San Jose Earthquakes, Luis Suarez headline the Best of MLS for Week 11
05/07/2024 11:23 AM
By Favian Renkel and Justin Ruderman
Welcome back to Week No. 11 of Justin and Favian's Weekly MLS Awards where SBI staff writers Justin Ruderman and Favian Renkel bring you a glimpse at the best of each week in MLS.
This week saw multiple goal-less draws, several hat tricks scored, and many more can't miss moments. Here's what caught our eye:
Player of the Week
Justin Ruderman: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
I'm starting to wonder if there will ever be an edition of Justin and Favian's Weekly MLS Awards which Lionel Messi is not included. Probably not.
Nonetheless, this week he earned every bit of it.
For the first time in MLS history, a player assisted five goals in a single match. Just because he's Messsi, he scored a goal as well. "Oh, and he did it in just one half."
Inter Miami is one third of the way through the MLS season and the MVP race may already be over. The only guy who might be able to catch him is the man Messi assisted for a hat trick but he'd probably need the Argentinian's help to do so which presents quite a conundrum. I'd put my money on the world champion.
Favian Renkel: Luis Suarez (Inter Miami)
Imagine this: You score a hat trick with some beautiful goals in under 20 minutes, plus an assist, totaling four impactful goal contributions. You’d think you’d easily clinch Player of the Matchday, right? Wrong. Not when you’re teammates with Lionel Messi. There he is, outshining you with five assists and a goal, making six historic goal contributions. This is the routine for Luis Suarez at Inter Miami, where even his first hat trick for the team is overshadowed by Messi’s historic performance. Having to constantly take the backseat to all the fanfare must get tiring, but not for Suarez.
The Uruguayan happily plays the role of the sidekick as Messi takes center stage week in and week out. It’s a good thing Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi are best friends, because there could be an issue on other teams or between other players. Due to the friendship and the experience these two have together, this is just a little friendly competition for MLS MVP between the two at this point, as they are the only two players in the league to have been named Players of the Month so far this season.
With Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi leading the MVP power rankings, this is the first time I can confidently say that a team has two genuine MVP candidates, despite the saying, “A team with two MVP candidates has zero candidates". From sharing Yerba Mates to possibly sharing the MVP trophy, I can guarantee this isn't the last time you will see Justin and I talking about Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as our picks for Players of the Week.
The elephant in the room will be a topic of discussion throughout the season: Can the sidekick Suarez outshine his hero and secure the MLS MVP trophy all for himself?
Young Player of the Week
JR: Obed Vargas (Seattle Sounders)
But Justin, Seattle drew 0-0 with Galaxy! How could Obed Vargas be YPOTW?
Don't forget, the Sounders played twice this week! Due to a rain delay earlier this season, Seattle finished their game against the Union on Tuesday, winning 3-2 as Vargas netted his first MLS goal.
Even outside of his pinpoint curler to become the youngest Sounder to score for the club in their MLS era, the 18-year-old American was still the best player on the pitch in Chester. Vargas completed the most dribbles (5), won the most tackles (6) with a 100% success rate, and won the most duels (15) of any player in the match.
That elite performance led to a second start of the week on Sunday against the Galaxy when João Paulo's return to the lineup led to Vargas being employed as a right winger. It's not his natural position but one that head coach Brian Schmetzer still trusted him in more than the genuine wingers on the roster such as Léo Chú due to his midweek performance. Although Seattle was unable to score against LA, the decision was clearly correct as Vargas caused Galaxy's defense the most trouble on the day.
A midweek masterclass with the cherry on top from a noteworthy performance out of position earns Vargas his deserved recognition from me. Expect to hear his name more and more as he develops.
FR: Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union)
Just as Justin’s pick, Obed Vargas, played twice this week, my pick for young player of the week, Jack McGlynn, also had two matches. With two games under his belt, the youngster shone for an offense that has struggled a bit as of late.
With two goals in two games, McGlynn had to be on this list, and you will see him later with one of the goals. The 20-year-old was able to open his account for the season and does not appear to be looking back. The Union have been struggling a bit ever since their were knocked out of being able to qualify for the Club World Cup with the elimination of CF Monterrey, yes they were Brandon Vazquez fans for a bit, they haven't been playing like their usual selves. Union Legend Andre Blake even took to Instagram to make some cryptic tweets about it not being the same love anymore.
Even with the downward spiral that the Union are headed to, this is a great opportunity for a young player like McGlynn to make his mark and finally take over this team. This is the season that everyone is expecting Jack to make that jump in his play. Let’s see if this is the start of that and Jack can truly become the player he’s destined to be for the Union.
Goal of the Week
JR: Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union)
D.C. United was up 2-1 at halftime and clung to their lead for nearly the entire second half. That is until Jack McGlynn took matters into his own hands to ensure the Union left the nation's capitol with a point.
Opening up on his left foot 25 yards from goal, the Union homegrown struck a swerving, dipping rocket into the opposite top corner. Postage stamp.
The American youth international simply hit a perfect shot from his position on the pitch. The initial direction caused D.C. goalkeeper Alex Bono to take one step in the wrong direction before turning back on himself as the ball bent backwards into the back of his net. It was so well hit that Bono surely wasn't getting there anyway, but the misdirection makes McGlynn's goal all the more impressive. The 20-year-old has already scored some beautiful goals in his Union career but this one surely has to be top of the pile.
FR: Federico Bernadeschi (Toronto FC)
Bernadeschi is undoubtedly one of the standout players in Major League Soccer, and he’s starting to shine even more as a leader for Toronto FC under John Herdman. At the beginning of the season, Toronto showed strength with impressive wins led by Insigne and Bernadeschi. However, a couple of weeks ago, Insigne got injured, and many feared that Toronto would struggle, especially considering their last-place finish the previous year. Surprisingly, even without their star player, Toronto FC has risen to become one of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference, thanks to other superstars stepping up during Insigne’s absence.
Bernadeschi, particularly, has been the point person in this offense and has been burdening the load as his costar recovers. While his only criticism of Bernadeschi in MLS has been his difficulty finding the net consistently, but he finally found the back of the net for the first time this MLS season with a rebound of a blocked penalty. With the monkey off his back, Bernadeschi scored for a second time and this goal stole the show.
Take a look at this beauty
Team of the Week
JR: Inter Miami CF
Who thought Inter Miami wasn't going to win the Supporters' Shield?
The league leaders hosted third-place New York Red Bulls in what was expected to be a close, high-scoring affair. Only one of those came to fruition, however.
Behind historic performances from our two POTW nominations, Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, Miami completely battered RBNY 6-2 to return the favor after losing 4-0 at Red Bull Arena earlier this season. The Herons may not be sufficiently clear at the top of the table to make such a statement yet I'm sure most would agree they are heavy Supporters' Shield favorites due to their legendary attacking duo.
Messi and Suárez now sit tied with 10 goals each atop the MLS Golden Boot race as well as first (Messi; 19) and second (Suárez; 15) in direct goal contributions. Good luck stopping this team when those two are on a roll.
FR: San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes dominated LAFC at Levi's Stadium this weekend in front of a crowd of 43,000 people who witnessed this Quakes team emerge from the ruins of a season destined for the wooden spoon. The match between the two California teams wasn't even close, but it was more about how the Quakes were playing now than about LAFC’s woes.
Is it too early to say that the San Jose Earthquakes are back? With Hernan Lopez and Cristian Espinoza running the team, anything is possible. Luckily for the people of San Jose, MLS is a long season, and in the past, the first 10 games do not tend to matter as much in the grand scheme of things.
It’s crazy to think about the impact a brand-new, historic DP signing can have on a team that was once destined to win the wooden spoon this year. While everyone else in the league was acquiring shiny new DPs to bolster their squads during the off-season, the Quakes chose to stay put. This decision may have been the right one for Leitch, the Quakes GM, and Luchi Gonzalez, the Quakes Head Coach, as they secured one of the best players from the Argentinian league.
With the blood of soccer legend Diego Maradonna running through his veins, Hernan is destined to achieve great things in the Black and Blue. It’s only a matter of time before we see all the other Earthquake players around him start to perform at his level.
Cristian Espinoza, a former MVP candidate just last year, will now have more space to whip in crosses and rack up all the assists in this offense. Hernan makes the Quakes not so one-dimensional with their offensive approach, and this one-two Argentinian punch is a duo that can keep up with the rest of the league without any problem.
Keep an eye on the Quakes because I see their stock rising dramatically in the next couple of months.
Best thing we saw this week
JR: Parity league
The pressure on MLS owners to loosen the purse strings and league roster restrictions in the process is neverending but this weekend we saw the other side of that wonderful American debate. In a show of parity, the two teams at the bottom of each conference table won their matches on Saturday.
The New England Revolution took down the Fire in Chicago while the San Jose Earthquakes knocked off the reigning Western Conference champions in a dominant victory as Favian described. Both teams have been extremely poor in the first third of the season. So much so that even with their wins, they remain at the bottom of their respective conference. However, that is the perfect proof of the parity in this league. Steve Cherundolo put it perfectly.
Quality will continue to have room for improvement but there is no question that the parity of MLS makes for one of if not the most entertaining league in world football. Don't forget to appreciate it.
FR: Luciano Acosta makes history back to back Matchdays
Luciano Acosta was able to make history in back-to-back Matchdays with being the all-time leading goalscorer in FC Cincinnati history and now having the fastest goal in FC Cincinnati history. All this was done with two completely different hairstyles and tons of confidence coming from the reigning MLS MVP. In this week matchup versus Orlando City, Acosta was able to score the lone goal of the match only 17 seconds into the match, to shock everyone in attendance at Inter&Co. Stadium. Not Inter Miami's Stadium, but the home of Orlando City or the "Purple Team".
With having Lionel Messi in the league, the MVP understands that he has to have a phenomenal season to even compete with the reigning World Cup Winner. That's what Luciano Acosta has exactly done approximately 1/3 through the season.
Let's see if Lucho can keep breaking records and trying out different hairstyles.
