Around the League: Matchday 2

Throughout the year, we’ll be posting a roundup of things that caught our eye around the league in the previous week. The choices will be arbitrary, but we hope you’ll find what we share as entertaining as we did. Kicking things off, we’ve got a first-ever home game for an MLS expansion team, a goal from a 38-year-old, and a couple of pretty highlights.

St. Louis CITY’s home opener

St. Louis CITY SC opened CITYPARK on Saturday, in front of a sell-out crowd that was as loud as you could expect as the team hosted Charlotte FC:

Epic scenes. ?@stlCITYsc x #AllForCITY TIFO pic.twitter.com/7SpwRfCamX

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 5, 2023

The team – fresh off a win last week against Austin – did not disappoint the home crowd, beating Charlotte FC 3-1, giving the team 6 points and starting to silence some who listed CITY as Wooden Spoon contenders before the season started.

CITY Supporters posted a video of the making of their tifo which gives you a sense of the size and scale of the endeavor, similar to what Sector Latino did for the tifo at Soldier Field on Saturday. Making these things aren’t easy to make and it takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication – not to mention more space than you’re likely to have in your garage.

LAFC Starts Their Season With a Win

LAFC finally started their season a week later than expected, as they found themselves unexpectedly off last week as weather issues postponed their match against the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl until July 4. 38-year-old Giorgio Chiellini – a couple of weeks older than new Fire forward Kei Kamara – opened up the scoring with his first-ever MLS goal as LAFC managed to rack up a 3-0 lead before Portland scored 2, making it a close game in the closing minutes.

Giorgio Chiellini scores vs Portland Timbers. His first goal for LAFC and his first goal in the MLS. pic.twitter.com/6TPee2fwnT

— Elijah (@Kyama_Elijah) March 4, 2023

Inter Miami dispatch the Union

Back on the East Coast, the other 2022 MLS Cup finalists found themselves unable to find their way into the back of Miami’s net, falling 2-0 in the process. The Union fell to 1-0-1 and have a busy week, flying down to El Salvador for a match against Alianza FC today before returning to Philadelphia to host the FIre on Saturday. Miami, on the other hand, now has 6 points and have kept two clean sheets to open their season, winning both matches by an identical 2-0 scoreline, including this good-looking 77’ insurance goal on Saturday.

Phil Neville’s Inter Miami start the season with 2 wins from 2 games. Decent goal from Robert Taylor to secure the win vs Philadelphia Union last night #InterMiamiCF    pic.twitter.com/oN50nESu0h

— James Nalton (@JDNalton) March 5, 2023

Sounders Put on Passing Clinic

The Sounders are one of four teams in the league with 6 points from two games after beating Real Salt Lake 2-0, but it’s not just that they won, but how they won. Multiple times in the game, the team managed to string together insane passing sequences in possession, including this sequence leading up to their first goal. It looks like everyone in Seattle is awake after missing out on the playoffs last year.