It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled is here to dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. Let’s get right to it.
Winner: Contenders with credentials
Three MLS clubs made statements this weekend that really cemented their status as legit contenders: Real Salt Lake, Nashville SC, and the San Jose Earthquakes.
Real Salt Lake have been impressive all season, relying on a combination of top-tier offseason recruitment and standout domestic players. But their complete dispatching of San Diego FC on Saturday night was perhaps their most impressive marker in the ground to date. The 4-2 scoreline doesn’t really tell the whole story, where RSL completely dominated the first half, took a 4-1 lead to the break, and were able to mostly coast through the second half.
That momentum chart in the center of this graphic from MLS Analytics? Yeah, it doesn’t get any more dominant than that against a San Diego squad that’s not far removed from dispatching a Liga MX foe in Concacaf play.
San Diego FC’s backline was depleted on Saturday, but Salt Lake still aren’t at full strength, either. Emeka Eneli hasn’t made his debut this season due to injury and Juan Manuel Sanabria has missed the past few matches due to visa holdups. It hasn’t mattered. RSL haven’t lost since the season opener, and they haven’t dropped points since the last time they played San Diego in San Diego a few weeks ago. This team is talented and they’re deep.
We’ve talked a lot about players like Diego Luna, Morgan Guilavogui, Zavier Gozo, and Sanabria in prior weekends, but striker Sergi Solans deserves a special mention. The rookie grabbed two goals and an assist, and honestly it could have been more. The UCLA product is simply excellent at finding the right spots to arrive in the box. He’s just a constant threat.
Nashville SC, arguably, have had one of the most impressive two week stretches in league history.
It began with a 0-0 draw at home against the biggest club on the continent, Club America, in the Concacaf Champions Cup. A 2-1 road win against another top Eastern Conference team in Charlotte FC followed, even with Nashville using a mostly rotated side. Then there was a 1-0 road win at the Azteca against Club America to advance to the CCC semifinals, marking the first win by an MLS club at the legendary stadium. Finally, they capped things off with yet another road win: a 2-0 victory over Atlanta United, again with a partially rotated side.
