Atlanta United beat Chicago late
The Five Stripes scored in the 99th minute to pull out a 2-1 win in Atlanta on Sunday night.
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It was once again a great week to be a home team in MLS. Just one team, D.C. United, picked up a win on the road. Just two teams, LAFC and St. Louis, picked up draws. Did we learn anything beyond “road games are hard?” I don’t know. But I do have some questions.
Saturday night saw Toronto FC get thumped by Philadelphia, Sporting KC handled by the Revs and Orlando City get crushed at home by D.C. United. The Galaxy got their first win of the season, but I’m going to throw them in this group too because they got their first win of the season. At what point do you just call it a day and say it’s not working?
These are some massive names in MLS. I mean, we’re talking about Bob Bradley, Peter Vermes, Oscar Pareja and Greg Vanney. That’s a handful of Supporters’ Shields, US Open Cups and MLS Cups. There’s proof of concept with everyone involved. However, we’re also talking about multi-year projects that appear to have hit a wall.
We’re generally team “the managers don’t matter” here at The Daily Kickoff. There are plenty of studies at this point that suggest the players brought in matter far more. Thing is, though, most of that group has had a major influence on which players are brought in, too. Vermes and Bradley are their team’s sporting directors. Vanney took over as sporting director this year in the absence of team president Chris Klein, and, though it’s early, their most recent signings haven’t changed things for the better. And Oscar Pareja is managing an Orlando team that received a makeover this offseason, theoretically with some sense of playing to his strengths.
I’m not getting my pitchforks out here or anything. I think all of these situations are salvageable to varying degrees. But Toronto have one win this season. The Galaxy have one win this season. Orlando have three wins but are still struggling to put together the kinds of results and aesthetically pleasing soccer that’s expected of them. And Sporting KC are still looking for win number one. It’s fair to ask about these seats getting hot if things don’t improve quickly.
I didn’t even mention Red Bulls! Mainly because Gerhard Struber doesn’t have nearly the same level of proven success as the above group. Either way, it’s bleak in Harrison right now.
I wrote on Saturday that, even on the road, a game against CF Montréal needed to be a “get right” game. Instead, New York came out and laid just about the biggest possible egg. Nothing is going well, nothing is enjoyable and it’s getting hard to see it getting better. It’s fair to ask if Struber’s seat is warming as well.
With the Primary Transfer Window deadline approaching, there’s been speculation from media types NYCFC might jump to use one of their two available U22 Initiative spots to bring in a striker. After Saturday night, it doesn’t seem quite so necessary.
The Pigeons plugged in DP Santiago Rodríguez up top and it immediately paid dividends. Not only did they get Talles Magno back on the wing where he excels, not only did they get Rodríguez and Richy Ledezma on the field at the same time without taking off Keaton Parks or James Sands, but Rodríguez showed up and casually bagged a brace against a good FC Dallas team.
Now, yeah, one of the goals was the result of a terrible back pass from Dallas, but Rodríguez took it well. The second one though…sheesh, that’s one of the best team goals you’ll see all season. And it resulted in part from Rodríguez and Magno understanding the spacing necessary to make it happen. Magno ended up moving centrally from the wing and dragging defenders to the near post, Rodríguez trailed behind on the back end and NYCFC put together a team move that found Rodríguez for a tap-in at the far post. Outstanding stuff.
Is this setup the answer going forward? Maybe. It wouldn’t be surprising to see NYCFC make a move this week no matter what. But for now, the rest of the Eastern Conference should be very afraid that NYCFC have figured things out.
The Union rolled out something close to a full-strength lineup on Saturday. That feels a bit risky considering they have an absolutely massive meeting with LAFC planned on Wednesday in the Concacaf Champions League semifinals. And especially considering LAFC went ahead and rotated heavily against Nashville. There’s a risk the Union may not be as fresh on Wednesday.
However, that full-strength lineup beat the brakes off of Toronto. It seemed like the gambit here was “lose a day of rest for some guys to see if we can get everyone firing on all cylinders.” Kind of seems like that was a really good gambit. The Union looked like the most ruthless version of themselves for the first time in a long time before easing off the gas late in the game after taking a 4-0 lead. They might have gotten exactly what they needed heading into CCL.
I totally forgot to mention Inter Miami! Yeah, that’s not going great either. I don’t think you can really put that on Phil Neville, but go ahead and throw that situation on the pile of hot seats, I guess. It’s basically an MLS version of Burning Man at this point.
Dax McCarty reaches 400 MLS starts: On Saturday night, Dax McCarty started his 400th Major League Soccer match during Nashville SC's 1-1 draw with LAFC at GEODIS Park. Nine days before his 36th birthday, the veteran midfielder became just the third outfield player in league history to reach that milestone, joining MLS legends Kyle Beckerman and Chad Marshall in the elusive 400-start club.
- Phil Neville said Inter Miami must "keep believing" during their losing streak.
- Santiago Rodríguez produced a "masterclass" for NYCFC at striker.
- Andrés Gómez opened his Real Salt Lake account with a golazo.
- St. Louis CITY "learn to suffer" in their road draw against Colorado Rapids.
- LA Galaxy rediscovered "fun" in their first win of 2023.
- Giacomo Vrioni kept New England atop the East, but "can do a better job.”
- Austin’s Josh Wolff said the refereeing decisions versus LA were “tough to stomach.”
- Matt Doyle’s Sunday column is up and good.
Good luck out there. By whatever means necessary.
