MLS Match Day 7 – A Hooligan Take | OneFootball

We start with a little bit of history which was celebrated on Sunday afternoon at PayPal Park in San Jose, California. You see, 30 years ago, on April 6th, 1995, the inaugural MLS match was played between the San Jose Clash and D.C. United. The MLS scheduling gurus thought it would be great to honor that. D.C. United flew out a bunch of stars from that ‘90s team that won six trophies in two years, including John Harkes and Marco Etchverry. Of course, there was no need to fly out Bruce Arena, who is now leading the Quakes from the technical area. But the outcome of this match was so unexpected, that we’re going to lead off with its summary.

Unexpected Results

San Jose Earthquakes 6 – 1 D.C. United

Not a typo. It’s no surprise that D.C. are a pale shadow of that former team, but they got absolutely stomped by the hosts, including a hat-trick from 31-year old Josef Martínez, his first in nearly seven years. Cristian Arango, Cristian Espinoza and Amhal Pellegrino also got in on the scoring. United’s lone goal came from, who else, Christian Benteke off a header. This was a fabulously open game, and United took as many shots as San Jose… they just couldn’t get past keeper Daniel, who recorded nine saves.

Inter Miami CF 1 – 1 Toronto FC

The CONCACAF Champions Cup is putting Miami through some intense game weeks. Only four days after their first loss of 2025 (to LAFC), hosting struggling Toronto seemed like the perfect opportunity for a bounce. Toronto are one of the worst road teams in the MLS, with only 8 wins in 72 games. So, of course, Miami bottled it. Federico Bernardeschi put the visitors up in first half stoppage against the run of play, dancing between three defenders and flicking the ball past all of them. Lionel Messi struck the net twice, but only the second one counted (a lovely volley off his own touch into the right corner). The first was correctly called back by VAR for a foul he committed in the build-up.

Sporting Kansas City 2 – 0 St. Louis CITY SC

San Jose’s six-goal onslaught aside, Sporting coming out of this with three points was highly irregular. They’ve been simply awful. CITY have now dropped their third in a row and could be comfortably defined as being in a mini-crisis.

Real Salt Lake 2 – 0 LA Galaxy

This match slots here not because Galaxy are so bad (we’ve all seen it this year), but because RSL were able to turn around their two-game losing streak. I was thinking draw.

New York Red Bulls 2 – 1 Chicago Fire FC

Filed under Dullsville based on my pre-game analysis, it turned out to be anything but. Fire struck first, but Red Bulls dug deep and nabbed two before halftime to take control.

FC Cincinnati 1 – 0 New England Revolution

Unexpected because I was sure Cincy would score more.

Houston Dynamo FC 1 – 0 LAFC

Yet another head-scratcher of a result that has me asking: “What is happening down in LA?” Dynamo get their first win of 2025 from Jack McGlynn, but credit keeper Blake Gillingham, whose two fine saves kept his team in it.

Expected Results

Charlotte FC 2 – 1 Nashville SC

Wilfried Zaha makes the other players around him more dangerous. He’s such a dynamic presence, attracting so much defensive energy, that he creates opportunity for his teammates. Nashville were the better team for most of the first; Charlotte was able to turn their fortune around in the second to grab the victory.

Columbus Crew 2 – 1 CF Montréal

Montréal fired their coach last week, but they were never going to get a bounce from that. They’ve played their first seven games on the road; that’s just cruel. It would test a good team, and Montréal just aren’t that good.

Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 0 Colorado Rapids

Whitecaps are simply firing on all cylinders right now.

San Diego FC 3 – 0 Seattle Sounders FC

You’d think this was total domination from SDFC from the scoreline… but you’d be wrong. True, San Diego’s Jeppe Tverskov scored 80 seconds off a Hirving Lozano pass, and that was a tone setter. Sounders reacted appropriately and pressured the hosts for nearly all of the first half, yet counterstrikes (and scoring debuts) from Aníbal Godoy and Lozano in the final minutes put them down heading into the locker room. Seattle continued to push SDFC but couldn’t get any breaks.

New York City FC 1 – 2 Minnesota United FC

The Loons have quietly become one of the most dangerous teams in MLS, not just the West. Much like Leicester’s title winning team from 2015-16, they let other teams possess, then deliver devastatingly effective counter-attacks.

Dullsville Results