In anticipation of the quadrupleheader of MLS Week 23 matches on tap for Sunday, here's your need-to-know rundown from the eight matches on Saturday:
The win of the night came from…
The Chicago Fire. They kept their season alive thanks to Bastian Schweinsteiger's 88th-minute winner against Montreal.
If the Fire had lost -- and they almost blew a 2-0 lead -- they would have gone nine points adrift of the playoff line in the East. With the win, though, they are just three points back from Montreal for the No. 7 seed, and the Impact have now lost six of their last seven.
The overall performance of the night came from…
Real Salt Lake. The team that won 2-1 at Sporting Kansas City is a different RSL than we’re used to.
On the road, down early, they fought back to grab two goals and three points. There’s a new level of fortitude and discipline in this RSL team to go with the exciting talent.
The surprising tactical move came from…
The New England Revolution. Bruce Arena started his group in a 3-5-2, the first time he’s used the three centerback setup since joining the team. And it was good enough for a point in Seattle.
How can Bruce + 3-5-2 not make you feel a little nostalgic?
They might have fixed that thing that they needed to fix…
FC Dallas, a team that had been shut out in four of their last six games entering the weekend, erupted for five goals at home against (a heavily-rotated) Minnesota. Brandon Servania came off the bench to score the final two in the 5-3 win, including the game-winner. Michael Barrios dished out three assists.
How you gonna drop those points, tho…
Toronto FC 👀. This is getting a little old. You’re at home with nearly your first-choice lineup available against a team below you in the standings -- you gotta win that game. Instead they drew 1-1 against Orlando.
There’s too much talent on that Toronto team to be stuck in a playoff scrap.
It was definitely entertaining ...
The bottom two teams in the East were playing in their first Hell is Real derby match and not much of it was pretty in the 2-2 draw between Columbus and Cincinnati. But it was intense and fun and totally worth watching.
The goal of the night goes to…
With an honorary mention to…
And a special shoutout to this one…
...but only because our producer for Extratime tweeted this:
