Philadelphia Union meet the moment, San Diego make history & more from Matchday 38 | OneFootball

By Matthew Doyle

It’s the final, full-length Sunday night column of the year, which means this is a good time to go through every game one-by-one with an overview of what was at stake, what we saw, and what the implications are.

Is this my way of saying I’ve spilled so much digital ink on these teams that there’s basically nothing left to say? In part. You all know their shapes and strategic predispositions if you’ve been reading this column all year, and I don’t think another round of “Cincy play a relatively unstructured 3-4-1-2” and “San Diego’s possession is actually what launches them into transition” will do much to move the needle.

So, overview it is! We’ll go in order of the Supporters’ Shield standings because the Union earned the right to lead this column two weeks in a row.

In we go:

Philadelphia Union 1-0 New York City FC

What was at stake: The Shield for Philly, and the fight for home-field advantage in Round One for New York City FC.

As I wrote on Bluesky, the Union absolutely deserved this Shield. They almost never dropped their level all year long, no matter who they were playing, and clinched it with one of their two or three best wins of the season.

People took that “almost never dropped their level” bit to mean they went toe-to-toe with the best no matter what, but I actually meant it the other way: it’s not against the top of the table where Philly really shone, but against the dregs. Cincy or San Diego would see a lesser opponent and the foot would come off the gas; the Union would see a lesser opponent and think “we’re scoring four.”

They were brutal and ruthless. And the way they smashed non-Audi MLS Cup Playoffs teams gave them room to work through the kinks that have been readily apparent against top-of-the-table teams throughout the season.

What’s that look like? Tony ElHabr did some great work putting this graphic together to explain:

The Union crushed non-playoff teams at +0.88 xGD per 90. They were merely above average against playoff-caliber teams, at +0.11 xGD per 90 (and essentially a .500 record; always nice when the underlying and boxscore numbers align) heading into Saturday night.

To me, that says what it always says about high-pressing, Energy Drink Soccer teams: the game model is great throughout the regular season (provided you get buy-in, which isn’t always a given), but against quality teams who are better organized and have more talent to play through the press, that pressing is a knife that cuts both ways.

Which, of course, makes Saturday's 1-0 win over the Pigeons important not just because they won their second-ever piece of silverware, but because of who they did it against. NYCFC are a very good team playing very good soccer, and this game – which was a possible Eastern Conference Semifinal preview – was played at playoff-level intensity and quality.

It was a huge moment for deserving champions.

As for NYCFC:

FC Cincinnati 1-0 New York Red Bulls

What was at stake: Postseason seeding for the Garys and possibly home-field advantage throughout, should Philly get eliminated early.

Behold, the most Cincy goal ever:

Eschew the simple ball to a teammate in great position to take a low-percentage shot that will probably be a waste of a transition chance? Score it anyway because you are so wildly talented?

This is just who this team is. They will sink or swim on that overwhelming individual talent (though I thought their box defense was way more organized down the stretch in this one than last week against Orlando).

Houston Dynamo FC 2-4 San Diego FC

What was at stake: The fight for the top of the West and an expansion record for San Diego; the last, flickering embers of their 2025 postseason hopes for the Dynamo.

Up at the top, where I was talking about the other Shield contenders dropping points they shouldn’t? San Diego came into this game with one point from their previous two games, which were against… Atlanta and San Jose. If they’d taken the full six points from those games (like Philly would’ve), they’d now be on 65 points and we’d be talking about them potentially becoming the first-ever expansion team to win the Shield.

Instead we’ll have to talk about them becoming the first-ever expansion team to hit 60 points, which is not a bad silver medal! And even better, for the sake of their playoff hopes:

That’s just the second goal from a San Diego center forward in three months. I don’t think that makes Amahl Pellegrino a starter – he probably doesn’t have the legs for it – but it’s got to be nice for los Niños to see he’s remembered where the goal is. That could certainly change things in the final 30 minutes of upcoming playoff games.

Houston were officially eliminated, and once again I’ll point to their April additions of DP attacker Ondřej Lingr and veteran goalkeeper Jonathan Bond. Lingr now has just one goal in his past 23 appearances, while all the advanced data has Bond as one of the bottom shot-stoppers in the league this season. And he saved perhaps his worst outing of the year for Saturday night.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC 4-1 San Jose Earthquakes

What was at stake: The ‘Caps were fighting to keep up with San Diego atop the West, and the Quakes were fighting for their playoff lives.

This game played out exactly as we all thought it would, right? Vancouver are just too good on the ball to make the kinds of mistakes San Jose thrive on, too opportunistic on set pieces, too lethal off of turnovers, and too solid in their principles of play even when down to their fifth and sixth-string center backs.

The Quakes give everyone space like this, and the ‘Caps were not going to lose a game where they had space like this:

Yeah, I chose that clip of a blocked shot instead of a goal (sorry, Sebastian Berhalter!) because that was Ryan Gauld’s first attacking touch in league play (he scored Wednesday in the Canadian Championship final, which the ‘Caps won for the fourth straight year) after missing the past seven months. And look what he did. It’s going to work really, really well with him in this group.

Vancouver are 10 unbeaten across all competitions now. I think it’s fair to doubt whether they can actually win MLS Cup, given all the injuries on that backline. But when it comes time to submit our brackets, I might pick them anyway. They’re that good.

As for the Quakes, Bruce Arena was never quite able to figure out their shape this year or get them to defend at a decent level. I feel like the issues started up top (nobody in the league is easier to play through), but these were team-wide problems.

They still have a faint chance – win on Decision Day vs. Austin and hope either Dallas or RSL lose each of their last two, and Colorado lose or draw in their finale – so it’s not quite over yet.

But truth be told, it’s felt over for a while.

Inter Miami CF 4-1 New England Revolution

What was at stake: Playoff positioning for Miami (and some history for Lionel Messi). With the win, the Herons basically guaranteed they’d finish top four in the East, which means home-field advantage in their Round One Best-of-3 Series.

The Herons blew their chance to put Shield pressure on Philly with last weekend’s draw at Toronto, followed by Tuesday night’s pretty shocking beating they took at home against Chicago.

Two big things from Miami’s point of view coming out of this one:

Allende has been so hit-and-miss. They need this version of him over the next few months if they’re going to win MLS Cup – the last trophy left for them this year.

As for Messi, his hat-trick of assists gives him 41 goal contributions (24g/17a) on the season, which makes him the second player in MLS history with 40-plus in one year (Carlos Vela had 34g/15a back in 2019 with LAFC).

Minnesota United FC 3-0 Sporting Kansas City

What was at stake: Playoff positioning for Minnesota, who clinched a top-four spot (home-field advantage) with the win. And they’ve still got a shot at topping the West!

Per the excellent Jon Marthaler of the Minnesota Star-Tribune, this “was the first time since July 2024 that MNUFC won a match AND had 50% possession or better.”

I’m not sure if that was by design or simply an artefact of SKC being so poor. What I am sure of is it was very interesting to see this team, in the midst of a post-US Open Cup slump, suddenly trying a different shape:

That graphic is courtesy of MLSStat on Bluesky, made using Opta data. As you can see, it’s labeled as a 4-4-2, though to me it was more of a classic 4-2-3-1 with Joaquín Pereyra playing as a 10 underneath Robin Lod, who operated as a false 9.

Something to keep an eye on, for sure.

One other note: Anthony Markanich might be the best second-ball, set-piece threat I’ve ever seen. Real “Dennis Rodman hunting down a rebound” stuff.

D.C. United 0-1 Charlotte FC

What was at stake: Playoff positioning for Charlotte, who finished the weekend fourth in the East – just ahead of NYCFC on the first tiebreaker (wins).

The Crown went up a man inside 21 minutes and up two men on the half-hour, and only managed to win 1-0. I kind of feel like the less said about this game, the better.

Just… 1) good job getting the three points after a few pretty grim outings, and 2) they have to play a lot better on Decision Day if they want to dent Philly and clinch home-field.

LAFC 1-0 Atlanta United

What was at stake: LAFC wanted to keep the good vibes flowing, lock up a top-four seed and come out of the night with a chance to win the West.

Atlanta did two things really well:

LAFC will probably face a lot of this over the final three games and then into the playoffs. They have to figure out how to be less static off the ball and more incisive on it. Part of that should be dropping one of the functional, 8-type midfielders for a more creative sort (Andrew Moran – who come on in the 64th minute – or David Martínez are the obvious shouts here); another part should, in most cases, be flexing out of the 3-5-2 they spent most of this night in and into the 3-4-2-1 they’ve used in their best performances.

Anyway, Atlanta made an attacking sub in the 78th minute, the game opened up, and Denis Bouanga found LAFC’s winner. They got their three points.

Everybody else got 90 minutes of film on how to slow down – not stop, but at least slow down – one of the most prolific goalscoring duos in league history in Bouanga and Son Heung-Min.

CF Montréal 1-1 Nashville SC

What was at stake: The ‘Yotes still had hopes of a spot in the East’s top four, but those are mostly gone with the draw. Still a pretty great week for them, given their US Open Cup title on Wednesday!

My guy Calen Carr was on the mic:

B.J. Callaghan told me over the course of calling their last two matches in MLS play (sandwiching their US Open Cup trophy) that as the pressure ratchets up, they want to double down on what makes them great. And while Callaghan was quick to deflect praise to his players (which I loved) after Wednesday’s victory, in one year he's adapted Nashville into a side that can win both with and without the ball without losing their identity we’ve seen over the years – being elite defensively.

This wasn’t on full display on Saturday in Montréal, which is no surprise as the absence of starting central midfielders Eddy Tagseth and Patrick Yazbek – rotated out for rest – was felt.

It took away the ground coverage and ability to raise the tempo (both with and against the ball) that has quietly become Nashville’s secret weapon, a line or two behind Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge. And while Nashville have options to play through or around now (they are understandably heavily weighted towards Andy Najar on the right side), when Callaghan speaks of doubling down on what they’re best at, he might as well be discussing these two and their defensive pressure.

Orlando City 1-1 Columbus Crew

What was at stake: The Crew were trying desperately to climb out of the Wild Card spots, and Orlando were trying desperately to stay out of the Wild Card spots.

Sheesh:

The Crew – who got Diego Rossi (72 minutes) and Sean Zawadzki (the full 90) back weeks before they were reportedly going to be available – played their best game in ages. Honestly, I think it was better than their 4-2 win over Cincy a few months back, and might be the best game they’ve played all year against a playoff team.

They just lacked the end product, which has been the story for them time and again since about mid-May. And to that point, it is certainly notable that Dániel Gazdag has finally played his way out of Wilfried Nancy’s XI on one side of the field, while Patrick Schulte (whose howler gifted Orlando their equalizer) seems determined to do the same on the other.

As you can tell from the numbers above, Orlando really struggled to get on the ball in any sort of meaningful way. And when they struggle to get on the ball through central midfield, it’s hard to get Alex Freeman forward from right back, and if Freeman’s not getting forward, this team tends to lack attacking balance.

Orlando, who finished the weekend in seventh, have a game in hand on both the Crew and eighth-place Chicago. But if they don’t play better than this, they’ll leave the door open for one or both to burst through on Decision Day.

Chicago Fire FC 2-2 Toronto FC

What was at stake: After having clinched their first postseason appearance since 2017 with that huge win at Miami, the Fire were looking to pull themselves out of the Wild Card spots.

I think if you’d offered the Fire a four-point week seven days ago, they’d have grabbed it with both hands and been grateful for it. And I’m sure they still are, given it secured that postseason spot, and they did log that win over Miami – the type of win over the profile of opponent that’s mostly eluded them this year.

But this is the Fire, so nothing’s ever truly as good as it could’ve been. First there was the devastating news that André Franco, the midseason addition who’d been so good since his arrival (and who was rapidly becoming one of my favorite players in the league to watch), tore his ACL in the win over Messi & Co. Then there was the needless challenge from Jonathan Bamba to concede a late penalty equalizer to the Reds, which is why it was only a four-point week instead of a six-point week, and which is why they’re still in eighth instead of up in seventh.

Look at this, too:

Gregg Berhalter has mostly stuck with a 4-2-3-1 this year, but he toyed around with a 3-4-2-1 in both of these games. That’s the network passing graphic from the first half of this one (they switched to a 4-2-3-1 at the break), and it was a 3-4-2-1 (that became a 5-4-1, really) for the duration against Miami.

Their principles of play are all still the same, but this is a noteworthy club to add to the bag late on.

Seattle Sounders FC 1-0 Portland Timbers

What was at stake: Playoff positioning in the West and the end of a very weird streak. Seattle basically have a death grip on fifth now, while Portland suddenly have to worry about the Wild Card.

It is almost beyond belief that the Sounders had not beaten the Timbers in Seattle since 2017. We’re talking regular season only – there’ve been home wins for Seattle in other competitions – but still, it’s a very bizarre streak, and if you were wondering why the Sounders bench practically erupted at the final whistle, well, there you go.

The Sounders will be happy that Pedro de la Vega (he got the game’s only goal) and Cristian Roldan (who has not missed time, but has looked worn out over the past month) both looked spry. They will be even happier that, after weeks of poor defensive performances, they allowed almost nothing to a Timbers team that spent the entire last half hour throwing numbers forward in search of an equalizer.

Ok, those Timbers: One win in their past nine, and just two in their past 13. They’re not as bad as that – they’ve been in most of those games, and a lucky break here or there could’ve changed things (for the better) at least once or twice – but they’re not really that much better than that, either. We’ve reached “you are what your record says you are” hours, and Portland’s record says they’re a team that scrambles heroically on defense but are being let down by their DP attackers.

I will also say the patient and productive patterns of play the Sounders strung together on their goal? The Timbers don’t do that. And I don’t think that’s solely a mentality thing.

Anyway, they did make the postseason, backing into a spot with San Jose’s loss. Job done, kinda.

Austin FC 1-3 St. Louis CITY SC

What was at stake: The Verde & Black were trying to shake off the US Open Cup hangover and keep pressure on the Sounders in the race for fifth.

Eight days ago, Austin had won three of four heading into the biggest week in team history: at RSL, home against Nashville in the Open Cup final, and then hosting this already-eliminated CITY side. They had it in their hands to eliminate RSL, win a trophy and pass the Sounders.

They lost all three. Zero points, zero trophies. This one, the culmination, was maybe their worst performance of the season.

"I think it's a horrible week for us," head coach Nico Estévez said afterward, as per our friends at Verde All Day. "Horrible. I mean, it's terrible. ... you cannot know how we feel. We feel really bad ... but this is sports, this is life."

Estévez clearly has to get his team mentally right. That’s job No. 1.

When he goes into the film room, he'll see some ghastly stuff on the ball. All three St. Louis goals came from sloppy play on the ball from Austin’s midfield, and two of the three came from some brutal field balance in defensive transition.

They’re not talented enough to get away with defending like that. They’ve got to win with structure first, and for most of the season, they’ve been pretty good at clearing that bar.

Still, with San Jose’s loss, Austin qualified for the playoffs. Big exhale.

FC Dallas 2-1 LA Galaxy

What was at stake: With a win, Dallas were guaranteed to climb above the playoff line for the first time in ages, and give themselves a decent chance to host the Wild Card game.

“Like I’ve said time and time again, starting with [a 2-2 draw at] San Jose [on July 16], I saw what a true team looks like in this group, and they haven’t stopped being that team that’s bought in together,” is what head coach Eric Quill said afterward. “Our training environment is different. There’s a purpose, and it’s one they all believe in and contribute to.

“Of course we make mistakes, like any team, but the recovery from those mistakes shows what we’re about. You see the reactions of teammates getting behind the ball, sliding, throwing their bodies in the way. A lot of that doesn’t even show up in statistics. It’s about trying to be a winner for each other, and that’s what the collective is doing.”

It needs to be said that Luciano Acosta didn’t play that game against the Quakes, nor the subsequent one, a 3-0 win over St. Louis. He did play the one after that, which was a 4-3 loss to NYCFC on July 25. That was his final appearance in MLS.

And folks, that’s the only loss Dallas have suffered in the past two-and-a-half months. Quill could’ve shouted “addition by subtraction!” at the top of his lungs, and his point would not have been clearer.

Dallas, now, are exactly as he described them against the ball. On the ball, they have two big old forwards who make life hell for opposing center backs in the box, and they have wingbacks who make sure the field stays wide:

It is not the most complex system in the world, but it doesn’t have to be, because what they’re doing is working. And with two games left, and both Portland and Austin shifting into reverse, there’s a chance this team can climb to sixth.

Real Salt Lake 1-0 Colorado Rapids

What was at stake: The Rocky Mountain Cup and probably a playoff spot.

I think this was an elimination game for the Rapids, who only have one match left: against LAFC on Decision Day. It’ll be a motivated LAFC as well – they could very well be playing for the top spot in the West.

Which means if they lost to RSL, RSL would jump them, and with Dallas playing the way they have been (and benefitting from a much more forgiving schedule as well as a game in hand), they’d probably jump the Rapids too. And Colorado don’t really have a way to climb back past them. They have run out of ladder.

Here is the frustrating part for Rapids fans: It did not have to be this way. This team’s an order of magnitude better with Cole Bassett as a No. 8 and an actual winger on the wing – which is how they lined up over the final half-hour as they battered RSL ‘keeper Rafael Cabral in search of an equalizer – but for whatever reason, head coach Chris Armas has spent the whole stretch run playing Bassett as a winger instead.

It is a likely fatal, self-inflicted wound.

RSL, who have switched to a 4-4-2 over the past month and are now strictly a transition attacking team, were lucky to win – Cabral was named Man of the Match, and deserved it. Even so, they’ve done enough over the past six weeks to climb into ninth, and are now in complete control of their own destiny as a win in either of their two remaining games (at Seattle, then at St. Louis on Decision Day) clinches a spot in the Wild Card.