🔬 The debrief

The fifth week of the MLS 2025 season crossed the road point after another Saturday evening full of action through the league.

Here’s how all the action broke from one ocean to another.

What happened

The expected push of FC Cincinnati for the first place of the Eastern Conference this season continues slow in early 2025 after a 2-2 draw against Atlanta United during the kick-off of the afternoon.

A five-minute-time splint in the second half for the new Signature Evander almost guaranteed the three points after Emmanuel Latte’s opening match in the 50th minute, but a goal from Alvas Powell two minutes from the end of normal time would refuse Pat Noonan a perfect start three for three at TQL Stadium.

The second of the two previous games saw the Minnesota United in difficulty of Greg Vanney in the hope of reserving his first victory of the season, but the former international of the United States should be satisfied with a late point in a 2-2 draw in Allianz Field.

A splint of the Italian striker Kelvin Yeboah, including a penalty of the 87th minute, should probably have been sufficient for the holding of Eric Ramsay, but an equalizer of the first half of Christian Ramirez, and a level of time of arrest of Carlos Graces refuses the loons at home.

The typical Rafale of Saturday of evening matches did not disappoint in the first weeks of the 2025 season, with Charlotte FC and Orlando City winning the huge 4-1 home victories respectively against San Jose and DC United.

A world class strike by Marco Pašalić for the fourth of Orlando night highlights the two results, while the young Alex Freeman became the second biggest player in Orlando history to produce a goal and a decisive pass in a single match.

The pair of electric centers of the Eastern Conference Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls also obtained victories in friendly territory after close results 1-0 and 2-1 against St. Louis City and Toronto FC.

The union, which was under-work because of the international break, did enough to stabilize an undefeated outfit of Saint-Louis who had not yet conceded a goal in 2025, while the star of NYRB, Emil Forsberg, wanted his team to a victory in Harrison after hitting a splint in the second period.

In Columbus, the crew will undoubtedly be kicks this evening after a dominant display on the field of Lower.com could not produce a single goal because the NYCFC can count their lucky stars to leave with a point during a 0-0 draw from Gotham.

Hany Mukhtar and Nashville SC continued their climb on the scale of the Eastern Conference after a comfortable 3-0 victory at home against CF Montreal, the former international of young Germans adding a decisive pass in the evening while Alex Muyl, Josh Bauer and a first goal from the MLS for Jonathan Pérez completed the score at Geodis Park.

BJ Callaghan’s outfit quietly continues to look like a side capable of contesting the upper ladder of the conference under its direction.

The horrible start of Sporting KC until 2025 continued on the meloge of another loss, this time, a 2-0 defeat in the hands of the Visit of the Lafc. A Thunderbolt by David Martínez and a long safety cover of Aaron long on each side of the interval at halftime were more than sufficient for the men of Steven Cherundolo to end their two-game race.

Portland Timbers won his second victory of the season after their bad departure the opening day, starting with the three points on the road during a 3-0 victory in Colorado for his first victory outside the campaign.

A first goal of Timbers for Kevin Kelsy applied the final touch to a strong outside performance which also included Joshua Atencio’s own goal just before the half-time interval, and a strike from Antony only three minutes after restarting.

The Dallas FC played a close 1-0 victory on the road against the Val Salt Lake of Ten-Man in a performance that was not precisely reflected on the match sheet.

The addition of Star Luciano Acosta was denied an opening match of the penalty square in the 34th minute before going to the seventh minute of the time of downtime before the interval to win the only goal of the night in America First Field.

Vancouver Whitecaps finally tasted the defeat for the first time during the 2025 season after succumbing to an effective team from Chicago Fire during a 3-1 defeat, with goals from Hugo Cuypers, Philip Zinckergengel and Rominigue Kouamé offered Gregg Berhalter his third victory.

To close the night, the Sounders of Seattle were frustrated at home after a 0-0 draw against the Houston Dynamo on a visit. Dominating throughout, the outfit of Brian Schmetzer, who honored the injured star Paul Arriola, could not simply behave on their number of attacks because they remain in the lower levels of the West Conference.

Player of the day 🥇

Emil Forsberg has passed a lot of heads when he left RB Leipzig for the holding of NYRB conglomerate in February from last year, but so far, fans of Red Bulls live the big life in the back of the midfield born in Sundsvall.

With a splint this evening to lead the club to a 2-1 victory at home against the Toronto FC, the NYRB record improved at 8-3-1 during the regular season when the Swedish international contributes to a goal or to help with their cause.

Its influence is undeniable.

Statistics of the day 📊

Dean Smith continues to chair a growing outfit of the Charlotte FC after the crown won a huge 4-1 victory over the earthquakes of San Jose.

With this, Charlotte’s 10 points after five matches in 2025 are the best start through this period in the history of the club.

What it means 🤔

After victories for Philadelphia Union, Charlotte FC, Nashville SC and the Chicago Fire, the summit of the East conference remains full of people due to Inter Miami who does not show up this weekend. Philly is seated at the top of the battery with 12 points, with Charlotte, Inter Miami, Nashville and Chicago all levels on 10 points.

The middle of the peloton is just as close, with Columbus Crew, NYRB, NYCFC, Orlando City and FC Cincinnati separated by only two points.

Throughout the Western Conference, the first vancouver defeat of the 2025 Gralicété de Chicago campaign did not break its position at the top of the table, having a three -point lead on the second LAFC (9 points) after their victory over Sporting KC.

Although the three do not win, St. Louis City, Minnesota and Colorado are level with the San Diego FC Invainu on eight points, the SDFC being ready to compete with Austin FC on Sunday afternoon. The victories for Dallas and Portland shoot the pair to the middle table and in front of San Jose.

At the other end of the two conferences, Toronto, Montreal and SKC are all working down with a single point in the bank and the level with the New England Revolution with the worst point point so far, although the REVs have a match in hand.

What comes then

Just a match of Sunday’s file at the week of the week, with the undefeated beginner of the MLS San Diego FC trying to keep their sequence alive under Mikey Varas while they watch horns with the Austin FC of Nicolás Estévez at the Q2 stadium.

📸 Editorial photo credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images