Evander makes magic, Columbus Crew's concern & more from Matchday 29

We’ve got a malaise in Ohio, an M.O. in Charlotte, the end of a streak in Harrison and Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs hopes all but closing in Foxborough.

Mostly, though, they have Evander . And Evander wins them games. On Saturday, in a contentious return to Portland , he did it again:

I’ve written some version of this about 100 times this year: FC Cincinnati have the kind of talent that can go out and win a match – again and again and again – even when they’re not playing very well. They have a forward who can do it, and they have defenders who can do it. They have a goalkeeper who’s done it on the regular all year, and they have a wingback who can do it.

They are probably safe in the Western Conference race – they have some padding, and nobody below them is exactly making a furious push. But things are getting tighter than they should be.

Moments like that one are starting to pile up for the Timbers, who have won just once in their past six. Four of their next five are on the road.

It shouldn’t be. A center forward who’s more tuned into the moment reads that play just as quickly as Miazga does and comes back to the ball to either hold it up or draw a foul. Kevin Kelsy had his most productive game in a while with a brace for Portland, but he really needs to be an outlet there. The simple, basic thing right there is to come back a little deeper because you know 1) Ayala needs an outlet, and 2) Cincy’s center backs love to play for that exact turnover.

But to Neville’s point, here’s a basic, simple thing to highlight: On that clip above, David Ayala plays a blind ball right up the gut that Matt Miazga jumps. I agree with Brian Dunseth’s analysis that it was a hopeful (maybe even reckless) ball to play.

Maybe. But before it was Evander finding a half-chance to tear open the match, it was Pavel Bucha . And before it was Bucha, it was Kévin Denkey . Having that kind of talent gives you a cushion, in terms of overall performance, that other teams lack.

"In the highest level of games, what do you need? Concentration, discipline," head coach Phil Nevill said in the postgame presser. "Do the simple things, do the basic things. That’s what the best players do in the biggest games, and I’d say that a team like Cincinnati, that’s what they did tonight."

That second half was a pure onslaught of Timbers' chances as they desperately tried to claw back into it, but couldn’t quite.

"The second half was what a road game feels like in a great environment in the playoffs. It’s a good experience for us."

"That was a playoff environment," head coach Pat Noonan told the press afterward. "Credit to the fans tonight. It makes the game more enjoyable and more meaningful because they were in it from the beginning.

This is just who Cincy are: it’s not about overall flow, but rather decisive moments. They found three of them in the first 36 minutes, then just barely managed the rest of the game to walk out of Providence Park with a 3-2 win and a perch back atop the Eastern Conference standings.

This weekend, new guy Jules-Anthony Vilsaint smashed home a Djordje Mihailovic cross in the 77th minute, finishing off a recycled set piece and giving the Reds another 1-1 result . In total, it was a very commendable five points from about the toughest five-game stretch anybody’s played all year:

But there have been signs of life on the field lately, and some signs of a club-wide vision off of it. In the past five games, they’ve beaten San Diego , lost respectably at Nashville and Charlotte , drawn late at Philly last weekend, and drawn again at home against the Crew .

Toronto FC aren’t going to make the playoffs. That’s been obvious for a long while now.

Mihailovic’s now got two assists in two TFC outings (and Malik Henry could’ve maaayyyybe been awarded a secondary assist on that play… either way, he was involved in another late equalizer for the Reds). As for Vilsaint, his underlyings have been very good, his physical attributes are excellent, and he passes the eye test every time I see him play.

"A great goal, a great service from Djordje, very good finish," Toronto head coach Robin Fraser said afterward. "But then [Vilsaint’s] work again after that, we had to do a lot of defending after that, and he's willing to do all the work that was asked of him and still getting out on the break on a few opportunities.

"I think it was a really, really good debut for him."

I still can’t believe Montréal essentially paid Toronto to take this kid, and I am delighted for Reds fans that they suddenly have a nice little core of Canadians to put around Mihailovic.

The big story, though, is the Crew. They are now just 5W-4L-6D since their excellent first 11 games of the season. The malaise primarily comes down to goalscoring, and the fans are justifiably pointing fingers at Dániel Gazdag. He’s been there around four months and has yet to score from open play. He had one in the back of the net in this one; it was correctly ruled offside.

Gazdag has been one of the league’s most consistent goal-scorers over the past three years, and while part of that is he’s a bit of a penalty merchant, it’s not like he hasn’t been dangerous from open play. Honestly, I thought he’d be a perfect fit for this team; he’s so good at finding pockets of space in and around the box, combining and moving.

I am flummoxed that it hasn’t worked.

"I didn’t talk to him," Crew boss Wilfried Nancy said in the postgame presser when asked if he had a message for Gazdag amidst the DP’s struggles. "Nothing. Daniel [is not] the most important; this is the team. For me, this is about trying to see what we could have done better. After that, individually, Daniel knows if he did a good game or not.

"This is football. This is not an issue for Dániel. He’ll be back to score another goal."

If not Gazdag, maybe those scoring questions – outside of Diego Rossi – get answered with their new DP No. 9, Wessam Abou Ali. He's finally in training, and I expect he'll debut before the end of the month.

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