MLS is Back Tournament Recap: 7/25/20!

Orlando City 1 – Montreal Impact 0

Philadelphia Union 1 – New England Revolution 0

After having a day off, the MLS is Back Tournament kicked off it’s round of 16 tonight and saw two teams go through to the quarterfinals in two tough defensively fought games.

Game 1:

Tournament “hosts” Orlando took on a surprise team in Montreal. Montreal held on as long as they could, but it was Orlando who would prevail in the end.

Orlando City: C+

Orlando still hasn’t really impressed me in this tournament but they continue to move on. They played this game very methodically knowing that the amount of goals scored doesn’t matter. They weren’t concerned at all about Montreal scoring on them and took advantage of their chance when they had it. They’ll need a new game plan as the games get tougher but are happy to continue moving on to the quarterfinals.

Montreal Impact: D+

Montreal snuck into the round of 16 even though they weren’t a great team. They weren’t a great team in this one either. They were unable to get anything going at all and seemed to just be playing for a shootout to try to sneak through. It wasn’t meant to be tonight for them.

Man of the Match: Tesho Akindele

When there’s a 1-0 game in soccer there’s really only two people that can be man of the match. The goalkeeper only needed to make one save, so it became the goal scorer’s award. It wasn’t a difficult shot for Akindele as he just needed to redirect the ball into an open net after the keeper was already beaten, but still he was the reason that Orlando moved on.

Game 2:

Philadelphia took on New England in the late game and it looked like it could stay 0-0 all game as it was another strong game from two defensive minded teams.

Philadelphia Union: C

Much like Orlando, Philadelphia was content to play defense, wait for their one chance, and be sure to make that chance count. They had to withstand a strong second half from New England but Andre Blake made the saves he needed to get the win.

New England Revolution: C

New England nearly matched Philadelphia kick for kick but were beaten defensively one time and couldn’t get that goal back. They outshot Philadelphia but most of those were off target. Even when they did get a great shot off, Blake was on point.

Man of the Match: Andre Blake

As I said in the last game recap, a 1-0 win only offers two choices for this award. This time it goes to the Philly keeper, Andre Blake, as he made 5 saves en route to a shutout victory to move on to the quarterfinal round.