Zlatan Ibrahimovic used all of his 6-5, 209 pound Swedish frame to open the scoring for Los Angeles against DC United on the Fourth of July, making it 10 goals from 13 games for the striker. The 36-year-old is doing everything in his power to restore LA to prominence in MLS, but the Galaxy aren’t any good.
Darwin Quintero, Minnesota United’s first-ever Designated Player signing, repaid in full his $1.65 million salary by scoring the club’s maiden hat-trick in Major League Soccer. What’s more, it was the greatest hat-trick in the history of the league. I can say that because I was there — look! Here’s a picture of Michael Bradley suffering in the Fourth of July heat whilst “shielding” his backline (he was awful).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has shown his support for Sweden throughout the World Cup, but after being left off the 23-man squad despite his status as the nation’s all-time top goalscorer, you can bet that the Blue-Yellow’s march to the Round of 16 has been somewhat bittersweet for the 36-year-old.
Collin Martin, a 23-year-old Minnesota United midfielder, announced via Twitter that he is gay on Friday morning.
The announcement makes Martin the only active openly gay male athlete in major U.S. professional sports. LA Galaxy winger Robbie Rogers had previously held that mantle, but he retired in November.
Wayne Rooney is currently embarking on his journey to Major League Soccer — DC United to be exact. The Manchester United and England legend has been a rumored transfer target of the MLS club for a couple months now, but there was always a chance that the 32-year-old would elect to stay with Everton in the Premier League.
We get it. The World Cup is eight-straight hours a day of otherworldly goodness that you dare not miss. We’re not asking you to watch anything else (we also know that you’ve got to carve out some time to eat, sleep and potentially bathe in your life), but we’ve witnessed some bangers in the U.S. Open Cup, NWSL and USL over the past week that’ve been hugely overlooked because of the world’s greatest sporting event.
Here’s a little roundup of seven sensational goals that’ve been buried deep in the news cycle by the blitz of footie action over in Russia.
It was a wild ride for American midfielder Dax McCarty in 2017. In January, McCarty was recalled by the national team for the first time since 2011, but he was subsequently shocked to learn that after five and a half seasons with the New York Red Bulls, he’d been dealt to the Chicago Fire before the start of the new campaign.
McCarty then helped the USMNT triumph at the Gold Cup, starting in two group stage games and appearing in five games overall, including a late substitute appearance in the final against Jamaica.
Heading into the MLS World Cup break, the Los Angeles Galaxy got a much-needed 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night with Zlatan Ibrahimovic heading in his side’s first two goals at the StubHub Center.
Five minutes before opening the scoring in the 61’, Ibrahimovic clashed with RSL defender Sunny following a scramble in the goalmouth that the visitors just managed to clear.
FC Cincinnati, the darlings of the 2017 U.S. Open Cup after a historic run to the semifinals of the competition, have been narrowly defeated by Minnesota United in this year’s fourth round following a penalty shootout at Nippert Stadium.