Category: Soccer

Real Salt Lake have completed the acquisition of striker Cristian “Chicho” Arango from Liga MX side Pachuca.

The deal announced Saturday runs through the 2025 MLS season and includes an option for 2026.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but The Athletic reported a transfer fee of $6 million for Arango.

The 28-year-old Colombia native will fill a designated player spot once the secondary transfer window opens on July 5.

Arango returns to MLS after notching 30 goals and seven assists in 51 games for Los Angeles FC from 2021-22.

Arango’s earliest debut for Real Salt Lake would be on July 8 at home against Orlando City SC.

–Field Level Media

Minnesota United FC are pursuing former Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki, multiple outlets reported Saturday.

The 33-year-old Finnish forward could replace Luis Amarilla, who reportedly is headed to Liga MX club Mazatlan this summer.

The MLS secondary transfer window opens July 5, although the two sides can agree to terms before that. Pukki is currently with Finland for Euro 2024 qualifiers.

Pukki played for Norwich City in the Premier League and EFL Championship from 2018-23, posting 88 goals and 29 assists and 210 games across England’s top two flights.

Before joining the Canaries, Pukki played for Denmark’s Brondby, Scotland’s Celtic, Germany’s Schalke 04, Finland’s HJK and KTP, and Spain’s Sevilla and Sevilla Atletico.

–Field Level Media

After the Vancouver Whitecaps captured their second consecutive Canadian Championship on Wednesday with a 2-1 victory against visiting CF Montreal, coach Vanni Sartini was ready to reach for more.

“Let’s go win the MLS,” Sartini exclaimed. “We’ll start probably after Cincinnati because we might be a little bit drunk (from celebrating), so that’s OK.”

The Whitecaps (5-5-6, 21 points) might indeed be a little worse for wear when league-leading FC Cincinnati (12-1-3, 39 points) makes its first trip to Vancouver for Saturday night’s match.

Sartini got a tattoo of the Canadian Championship trophy after last year’s title. He’s already planning for more ink.

“It will be very easy, just adding a year underneath,” Sartini said. “I still have a lot of part of my body that is free. There’s Leagues Cup, there’s MLS Cup, Champions Cup now, Champions League next year. So, why not? The sky is the limit.”

The Whitecaps are unbeaten at home in eight straight matches (5-0-3) since a loss to Real Salt Lake on Opening Day. They rallied for a 1-1 draw with visiting Sporting Kansas City last weekend as Ryan Gauld scored on a penalty kick in the 88th minute.

Cincinnati is coming off a 1-0 victory last weekend against visiting Chicago, improving to 10-0-3 in games decided by one goal or fewer. Luciano Acosta scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season as the Orange and Blue extended their winning streak to a franchise-record six matches.

Saturday’s match will cap a stretch of eight matches in 25 days for Cincinnati.

“After a very difficult stretch, for us to have been able to have the success under the circumstances, I couldn’t be more pleased with how the guys have gone about it,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “One of the challenging things recently is not training a whole lot. It’s just (been) games and recovery, and just a lot of 11-versus-11 walkthrough stuff. When we get into a normal routine, (and) we’ll have the ability to do that after this Vancouver game, we can address some things in training.”

Vancouver holds a 1-0-1 lead in the all-time series, including a 2-2 draw last season in Cincinnati. The visiting Whitecaps also won 2-1 in the Orange and Blue’s inaugural MLS season of 2019.

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Union aim to set a new franchise record for their longest unbeaten streak ever when they visit the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.

The Union (9-4-3, 30 points) are unbeaten in their past nine matches (7-0-2) to equal the club mark set last season when they went 2-0-7 from April 23 to June 26.

However, Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin expects a fierce challenge from the Earthquakes (6-5-5, 23 points), who are unbeaten at home (5-0-2) this season.

“In their building, they are going to be brave and difficult to play against,” Curtin said. “We’re going to again have to be almost perfect to take points back to Philly.”

The Union are 4-0-3 against San Jose since Curtin became coach in June 2014. That includes a 2-0 home win last season.

Philadelphia is coming off a solid 3-0 win over CF Montreal last Saturday. Julian Carranza scored two goals to raise his team-high season count to nine.

“He’s a striker that can score,” Curtin said. “He’s a striker that presses, so if you’re a team that likes to press, he’s a dream for a coach.

“He’s not afraid to put his body on the line to get a goal. So (I’m) really proud of the season Julian’s had; it gets better and better.”

San Jose played the host Colorado Rapids to a scoreless tie last weekend. Goalkeeper Daniel made five saves, including a big stop on Connor Ronan’s penalty kick in the 70th minute.

“Daniel was stepping it up, winning in the penalty kick, in the game moments in the run of play,” San Jose coach Luchi Gonzalez said. “But collectively, the team put a great effort, (with) mentality and grit to defend and to earn points. In reflection, I think it’s positive, we’ll grab that, and now we get to go home and play a really good Philadelphia team and try to earn maximum points.”

San Jose blanked host Seattle 1-0 in its previous game on May 31 and is unbeaten (1-0-2) in its past three matches.

Also, the Earthquakes have allowed just four goals in their seven home games.

Cristian Espinosa (eight goals) and Jeremy Ebobisse (six) lead the San Jose attack.

–Field Level Media

Real Salt Lake look for their first consecutive league wins and a third straight victory in all competitions when it hosts a New York City FC squad that hasn’t won on the road all season on Saturday night.

Rubio Rubin scored his first two goals of the season in Salt Lake’s 2-1 road win at Austin FC last weekend.

Then Damir Kreilach scored twice — including once from the penalty spot — as the Claret and Cobalt jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the LA Galaxy before holding on for a 3-2 victory in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal.

“The lesson learned from this game is we’ve got to keep playing the game, and you’ve got to override the fear you have of losing the game,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said after the Cup win. “And that’s a difficult mechanism.”

That might become easier if Salt Lake (5-7-4, 19 points) can find a consistent scorer. Jefferson Savarino leads the team with four in league play, a relatively modest total.

According to a report from The Athletic this week, RSL is closing in on signing former Los Angeles FC striker Cristian Arango from Pachuca in Mexico’s top division.

NYCFC (4-7-5, 17 points) have had their own scoring woes ever since losing 2021 MLS Golden Boot winner Taty Castellanos to a loan move to Girona in Spain last summer.

While Castellanos is technically still on NYCFC’s books, he’s performed well enough in La Liga that he will almost certainly make a permanent transfer to a European club this summer.

In the interim, NYCFC have created chances but struggled to finish them, while going winless in their last seven overall (0-5-2) and in all eight MLS away games (0-5-3).

Santiago Rodriguez and Gabriel Pereira have four goals apiece to lead the Cityzens, who have scored only five during their seven-match funk and five during their MLS travels.

“You can find excuses,” said NYCFC attacker Alfredo Morales, who has been limited to three starts and 11 appearances due to injury. “But we have to make sure we do everything to win the game and keep pushing.

“We know that in soccer, there are stretches and patches where you don’t get rewarded for what you put in, but it will come.”

NYCFC recorded a 6-0 home win in last season’s head-to-head meeting.

–Field Level Media

The Houston Dynamo will look to continue their stingy defensive play at home and build on momentum against weary Los Angeles FC when they host the defending league champions on Saturday in a Western Conference match.

The Dynamo (5-7-3, 18 points) have been dynamite at home this season, garnering all five of their wins this season in going 5-1-1 while surrendering just two total goals on their own pitch.

Houston returns home after a mixed two-match road trip that saw the Dynamo lose 3-0 in St. Louis in a league match last Saturday and then beat the Chicago Fire 4-1 in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal on Tuesday.

“It was nice to see us have that resiliency, to get back to being tough to score on because I think we got away from that a little bit in the last two games,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said after Tuesday’s win. “We really looked after each other and defended the box well against a very, very potent attack. Our structure mentality and defensively was better than I saw in the last two games, and more like the team that we were when we are tough to break down.”

LAFC (7-1-5, 26 points) heads to the Bayou City after splitting the points with Atlanta United in a scoreless home draw on Wednesday. LAFC has forged a four-game unbeaten streak in league play (two wins, two draws) since last losing at San Jose on May 6.

Since May 23, LAFC has also played (and lost) a U.S. Open Cup match with the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0; and two legs of the CONCACAF Champions Cup against Club Leon, 2-1 and 1-0. So it has been a period of survival over the past three weeks.

“There’s frustration, of course, by not getting the three points, about not being rewarded,” AFC coach Steve Cherundolo said after the Atlanta match. “Everybody in that locker room has been in that position before. I think there’s no reason to panic at all. Just keep going. Keep playing in the same manner and things will take care of themselves.”

–Field Level Media

Chicago seemingly has the right opponent to end its struggles when the Fire host the Columbus Crew on Saturday.

The Fire (3-5-8, 17 points) have two losses and three ties in their past five MLS matches under interim coach Frank Klopas to sit four points below the Eastern Conference playoff line.

If the Fire were looking for positive vibes, they didn’t get them after a 4-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday.

“It’s heartbreaking to lose, not be able to keep going,” Fire goalkeeper Spencer Richey said. “But that’s life and that’s football sometimes. So, this one will hurt for a little bit, but we’ll have to get up off the mat and get ready for Saturday.

“For me personally, and I’m sure a lot of other guys feel this way, that you want to get up back out on the field again, and you want an opportunity to redeem yourself.”

Enter the Crew (7-6-3, 24 points), who have won two straight, both at home where they are 6-1-2.

“One of the biggest things in sports is momentum,” Crew midfielder Aidan Morris said. “Now it’s turned in our direction and it’s a matter of sustaining that.”

Columbus’ problem is on the road, particularly in Chicago. Yes, the Crew defeated the Fire there in July but it was just their second road win in the series in 25 games in all competitions (13 losses, 10 ties) back to 2007.

Since that 3-2 victory, the Crew are 1-7-6 in their past 14 MLS road games, including a 1-5-1 mark this season with three straight losses. They have scored 25 goals at home but only eight (1.14 goals per game) on the road.

The Crew will look to Cucho Hernandez to increase their productivity.

He can tie the season franchise record set of teammate Lucas Zelarayan (2021-22) and Jeff Cunningham (2001) by contributing a goal or an assist in eight straight games.

Hernandez has three goals and six assists during his streak.

— Field Level Media

There are still plenty of matches left on the regular-season schedule, but the playoff race is heating up.

Two teams at or near the cut-off point for the MLS postseason will go toe-to-toe when Sporting Kansas City host Austin FC on Saturday night in Kansas City, Kan.

With a victory, Sporting KC (4-8-5, 17 points) would move ahead of Austin (5-7-4, 19 points) and likely above the red line in the Western Conference. An Austin victory puts some space between the two clubs.

SKC extended their unbeaten streak to three games (2-0-1) with a 1-1 draw last Saturday in Vancouver, leaving Kansas City 4-1-2 in its last seven matches. It was SKC’s third game in seven days.

SKC led Vancouver most of the match on a goal by Alan Pulido in the 20th minute before a late penalty in the box resulted in a PK by Vancouver’s Ryan Gauld.

“When you have these three games in (seven) days (and) when you have to go on the road for the third one, it’s always the most difficult game just because of everything, the accumulation,” SKC coach Peter Vermes said. “I think the guys battled, and they really didn’t give much away.”

Austin is on a bid of a skid, having lost two of its last three matches (1-2-0). The most recent setback came at home against Real Salt Lake last weekend. Rubio Rubin put RSL on the board in the 15th minute and then recorded a brace in the 81st. Julio Cascante scored in stoppage time for Austin to avert the shutout.

“Obviously (it was) a difficult and frustrating night for us,” Austin coach Josh Wolff said following the 2-1 loss. “I think there were opportunities for us to make more of that game and possibly push the result the other direction.”

The two sides are about as even as their overall records indicate. They are separated by one goal (17 to 16 in favor of Austin) and one goal allowed (24 for SKC, 23 for Austin), and they even have exactly the same number of fouls committed this season (161).

–Field Level Media

The Seattle Sounders have demonstrated the ability to string together offensive sequences. That puts another area of concern on a growing list for Charlotte FC.

Neither team has been on much of a recent roll going into Saturday night’s meeting in Charlotte.

Seattle (8-6-3, 27 points) is 1-3-1 in its last five games. The Sounders have threatened offensively, but an inability to finish has been one of the glitches.

“Someone is going to start scoring,” Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said. “We have too many good players not to.”

Charlotte (6-8-3, 21 points) has lost three of its last four matches, including setbacks in its last two outings by a combined score of 5-2 vs. the Philadelphia Union and Columbus Crew.

Keeping the Sounders out of rhythm is a priority for Charlotte coach Christian Lattanzio, whose team has surrendered a league-high 30 goals this season.

“The important thing is to put Seattle under pressure,” Lattanzio said. “If you leave them to dictate the game, it’s going to be more difficult to limit them.”

Lattanzio said the mentality of his players is improving even if sometimes the results aren’t matching that. Karol Swiderski has scored in two of the last three games for Charlotte.

“He has the ability to find the goal and to be sharp around the box,” Lattanzio said. “Having Karol in good shape is important to us. There is no getting away from that.”

Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina is still trying to find a rhythm with the new schemes after missing the first couple of months of the season.

“I need to find my form,” Kahlina said.

With that, Charlotte might benefit from a full week off since its last game. Combined with U.S. Open Cup games, Charlotte played nine times in less than a month’s span.

“It’s good that we have the whole week for the train,” Kahlina said. “It’s nice to have the rest and just to train.”

Seattle is eligible to have defender Alex Roldan back after his one-game suspension for yellow-card accumulation. Schmetzer said that forward Jordan Morris (groin) is cleared to play after going through practices this week.

This marks the only scheduled meeting of the season between Seattle and Charlotte. The Sounders won 2-1 last year when they met.

–Field Level Media

The Colorado Rapids head east to take on Orlando City SC in an interconference matchup Saturday night.

Colorado (2-8-7, 13 points) sits second from the bottom in the Western Conference after a goalless draw at home against the San Jose Earthquakes on June 3. Goalkeeper Marko Ilic made his first start at home and was part of a rock-solid defensive effort by the Rapids despite playing the majority of the second half down a man.

“His alertness tonight was good,” coach Robin Fraser said of Ilic. “The ball that gets played through late in the second half, and he was quick to get to that. I thought he had a solid performance, and it was important for us, certainly, given how the game went.”

It was important because Colorado has given up 25 goals this season, third-most in the West. With the offense scoring only 14 goals, second-worst in the conference, it’s easy to see why the Rapids sit in 13th place in the West.

Colorado has not had an attacker step up the way Ilic did on Wednesday night. The Rapids have four players tied for the team lead with just two goals apiece.

Darren Yapi will be back with the Rapids after recovering from an injury and will be available to play Saturday. He has yet to find the back of the net in MLS play, but he has already seen 550 minutes this season despite the injury, the most playing time of his career to date.

Orlando (6-4-5, 23 points) sits in eighth place in the Eastern Conference after defeating the New York Red Bulls 3-0 on June 3. Facundo Torres paced the Lions with two goals in the second half, including a penalty kick, while Ivan Angulo opened the scoring in the first half and added an assist on Torres’ second goal.

“We had a very complete game,” coach Oscar Pareja said. “We scored goals and kept their goals at zero. New York is a team that never gave up, and we maintained our discipline, we did not relax.”

Torres had only two goals and two assists through the first 13 games, but with his first MLS brace on June 3, he may have found some much-needed confidence to help spur Orlando further up the standings.

–Field Level Media