Houston, Texas - Another crazy weekend, another chance to take stock of the good and the bad in Major League Soccer match day 11.
Matchday 11 is in the books!
36 goals were recorded on match day 11 in 14 2024 MLS (Major League Soccer) regular season matchups.
Inter Miami, Real Salt Lake, and Toronto FC were the only 3 teams that won on the road on match day 11.
FC Dallas 2-0 Houston Dynamo.
Another Texas derby disappointment for Houston Dynamo, now have lost two games on the bounce and the most infuriating thing for their fans is that both games they lost were against state rivals.
Griffin Dorsey got a red card just 5 minutes into the game when he tangled with Marco Farfan and the ref said he prevented a goal scoring opportunity. Olsen had to rejiggle his tactic; Blessing Latiff was sacrificed.
From there things went crazy for the Dynamo. They eventually lost 2-0 to FC Dallas.
American born Nigerian defender Sebastain Ibeagha and Petar Musa all scored for FC Dallas in that 2-0 home win.
The question is this, do you think Houston Dynamo did enough in the MLS Transfer market? With the arrival of 24 years old defensive midfielder, Jefferson Valverde from LDU Quito and attacker, McKinze Gaines from Nashville, how they will fit into the team at the moment is left to be seen.
Sebastain Ferriere questionable due to injury, even the coach seems oblivious of his return timeline, a hard nut game against St louis looms this weekend at the Shell Energy Stadium and the team need a quick turnaround.
Austin 2-0 LA Galaxy
Reality check for LA Galaxy who were beaten by Austin FC 2-0 at the Q2 Stadium.
A defeat that dropped them to no 2 on the western conference log as Real Salt Lake climbed to the top of western conference table.
For Austin FC have quietly won four of their last five matches, but their biggest result of the season came this weekend against the West-leading LA Galaxy.
They had a smart game plan and attacked the Galaxy in transition, taking an early 2-0 lead via goals from Diego Rubio and Jáder Obrian. Then they defended deep at Q2 Stadium and did not give the Galaxy space to attack.
After a bad start to the season, it was a mature performance and a good sign that Austin FC can win in unusual ways.
A big test against another West leader comes this Saturday at Vancouver Whitecaps FC .
On my review of match day 10, I poured encomium on RSL, and they proved me and other MLS lovers right with a resounding win on match day 11 at with a 2-1 away win at Philly Union.
RSL this season is on a different level, they outpowered Philly Union with the ball.
At Subaru Park where Philly Union had only 1 defeat since 2022, Philadelphia at home is always a tough match. But Real Salt Lake went to Subaru Park and took all three points and first place in the Western Conference.
Pablo Mastroni has created mentality monsters, RSL top scorer Chicho Arango picked up another assist and Alex Katranis scored a banger for the 2-1 winner.
RSL are balling right now, American born Nigerian midfielder, Emeka Eneli played for 90 minutes (about 1 and a half hours) again, RSL won back-to-back road games and are six unbeaten.
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami
Inter Miami are strong in the east, and Messi is on a different level with nine goals and seven assists in just 7 MLS games. He is having a decent season so far.
He grabbed a brace in Inter Miami 4-1 win at New England Revolution. Suarez also contributed 1 goal in that win.
Now Inter Miami has 21 points from 11 games, and I think winning the Supporters Shield and MLS Cup are their target when they miss out of the CONCACAF Champions League.
DC United 2-1 Seattle Sounders
At the Lumen Field, the question most MLS Pundits and watchers are asking now is, how can Seattle Sounders save their season?
Seattle Sounders lost 2-1 to DC United on match day 11.
Seattle are 13th in t6he west, 6 points from 9 games and they are winless in 3 games now. The last time they won a game was their 5-0 thrashing of CF Montreal on the weekend of April 7th.
Since then, Seattle has drawn 0-0 with FC Dallas in Frisco, Texas.
Lost 2-0 to Vancouver Whitecaps at home at the Lumen Field.
lost 2-1 to DC United on match day 11.
If they want to save their season, they must rekindle that spark we know Seattle for.
Tani Oluwaseyi.
In St Paul, Minneapolis, Nigeria born striker, Tani Oluwaseyi is having a great season with Minnesota United.
Off the back of his scintillating performance on match day 10 where he opened the scoring for his team in their 3-0 away win at Charlotte FC, Tani scored his 4th MLS goal of the season on match day 11 when he tapped in from close range in the25th minutes to double Minnesota lead over Sporting KC, a game they eventually won.
Tani has started just 2 games and has 7 substitute appearances for the Loons this season.
LAFC 3-2 Portland Timbers
Gabonese striker, Denis Bouanga, the reigning Golden Boot, started the season slow and went scoreless in his first four games in 2024. In his six games since then, he has scored six goals, including the stoppage-time game-winner in Saturday's 3-2 win over Portland. He is heating up and so are LAFC, who are unbeaten in their last four matches.
Bouanga has also hit the goalpost eight times this season, I think the highest in MLS this season. Between Bounaga and Darwin Nunez of Liverpool, who has hit the post more this season?
Bouanga is getting in the right spots consistently, and nobody in MLS does a better job of making runs behind the defense and getting into the right spots to score goals than No. 99.
LAFC are 5th in the Western Conference, 15 points from 10 games.
Will Bounaga retain his golden boot he won last season, or will Messi win his first MLS golden boot as he is currently leading the race with 9 goals.
Sam Mbonu
Comments
No comments