Week 13 of the 2021 MLS season is in the books! Even with a crazy Gold Cup group stage going on, we had so many flashy and amazing moments from Major League Soccer. I’m sure with so much soccer being played and so many different competitions going on, you probably missed some of these special moments. If so, make sure you check these five out.

The beginning to the Toronto FC season has been worse than many expected. Between poor performances, injuries, and the drama between Jozy Altidore and Chris Armas, not to mention TFC are still playing away from home, it’s been a pretty bad situation. With Chris Armas finally gone, Altidore was back in training for TFC prior to their matchup with Orlando City – TFC’s first real home game in over a year. Altidore entered the match in the 64th minute and cemented his place back into the club. Less than 10 minutes after subbing on, Altidore scored the opening goal in the most Altidore-esque fashion - a header. Though TFC dropped the win in this one, this moment was special. Altidore celebrated, kissed the crest and was celebrated by the fans – the ship is finally starting to right itself up in Toronto.

To see Altidore’s opening goal at BMO Field, check out this video from Toronto FC’s twitter account.

2. **Zelarayan Tells NYCFC To Sit Down**

Lucas Zelarayan has been a star since his arrival to MLS. Zelarayan has scored 14 goals for Columbus Crew across all competitions – 4 came against NYCFC and 3 of those were game winners. To put it in perspective, this means roughly 29% of Zelarayan’s goals have been against NYCFC. I state all those facts just to say that, this week, Zelarayan did it again. Goals from Darlington Nagbe and Jesus Medina had this game dead-locked at 1-1, but in the 62nd minute, that changed. Zelarayan stood over the free kick, took a deep breath, and hit one over the wall and around the keeper. So far, Zelarayan has scored 5 goals this season - after this weekend’s game, 3 of them have come against NYCFC. Zelarayan bangs!

To see Zelarayan’s banger of a free kick goal, check out this video from the Columbus Crew’s twitter account.

With injuries mounting for the Seattle Sounders (Jordan Morris, Nicolas Lodiero, Stefan Frei and others) and players gone on international duty thanks to the CONCACAF Gold Cup (Cristian Roldan, Alex Roldan and others), the Sounders were bound to lose eventually. The Sounders were nearly invincible, starting the season with a 13 game unbeaten streak, but Minnesota had other plans. In the 81st minute, some nice combination passing between Emanuel Reynoso and Niko Hansen led to Hansen creating some space to setup a wide open Robin Lod. Lod smacked it into the back of the net, and that's all she wrote. The Sounders streak comes to an end - at least it was at the hands of a decent MLS side and not a team like Vancouver.

To see highlights of the lone goal and more analysis of this matchup, checkout this article from ESPN FC / Reuters.

What’s better than a hat trick? Netting a hat trick in less than 20 minutes while completely taking your opponent out of the game. Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar started up front alongside CJ Sapong in their Week 13 matchup against the Chicago Fire. This pairing seemed to work nicely, especially since it led to the game’s opening goal, and Mukhtar’s first, in the 10th minute. 3 minutes later, Mukhtar would get his second with some help from 2021 standout Daniel Lovitz. A minute after that, Chicago defender Johan Kappelhof would be issued a red card for pulling down Sapong on an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, which setup a free kick right outside the 18. From there, Mukhtar scored a beautiful free kick goal, shattering Bradley Wright-Phillips previous record for fastest hat trick in MLS history. It was a dominant performance overall for Nashville and truly special day for Mukhtar. Nashville need to play Mukhtar forward and further into the attack, as he has been very productive up front and on the wing.

To see Mukhtar’s record-setting hat trick, check out these highlights from MLS.

I thought we were going to see some special moments up in Canada, since the Canadian MLS teams were finally allowed to play games at home again. However, I did not think that Montreal’s home match against FC Cincinnati would lead to a 9 goal boxing match! FC Cincinnati would score two goals inside the opening 15 minutes, with goals coming from Brenner and Haris Medunjanin. Montreal got back into the game quickly, with goals in the 21st and the 34th minutes from Mason Toye and Joaquin Torres. If you thought that the goals would stop there, you would have been wrong. Gustavo Vallecilla scored in the 42nd minute for FC Cincinnati, his 2nd in 9 games, to give them a one goal lead at the half. Shortly after halftime, Brenner would score his second of the game and record his first brace in MLS. With a 4-2 lead, you’d think that both teams had emptied the tanks… WRONG AGAIN. In the 72nd minute, Toye put away a PK to bring Montreal within one goal of Cincinnati, giving him a brace on the day. Then, in front of the home crowd, Montreal midfielder Ahmed Hamdi put away his first goal for Montreal, tying things up 4-4 in the 73rd minute. 13 minutes later, Hamdi scored his second goal, giving him the 87th minute game winner – Saputo Stadium went nuts! This game was a special one for so many players but , more importantly, it was special for the fans, who were the real winners in this game.

To see the highlights from this thriller, checkout this video from MLS.

Jul 21 5 Things You Need To See In MLS: Week 13

Jul 24 A Battle In The North: RBNY Draw TFC, 1-1

Jul 20 Is CONCACAF Catching Up? Group A & B Come To A Close in the 2021 Gold Cup

Related Posts