MLS Week 7 Recap _ El Tráfico Was INSANE!

Hello everyone, welcome back to MLS Moves. Please make sure you like this video down below and subscribe to the channel if you are new. Before we get to the video, I'd like to thank you all for your support and remind you that we're doing a Jersey giveaway when we hit 3000 subscribers. 3000 subscribers is our goal to reach by the end of this month, so make sure you subscribe, stay subscribed, follow me on Twitter at MLS Moves for the latest up-to-date on the giveaway. Now onto the video. Well, it was a pretty big week for MLS in week seven. First off, we had El Trafico between LAFC and the LA Galaxy. What I consider to be the biggest and best rivalry in MLS, even if I get flack from the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers fans, this is the premier biggest rivalry in MLS. And this game didn't disappoint and was a great match as it always is. I thought LAFC came out of the gate very strong. Obviously, this is not the strongest LAFC team we have seen in recent years with several pieces missing, obviously looking to the summer to add a couple of different things, but Denis Buanga showed up today, played very well. He had one shot he missed, which was a sitter that he should have absolutely finished, but Kike Olivera looked good. Matty Boguch playing the false nine. Still don't like him playing there, but he looked pretty solid. A twist that had a very good game. Elie was kind of, I didn't really notice him as much this game, to be honest with you, he kind of disappeared a little bit. He wasn't bad, but I just didn't really notice him. Aaron Long, he was decent, I guess. There was a, on the Julian Aude goal, he kind of, honestly, the whole back line didn't look very good. He should have never, they should have never had four shot attempts when they were in goal like that. That was just a poor defensive showing for the back line for LAFC at that point, but Hugo Lloris looked very good. He was very solid. He had a very good game. Honestly, I think he might've had one of his best game as an LAFC player, but LAFC came today, they came to play in today's El Trafico match. They looked very solid and the LA Galaxy was very disappointing, honestly. This was their first loss of the season. I was very disappointed in the DPs outside of Puj. Puj looked pretty solid. Obviously he's been their best player this season. The ball goes through him. I think he has the most touches and completed passes of any player in MLS this season. So the buildup play, everything kind of lives and dies through Ricky Puj. So he was solid as always, wasn't able to score obviously, but had some very key passes, set some players up. They just weren't able to finish. I thought Joseph Paintsill would kind of disappear today. He never could really get anything going or create anything. The last couple of games, he actually started on the right wing, but in this game, he started on the left wing. Gabriel Peck started on the right wing. So each player was playing as inverted wingers. And I think that he kind of just didn't really do much today. Honestly, Gabriel Peck had a couple of plays or a couple of moments where he looked decent. There was the one breakaway. He would have had a pretty good opportunity to score, but Tillman actually fouled him, which was a good foul to stop the buildup on that because Paintsill was on the opposite end, ready to just break through and who knows if they would have been able to score. Jovovich hasn't scored since his injury pre-game. He came off the bench last week and then he wasn't able to score this week. I think he has been kind of in a rut or looks like he's starting to be in a rut. Um, you know, the back four really wasn't that bad considering Serio was playing at center back with a Caceres, uh, out. I thought John McCarthy was pretty solid. He had a couple of good saves, but this was just, you know, LAFC just one fair and square. I mean, you know, if you, now the penalty obviously is debatable. If it should have been a penalty, I personally don't think it was a penalty, but LAFC looked like the better team today. Um, you know, a lot of fans would say maybe the refereeing wasn't as good, but it was another great El Trafico match. I enjoyed it very much. I can't wait to see what the other two matches are going to entail and see what happens and who wins the best of three this year. Now, moving on to Miami and Colorado. Miami had several players out today. They had Avales playing central defensive midfielder in place of Butzgetz. They had Noah Allen playing center back. They had Brian Ruiz playing right back, Campana playing up top. Campana actually got injured and Diego Gomez went for him, went in for him in the first half. Um, Leo Messi was on the bench and he ended up coming in the second half as well as, uh, Sergio Butzgetz and, and Jordy Alba, but this was a pretty depleted starting 11, but even with all that, when Messi came on, they, this team completely changed. Messi scores a goal in the second half, and then they score again in the second half to go up 2-1, which is crazy considering this team was resting players for their second leg with Monterey this coming week, uh, and CONCACAF Champions Cup, but they were still able to take the lead. Colorado was able to pull one back and it ended up being a 2-2 draw, but when you consider that Inter-Miami was resting players, had a very, very watered down starting 11, this was a great performance by them to be able to come away on the road with the draw, come away with a point after they were trying to rest some of their players. I think that's a solid performance by them, and you can see that Messi, when he's healthy and when he's on the field, what kind of difference he can make. We haven't really got to see this team at full strength this year with everyone healthy. It seems like whenever someone comes back or gets back into the fold, another player gets injured, but when this team is fully healthy, they should be a force to be reckoned with, and it'll be interesting to see what happens. I'm curious to see what they do next week in CONCACAF Champions Cup against Monterey at Monterey. You know, it's to be determined. Obviously, Colorado came away after conceding two goals to be able to get a draw with Miami. It's a pretty decent result for them as well. Obviously, you thought they were going to win when they were up 1-0, and Miami looked like they were struggling to score, but Colorado Rapids are a better team this year. They look a lot better. I've been impressed with the way they've been playing and the way they've been coached by Chris Armas, but it's still to be determined on what happens, and I'll be interested to see if they're actually competing for a playoff spot by the end of the season, and on the third match, we had the Seattle Sounders and Montreal. Now, Seattle has had a plethora of injuries. I've talked about this. If you listen to the recent episode on Rave Green TV that I just recently guessed on, we talked about all the injuries Seattle has went through this season and the last couple of years. They've always got players hurt. Nobody can stay healthy, but it seems like after not being able to score, but one goal in the run of play this season, they just absolutely poured it on Montreal, who has been a formidable team this season, and they won 5-0. Raul Ruiz-Diaz, who has been inconsistent the last couple of years, had a brace, and he scored an absolute goal loss, so this was by far the goal of the week. This is the best goal I've seen. I mean, actually, maybe Brian Gutierrez's chip goal might beat it, but I think I'd give it the edge to Raul Ruiz-Diaz's goal. His absolute screamer. Jordan Morris finally finds a back in that in 2024. It looked like things were starting to pick up for the team. There was a lot of cohesion. Things are really starting to gel for this team. It'll be interesting to see if they're able to do this consistently or if it was a one-week wonder, but Jaap Paulo was able to play for the first time this year. Everything just looked like it's finally coming to fruition and things are really turning around. We'll just have to see if they're able to play like this consistently. What will happen when Pedro de la Vega comes back, there's just a lot to be determined, but the Seattle Sounders have a history of winning and this is, like I've said, this is the gold standard club for MLS the last decade. I think that they will be able to figure things out, and especially when the summertime comes, this team should be able to at least hang on long enough for the summer and be able to qualify for the playoffs. Some other scores around the league, we have the Revolution finally getting a win, beating Charlotte FC 1-0. Then we had the Vancouver Whitecaps, which has been a surprise this year. They beat Toronto FC 4-0, and they're probably the best team in Canada right now. New York City FC and Atlanta United was a 1-1 draw. Columbus Crew and DC United was also a 1-1 draw. New York Red Bulls, first place in the East, beating FC Cincinnati 2-1. New York Red Bulls have been a scary good team this year. I can't wait to see what they do this summer when they add other players and see how much better they can be, because they're already very good. FC Dallas and St. Louis City SC end in a draw. Both teams have struggled this season. FC Dallas can't seem to figure things out. Kind of wonder if Nico Estevez is going to be on the hot seat. Is he going to be fired? St. Louis City SC is going through a sophomore slump. Curious to see what kind of changes they make this summer. Philadelphia Union beat Nashville SC 2-1. RSL and Minnesota United end in a 1-1 draw. Chicago Fire beat the Houston Automo 2-1. Like I mentioned earlier, Brian Gutierrez had an absolute beautiful chip. Austin FC winning back-to-back games at home for the first time in a while. Beat San Jose Earthquakes 4-3. Nice to see them actually get back on the board and start to win again. And that was my recap for the week. Let me know in the comments section, what was your favorite game of the week? Did you enjoy El Trafico as much as I did? Are you surprised that the Sounders are finally turning it around? Winning 5-0 over the impact? Or are you more surprised about Austin FC beating San Jose 4-3? What was your surprise of the week? What's your takeaway? Comment down below. Let me know. 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