Takeaways from the MLS weekend, including Atlanta’s win, Seattle’s options with Raul Ruidiaz and analysis of the goalkeeper howlers.
The biggest news of this MLS weekend was the report that 17-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps prodigy Alphonso Davies is close to a big-money transfer to Bayern Munich. This, of course, is great news, given MLS’s progression into a selling league and the numerous positives that will come from a Homegrown player finding success at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Here’s what else happened this week:
Atlanta and Andrew Carleton beat D.C. United
Ezequiel Barco, MLS’s most expensive signing, was suspended by Atlanta United for two games after some sort of infraction. He’s shown flashes this season, but he’s had a fair bit of trouble adjusting — on a team with arguably MLS’s two best attackers, Miguel Almiron (18.9 xG+xA) and Josef Martinez (19.9 xG+xA), Barco has just 6.5 xG+xA.
In his place was Andrew Carleton, who only recently turned 18. Carleton is one of most hyped young players in the league, and while he didn’t blow everything up in his first MLS start, he played well, cutting in occasionally from the left flank and helping create Martinez’s second goal. Atlanta won 3-1 against D.C. United, led by Martinez’s record sixth MLS hat-trick.
With Barco suspended (by Tata Martino, by the way) for another game, Carleton should start next week against Montreal.
Atlanta’s win against DCU won’t necessarily solve their issues breaking down defensive opposition, considering D.C. tried to play on the front foot, but it was a quintessential Atlanta United performance. It’s been a bit since we saw one of those.
D.C. didn’t put up enough of a fight, calming the excitement after their golazo-filled 3-1 home opener against the Whitecaps. It was a necessary adjustment game for Wayne Rooney, though, and 18-year-old Chris Durkin played well again in defensive midfield.
Rooney, a week after being the best player on the field in his debut, was bad:

Those were all of his passes in 66 minutes of action. Not an especially active or clean day for the English legend. D.C., as they have all year, lacked a focal point in midfield to advance the ball out of their defensive third. Rooney has to be a connector.
Seattle won!
Seattle, testing the limits of the second-half sprint up the table as a route to the playoffs, picked up a much-needed three points over Cascadia rivals Vancouver. They hadn’t won against anyone besides Colorado since early June.
Peruvian striker Raul Ruidiaz came off the bench to complete 11 of 12 passes.
The word out of Sounders camp is that Ruidiaz and Will Bruin will play together up top. The Sounders haven’t played a two-striker formation for any significant length of time since Obafemi Martins left, so it will fascinating to see what Brian Schmetzer does.
More than likely, it will be some variation of a 4-4-2. A back three feels unlikely given Seattle’s lack of depth and athleticism at center-back. They could try something like this, with Nicolas Lodeiro on the wing:

Or they could try a 4-4-2 diamond, loading the midfield and using the versatile strengths of Cristian Roldan:

Roldan can perform pretty much any role you ask him to, so using him as a shuttler in a diamond would fit him perfectly fine. Either Victor Rodriguez, who has played well of late, or Harry Shipp could work alongside him in that condensed midfield. (Shipp is the more natural center midfielder.)
Beating a Whitecaps team that can’t really defend and were missing Davies is a minimum requirement. But hope is and should be high in Seattle. They have a manageable schedule the rest of the way, including five games against Colorado, Orlando and San Jose, and a chance at getting back in playoff contention.
Revs’ struggles continue at NYRB
The New England Revolution, after a quality start to the season in which they established themselves as legitimate playoff hopefuls, have fallen off in recent weeks. They’re still in fine position to finish over the red line, but Brad Friedel’s early-season press and “we’re going to make it hard to play against us” strategy has lost some of its charm.
In classic Revs fashion, many of their struggles come from the defending. They’ve won just twice in their last 12 games in all competitions, giving up 21 goals in the process. The 32 goals they’ve conceded on the season is the second-worst of any current MLS playoff team.
They lost a sloppy game on the road against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. It was a battle of pressing teams who want to win the ball high up the field, and it turned into a rather frantic affair, with neither team able to gain much of a midfield stronghold — Red Bulls manager Chris Armas’s decision to play Tyler Adams on the wing contributed to this.
Revs d-mid Wilfried Zahibo has been fine defensively this season, but his distribution has not been good enough. His passing score, per American Soccer Analysis, is minus-29.6, which means he is attempting (and failing to complete) a lot of low-percentage passes. Comparable deep-lying midfielders like Illie Sanchez and Diego Chara have scores well above 30.
The Red Bulls, meanwhile, will continue adjusting to Armas-ball, which focuses on keeping possession more. It hasn’t all been seamless, but they are getting results and remain near the top of the conference.
Next: The 10 best teams in MLS history
Awards
The best team in the league
Atlanta United, whom we’ve discussed plenty already, maintain this spot.
Who’s going to compete with them for the Supporters’ Shield? The list of legit Shield contenders is rather thin at the moment beyond the New York teams, who each have shots at overtaking the Five Stripes. NYCFC are four points back with two games in hand and the Red Bulls are six back with three games in hand. The race at the top will get close fast.
Don’t sleep on FC Dallas, who were pretty active this week. FCD, fresh off a trade of Kellyn Acosta, are five points back of ATL with two games in hand, and sit at the top of the west after LAFC’s flop in Minnesota.
The worst team in the league
Still the Earthquakes, who wish their 0-0 friendly draw with the Bunkerin’ Mourinhos (Manchester United) counts in the MLS standings.
The Rapids, recipients of Acosta in exchange for a package that includes striker Dominique Badji and their 2019 first round SuperDraft pick, stormed back for a 2-2 draw against rivals RSL. A rain delay helped them there, as well as RSL’s aversion to converting results.
Predictable result of the week
FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo drew 1-1 in hot and humid Houston. It was a slow game between teams that were tired (many Dynamo players went 90 midweek) and hot (it’s July in Houston). FCD were fine with the result, judging by their mostly conservative play.
Houston would have liked a win, but they’re mostly thrilled with advancing to the US Open Cup semifinal after beating Sporting KC on Wednesday. Mauro Manotas has three goals in two games as he continues to improve his case for being MLS’s most underrated non-BWP striker.
Random result of the week
Minnesota squashed LAFC 5-1, led by Darwin Quintero’s goal and two assists. In 16 MLS starts, Quintero has nine goals and six assists, including four goals and four assists in his last five games. He is MLS’s hottest attacker, and if Minnesota somehow make the playoffs from here, he would be placed squarely in the MVP discussion.
Don’t get too excited, Loons fans:
Loons fans should be enjoying this...a lot. But in terms of playoffs, it’s going to be tough. 6 of next 7 on the road.
— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) July 23, 2018
But Adrian Heath’s 3-5-2 is letting Quintero run free without sacrificing a ton of defensive solidity, and Collen Warner has been competent in defensive midfield, assuring that Minnesota don’t win/lose every game 5-4.
MNUFC are proof that once you get reliable players defending behind the ball without having to drop so many deep, you see better results in attack. Talented attackers like Quintero get the ball more and don’t have to worry about Rasmus Schuller being a revolving door in midfield.
Bob Bradley was furious with his team and rightfully so, because they laid an egg. His young full-backs, Tristan Blackmon and Joao Moutinho, have some developing to do.
Goalkeeper howler(s) of the week
I am a (mediocre) goalkeeper myself, so I see no pleasure in taking you through the many howlers that populated this week’s MLS action.
Stefan Marinovic kicked things off with this:
As far as I can tell, that was a straight knuckler from Nicolas Lodeiro that badly wrongfooted Marinovic. The Caps’ keeper hung himself out to dry with premature movement to his right, wrongly anticipating Lodeiro’s shot.
Richard Sanchez, who has not played well of late, had this one:
Sanchez was correct to come off his line, clearly, but didn’t take the correct angle to the ball. He has to anticipate the danger of using only his hands to corral a ball like this — he should have come closer to the ball and gathered with his whole body, leading with his hands, to reduce the risk of error.
He likely would have done so if he had realized how far ahead of Jonathan Osorio he was. When you think there’s a chance you might not get to a ball, you come on a bit more conservatively — that is, you don’t want to fully commit. Using only your hands in a situation like this is a subconscious noncommittal.
Next is Nick Rimando, who lost his team two points with this rebound:
Maybe not quite a howler, but surely a goal that could have been avoided. This rebound stems from indecision — Rimando isn’t sure whether to parry the shot out of bounds or to try and gather it. The result is a disastrous rebound.
Poor Evan Bush had two howlers in the Impact’s 2-2 draw at Portland. Here’s the first:
There are two mistakes here from Bush. The first is the weak punch straight to the top of the box. The second, and the howler part of it, is the drop that allows Samuel Armenteros to convert into an empty net. Bush was off-balance, and probably lacking confidence in the moment, as he backpedaled to catch Zarek Valentin’s weak attempt on goal.
He may have felt a bit of contact as went up for the ball that through him off just that much more. He hoped, dubiously, for a foul to negate the goal. His protests were to save face more than anything; he seemed to know immediately that he simply dropped the ball. It happens.
Could have been avoided by 1) getting a more authoritative punch on the ball and 2) calming the footwork in the transition between the punch and getting ready to make that catch.
Here’s the second:
Another two mistakes that compound each other on this one. On Sebastian Blanco’s original shot/cross, Bush faced a similar decision to Rimando’s: he wasn’t quite sure whether the shot was difficult enough to parry. He deflected the shot, with open hands, straight up in the air.
It was a difficult ball, to be sure, but with faster reflexes, he could have been more proactive and pushed it back in the direction of Blanco; or, with quicker decision-making, he could have gotten two fists on the ball, which would have at least put himself in a less threatening position. Instead, he sees the ball in the air in his six-yard-box with Diego Valeri lurking.
I have no idea what he was trying to do as Valeri nodded it home. The Argentine had body position on him, which a goalkeeper can never allow. Bush has to know he’s going to get every 50/50 call ever and just muscle Valeri out of the way. The ref won’t give a penalty for that in a million years. Valeri ended up with an easy finish as Bush flailed at the ball.
Now that we’re done criticizing keepers, here’s a great save from the week:
This is fantastic in every way from Zack Steffen. I’m a bit surprised he didn’t come out more aggressively, but by standing his ground a bit farther back, he maintained his footwork and positioning, which would have naturally been disjointed if he had rushed out to further deny the angle.
The save itself is magnificent, and why Steffen is getting million-dollar offers from European clubs. It is almost Neuer-esque in the improvisation. Steffen’s cat-like reflexes, like a cat swatting yarn, are clear to the eye. Notice Steffen’s first twitch movement as the ball is struck, and how he is already leaning to where the shot is going as it reaches the air. That allows him to move his whole body with the ball and get his top-hand to it so quickly.
No other goalkeeper in MLS makes that save. The difficulty of swatting the ball the way he did is insane, and the reflexes at play are world-class. This is not even to mention the fundamentals, which state that the first instinct when the ball is high to one side is to get your opposite hand to it, because it will reach higher than your other hand. Steffen is a natural at this, and when you add those kinds of fundamentals to his skillset, you get saves like this.