🔬 The Debrief on a rip-roaring opening day in MLS | OneFootball

MLS is officially back as the first batch of games on matchday one is now behind us!

Here is what went down across all the grounds on a thoroughly entertaining opening night.

What happened

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We'll start in Los Angeles for the early match of the day. Summer signing Jeremy Ebobisse fired LAFC to an opening-day win with a late go-ahead strike against Minnesota United.

On the other side of the country in Miami, Messi and his mates came roaring back for a late draw against NYCFC, scoring the equalizer in the 10th minute of stoppage time. Inter Miami played the final 67 minutes of the match with 10 men after Tomás Avilés was sent off.

Meanwhile, MLS record signing Emmanuel Latte Lath got off the mark for Atlanta United, bagging a brace in the Five Stripes' narrow win at home against CF Montréal.

On that same theme, FC Cincinnati collected their first win of the season, riding the lone goal of record signing Kévin Denkey to a narrow victory over the New York Red Bulls.

In a pair of six-goal thrillers, Columbus Crew downed Gregg Berhalter's Chicago Fire, while the Philadelphia Union made a statement with a 4-2 win in Orlando.

While FC Dallas got one over their Texas rivals with a late win in Houston, across the state in Austin, Los Verdes grabbed their first win of the campaign against Sporting Kansas City.

To cap off the evening, new-look San Jose got off to a flying start with a thumping win over Real Salt Lake, while Seattle gave up a stoppage-time own-goal to drop two points in a draw with Charlotte.

Player of the day

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While a number of league debutants officially announced themselves on the scene Saturday, we have to give a special mention to MLS stalwart Diego Rossi, whose two goals in five minutes for the Crew were the deciding factor on the night against Chicago.

Stat of the day

Now that is how you announce yourself on the scene as the league's most expensive player of all-time.

What this means

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It's hard to say the first of 34 matchdays means all that much, but the key results come from the action in Miami, Atlanta, and Cincinnati.

Those three Eastern Conference rivals may just be the favorites to compete for the Supporters Shield, and after the opening 90 minutes of the campaign it is surprisingly Inter Miami who are behind in the standings.

What comes next

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There is more action on Sunday as MLS rolls out their first edition of 'Sunday Night Soccer'.

First up is a Cascadia Cup showdown between the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps at Providence Park. Last season the Caps thrashed the Timbers 5-0 in the wildcard match, so revenge could be on the cards for Phil Neville's side.

And finally, MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy will kick off their season against a potential new rival in newcomers San Diego FC — the latter will be playing their first ever match in MLS.

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