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MLS Analysis

MLS Midweek analysis: are Miami & Atlanta back? Philly impresses and much more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta breaks down Wednesday night's games in MLS where a lot of late goals were scored in a bunch of exciting games. Atlanta's win over Orlando, however, was the best of the bunch. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
May 29, 2025
7:55 PM

MLS HAD A MIDWEEK slate of games on Wednesday night with a total of 13 games on the docket. It was a pretty good set of games with a lot of late goals, a few surprises, and a bunch of standout performances.

But, of course, the big topic was whether Atlanta United and/or Inter Miami are back.

Here are few thoughts on it all.

 

Inter Miami downs Montreal

 

It’s weird to see so much celebration over a team with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez celebrate beating CF Montreal at home, but here we are. That’s what happens when Inter Miami gets bounced from CONCACAF Champions Cup in a blowout loss to Vancouver that is part of a stretch where it has one just once in eight games.

Miami handled the minimum required to show a pulse in its 4-2 win on Wednesday night. If Inter Miami had lost this game to last-place Montreal, it would officially turn Inter Miami into an international disaster. But instead, Miami merely avoided disaster and Montreal remained in last place with eight points – five points behind second-to-last Toronto. Nothing changed with this game.

 

It is good to hear that Messi and his friends held a players only meeting to address the team’s skid and hold everyone accountable. But if the problem is old players who can’t defend well and a head coach who has never had any success (as a coach), then a meeting might have little impact.

As for this game, it amounts to little. Let’s see how Miami does in its final game before the Club World Cup against Columbus.

 

Atlanta continues turnaround vs. Orlando

 

This might have been the best game of the night. Atlanta United appeared to be sinking to yet another bad loss when it trailed Orlando City 2-1 into the 82nd minute. But the ending of this game was wild and Atlanta finally found the desperation switch to rally for a 3-2 win.

The game became unhinged in the 77th minute when Orlando’s Cesar Araujo, who scored the opening goal, was given a red card. Five minutes later, Atlanta equalized through
Bartosz Slisz. A few minutes after that, both coaches were involved in a mele which saw Orlando coach Oscar Pareja sent off. Then in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Jamal Thiare won the game for Atlanta.

Atlanta had been the league’s most underachieving team this season, but things are now trending their way – and in this game they showed some anger.  Over the weekend, Atlanta defeated Cincinnati but this win over Orlando was the most fight they have shown – and it was impressive to see. We finally saw players making runs and doing more to make plays besides just sending in aimless crosses. The big takeaway is that they now have consecutive wins over two of the best teams in the league.

 

That doesn’t mean Atlanta has turned things around. Miguel Almiron isn’t playing well and Emmanuel Latte Lath is ice gold. The team also still gives up too many chances. But it is easier to fix problems when you’re winning and there has been real improvement. A win over the Red Bulls on Saturday could see Atlanta head into the summer playing the way they are capable.

“Tonight was about character. It was about belief. It was about resilience,” Atlanta’s Brad Guzan said after the game. “I couldn’t be more proud of the guys to stick with it and continue to fight. I think you can see what it means to everyone to pull off a big win like this. We know it wasn’t perfect throughout the 90 minutes, but sometimes a win like this goes a little farther.”

As for Orlando, they’re still one of the best teams in the East. They just didn’t close the game well against an Atlanta team that has started to play to their talent level.

 

Seattle squeaks past San Diego

 

A San Diego FC team that is exceeding all expectations traveled north to face a Seattle team in a matchup that was a referendum on both teams. While Seattle ended up winning 1-0, the lone goal was scored against the run of play. San Diego was simply unlucky not to walk away from this game with a result.

San Diego had a 67-33 edge in possession and a 15-7 edge in shots (7-5 edge in shots on goal). San Diego also had a decisive edge in duels and out-worked Seattle in several other key categories.

In this game, however, Seattle got the win thanks to the first goal of the season from Jesus Ferreira.

It was a game that really doesn’t change the positive image San Diego has built for itself in its inaugural season. If Mikey Varas can have his team play like this most of the time, they will have a very good season.

As for Seattle, they’re heading to the Club World Cup with a tough draw. They are playing decent soccer, but they need to be much, much better. They just have too many injuries.

 

Red Bulls defeat Charlotte

 

The New York Red Bulls are woefully inconsistent but have now won two games in a row after a 4-2 win over Charlotte on a rainy Wednesday night in New Jersey.

What was interesting to note about this game is that Red Bulls coach Sandro Schwarz rotated his squad and still got the win. There are times when the Red Bulls pay as if they are only going as far as their star players. But in this game, Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were on the bench while Felipe Carballo is injured. Without a DP in the starting lineup, the Red Bulls posted a win.

Perhaps this will give Schwarz more confidence to tinker with his squad.

As for Charlotte, the team continues to underwhelm. Dean Smith has some things to figure out – particularly on the defensive side.

 

Acosta returned to Cincy, helps Dallas draw

 

In one of the more surprising results of the night, FC Dallas traveled to Cincinnati and earned a point in a 3-3 draw. Cincy took a 3-2 lead in the 86th minute but Sebastian Ibeagha equalized late.

The big story was that Cincy’s former league MVP Luciano Acosta returned to Ohio after joining Dallas in the offseason.

Dallas has a bad record, but they are pretty tough. In earning a point in this game, Dallas now has earned 13 points from losing positions, which leads the league. They only have 17 points on the year. It reflects well on the team’s willingness to fight.

According to the club, Dallas traveled 8,339 miles across its recent three-game road trip. Also, in April and May, FC Dallas traveled a total of 15,543 miles to play its games.

Now, they return home. Don’t be surprised if they start to find another level atter getting most of their heavy travelling out of the way.

 

Philadelphia rallies past Toronto

 

The Philadelphia Union were not at their best for most of the game and trailed Toronto late, 1-0. But a Nathan Harriel equalizing header in the 86th minute followed by a deflected Kai Wagner shot that beat Sean Johnson in stoppage time gave the Union a 2-1 win.

It was an impressive win for the Union which played its eighth match of the month and saw Bradley Carnell rotate his squad heavily from Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Inter Miami.

It was an exciting game, and the Union are now winning the close games that they lost almost all last season where they didn’t make the playoffs despite a goal differential that was decent. It was simply an inability to win close games.

As for Toronto, they are not a good team and it’s hard to decide where club management is trying to take the club.

 

Crew rally for draw vs. Nashville

 

The Columbus Crew rallied for a 2-2 draw at home against Nashville on Wednesday night. With Nashville leading, the Crew found an equalizer in the 82nd minute via an own goal from Jeisson Palacios. For most of the match, the Crew were the better team except they lost focus in the second minute when Nashville struck first. Then in the second half, they failed to adequately guard a throw in.

For Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy, the team played well but needs to be focused every minute to reach their potential.

“It's difficult because we did well. We did everything,” Nancy said. “We had the possibility. Again, like I said, I repeat myself: We attack in different ways, but we had the third goal several times. We do this season a good job defensively, but the last few games, we are a bit average, I would say, not in term of the consistency to defend [but] in terms of key moments. I knew that we were able to come back, and I knew that we were close to win the game. At the end of the day, we got punished on the second goal. It cannot happen, simple as that.”

On another note, Max Arfsten played very well for the Crew and looks to be sharp heading into the Gold Cup.

 

Other notes

 

Diego Luna’s assist to William Agada in Real Salt Lake’s 1-1 draw at Austin was lovely. It was such a well-delivered free kick and it will be interesting to see if he takes set pieces for the U.S. team in June.

 

New York City FC had one of the worst performances of the night in a 3-0 loss at home to a Houston Dynamo team that heavily rotated its squad. NYCFC is another team that is tough to read but they have DP spots open to make big adjustments in the summer. But will they? Meanwhile Houston has three wins and a draw in its last four to start surging up the table. Duane Holmes made his Dynamo and MLS debut after a long career in the English Championship.

Vancouver and Minnesota played to a 0-0 draw at home in a matchup between two very good teams. This game lost some of its luster given that Vancouver didn’t start its best team ahead of the CONCACAF Champions Cup final vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.

DC United scored a late equalizer via Gabriel Pirani to earn a point in a 1-1 draw at home against the New England Revolution. DC United has three draws in its last four games while this was the fourth draw in a row for New England.

 Meanwhile, the Galaxy are still winless after a 1-0 loss to San Jose - where Bruce Arena led the charge against his former club. 

Finally, Portland defeated Colorado 2-1 after Kevin Kelsy scored the winner in the 75th minute. By that time Colorado was reduced to 10 men following a Wayne Frederick red card in the 67th minute. Colorado was its own worst enemy in this game.

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