MLS preseason action was in full force on Saturday, Feb. 18, with a full slate of matches:
- New England Revolution 1, Colorado Rapids 3; (Replay)
- Reno 1868 0, San Jose Earthquakes 1; (Replay)
- LA Galaxy 2, Alashkert FC 0 (closed-door scrimmage)
- Atlanta United FC 1, Columbus Crew SC 2; (Replay)
- Montreal Impact 4, D.C. United 2; stream
- New York Red Bulls 0, Sporting Kansas City 3; (Replay)
- Charleston Battery 1, Seattle Sounders 1; (Replay)
- Philadelphia Union 1, Tampa Bay Rowdies 0; (Replay)
- NYCFC 1, Houston Dynamo 3; (Replay)
Below is a brief recap of all the matches.
New England Revolution 1, Colorado Rapids 3
The Revs' Juan Agudelo opened the scoring in the 25th minute, but the Rapids' Caleb Calvert managed to equalize 19 minutes later. Then, in stoppage time, Dominique Badji tallied another goal to pull Colorado ahead 2-1 at halftime.
The teams entered the second half with the same lineups with which they started -- and then at 60' Calvert scored his second for a brace that doubled Colorado's lead and secured the win.
New England Revolution lineup (4-4-2, left to right): Knighton (Cropper, 61) -- Tierney (D. Smith, 71), Woodberry (Scott, 71), Delamea (J. Smith, 69), Farrell (Turner, 71) -- Fagundez (Bowen, 71), Caldwell (Appiah, 71), Agudelo (Matsoso, 71), Rowe (Brito, 71) -- Nguyen (Wright, 71), Kamara (Kobayashi, 46)
Colorado Rapids lineup (4-3-3, left to right): MacMath -- Miller (Castillo, 61), Ford (Watts, 61), Sjoberg (Burling, 61), Williams (Burch, 61) -- Azira (Hamilton, 61), Cronin (Nana, 61), Powers (Perez, 61) -- Callahan (Gashi, 61), Badji (Hairston, 61), Calvert (Doyle, 61)
Reno 1868 FC 0, San Jose Earthquakes 1
At the very end of a scrappy and scoreless first half, the Quakes' Tommy Thompson pulled his team ahead with an audacious goal against Reno 1868, playing their first game ever. Reno 1868 is the Earthquakes' new USL affiliate.
San Jose Earthquakes lineup (4-4-2, right to left): Bingham -- Lima, Bernardez (65' Silva), Imperiale (46' Ceren), Francis (55' Colvey) -- Salinas (82' Thierjung), Alashe, Godoy (65' Yueill), Thompson -- Dawkins (46' Cato), Wondolowski (75' Garcia)
Atlanta United FC 1, Columbus Crew SC 2
Atlanta United FC played their first match against MLS competition ahead of the regular season, but it was the MLS originals that took the win in the preseason contest in Charleston. Josef Martinez put Atlanta United ahead after just six minutes, but a second-half brace from Federico Higuain gave Crew SC the victory.
Atlanta United FC lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Kann -- Mears, Parkhurst, Pirez Gonzalez, Garza (Bloom, 63) -- Larentowicz (77' Heath), McCann (77' Carleton) -- Villalba (73' Peterson), Martinez, Almiron -- Jones (63' Gressel)
Columbus Crew SC lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Steffen -- Maloney, Abubakar, Naess, Raitala -- Trapp, Abu -- Finlay, Higuain (73' Crognale), Meram -- Jahn
New York Red Bulls 0, Sporting Kansas City 3
Sporting Kansas City beat the Red Bulls 3-0 at the Desert Diamond Cup on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz. The New York team fielded several members of their New York Red Bulls II side for the match.
Dom Dwyer opened the scoring about a third of the way into the game via penalty kick, then Cameron Porter and Daniel Salloi added tallies in the final 10 minutes for Sporting.
New York Red Bulls lineup (4-4-2, right to left): Diaz (Louro) -- O'Toole (Muckette), Schmoll, Ndam (Ryan, 70), Kutler (Batista, 82) -- Basuljevic, Bezecourt, Najem (Shigenobu, 82), Valot (Nestor, 82) -- Lewis (Abidor, 70), Allen
Sporting Kansas City lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Melia (Zendejas, 61); Zusi (Abdul-Salaam, 61), Opara (Ellis, 61), Besler (Didic, 61), Sinovic (Pasher, 61); Ilie (Joya, 61), Feilhaber (Mustivar, 61), Espinoza (Medranda, 61); Gerso (Volesky, 61), Dwyer (Saad, 61), Blessing (Salloi, 61)
Montreal Impact 4, D.C. United 2
The teams combined for six goals at Al Lang Stadium in Tampa, Fla., with the Impact taking the upper hand on the day.
Dominic Oduro opened the scoring in the 6th minute for the Impact, and then Steve Birnbaum tied the match for D.C. eight minutes later. Ignacio Piatti converted a penalty in the 22nd minute to re-establish the Impact's lead, and his teammate Matteo Mancosu made it 3-1 in the 53rd minute. Patrick Nyarko reduced the deficit three minutes later, and Anthony Jackson-Hamel added the insurance tally for Montreal in the 90th minute.
Montreal Impact lineup (4-3-3, left to right): Bush -- Lovitz (62' Mallace), Ciman (62' Salazar), Cabrera (62' Wallace), Duvall (62' Ballou) -- Donadel (40' Beland-Goyette), Bernier (62' Lefevre), Bernardello (62' Romero) -- Piatti (62' Jackson-Hamel), Mancosu (62' Fisher), Oduro (62' Camara)
D.C. United lineup (4-1-4-1, left to right): Worra (46' Klenofsky) -- Kemp (81' Kamara), Franklin (65' Boswell), Birnbaum (65' Opare), DeLeon (65' Robinson) -- Sarvas (58' Vincent); Nyarko (65' Neagle), Acosta (65' Durkin), Jeffrey (65' Harkes), Sam (65' Le Toux) -- Mullins (58' Ortiz)
LA Galaxy 2, Alashkert FC 0
The Galaxy defeated the defending Armenian first-division champions during a closed-door scrimmage at Ventura College on Saturday. Goals came courtesy of Giovani Dos Santos (40th minute) and Jack McBean (85th minute).
Charleston Battery 1, Seattle Sounders 1
The defending MLS Cup champions tied the hosts of the Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston. Taylor Mueller scored an own goal in the 32nd minute to give the Sounders the lead, and the Battery tallied in the 92nd minute to split the points.
Seattle Sounders lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Miller -- Barnes (60' Wingo), Marshall (75' Ja. Morris), Torres (75' Adekoya), Jones (75' Alfaro) -- Delem (60' Bruin), Roldan -- Lodeiro, Dempsey (60' Nana-Sinkam), Fernandez (75' Rogers); Morris (60' Mathers)
Tampa Bay Rowdies 0, Philadelphia Union 1
The Union claimed a victory against the Suncoast Invitational hosts in Tampa, Fla., with Derrick Jones notching the game's only goal in the 73rd minute.
Philadelphia Union lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Blake -- Gaddis (46' Rosenberry), Elliott, Marquez (46' Tribbett), Fabinho (46' Wijnaldum) -- Medunjanin (46' Creavalle), D. Jones; Herbers (46' Ilsinho), Bedoya (46' Najem), Epps (46' Pontius) -- Sapong (46' Davies)
New York City FC 1, Houston Dynamo 3
Both sides will garner some headlines on the night in the late game in Tucson, Ariz. David Villa scored in the 15th minute for NYCFC, but the 2016 MLS MVP was sent off before halftime for striking AJ DeLaGarza in the face, an ejection issued after a video replay review.
The Dynamo, who got a 2nd-minute goal from Romell Quioto (2nd minute), pulled ahead in the second half via Alex (50th minute) and Memo Rodriguez (88th minute).
New York City FC lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Johnson (60' Rawls); Allen, Brillant, Chanot, Sweat (46' Gomez) -- Moralez (46' Brown), Sands (74' Awuah), Pirlo -- Harrison, Villa, McNamara
Houston Dynamo lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Deric (71' Brown) -- DeLaGarza (71' K. Garcia), Machado (71' Anibaba), Leonardo (71' Hunter), Remick (63' Beasley) -- Clark (63' Alexander), Cabezas (71' Rodriguez), Alex (71' E. Garcia) -- Elis (71' Casner), Torres (63' Manotas), Quioto (71' Escalante)
