LA, Cincy, Houston and Miami all into quarterfinals
Inter Miami took down Nashville, 2-1, Houston cruised past Minnesota, 4-0, FC Cincinnati snuck past the Red Bulls in penalties, and the Galaxy earned a 2-0 win in an Open Cup El Trafico. See the full US Open Cup results from last night here.
US Open Cup continues
Four US Open Cup games tonight with two all-MLS matchups. Austin host Chicago and Colorado faces RSL in a bonus Rocky Mountain Cup. Check out the full schedule here.
Sign up for The Daily Kickoff in your inbox! The Daily Kickoff is more than an article – it can be delivered to your email account as well.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s almost June, and we’re almost halfway through the season. A couple of weeks from now teams will be hitting the 17-game mark. It feels like just yesterday we were sitting around waiting for the season to begin and for the Galaxy and Toronto to take their places near the top of their respective conferences. Oops.
This league never makes much sense, which dulls the surprise factor a little bit from time to time, but there’s still plenty that can catch you off guard. Here’s some of what has surprised us over at The Daily Kickoff so far.
Yeah, we couldn’t just reduce this to a throwaway line in the intro. There’s always time to talk about the two last-place teams in each conference – and to reiterate the fact that, somehow, LA and Toronto are in those places.
Now, to be fair, the Galaxy have been “second person in human history to be hit by a meteor” unlucky. They’ve underperformed their underlying numbers at a record pace. I feel like they’ll eventually make a late playoff push and everyone will do the whole “are the Galaxy back?????” thing, and then they won’t be. But it will be fun to talk about for a bit.
Toronto…yikes.
We knew both teams would have their flaws coming into the year. The Galaxy still have issues on the wings and aren’t outstanding at the back. Throw in a Secondary Transfer Window ban, and they needed to get everything into place to correct those issues early in the season. Instead…this.
Toronto seemed to correct some of their biggest issues this offseason by going out and grabbing goalkeeper Sean Johnson and center back Matt Hedges in free agency, but depth remained an issue. It didn’t feel farfetched to bank on them being healthy and talented enough in their Best XI to win out, even with a paper-thin depth chart. But they haven’t been healthy enough. And the talent hasn’t seemed talented enough. Not yet anyway.
So, part of me isn’t surprised. But enough of me still is to make sure I included them both in here.
Yep. Pretty much all of it. I don’t need to elaborate, but I did need to include them because, I mean, come on.
With Bebelo Reynoso absent, it felt totally plausible we’d see Minnesota United sitting dead last by this time. No player has meant more to their team than Reynoso since he arrived. Every single thing went through him. The Loons were going to have to change almost everything to make life without their No. 10 work.
So, they kind of did. They got really comfortable without the ball. They started putting in high-effort shifts defensively. And it’s paid off to the tune of a league-best four road wins, and 18 points in 13 games. If I’ve done some quick math right, they’re actually three points better than they were last season through 13 games. We honestly probably haven’t talked about it enough, but it’s extremely impressive.
By the way, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Reynoso is back with the team now. If he can regain fitness and form quickly, Minnesota should be even better going forward – in theory anyway. There’s always a chance reintegrating their No. 10 messes with the formula that’s worked so far. But I think most folks in the Twin Cities are ok with that risk. If Reynoso makes this team better in the way we think he can, then we’re talking about yet another playoff appearance for a team that spent its first few years looking for answers.
Hahahaha nah we all saw that regression to the mean coming. We were just scared to really commit to it because we didn’t want to get laminated again. Because bloggers, at their core, are cowards.
This still feels like a developing story, but last year’s Wooden Spoon winners went through a total overhaul of so many things, and it all kind of felt directionless and abstract and like they were trying to build the oldest team in the league as an experiment. And now it’s…paying off? D.C. are sitting sixth in the East, their underlying numbers have them projected right between Dallas and Philadelphia, they’ve only technically been the fourth-oldest team in the league, and it seems they might also be a playoff team.
They’ve been one of the most unlikely success stories this year, and there’s not many reasons to think they’ll slow down much. Maybe a little. But not much. Full credit to a group that’s finding its way after last year’s disaster.
Is how unsurprising a lot of this has been? Before the year began, you could have talked me into the possibility of so many things that have happened without much effort. FC Cincinnati are your Shield leaders, and that makes sense even if their lack of success in attack doesn’t. San Jose seem destined for a playoff spot. Sporting KC are still too flawed to get out of their own way etc. etc. It’s almost felt…I mean has this been a totally normal season?
I’m increasingly worried we’re getting a little too normal. I can only assume this means the league has saved the majority of its weird for the back half of the season, and I, for one, can’t wait.
USA overcome Fiji at U-20 World Cup: The United States have all but secured passage to the knockout round at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, earning a 3-0 victory over Fiji on Tuesday through second-half goals from three MLS youth standouts in Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna, San Jose Earthquakes forward Cade Cowell and Atlanta United winger Caleb Wiley.
LAFC midfielder Timothy Tillman approved to join USMNT: FIFA has approved a one-time change of association for LAFC midfielder Timothy Tillman, making him eligible to represent the United States in international competition. The 24-year-old, who joined the reigning MLS Cup-Supporters’ Shield double winners this winter, previously represented Germany in official competition at the youth level.
Atlanta United's Araújo fined by MLS Disciplinary Committee: The MLS Disciplinary Committee has found Atlanta United winger Luiz Araújo guilty of failing to leave the field in a timely and orderly manner in the 71st minute of their 3-3 draw at Chicago Fire FC.
- MLS GO, a recreation-focused youth program, is set to debut in 18 markets.
- Joe Lowery handed out early-season MLS grades for each team.
- Power Rankings.
- Riqui Puig scored an excellent solo goal for LA.
Good luck out there. Be ready whenever you’re needed.
