SoccerWise - Weekend Recap Edition: MLS Week 2 w/6 Perfect Sides Left & Girma Injury

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Week 2 of MLS action is in the books and we had some shocking results, some wild finishes, and surprising group of six clubs on a perfect six points. Gass talks you through how all six of those sides got here and touches on all the biggest headlines from Zaha's match winning debut in front of 50k fans, to bike kick equalizers in Chicago & a home debut for San Diego. And don't forget we will be back live on Tuesday with Tom Bogert and then have our massive NWSL season preview + Challenge Cup preview this week. Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer Wise. David Goss here with your weekend recap after week two action of Major League Soccer. I'm excited for this one because six of the 30 teams left in Major League Soccer are still undefeated after one, two weeks of action. I say six right now because I believe that Inter Miami is going to close out a 3-0 lead over the Houston Dynamo on the road. I'm currently watching the second half of that game But I have to record this a little bit early because I got some family stuff that I have to go do

So if somehow Houston comes back to win this game Well, I will be happy to be proven wrong And if that is the case, I cannot wait for Tuesday's live show with Tom Bogert for us to talk about that And if not, then my number still stands. Correct. As I said, Tom will be back with me live on Tuesday. We've got a special episode coming out on Wednesday, our massive team by team NWSL season preview, myself, Jordan,

Angeley and some of the best minds in the NWSL game to talk all about it. And then we are working on a special preview for the NWSL Challenge Cup coming up on Friday night. Yes, less than a week and we get back into it less than two weeks and we are back into the NWSL regular season. So all of that for us to cover here at Soccerize. But for this week the weekend recap will of course be heavily Major League Soccer as that's really all we've got going on right now. But it is going off. And as I said, six of the 30 teams are still undefeated. Some names you'd expect, but a few that you wouldn't. Let's start with the Philadelphia Union. They are flying

right now. Eight goals in their two games. This week was an even bigger test. First it was Orlando on the road, not an easy one. This time it is many people's shield favorite FC Cincinnati at home and they pounced all over them once again. Quinn Sullivan is on fire right now. You look at the way they are creating chances. He's able to take defenders out of the game 1 v 1 with his dribble. He's able to create openings with his passing off that left wing on his favored right foot. And he's also able to create an avenue for Kai Wagner to overlap and attack from. And that is where a lot of the joy came for Philadelphia in this game. They

exploded out to a two zero lead. Ty Borebo keeps scoring goals and then they got their new DP, a debut late on in this game. So for Philadelphia Union right now, everything going right as they get the hat trick for Bari Bo and then Bruno Bruno Damiani, the new Uruguayan designated player gets the last goal in a 4 1 win over FC Cincinnati Columbus remain undefeated in the Eastern Conference as well. Not a shining performance, not a game that Wilford Nance will want to watch every single time to see his soccer and the beauty of it and all of that, but maybe an even more impressive win on the road,

a one zero victory over the New England revolution. Jason Russell Rowe, with the lone goal, a really well taken opportunity for him. He and Diego Rossi and the rest of this group showing that they can carry the scoring and the revs two games played now still without a goal. One of the few teams in Major League Soccer on that list right now are other undefeated perfect team sitting on six points in the Eastern Conference. I believe Miami. So I'm just going to leave it at that for now. No messy in this game. Segovia helping lead the attack. Suarez with a couple assists. I believe he may have just scored a goal as well as a look up at this game. So this is a Miami team showing that they can continue to put up results without Messi on the field. In this one, LAFC, one of the

teams you would expect to be towards the top, a 1-0 win over NYC FC at home. Ryan Hollingshead, the late goal. Four goals in the four competitive matches played so far for LAFC. As I said, this is not going to be a high potency attack. This is not a team that dominates possession. This is a team that wants to keep games tight and then hit in transition. J-Bow got the start over to Jiru once again. Jiru almost gifted a goal from Matt Friis,

laid on, was not able to put it away. And then Ryan Hollingshead finally with the breakthrough deep in the 85th or so minute, after a long sequence of attacks left to right, left to right, the overload came and the fullback got the goal. NYCFC were really good in the first half of this one but that final third danger still lacking for this squad on Sunday alongside Miami Vancouver

got their home debuts of the season in MLS play off to a great start with a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy so they still sit on six points alongside these other teams. Pedro Vite a fantastic game in this one. He's one of the guys we talked about that had the ability to elevate his game and help this team take another step. He got the assist in the third minute, the run out of midfield to the end line, the pullback that Adukube put away. Adukube then injured a few minutes later. So forced off the field Ocampo carrying the rest of the load at left back for this team. Gabrielle Peck got the equalizer for the LA Galaxy in a bizarre play.

I don't know what Tristan Blackman was doing. Miguel Berry helped set him up and then in the 85th minute Brian White with the header on the far post another assist from Vite. This time it was a floated cross from the right side of the field that White was able to put in so Vancouver flying in this one I thought it was a really fun game to watch great energy exactly what Vancouver wants open transitional games but showed a little bit more quality in the final third creating chances connecting a couple more passes and eventually getting those two goals as well and then the last team sitting on six points. Maybe we wouldn't have expected it.

Definitely wouldn't have if you told us a year ago, but the San Jose Earthquakes start with two victories. Now you could argue it's an easy start. Two teams that played in Concacaf Champions Cup and the sign we have seen now through two weeks is that is a major factor, but still two positive results. This time it was a 2-1 win on the road at Sporting Kansas City.

The opening goal for Chico Arango in the 8th minute. Good play from Hernan Lopez to slip a ball through for Joseph Martinez. He gets tackled at false to Chico Arango who was able to tap it in, but the good central play that this San Jose team is built on all of the

danger right down the middle and you saw it once again in this one. SKC recovered a little after the not ideal start. Joseph Martinez had the second goal on a corner kick that fell to him off a dangerous corner played in off the hands of Pulskamp. Then Dejan Jovilic got his first sporting Kansas City goal to make it 2-1 from the penalty spot about 30 minutes into this game. And then San Jose hung on for a 2-1 victory,

even doing so down a man with a red card from Hernan Lopez for the final 30 or so minutes. So San Jose, they add themselves as one of the six teams on all six points so far in MLS. SKC, one of the two teams without a point yet in Major League Soccer alongside Montreal. For Montreal, they start the year on the seven game road trip, so they fell late on to Atlanta United 3-2 in the last game. And once again, a one goal loss.

Kelvin Yaboa got the espresso shots out with his goal in the 69th minute to lead his team to a nice victory there over CF Montreal. A good start to the home run for this Minnesota team. Some refereeing calls that maybe I didn't totally understand in this one, but Montreal will continue on on this road trip. Not an easy way to start a year. Something though that they are used to and something where they're just going to hope to keep their head above water. It's Vancouver next week for them. Then they travel to DC United, then Nashville, then Chicago and Columbus before

they finally kick off their home slate on April 12th against Charlotte FC for the first time up in Montreal. So those are the two teams we have with no points so far this year. Charlotte FC, they got off to a fun home start in front of about 50,000 fans in the building. Wilfred Zaha made his debut after the birth of his child last week. A goal and an assist in about a five minute span in the second half to open things up. So a fun start for him. For Charlotte, they look very similar to how we expect to see them play very transitional, not a ton of connective passing, but Zaha the difference in those transition moments than maybe what

we've seen last year, a good job to take the space centrally to help open up Pepe L's space for the first goal and the second goal, a deflected shot that popped up to him and then he did well to direct it towards home. So a good debut for Zaha, not the only new player to get a goal this weekend. Davide Costa looked fantastic for Portland in their 1-0 win over Austin and he had the only goal in the victory. It was a free kick served in from the side, untouched that bounced in but deserved result for him. He was super active. You saw him pick up the ball on the right and left side set piece service was good throughout the game. And so a really promising start for him. San Diego made their home debut at Snapdragon Stadium. It was an electric crowd. Unfortunate scenes as we heard the unfortunately too famous chant that we know the homophobic chant that has been displayed at soccer games around the world. There was comments from Mikey Varas as well as other members of the sporting staff after

the game about it. We hope not to see it again, but Snapdragon Stadium was on display as expected. We saw it lively for the she believes Cup final. We've seen it for the San Diego Wave as they want to shield in their first season. And for San Diego was that way. Once again, the shape still looked good. It is a team, especially for an expansion team that's very well connected, has clear ideas about how they want to play. The question is on the talent zero zero in this one against St. Louis, they almost limited St. Louis to zero chances 0.5 XG. But Chucky Lozano, the designated player who's supposed to be the star of this attack had to come off in the

31st minute with with what looked like a hamstring injury. And so that's something to monitor and something unfortunate for the San Diego team as they look for that final third quality in matches like this. Other teams making their home debuts in MLS play the New York Red Bulls got off to an early start against Nashville Mohammed Sofo getting the start in place of Louis Morgan who was injured in training on Friday. He got the early goal off a Chupa Motang shot that deflected back to Sofo and then Emil Forsberg scored a stunner of a goal. Go watch this goal. If you watch one thing this weekend, maybe Jacob Mural as well again for DC United, which I'll talk about in just a moment, but Forsberg top of the

box on the left side, no window. He's able to wrap his foot around this shot and power it into the far corner. He was fantastic throughout the game. A ton of Red Bulls attacks comes up that left wing. He's connecting. He comes inside. He's able to pick up layoffs and start to supercharge the attack. Chupa Moteng looks really comfortable, especially with a runner in front of him so that he can play a little deeper and take players on one v one. Nashville, one of the few teams in MLS yet to score a goal alongside the New England Revolution and a few other sides. So something to worry about for them. You see some of the possession in the middle third, but the question is the threat. Can you get Sam Surge any service? They were not able to throughout

much of the stretch of this game. Chicago and Colorado, they both made their home MLS debuts for Colorado. They've already played in CCC For Chicago was their home debut under Greg Burrhalter and it was a wild match Both of these games were outrageous in the Chicago match Jonathan Bomba continues to look like a menace on the left No, Brian Gutierrez in this one because of a red card suspension Benteke scored the opener for DC United and then Hugo Kipers basically scored the same goal. Both sides of half time, both were corner kicks. Jack Elliott flashing across the near post. A monster in the air takes all the attention on the

first goal. It bounces through for Kipers to knock it in on the far post. On the second goal it's a flick on from Elliott. Kipers finishes while slamming into the post. So a two one lead late on for Chicago, you're saying, okay, differences from last year, Greg Borahalter will have this team structure. They'll understand how to see the game out. Sam Rogers got his first start. He struggled on the first goal. He gets called for a handball in the box in the 85th minute. It is the worst case scenario, but then Ben tech a skies the pre K over the crossbar against Chris Brady and you're thinking Chicago got out of it. And then one of the most absurd goals that we will see all season in MLS a quarter kick way off the goal at the near

post about 15 yards from goal. Jacob mural, the Georgetown grad gets a bite kick and it loops to the far post and goes in for the equalizer myself and Gregory Roach From pitch pass in DC talked about mural during our season preview how excited we were for him He's got a goal now and an assist in two games so far for DUC United as they get their second tie of the season Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas said you're looking at a crazy game hold my beer 3-3 match in Denver two deflected crosses for the Rapids one leads to a goal directly for Keegan Rosenberry the other across from Georgie that is headed

in at the near post by Hoffa Navajo to make it to zero then FC Dallas cuts it to two one and then Lucho links up with Petar Moussa a few moments later to equalize right before halftime Lucho basically walking it in and then chipping Stefan from inside the six to make it to two at halftime Moussa the go ahead goal midway through the second half after a mess in front of goal. So Petsar Musa's season unbelievable start two goals to assist already and you're thinking that maybe this Dallas team can steal another win on the road. But two minutes later, Hafen Navahu makes it three three off a cross or an assist from Ali Laraz who has been awesome so far this season for the Colorado Rapids. This one finishes at 3-3. Mural and Laraz, not the only young

players to make an impact. Alex Freeman, the 19 year old, gets on the field for Orlando City to start at the right back position. This is a player Orlando has been waiting for for four years. He has looked pro ready and he finally is MLS ready. He gets a goal in this start a beautiful long ball from Kyle Smith who's deputizing at center back in this one. Freeman does really well to cut across his defender early in his run to keep the defender on his back and then the left footed finish one v one with the goalkeeper to help this Orlando team explode to the four to victory in this one the final result of the MLS weekend

to hit RSL two zero winners at home over Seattle so in this one two ccc teams but Seattle some slight rotation they start a rookie at the right back spot. They move a few pieces around. They give up an early own goal from new who in a bizarre miscommunication with Stefan Frye RSL gets the late goal from Forrester Iago and gets the victory didn't get the start in this one Iago he's been deputizing as that center forward without the replacement for Chico Arango but got the goal off the bench as RSL got their first victory of this season. So that's all for the MLS slate so far this weekend, as I said, live on Tuesday with Tommy scoops will be back on Thursday as well with all your coverage. We have our NWSL season preview coming up this week with a couple big guests alongside myself and

Jordan Angeley. We will have NWSL Challenge Cup coverage for you as well as Orlando Pride take on the Washington Spirit in a rematch of last year's final on Friday night. One note in the women's soccer world, not NWSL specific, but of course, Naomi Germa breaking the record as the most expensive transfer in women's soccer history, made her debut for Chelsea and had to come off the field in the 59th minute with an injury. So unfortunate start for her. We are hoping for the best as things go along in her European career.

And of course, anyone that is a US women's national team fan, fingers crossed as well. So all the best thoughts for Naomi Germa coming off that injury in her WSL debut against Brighton in a 2-2 draw. Thank you to everyone out there for listening. It's going to be another great week of coverage here at Soccer Wise. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube page if you don't. Join our Patreon. That is where you get access to our Discord which has been electric all weekend talking soccer. It will be all week as well with CONCACAF Champions Cup once again around the corner. NWSL season ready to kick off. It also gets you access to our JEP charts. I have cleaned up our NWSL depth charts as well as we know

them going into the season. And that is where we continue to drop all the notes you need to know about all the different teams and our MLS depth charts. We have just put out our brand spanking new ones that look incredible and are the best way to understand where your teams are at. We did get the official MLS roster release on Friday where we got all the understanding of who's on international roster spots, what roster designation, DP, U 22, Tam, all those types of things that all those players are on, which credit to MLS communications, we've done an awesome job vamping those up over the last year. That

allows us to plug them into our depth charts alongside the salaries that we already have from MLSPA, all of the contract information that we've ever gotten about these players as well as the depth charts that myself, Tom, Matt Doyle all set about the way we believe the teams will play or what we have seen so far or talked about with the squad. So make sure to subscribe there or just follow us anywhere you get your podcast and leave us a review if you can, rate us if you can, leave a comment on YouTube, any way you want to interact. we appreciate it. So enjoy your week everybody and we'll talk to you again very very soon.