Our Major League Soccer expert James Nalton explains his two votes for the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) MLS Player of the Matchday and picks out three more standout players from the latest round of action.
By James Nalton
The Top Two
9.4 FotMob rating: Ryan Gauld, Vancouver Whitecaps
Gauld’s Vancouver teammate Brian White made our team of the week last time out thanks to a hat-trick against St. Louis City, but this week it was the turn of the Scotsman, who registered a hat-trick of his own in a 3-1 win against Minnesota United.
This was a hat-trick of assists, the first of which saw White open the scoring following some good pressing from Gauld to win the ball as Minnesota failed to play out from the back, then set his teammate up for an easy finish.
The second assist was from a well-worked set piece, as Gauld played a one-two with Sebastian Berhalter at a corner, before crossing for Mathias Laborda to head home.
The third was more about the long-range finish from Berhalter, but sometimes you need an easy one to register a hat-trick, whether goals or assists.
Given Scotland’s poor performances in the European Championship, there have been suggestions the creative Gauld should have been called up alongside fellow MLS star Lewis Morgan.
Though not considered as strong a league as some of the others from which Scotland pick their squad, surely Gauld’s skillset would be useful for his national team.
His latest assists put him sixth in MLS for chances created with 53, and into the top ten for big chances created with 11.
9.0 FotMob rating: Alonso Martínez, New York City
The Costa Rican striker has turned out to be the goal poacher New York City have been crying out for.
The signing of would-be first-choice striker Mounsef Bakrar hasn’t quite worked out, so they turned to their squad depth, or as much depth as an MLS squad can have, to test Martínez in the role.
And he has not let them down. Martínez now has eight goals in 14 appearances, only seven of which have been starts.
His considerable goal haul from limited gametime means he leads the league for goals scored per 90 minutes with over one goal per game on average.
This puts him just ahead of Lionel Messi and Minnesota United sharpshooter Tani Oluwaseyi.
His goals in New York City’s 2-0 win against Montreal were well-taken, the first a cool, convincing finish when through one-v-one, and the second an instinctive first-time shot on the volley, both assisted by Hannes Wolf whose contributions have also been valuable for NYCFC of late.
Three more standout performers
9.0 FotMob rating: Pavel Bucha, FC Cincinnati
FC Cincinnati continue to pressure Inter Miami at the top of the MLS standings, both overall and in the Eastern Conference.
Miami have not stopped winning even without Messi and Luis Suárez, so Cincy have had to remain at the top of their game to remain in contention at the top of the table.
Contributions such as Bucha’s in a far from straightforward 3-2 win against DC United are vital.
His runs into attacking positions, first to get on the end of Luca Orellano’s pass to retake the lead and then to carry the ball into the box and score the third, were key to this important win.
It was a rare Cincinnati game in which Luciano Acosta was not the star man, but Bucha stepped into Acosta’s place to make sure the outcome remained a positive one in their quest to upset the expected Miami charge to the Supporters’ Shield.
8.9 FotMob rating: Hugo Cuypers, Chicago Fire
Three goals in the final ten minutes for Chicago Fire against Philadelphia Union gave the team from Illinois a dramatic, unexpected win.
They spent much of the second half 3-1 down, but rallied late to come back and win 4-3.
Cuypers headed the goal that started the comeback before a brilliant volley from substitute Gaston Giménez levelled the scores.
Then it was left to Cuypers to complete the job. It looked like the lofted ball in from Maren Haile-Selassie might have set up another header, but on this occasion the Belgian waited for the ball to drop and volleyed it almost nonchalantly past Union goalkeeper Oliver Semmle.
The late goals and the subsequent win also took Chicago ahead of Philadelphia at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, and was their third win in their last five games.
9.0 FotMob rating: Giacomo Vrioni, New England Revolution
Vrioni just sneaks into the final spot ahead of Real Salt Lake’s Andres Gómez (or indeed Diago Luna) thanks to his two goals in a big win against Atlanta for New England.
Atlanta United have their own struggles this season, but New England seem to have overcome theirs, winning this game 2-1 and closing in on the playoff places.
Having sacked head coach Gonzalo Pineda, Atlanta came into match on a four game unbeaten run, but New England’s own turnaround has been more notable.
They have now won five of their last six games having only won two of their first 13, and this win, completed by Vrioni in the first half, summed up their improvement.
The striker had plenty to do ahead of his first goal, managing to get past two defenders before unleashing a well-placed finish.
His second involved good movement and anticipation at the far post to get on the end of Noel Buck’s cross.
Things are looking up for New England, especially when you consider they have two or three games in hand on the teams above them, so a playoff spot will now be their aim, which seemed unlikely at the start of the season.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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