Boy were we all wrong about St. Louis City SC. I'm mad at myself about this too. I've been following the team since the beginning from the Academy to MLS Next Pro and I knew Lutz had done his homework and I knew there was the chance they could outplay their projections. However I fell in line with the mob and didn't predict that City would do much this year. Now they're 3-0-0 with a chance to become the first expansion side to start 4-0-0. I had even been of the school of thought that maybe Austin had overlooked them and that they couldn't lose to a poor Charlotte side behind that crowd, but going on the road to Portland against a good squad in a tough environment and coming home with three points tells me we need to start taking them seriously.
FC Cincinnati survived a home test against the Sounders. Austin shook off the CCL dust and took three points on the road at RSL. I also think it's time we start talking about Nashville (2-1-0) and have allowed 0 goals through their first three games. We knew going into the season they were going to play good defense and try to score through Hany Mukhtar, but you have to be impressed with the start they've had. Their opponents in week two however, CF Montreal are off to the start I had predicted. They are going to have to rebuild after selling off and losing the talent they lost from last years' squad.
Sporting KC earned a point at home against the LA Galaxy, but they should have gotten more. They completely outplayed the Galaxy but goals seem to elude SKC at this early point in the season. You can't fault Vermes' defensive tactics as they've allowed 0 goals in the last 260 minutes and only one all season. I do think that when Ghadi Kinda, Johnny Russell and Alan Pulido get on the field that this team will make a strong push in all competitions. They have depth, the back line has looked solid and new signee Nemanja Radoja looked good in his cameo.
LAFC put up an impressive 4-0 decision over the New England Revs on Sunday night. Petrovic looked solid but LAFC just had too many chances and were able to pull away late with three goals coming after the 66th minute. Speaking of LAFC they lost the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League matchup against Alajuelense and will meet the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second round, as they advance 7-3 on aggregate after dropping the second leg to Real Espana. The other MLS side advancing to the quarterfinals of CCL are the Philadelphia Union who beat Alianza 4-0 at home to wrap that series up. They will move on to play Liga MX side Atlas in the quarterfinals.
Orlando City played an instant classic on Wednesday night as they took on Tigres at home. An 89th minute bicycle kick goal tied things up, but Tigres took the matchup on the away goals tiebreaker. What a tough way to lose for Orlando. They played their hearts out and really took it to Tigres in the second half, things again got chippy with Tigres player Francisco Cordova receiving a red card in the 96th minute.
Violette AC, the Haitian side with an incredible story were able to hold on to a 3-2 aggregate after losing 0-2 to Austin FC in the second leg. Austin was on the front foot all night, but Violette held on with their make shift squad after several players weren't able to make the trip due to visa issues. It's really an incredible story, and it's what makes this competition so great. I look forward to the CCL expansion next year.
I was initially going to do a full blog on the Nations League roster, but I think interim Head Coach Anthony Hudson put together a solid squad for the two upcoming games. Only one MLS player was called into camp (Miles Robinson) which isn't surprising since MLS is not pausing during this window and the fact that all domestic league players are only three games into their seasons.
Stay tuned for some big news and some big blogs upcoming!
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