credit for scrambling well after serving up that hospital ball – this is textbook open-field defending, taking away both the dribble and the easy pass – but above-average chance creators in this league punish that moment.

Bear in mind, Chicago have a DP slot open and they’ll likely use it this summer. If Gutiérrez shows he’s not the guy to be the focal point of this attack, they’ll use that spot on a No. 10. If he shows he can do it, maybe they'll spend that spot elsewhere.

Miami won this exact game – or something like it, anyway – about five times last year thanks to Julian Gressel’s chance creation, both from out wide and on set pieces. His exile remains one of the more inexplicable storylines of the early season, and I wonder if the relative lack of squad rotation (Leo Messi and Luis Suárez both started and went 90 again) will catch up to this team.

Still, though. They’re unbeaten through two months, even with last year’s record-setting PPG pace, and are into the Concacaf Champions Cup semis. They check the boxes they’ve needed to check, even if there are some nits to pick.

ST. LOUIS CITY SC 1-2 COLUMBUS CREW

Will Olof Mellberg let St. Louis get out and attack?

Here’s what I wrote about this game – or at least part of what I wrote about it – in my preview column:

In the first half of this game, they weren’t even adequate. St. Louis had just four box entries; three ended with João Klauss, who is massive, physically dominating the Crew defenders, winning headers that turned into shots, and turning one of those shots into a goal. The rest of the half was played the way Columbus want the game to be played, and honestly, what can you say about a goal like this?

I can’t even be incredulous anymore that it’s a center back making that run and finishing off that sequence. It’s just become the expected pattern of play for the Crew, who still – apologies, Vancouver and San Diego – play the most beautiful ball in the league.

They played more beautiful ball on the second goal, one that included a key touch from new guy Dániel Gazdag, who came on at halftime and was busy, if not super effective. And by about the 65th minute this one felt a lot like another Crew goal was inevitable, and that it’d be a 3-1 final with minimal drama.

But it didn’t quite turn out that way. The final was 2-1 – you see that above – and the Crew are still unbeaten, and I don’t think any differently of them than I did coming into the game.

For St. Louis, though, those final 25 minutes, in which they generated chance after chance and weren’t just putting the screws to Columbus in the box, but in midfield as well… I mean, where is that on the regular? Why is there this insistence on ultra-conservative play?

Four straight losses. Only five goals on the season. We’ve passed the point of diminishing returns on the “defense first, last and always” ethos, and while the injuries and absences provide Mellberg some cover, there was plenty of evidence that this team can be threatening when they push numbers forward.

Just like they were with this same personnel last year.