Only four superlatives this week, as a short week still produced some interesting moments during the international break. And I couldn’t resist pulling in the national team, which is where we start…

Most Impressive

Michael Bradley

Christian Pulisic’s two goals against Trinidad and Tobago were already superlative. But they were nothing compared to the greatest goal scored in Azteca since Maradona finished off England in 1986:

Bradley’s long USMNT weekend was so much more than that moment. With new partner Kellyn Acosta and Christian Pulisic still phenom-ing, it seems the midfield plan for the next five years is pretty clearly laid out.

But there will be plenty of time for that. The real big question here: Will every huge USMNT goal from here on out be accompanied by an announcer voice-crack (see also: Twellman after the Brooks goal against Ghana)? I certainly wouldn’t mind.

Current Non-Playoff Team Most Likely to Succeed

Montreal Impact

It was tempting to file SKC under “most disappointing” considering Peter Vermes’s directive to approach the second half as if the game were still 0–0. SKC didn’t really treat it like that though and threw mostly passive attacks at Montreal’s depleted backline for the second 45.

To a certain extent, they were right to do so. Before acquiring Blerim Dzemaili, Montreal had made a modest living of sitting back and letting Ignacio Piatti and speedster Dominic Oduro score quick counter-attack goals. It’s how they stole a point in Yankee Stadium, and it’s how they demolished DC United in last year’s playoffs.

And for all their attacking prowess, Sporting Kansas City still isn’t particularly good at scoring when they possess the ball for long stretches in the attacking third. Indeed, their goal came immediately after a fizzled Montreal attack left some space behind the Impact backline. Gerso Fernandes found that space with the help of Newcomer-of-the-Year candidate Ilie Sanchez, and held off rookie centerback Kyle Fisher to slice in a back-post strike.

Missing a boatload of players — including Dzemaili, usual CB marshal Laurent Ciman, and young phenom Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla — Montreal had to resort to that ugly-but-effective approach that saw them reach the Conference Finals last year. While SKC isn’t the greatest at breaking down teams, Montreal held better than Seattle and Minnesota, keeping the game within one dumb goal. And when that one dumb goal happened, Montreal held on — with ten men by the way — without conceding much more than a dangerous cross or two.

It’s not the kind of soccer you’d want to see from Montreal every week, and it won’t be when Dzemaili and Tabla come back, but it is the kind of soccer that could steal a playoff game or series.

Most Disappointing

Atlanta United’s Situational Soccer

A relatively even opening half hour in Chicago with chances for both ATLUTD and the Fire culminated in a (more difficult than necessary) goal by David Accam and Luis Solignac, at which point the game completely shut down for some reason.

I’ve talked in this space a couple of times about situational soccer, otherwise known as “game state.” Basically, it’s about how you play when you need a goal or need to defend a lead and, so far, Atlanta United doesn’t seem to be particularly good at coming up with answers in either state. This Chicago game was no exception.

Some numbers to explain what I mean: Atlanta scores goals at a relatively quick rate (one goal every 49 minutes) when the game is tied. They do even better when they’re leading, where their 33 minutes/goal leads the Eastern Conference.

However, their 68 minutes per goal conceded when the game is tied is 6th out of the 11 Eastern Conference teams (I chose to look at those teams since they play each other most often and that’s who Atlanta has to beat to make the playoffs). And once Atlanta goes down, as was seen in Chicago, they’re in trouble. Their 117 mins/goal scored while trailing is 3rd worst in the East, ahead of only Orlando and (yuck) DC United.

So that’s okay, Atlanta just has to make sure they score first, right? Well, not necessarily. While Atlanta is prodigious at scoring goals when the other team is pressing (that’s basically the exact circumstance Tata Martino set his team up for), they’re also really good at conceding them while ahead. Their 48 mins/goal conceded while ahead is 2nd worst in the East, ahead of only Philadelphia. And while some of those goals didn’t really matter, like the ones in Minnesota and at home against Houston and New York City, some did: Atlanta is only 5–4–2 when scoring first. That comes out to 1.57 points per game, easily the worst in the East and a far cry from 2.5 points per game Orlando, Chicago, and Toronto are getting when they score first.

These, finally, are the kinds of struggles we expect from young expansion teams. This is the first chink in the Atlanta Avenger armor I would point to, and it’s probably one that will work itself out as Josef Martinez returns to a team trying to figure out what exactly they want to do with the ball.

Most Concerning Win

Portland Timbers 2–0 FC Dallas

Portland pretty handily beat Dallas this week because Fanendo Adi got to play against Atiba Harris and some guy named Hume instead of Matt Hedges and Walker Zimmerman while Diego Valeri bossed the midfield without Acosta making a mess of things for him.

But the Timbers brought new meaning to “emergency defending” on Saturday night when their one true centerback Liam Ridgewell went down. And then their fullback-turned-centerback Roy Miller went down too, leaving Portland to scrap the last crumbs out the cupboard and play Amobi Okugo back there for a half hour.

Merritt Paulson already knew he needed to bring in a centerback in the upcoming transfer window. Now he may be reduced to petitioning the league to move that window up to tomorrow.