The result of the night goes to…
The LA Galaxy. Down a man for 84 minutes...conceding first… then fighting back for a 2-2 draw.
It’s not about the point gained -- it’s about keeping the two points from Seattle. You could hardly tell the Galaxy only had 10 players on the field. Jonathan dos Santos, Sebastian Lletget, and Cristian Pavon -- and even Zlatan Ibrahimovic -- covered a ton of ground.
When the Galaxy compete like that, they are a completely different team. The Sounders, meanwhile, have some soul-searching to do.
The performance of the night goes to…
Sporting Kansas City. They outplayed San Jose in almost every phase. They matched the Quakes’ intensity and used the ball to pick apart the man-marking.
This was the SKC we were supposed to have the pleasure of watching all year. It was almost a little sad to watch. With the three points, SKC can still see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
The "What the heck just happened" game of the night goes to…
Montreal-Dallas. The Impact went up 3-0 then...I’m not exactly sure what happened. They got stuck in mud and Dallas kept fighting. The Cobra got his first goal for the club and Ryan Hollingshead -- of course, Ryan Hollingshead -- got the late equalizer on a corner.
Honestly quit playing games with my heart...
Chicago Fire. You’re up and you’re down, you lose and you win. You’re still out of the playoffs, but you might still get in.
With the 2-0 win over the Union, the Fire are only one point from the playoff line. It was a resilient display, too. After going down a man just before halftime, they defended near their own box for the rest of the game and made a couple huge plays around their goal.
Chicago have a six-point game that could put them above the playoff line next weekend at New England.
They both feel somewhere between “fine” and “don’t talk to me” in...
Minnesota. The Loons had a chance at home against a non-playoff team to get some cushion for a home playoff game. It’s only not a completely wasted night because they found a late, late equalizer -- and there’s something about this team’s ability to find weird, unexpected goals that should make them feel really good.
On the other end, Orlando could have moved above the playoff line with a win!! And they were leading in injury time only to give up a goal on a long throw (I can’t imagine what it’s like falling asleep, knowing you’re below the playoff line because of a long throw-in). But, all in all, Orlando got a point on the road and remain just a tie-breaker from the No. 7 seed.
The news that isn’t really news…
The key tactical choice of the night happened in…
Vancouver, against D.C. United. On Tuesday, Calen Carr and I had this conversation:
Mass Confrontation: Rooney has to earn his spot?"If you beat Calen Carr in back-to-back MLS Cups, you deserve to be a global brand." -Calen Carr This episode is ridiculous 😂
Posted by Major League Soccer (MLS) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019
I’m not about to act like Calen was wrong for saying Wayne Rooney should start. But I really think Ben Olsen missed an opportunity by putting him back into the starting lineup after the team won without him last weekend. D.C. are now 2W-4L-7D in the last 13 games that Rooney has started.
It felt like they had something to build upon -- a grittiness, a togetherness -- from their Week 23 win over the Galaxy. Those also happen to be the traits that you need on the road after cross-country travel. D.C. aren’t as gritty with Rooney on the field right now, and it showed in the 1-0 loss to the ‘Caps.
The goal of the night goes to…
Pedro Santos (Columbus Crew SC).
Wait, really?
Yeah, it was a nice finish!
With honorable mention to...
