We are officially one-third of the way through the MLS season! There were many games in week 12. Five midweek matches; as well as, the normal amount of weekend contests. Let’s take a look at how all the games played out This week around MLS, week 12!
Philadelphia Union 2 Houston Dynamo 0
The Union continued their win streak, while the Dynamo’s road struggles continued in a mid-week meeting. Philly dominated the game, controlled the possession early in the first half. 5′ 7″ Fafa Picault leaped over a Houston defender to nod in the first goal of the match; not to long after, Ilsinho scored his first of the season to double the lead. Houston tried to gain ground in the second half, but the Union’s resiliently stout defense put a stop to all of their attacks. Philly will love starting their two game week with a win. Houston will hate still being winless on the road.
Chicago Fire 3 Colorado Rapids 0
Slumping Colorado went to the hot Chicago fire for a mid-week clash. Chicago took advantage of the struggling rocky mountain side. Nemanja Nikolic struck early for Colorado as the Rapids sat back to start the match. Colorado did well to keep it 1-0 in the first half, but Chicago came out firing in the second. David Accam scored a nice goal, and Nikolic added another adding to his account. Chicago has the top scorer in MLS and they are streaking! Chicago will love the home points, while Colorado will look to turn things around in Philly on the weekend.
Sporting Kansas City 3 Seattle Sounders o
Sporting KC has been dominant at home this season, and continued their dominance against the reigning MLS Cup champs. Seattle came out swinging, but was stoned multiple times by keeper of the week Tim Melia. Sporting KC dominated the second half. Gerso Fernandes put the team on his back, scoring a thirteenth minute hat trick. Seattle couldn’t cope going down by that much that fast. SKC will be happy to continue their home dominance, while Seattle will need to regroup to stop slipping in the western conference.
Real Salt Lake 2 NYCFC 1
RSL looked to turn around their rough 2017 against NYCFC, but it didn’t start off smoothly. New York scored in the first 10 minutes and RSL had a fight ahead of them. They were up for one though, Albert Rusnak drew them level right before halftime. Then early in the second half Salt Lake found the lead off a the head of Aaron Maund. Real Salt Lake stopped all NYCFC efforts and claimed the three points. RSL will love getting back to winning, while NYCFC will hope to turn it around on the weekend.
San Jose Earthquakes 1 Orlando City 1
The Earthquakes took on Orlando City and it made for some great late game action. The first 79 minutes of this match were stints of back and forth play. Even with all of the back and forth play there were no real chances to score. All that changed at the 80th minute. Orlando found their way into the box, and Carlos Rivas put home a chance. Two minutes later Chris Wondolowski did what he does; he scored. San Jose salvaged a point late. Orlando will be mad that they couldn’t take home all three points, while San Jose will be glad their captain helped them secure a point.
New York Red Bulls 1 Toronto FC 1
A huge contest in the east went on between New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC. The Red Bulls took the advantage in the first half. Starting on the front foot at home, the Red Bulls had the majority of possession, but nothing was coming of it. That is, until Bradley Wright-Phillips scored an overhead kick goal to take the lead. As the match went on Toronto found their way back into the match. In the 70th minute TFC found the equalizer thanks to Benoit Cheyrou. The rest of the match both teams fought, but couldn’t score. The Red Bulls will be mad they couldn’t hold onto their lead, while Toronto will be happy to keep their unbeaten streak alive.
Montreal Impact 4 Portland Timbers 1
The true upset of the weekend was in Montreal. Portland found themselves down-and-out early in the match! Montreal scored off a penalty in the first fifteen minutes; Portland then found themselves down more. Diego Chara flung his hand up at the head of a Montreal player and made contact; he saw a straight red. Montreal and Portland swapped goals at the end of the first half. Montreal came out and buried Portland in the second, scoring two more goals. Portland will be upset that they were not disciplined at the start of the match. Montreal will love getting all three points at home.
DC United 0 Chicago Fire 1
The Fire continued their dominance into the weekend at DC. DC did a good job to silence Chicago in the first half. However, Chicago was dominating possession. That domination turned into a goal in the second half. David Accam found his way behind the defense and coolly slotted it behind Bill Hamid. DC couldn’t find any offense, and the match ended 1-0. Chicago will take the two win week. While DC will need to figure out how to get their offense going.
Seattle Sounders 1 Real Salt Lake 0
Real Salt Lake went to Seattle and battled to get something from the match. Seattle controlled possession and had many almost goals; Nick Rimando stopped almost all of them. Late in the first half, Harry Shipp had a shot that was deflected and went right past Rimando. Seattle found the lead, and continued to dominate. They won a penalty in the second half. Dempsey stepped up, and Rimando stood tall saving the effort. RSL couldn’t find their offense and the match ended. Seattle will love getting the three points at home, while RSL will wonder how they can put consistent performances together.
Atlanta United 4 Houston Dynamo 1
Houston’s road woes continued in Atlanta. Miguel Almiron scored two beautiful goals in the first half. Houston wasn’t able to get anything going, and their woes continued in the second half. Julian Gressel found a goal to make it 3-0 in the second half; then, Almiron converted a penalty to complete his hat trick. Houston got a consolation goal late from the spot. Cubo Torres slotted home the shot. Atlanta will love to get the three points, and have their DP score three goals. Houston will need to figure things out so they can find a way to win on the road.
Philadelphia Union 2 Colorado Rapids 1
Full analysis of this match can be fund here: Grit helped the Union set franchise record as they beat Colorado Rapids
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Sporting Kansas City 0
Vancouver took on SKC in Canada. They did well to take the game to Kansas City. Their hard work payed off with a beautiful team goal at the end of the first half. Vancouver came out swinging in the second half, getting a penalty. SKC’s Tim Melia stood tall to stop the effort, and the follow-up chance as well. The White Caps kept pushing and found their second goal, which iced the game. SKC will wonder why they couldn’t build on their mid-week game. Vancouver will be happy to get the home three points.
FC Dallas 0 San Jose Earthquakes 1
FC Dallas finally lost their first game of the season, and it was in dramatic fashion. Both teams had great attacking spells. Nothing came of them for almost all of the match. Then in the 81st minute San Jose broke through. A ball was chipped into the box, over the back line, and Jahmir Hyka got onto the ball. He dinked the ball over an on-rushing defender, and hit a first time shot to the back post. His effort hit the post and went over the line for the goal. The amazing effort ended Dallas, and their unbeaten streak. Dallas will be upset they lost their first game of the season, while San Jose will love to take the points from Dallas.
New England Revolution 2 Columbus Crew 1
New England and Columbus fought in an eastern conference clash. Columbus scored the opener off of a rocket of a shot from Ola Kamara. New England roared back, finding the equalizer just four minutes later. 10 minutes after that, New England scored a second. Columbus pushed for the rest of the game to find an equalizer. Unfortunately, they were not able to find the break through. Columbus will be upset they couldn’t hold onto their lead. While New England will be happy to get all three points at home.
Minnesota United 1 LA Galaxy 2
LA took on Minnesota in a western conference match. The match started off with a flurry of chances from Minnesota. They kept getting denied and LA woke up. Before the half Giovani Dos Santos found the back of the net off of a beautiful one-time flick/chip over the keeper. Minnesota came back in the second half, and found the equalizer off of a great effort from Christian Ramirez. His day of putting the ball in the back of the net. Unfortunately, Ramirez put the ball into his own net which turned out to be the game winning goal for LA. The Galaxy will love getting three points on the road. Minnesota will be upset that some friendly fire doomed the loons.
Orlando City 0 NYCFC 3
NYCFC went down to Orlando and handed the Lions their first loss at their new home. NYCFC dominated the match scoring off of a penalty in the first 15 minutes. They added to their lead before the half ended. Orlando tried to come back in the second half; they were awarded a penalty. Larin stepped up to take it, and he hit it hard off the post. David Villa then put the game away after getting his second of the match. NYCFC will love getting all three points on the road. Orlando will be upset that they lost their first at home.
Here’s where everything stands right now:
Eastern Conference
| Points | Overall | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | PTS | PPG | GP | W | L | T | ||||
| Toronto FC | 26 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | ||||
| Chicago Fire | 21 | 1.75 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| New York City FC | 20 | 1.67 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Orlando City SC | 20 | 1.67 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Columbus Crew SC | 19 | 1.46 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | ||||
| New York Red Bulls | 17 | 1.31 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | ||||
| Philadelphia Union | 16 | 1.33 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| New England Revolution | 16 | 1.33 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Atlanta United FC | 15 | 1.36 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Montreal Impact | 13 | 1.18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| D.C. United | 11 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | ||||
Western Conference
| Points | Overall | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | PTS | PPG | GP | W | L | T | ||||
| Sporting Kansas City | 22 | 1.69 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Houston Dynamo | 19 | 1.58 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | ||||
| FC Dallas | 19 | 1.9 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| San Jose Earthquakes | 19 | 1.46 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Portland Timbers | 18 | 1.5 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 16 | 1.45 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | ||||
| LA Galaxy | 14 | 1.27 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||||
| Seattle Sounders FC | 13 | 1.08 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | ||||
| Minnesota United FC | 11 | 0.92 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | ||||
| Real Salt Lake | 11 | 0.85 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 2 | ||||
| Colorado Rapids | 7 | 0.64 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | ||||
Here’s a look at the goals, saves and team of the week:
Goals of the week:
Toughest choice you'll make all day.
Vote now for your #ATTGotW: https://t.co/ZnSBtpljM6 https://t.co/VUg81JgTu4
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 22, 2017
Saves of the week:
All are quality stops, but which one is the Save of the Week?
VOTE: https://t.co/Y8rj8pcqH7 https://t.co/8k7APu8xrh
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 23, 2017
Team of the week:
Bench: Bill Hamid, DC; Raymon Gaddis, PHI; Albert Rusnak, RSL; Christian Bolaños, VAN; David Accam, CHI; Giovani dos Santos, LA; CJ Sapong, PHI
Heres a look at all of the matches to be played in week 13:
Thursday, May 25th:
Chicago 2 Dallas 1 FINAL
Friday, May 26th:
Toronto 5 vs Columbus 0 FINAL
Saturday, May 27th:
Seattle vs Portland
Vancouver vs DC United
NY Red Bulls vs New England
Colorado vs Kansas City
Minnesota vs Orlando
Salt Lake vs Philadelphia
San Jose vs LA Galaxy
Sunday, May 28th:
Atlanta vs NYCFC
Dallas vs Houston.
Be sure to come back to Philly Sports Network for more on all of the MLS action. Until then, peace out!
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
