Everybody knew the atmosphere inside Nippert Stadium for FC Cincinnati’s home debut in MLS would be special, but a 3-0 victory over 2018 MLS Cup finalists Portland Timbers made it an unforgettable afternoon for a capacity crowd of 32,500.
Should we mention that over in Columbus on Saturday, the Crew drew 9,687 fans for a match against FC Dallas, a difference of 22,813? Don’t shoot the messenger.
18-year-old Canadian phenom Alphonso Davies scored his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern Munich on Sunday, coming on as a substitute in the club’s 6-0 hammering of Mainz 05 at the Allianz Arena and completing the scoring.
A James Rodriguez hat-trick alongside goals from Robert Lewandowski and Kingsley Coman had given Bayern a 5-0 lead when Davies came on for David Alaba in the 59th minute.
D.C. United dropped five goals on Real Salt Lake to continue its undefeated start to the 2019 season, and the match was highlighted by Wayne Rooney’s first-ever hat-trick in MLS play.
The 33-year-old Englishman opened the scoring from the spot in the 34th minute, applied a delicate chip in the 41st for the second and then guaranteed D.C. all three points in the 65th when sliding in to provide a close-range finish.
The MLS expansion race is a never-ending marathon with new participants, a changing capacity and a continually moving finish line. For the past decade, MLS has fully embraced this growth cycle the league is in. A wave of successful USL teams helped push the league after the arrival of David Beckham, but this latest round for four spots has truly been a make-it-up-as-you-go affair.
Things are building nicely for FC Cincinnati ahead of its home opener against the Portland Timbers on Sunday. The expansion side produced the shock of Week Two when forcing defending MLS Cup champs Atlanta United to settle for a 1-1 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and FCC’s upcoming opposition is still without a win after getting thumped 4-1 by LAFC.
Back on Feb. 27, Mortensen Construction officially finished work at Allianz Field and handed the keys to the kingdom over to Minnesota United FC. The club began breaking ground at the site in St. Paul in June of 2017, but all of the work was completed on schedule with United set to open the stadium on Apr. 13 with a match against New York City FC.
After two seasons at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, hype is frantically building towards United’s 2019 home opener, especially since the team has shown immense promise on the road to begin the new season.
Major League Soccer was feeling pretty good about itself after the 2019 Concacaf Champions League Round of 16. Although Toronto FC crashed out to Panama’s Independiente, four U.S.-based MLS clubs advanced to the quarterfinals.
Then reality struck this week and last, yet another case of MLS failing to stack up to Liga MX.
One half of the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League semifinal bracket is filled, and it’s an all Liga MX affair pitting Tigres against Santos Laguna. Tigres took care of the Houston Dynamo 3-0 on aggregate despite the absence of injured star Andre-Pierre Gignac. Santos defeated the New York Red Bulls 6-2 on aggregate, but not without receiving something of a scare at Estadio Corona on Tuesday night.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a second division match in the United States, you've seen some real grassroots support. The USL Championship (formerly just the USL) has been around for quite some time, and has expanded to an eye-popping 36 teams this year. Austin Bold FC is one of the newest clubs making the rounds in the USL Championship, and the new boys travelled to Las Vegas for the start of the season.
Trend meets trend: Another U.S. national team or youth prospect makes the jump to Major League Soccer as Sporting Kansas City signs a talented, young player off the radar of most clubs. That's what we got today when Sporting officially announced that Gedion Zelalem had signed from Arsenal. The 22-year-old joins Kansas City for the 2019 season, with club options for two additional years.