“Everything he’s doing from a leadership perspective, a goal-scoring perspective, has really lended itself to being a great leader, and the guys behind him are doing such a great job of following his lead.” These are the words of Real Salt Lake manager Pablo Mastroeni on his captain, the proven Major League Soccer star and leader, Chicho Arango.
Arango, the RLS skipper, delivered inspiring Major League Soccer 2024 results after contributing to all four of RSL’s goals against Chicago Fire last weekend.
Chicho scored two rapid-fire goals in minutes 33 and 37 while dishing out assists to both Andres Gomez and Diego Luna to complete the thrashing of the Windy City at Soldier Field with a 0-4 score line.
“Chicho’s doing everything that we’re asking. I think he’s playing with a ton of confidence,” head coach Pablo Mastoreni said of his skipper after their win against Chicago. “I think one of the things he said to the group today before the game was, ‘If you want to be a champion, we have to conduct ourselves like champions, and that’s getting a result tonight.”
He is on pace to surpass the stellar season he had with LAFC from 2021 to 2022, when he scored 30 goals in two seasons.
Currently, the RSL ace boasts the most goals (8) and assists (7) in the entire MLS, bolstering his Major League Soccer 2024 odds to win the MVP this campaign.
Messi and Busquets get it done past Nashville
Inter Miami continue their sensational start as they find themselves atop the Eastern Conference with 18 points in 10 games. Leo Messi delivered a brace to give Miami a comfortable lead, while Sergio Busquets added a goal of his own to seal the deal.
Messi was able to score his sixth and seventh goal of the season while claiming his sixth assist during their come-from-behind win over Nashville SC. The Argentine legend boosts himself to claim the second most goals scored in the 2024 MLS season thus far, trailing only Real Salt Lake’s Chicho Arango, who has eight.
Thanks to the goal-getting prowess of Miami players like Messi and Luis Suarez, Inter Miami boast the most potent offence in the league, with 22 goals at the time of writing, one goal ahead of the current Western Conference kings, LA Galaxy.
Miami now have a slim two-point lead over RBNY in the standings. While Inter have already played 10 games, the most out of all the teams in the Eastern Conference, RBNY have a great opportunity to reclaim the top spot in the standings if they manage to get a win against a formidable Vancouver outfit.
Diego Gomez goes down with an ankle injury
Diego Gomez is expected to miss roughly six weeks due to a high-grade ankle sprain he sustained during the first half of their win over Nashville.
“They took him to the hospital to get an X-ray. It was an ankle sprain,” Gerardo Martino said after the match.
The 21-year-old went down with a non-contact injury when he pressed Nashville’s man between the sticks a few minutes before halftime.
“What we saw was clearly an ankle sprain. What we need to find out is whether it was a regular sprain or whether there’s anything serious with the bone, and that’s what we’re trying to rule out now,” Miami head coach Gerardo Martino stated during a post-match interview. “He was in a lot of pain; the ankle was swollen. But we can’t make any suppositions.”
Gomez joins Federico Redondo and Facundo Farias on Inter Miami’s injury list. Gomez going down only puts his availability up in the air. His status for the next MLS games and Paraguay’s 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris will have a question mark as well.
Make sure to stay in the loop with SBOTOP for the latest updates regarding MLS injuries.
Houston Dynamo grants head coach Ben Olsen a contract extension
Head coach Ben Olsen signed a contract extension with Houston Dynamo FC that will see him with the club through the 2026 MLS season.
“As our head coach, Ben has been instrumental in leading our club’s resurgence and building a foundation for continued success,” Houston general manager Pat Onstad exclaimed in a press release.
Olsen is coming off a stellar debut with the Dynamo, where the outfit won the 2023 US Open Cup title, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and appeared in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017.
“Ben has led the on-field turnaround of the team over the past 12 months, including a return to the MLS Cup Playoffs and international competition, lifting another US Open Cup, and knocking out two major Liga MX teams from Leagues Cup,” Pat Onstad added.
Olsen and his Dynamo haven’t taken their foot off the pedal, picking up where they left off last season and tallying a 4W-2L-1D record in their first seven matches this campaign.
Ben Olsen extended his gratitude to the club, saying, “I would like to thank Ted Segal, Pat Onstad, and the Houston Dynamo staff and players for their continued support.”
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