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
9.6 FotMob rating: Diego Luna, Real Salt Lake
The men’s national teams have been the big storylines on the outskirts of Major League Soccer and within US soccer generally in recent weeks.
With the USMNT exiting the Copa America in the group stage as hosts and an Olympic games on the horizon that involves U23 players, there is a lot of focus on what the future of US men’s national team soccer looks like.
Anyone who watches Real Salt Lake would presume Diego Luna would certainly be a part of that future.
It might have been expected that the 20-year-old would be more involved in the senior setup by now, given his unique talent and performances for RSL. But as it turns out, he’s not even been deemed worthy of a call-up to the Olympic squad, which seems tailor-made for him at this moment in time.
He responded to this snub by putting in an outstanding performance in Real Salt Lake’s 5-2 win against Atlanta. He made three assists and scored one of his own, also completing four out of four dribbles attempted.
This came on the back of a goal and six chances created in the 3-2 win at Houston last week.
It seems the only ones who would not select him for a US U23 squad at this time, are those actually selecting the squad.
9.4 FotMob rating: Jonathan Rodríguez, Portland Timbers
After a seven-game unbeaten run, Portland stumbled in midweek losing 3-2 to FC Dallas, but got back on track in emphatic fashion with a 4-1 win against Nashville this weekend.
They managed this without one of their star players so far this season, Evander, and also without head coach Phil Neville on the sidelines, as both were suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
But one of the things that has seen Portland go on a run that has seen them win seven of their last 11 games and be among the top scorers in the league, is their wealth of attacking talent.
In Evander’s absence, Jonathan Rodríguez stepped up, netting twice and getting an assist as Portland scored four in the opening half-hour.
He was ably supported by others, including Santiago Moreno, who created four chances and assisted two of the four goals.
Three more standout performers
9.3 FotMob rating: Gabriel Pec, LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy joined Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles FC on 43 points at the top of the Western Conference thanks to a 2-1 win against Minnesota United.
Brazilian winger Gabriel Pec was the key player in this one, scoring both goals to give the Galaxy the win.
He was heavily involved as Galaxy had 61% possession in the game which was dictated by Marky Delgado and Riqui Puig, but won by Pec.
He showed some good moments of skill and entertainment on the wing, but his goals were scored from the positions normally taken up by a striker, in the middle of the box at the right time.
Pec’s play was the difference between one point and three as he scored the winner in the 90th minute – which is well worth a watch, here.
9.1 FotMob rating: Luciano Acosta, FC Cincinnati
The reigning MLS MVP is getting serious. While Lionel Messi’s arrival in the league and his first full season in it this year made the Inter Miami man almost a shoo-in for the 2024 MVP award, Lucho Acosta is genuinely, once again, putting in best-in-the-league performances.
The latest came against Inter Miami themselves, but Messi was absent, playing for Argentina at the Copa America.
Prior to this, Miami had won all four of their games sans Messi and headed into this top-of-the-table clash on a high despite their absences.
But that didn’t last, as FC Cincinnati ran out 6-1 winners with Acosta pulling all the strings.
No player on the field had more touches than Acosta’s 102. Among these were six chances created, three successful dribbles, eight duels won, one goal, and one assist.
When it comes to being the most valuable player to your team, you need to be present for games like this and making a difference.
It’s not Messi’s fault that he wasn’t, as MLS carries on playing during international tournaments, but Acosta certainly took the opportunity to put his team top of the Eastern Conference and top of the overall Supporters’ Shield standings.
As is often the case, he had plenty of support from his teammates (see Pavel Bucha’s performance in midweek), but there’s no doubt Acosta is the driving force in this team, and in the league as a whole.
9.1 FotMob rating: Diego Rossi, Columbus Crew
The Crew continue to lurk in the Eastern Conference, thanks to their three games in hand on second-place Inter Miami.
If they win those games, they will go above the Florida side to challenge FC Cincinnati at the top.
Cucho Hernández and Diego Rossi seem to be taking turns putting in the standout displays for the Crew in recent weeks, and this week it was Rossi’s go, with his two assists and a goal just outshining Cucho’s one of each as they defeated Toronto 4-0.
Rossi assisted Cucho’s first from a corner — his set piece delivery regularly proves a useful tool for this team.
His second assist was a header into the path of Mohamed Farsi before he instinctively took advantage of some poor Toronto defending to score his goal. Promising signs for Columbus going into the final third of the season.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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