Category: Soccer

Alan Pulido scored a goal in each half as Sporting Kansas City continued their surge up the Western Conference table with an impressive 4-1 victory over visiting Austin FC on Saturday night.

Sporting is above the red line for the first time this season.

Sporting (5-8-5, 20 points) was winless in its first 10 matches (0-7-3) with a total of three goals scored. The Wizards have now scored 17 goals in their last eight matches.

Austin FC (5-8-4, 19 points) dropped below the red line into 11th place with the loss, their fourth in the last five matches.

Sporting extended its halftime advantage in the 47th minute on a goal by Robert Castellanos. Erik Thommy sent a long pass into the box on a set piece. It was just beyond Pulido, but he got enough on the ball to send it to Castellanos on the left side. Castellanos then rocketed it past Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.

Pulido’s second goal came in the 57th minute. Robert Voloder found Tim Leibold racing up the left sideline. Leibold then served it into the center of the box, where Pulido controlled it just beyond the reach of Stuver.

Austin drew one back in the 61st minute. Following a corner kick, Sebastian Driussi collected a deflection in the box and squeezed it past SKC keeper Kendall McIntosh.

But Khiry Shelton’s first goal of the season, in the 89th minute, iced the game. Shelton stole the ball at midfield and fed Thommy to his left. Thommy’s shot was stopped by Stuver, but Shelton collected the rebound and sent it into an empty net.

Pulido got Sporting on the board in the 19th minute from close range.

Following a corner kick and a loose-ball scramble in front of the Austin net, Leibold lobbed one toward the goal. Marinos Tzionis attempted a header that was deflected to the feet of Pulido, who rammed it home past Stuver.

The first half showed little offensive thrust, with the two sides combining for just 11 shots. Austin controlled possession at almost a 2-to-1 ratio, but the Verde and Black never threatened McIntosh.

–Field Level Media

Lucas Zelarayan scored an improbable goal in the 93rd minute to give the Columbus Crew a 2-1 victory against the host Chicago Fire on Saturday.

Xherdan Shaqiri’s goal in the 88th minute had rallied the Fire to a 1-1 tie after Cucho Hernandez gave the Crew (8-6-3, 27 points) the lead in the 59th.

Zelarayan was at midfield when he saw goalkeeper Spencer Richey off his line and sent the ball soaring into the open net.

The Crew have won three straight, while the Fire (3-6-8, 17 points) saw their winless streak reach six games (0-3-3). It was also their first home loss of the season (2-1-6).

Columbus is 2-5-1 on the road.

It was that kind of game for the Crew.

Hernandez needed a fortunate bounce to tie the team record by contributing a goal or an assist in eight straight matches. He has four goals and six assists during the streak.

He equaled the mark of teammate Zelarayan (2021-22) and Jeff Cunningham (2001).

Darlington Nagbe started the play near midfield with a through ball to Hernandez. His shot from distance deflected off a Chicago player into the net.

The Crew’s 33 goals entering the game led MLS, but they didn’t manage a shot on target until the first minute of first-half stoppage time when Zelarayan had a shot from 25 yards. Richey easily made the save.

Chicago didn’t fare any better, but its lone shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes at least had a better chance of producing a score. Kei Kamara was free down the left flank for a strike that forced goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to stretch for a save with his left hand.

Otherwise, the most excitement came in the 29th minute, when Crew defender Malte Amundsen’s foul just outside the penalty area seemingly meant his second yellow card in nine minutes and an ejection.

However, video review determined Chicago midfielder Brian Gutierrez had been offside, nullifying the foul and card.

–Field Level Media

Facundo Torres’ redirected goal helped Orlando City to a 2-0 win over the nine-man Colorado Rapids on Saturday night, only their third home win of the season.

Orlando City (7-4-5, 26 points) pushed the visitors, who went down a man late in the first half before Torres gave the hosts the lead in the 56th minute with his fifth goal of the season. Mauricio Pereyra found Torres lurking outside the top of the box, and he cut toward the middle before shooting. His shot found a defender and deflected into the open goal.

Torres had a chance in the 71st minute to earn his second brace in as many games, but this time the deflection went wide of the post rather than inside. Only minutes later, the hosts found themselves facing only nine defenders when Lalas Abubakar was sent off for his second yellow in the 75th minute.

Pereyra took advantage of the lack of defenders to drive down the middle of the attacking third and unleash a rocket, but goalkeeper Marko Ilic launched and tipped it wide of the post.

However, the Lions got their late insurance goal. Torres worked his way into the box before finding second-half substitute Ramiro Enrique at the edge of the box. Enrique cut inside and put one just inside the far post in the 83rd minute for his first goal as a member of Orlando City.

The Rapids (2-9-7, 13 points) fought despite playing with only 10 men since late in the first half before Abubakar was sent off, but it was just too much to overcome. In the 39th minute, Braian Galvan was sent off with a straight red after a challenge with Wilder Cartagena as both players went in with a high boot, but Galvan’s connected with Cartagena.

Jonathan Lewis and second-half substitute Michael Barrios did their best to test the Orlando City backline, but they were unable to make the final shot count.

Ilic finished the night with four saves, including that big save on Pereyra later in the second half. Orlando’s Pedro Gallese stopped both shots on target he faced.

The Lions have won all four home games in league play against Colorado since joining MLS.

–Field Level Media

Raul Ruidiaz scored two goals for the Seattle Sounders, but host Charlotte FC matched each of their opponent’s scores in a 3-3 draw Saturday night.

Charlotte’s Patrick Agyemang posted the tying goal in the 89th minute on a header for the rookie’s first Major League Soccer goal. He knocked in Nathan Byrne’s pass.

Cristian Roldan also scored for the Sounders. Ruidiaz’s second goal came in the 70th minute as Seattle seemed to solve some of its recent goal-scoring woes.

Defender Jaylin Lindsey posted his first career goal for Charlotte, providing a thrill for the 23-year-old in his hometown, and teammate Ashley Westwood also scored.

Charlotte (6-8-4, 22 points) generated lots of excitement for the home fans, but has only one victory in its last five games.

Seattle (8-6-4, 28 points) had too many defensive breakdowns to hold three one-goal leads. Goalkeeper Stefan Frei of the Sounders didn’t record a save.

Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina was credited with three saves.

Roldan hadn’t scored since the opening game of the season Feb. 26, but he got Seattle on the board in the 11th minute. He went on a long run and got past the last line of defenders to track down Jackson Ragen’s through ball. Then Roldan beat Kahlina, who had come away from the net, with the shot.

Lindsey scored in the 17th minute as Charlotte tied the score. He was in his eighth game of the season and 26th of his career.

It was a dandy play from Karol Swiderski that set up Lindsey. Swiderski tracked down the ball behind the end line and had stepped out of bounds, but the ball was in play when he delivered the highlight-worthy pass, providing an easy finish for Lindsey

Seattle went back on top in the 35th minute on Ruidiaz’s third tally of the season — all coming in the last six games. Ruidiaz took a pass from Leo Chu and dribbled back from the box for a better angle and powered a shot to the right corner.

Westwood’s goal in the 53rd minute pulled Charlotte even.

Seattle went ahead when Ruidiaz converted off Joao Paulo’s cross. Ruidiaz stormed in close to the net from near the left post to notch his second goal of the game.

–Field Level Media

Giorgos Giakoumakis scored his 10th goal of the season, Andrew Gutman had a goal and an assist, and Atlanta United pulled away to a 3-1 victory over visiting D.C. United on Saturday night.

Substitute Tyler Wolff also scored an insurance goal for Atlanta (7-4-7, 28 points), which extended its unbeaten run to six games, though the previous four of those were draws.

Giakoumakis’ early tally helps him keep pace in the MLS Golden Boot chase. He began the day a goal behind three players for the goal-scoring lead.

Osvaldo Alonso made his first MLS appearance since April of 2022 as a late substitute for Atlanta after a long recovery.

Giakoumakis’ Greek international teammate Taxi Fountas scored the lone goal for D.C. (6-7-5, 23 points) to level the game later in the first half.

But the visitors couldn’t overcome errors from goalkeeper Tyler Miller on Atlanta’s first and second goals while sinking to their first multi-goal loss in their last 11 matches.

Miller’s first gaffe came when he raced off his line as Giakoumakis was running onto a ball over the top. Miller lost the foot race, Giakoumakis eluded him and then did excellently to hit a low, first-time finish into an open net from a tight angle.

Fountas evened affairs in the 27th minute on an Atlanta mistake, when Chris Durkin pressured Thiago Almada into a turnover to create a breakaway.

With Christian Benteke to his left, Fountas instead drove a low and hard finish past Brad Guzan for his fourth goal of the season.

Atlanta regained the lead four minutes into the second half, boosted by Miller’s second costly error.

Almada made amends for his earlier error when he played Gutman into the left side of the penalty area with an excellent throughball.

From there, Miller tried to anticipate Gutman crossing the ball and in the process left his near post open, and Gutman took advantage with a firm shot that Miller got a hand to but couldn’t keep out of the net.

Gutman then assisted Wolff’s insurance tally in the 74th minute, which was originally offside but then given following a video review.

–Field Level Media

Mason Toye scored two goals and Jonathan Sirois made four saves for his sixth shutout of the season to lead host CF Montreal to a 4-0 victory over Minnesota United on Saturday night.

Zachary Brault-Guillard and Rudy Camacho also scored for Montreal (7-9-1, 22 points), which had scored just 15 goals in its first 16 games. CF Montreal improved to 6-1-0 at home.

Dayne St. Clair finished with four saves for Minnesota United (5-7-5, 20 points).

Montreal, despite coming off an emotional 2-1 loss at the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship final on Wednesday night followed by a long cross-country flight home, was the more energetic team at the start. CFM took a 2-0 lead in the first 13 minutes.

Toye, making his first start since April 1 after undergoing knee surgery, gave Montreal a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute with his first goal of the season. Toye split a pair of defenders at midfield and then raced down the field before chipping a right-footed shot over sliding defender D.J. Taylor and St. Clair in the middle of the box.

Brault-Guillard made it 2-0 in the 13th minute with his first goal of the season.

Defender Gabriele Corbo set up the score with a long crossing pass from near the left sidelines to Brault-Guillard breaking down on the right wing. Brault-Guillard then roofed a right-footed shot from the edge of the 6-yard box.

Shortly after Emanuel Reynoso blasted a left-footed shot just wide of the right post from outside the top of the box, Toye got his brace with a right-footed tap-in rebound in the 57th minute. St. Clair had made a diving stop of an Ariel Lassiter left-footed shot from the left side of the box.

Camacho extended the lead to 4-0 in the 76th minute when he headed Bryce Duke’s corner kick into the center of the box inside the left post for his first goal.

–Field Level Media

Randall Leal scored midway through the second half to help Nashville SC attain a 1-1 tie against host Toronto FC on Saturday night.

The draw allowed Nashville to extend its unbeaten streak to nine games (6-0-3). However, Nashville (9-3-5, 32 points) saw its four-match winning streak come to an end.

Lorenzo Insigne scored a first-half goal for Toronto FC (3-5-10, 19 points). The Reds have a four-match unbeaten streak (1-0-3) and are 3-1-6 at home this season.

Nashville’s Joe Willis and Toronto’s Sean Johnson each made one save.

Reigning league MVP Hany Mukhtar took three shots — two on target — in the second half after going without any in the first half.

Leal scored in the 69th minute to tie the match. He took a right-footed shot that dipped as it approached Johnson, and it went off the goalkeeper’s hands and into the net.

Neither team had a dynamic opportunity down the stretch.

Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute when Insigne scored on a right-footed blast from just outside the box. His shot from the left caromed off the right hand of Willis on its way to the top right corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

Nashville began getting good chances in the 58th minute when Teal Bunbury’s right-footer bounced off the right goal post. Seven minutes later, Mukhtar’s right-footer accounted for Johnson’s first save of the match.

Mukhtar’s left-footed shot was just wide to the right in the 67th minute. Two minutes later, Mukhtar’s header was to the left of Johnson but was cleared off the line by a defender.

Seconds later, Leal scored the tying goal. It was his first of the season.

Toronto held a 15-9 edge in shots, but Nashville put more on target (3-2).

The two squads played to a scoreless tie in Nashville on April 8 in their first meeting of the season.

–Field Level Media

Carles Gil had a goal and two assists to lead the New England Revolution to a 3-1 win over Inter Miami on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.

Matt Polster and Bobby Wood also scored for the Revolution (8-3-6, 30 points), who ended a five-game winless streak (0-2-3) in league play. New England won for the first time since a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC on May 6.

Josef Martinez scored on a penalty shot for Inter Miami (5-12-0, 15 points), who have dropped their past six league games, getting outscored 12-4 during the span.

The Revs broke through in the 27th minute after Miami’s DeAndre Yedlin was whistled for a reckless tackle on Polster in the penalty box, resulting in a penalty shot. Gil delivered a low drive into the bottom right corner past goalie Drake Callender.

New England doubled its lead in the 34th minute when Gil curled a corner kick into the box, and Polster headed it past a diving Callender.

The Revolution extended their advantage to 3-0 in the 51st minute. Gil delivered a long pass from just beyond midfield into the penalty box, where Wood outran several defenders before making a quick move and blasting a low shot past Callender.

Miami avoided the shutout in the 84th minute. Martinez scored on a penalty kick that Miami was awarded after Andrew Farrell was issued a yellow card for his foul on Leonardo Campana.

New England maintained possession for just 43.8 percent of the game and had 10 shots, with three of its five shots on target finding the back of the net.

The Revs completed 82.1 percent of their 418 passes, while Inter Miami put just five of their 14 shots on target.

New England goalie Djordje Petrovic made four saves, while Callender finished with two.

–Field Level Media

Two sides at opposite ends of the table square off when high-flying St. Louis City hosts the basement-dwelling Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.

St. Louis (9-5-1, 28 points) is among the top teams in MLS with 32 goals and has been stingy defensively, allowing only 16 goals through 15 games.

The first-year side can make expansion club history with a victory. Los Angeles FC holds the MLS record for the fastest to reach the 10-win mark in an inaugural season, having done so in 2018 in 18 matches.

St. Louis City enter the match off a 2-0 setback to FC Dallas, a 40-minute outing that was the resumption of a May 6 game that had been halted after 50 minutes of play due to inclement weather.

“I think that Dallas game was a wakeup call for us,” midfielder Njabulo Blom said. “Going to the LA Galaxy game, I think we have to go out there and not relax. I’ve always said this — keep on doing what you’ve been doing because we’ve done so good so far.”

Midfielder Eduard Lowen shares the team lead with five goals. He had scored in three straight before the resumed game against Dallas and has at least four shot attempts in each of his past four matches.

The Galaxy (3-9-3, 12 points) are last in the MLS table and have struggled to score, with just 13 tallies through 15 games. It’s also been a struggle at the other end of the pitch, allowing 26, which ranks among the bottom five in the league.

Los Angeles will be without captain Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez for the rest of the season, the team announced Friday. The striker sustained a torn ACL in his right knee Wednesday in the team’s U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match against Real Salt Lake and will undergo surgery. It could mark the end of a career for the 35-year-old, who is in his fourth season with the Galaxy.

“Nobody has to be anyone that they’re not and nobody has to try to force the issue,” coach Greg Vanney said. “Play within the team concept, connect with your teammates, work for your teammates, trust the system … and make the best decisions in the moment.”

While little has gone right for the club, there has been a bright light recently, picking up their first road win of the season May 31, a 3-2 triumph against Real Salt Lake.

Tyler Boyd scored his second goal of the season to claim a share of the team lead with Dejan Joveljic.

–Field Level Media

Jesus Ferreira will look to continue his bid for the MLS Golden Boot when FC Dallas visit the Portland Timbers on Sunday night.

Ferreira scored the decisive goal on Wednesday night as Dallas (7-5-5, 26 points) defeated St. Louis 2-0 in a game resumed after it was suspended due to inclement weather in early May.

With his MLS lead-tying 10th goal of the season, the 2022 U.S. World Cup squad member secured his second consecutive double-digit goals season at age 22. And yet manager Nico Estevez believes he can be even more productive.

“He’s been consistent, which is really important for a young player like him,” Estevez said. “We know his potential, so we know he can do better. We have to push him not just to be one of the best, but to be the best striker in this league. I think he’s going to use what he learned from last year in the second part of the season, with his experience to do better than he did last year.”

Ferreira’s performance could be especially important on Sunday, given that Dallas remains without injured attackers Paul Arriola (thigh) and Sebastian Lletget (thigh).

Estevez’s squad has scored no more than one goal in any of its road matches this season. That could be enough to earn at least a point against a Timbers team that continues to struggle offensively.

Portland (4-7-5, 17 points) gutted out a 0-0 draw at the rival Seattle Sounders last weekend, but has scored only once in its last four matches.

“I think if we were on the table in a better spot, you would feel like this point is really good,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said postgame. “We feel that our performance, the first half was really good. Overall, a good performance.”

The return of Sebastian Blanco from the injured list should help, although the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament MVP is likely no longer a 90-minute player at age 35.

Offseason signing Evander leads Portland with four goals despite a slow start and playing in central midfield.

–Field Level Media