Winners and Losers Across MLS Week 2

Another week, another slate of action in Major League Soccer. Here are our winners and losers from Week 2 in MLS.

Photo Courtesy of MLS

Another week, another slate of action in Major League Soccer. Here are our winners and losers from Week 2 in MLS.

Loser: One-goal leads

For the second consecutive weekend, the Vancouver Whitecaps let a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 loss, falling on the road to the San Jose Earthquakes.

Vancouver was one of five clubs that saw one-goal leads evaporate Saturday. No team in that quintet came back to win.

The blown lead games included:

• FC Dallas 3, Los Angeles Galaxy 1: Dejan Joveljic opened the scoring for the Galaxy in their season opener, but a second half brace by Jesus Ferreira turned the tables in Dallas’ favor after Alan Velasco’s equalizer.

• St. Louis CITY SC 3, Charlotte FC 1: St. Louis kept up its hot start to life as an MLS club and won its home debut against Charlotte, which took the lead midway through the first half via Enzo Copetti’s fine-headed finish.

• Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1: Matheus Rossetto’s 60th-minute tally for Atlanta canceled out Federico Bernardeschi’s second-half strike from distance.

• Chicago Fire FC 1, New York City FC 1: Gabriel Pereira opened the scoring for New York, but Fabian Herbers tied the game with a long-range effort following the remnants of a late second half freekick as Chicago salvaged a point in their 2023 debut at Soldier Field.

Winner: The offside flag

Officials nullified four plays that would have otherwise been goals for offsides this weekend. 

The closest decision was on Atlanta’s Giorgos Giakoumakis’ apparent game-winner in the 77th minute of an eventual 1-1 tie with Toronto. Assistant referee Meghan Mullen raised her flag for Thiago Almada’s cross to Juan Jose Purata, which preceded Giakoumakis’ finish inside the six-yard box.

Have a look:

Atlanta United FC 🇫🇷 @ATLUTD_France

🤨Peut-on me dire où est le hors-jeu sur ce but refusé de Giakoumakis ? #ATLvTOR | #WeAreTheA

Colorado Rapids striker Darren Yapi, Nashville SC midfielder Alex Muyl, and Chicago midfielder Maren Haile-Selassie were all also called for offside in their games after depositing the ball into the back of the net.

Loser: Adilson Malanda

We said it last week of Kipp Keller — there’s no point in doing a winners and losers column if you don’t dunk on the howlers.

This week’s howler is another errant backpass, and it once again benefits St. Louis CITY SC. 

Keep in mind Charlotte also scored on themselves earlier in the game when you watch Malanda’s masterclass, which sealed the result:

Território MLS™️ @territoriomls

João Klauss, atacante brasileiro do St Louis, fez esse gol singelo e que garantiu a segunda vitória seguida de sua equipe na temporada. Mas, claro, que falha grotesca da zaga adversária, né? #AllForCITY #ForTheCrown #MLS

Winner: St. Louis CITY SC

Life in MLS is off to a phenomenal start for St. Louis, who play in what has long affectionately been known as Soccer City USA.

In fact, MLS should have probably expanded there long ago!

St. Louis opened Citypark by taking a 3-1 win against last season’s debutants, Charlotte FC, in front of an announced crowd of 22,423.

The result means St. Louis joins the 1997 Chicago Fire and 2009 Seattle Sounders as the only MLS expansion teams to win their first two competitive matches.

Also, St. Louis already did something it took the New England Revolution 28 years to do: start the season with back-to-back wins.

Winner: New England Revolution full-backs

Saturday’s most dominating performance belonged to the New England Revolution, who blanked the rebuilding Houston Dynamo 3-0 without too much trouble at snowy Gillette Stadium.

Full backs DeJuan Jones and Brandon Bye played the biggest factors in New England’s success.

Bye registered a goal and an assist (and also accrued the most points in MLS Fantasy this week), while Jones also recorded an assist. Both players offered a solid, two-way performance as the Revolution secured their second clean sheet of the season.

Tactically, Jones and Bye joined the attack in two ways: either from a release pass from Carles Gil or through incisive overlapping runs next to Dylan Borrero and Latif Blessing. 

New England visits Los Angeles FC next Sunday in what will probably be the game of the week. Any winning playbook for LAFC will have to involve neutralizing Bye and Jones.

Loser: Road teams

Road teams fared poorly this weekend, going 0-9-5 with 7 goals scored.