MLS Mix 1: Bouanga. Banger. Campana.
The biggest stories from Matchday 10 in MLS as Real Salt Lake and Inter Miami reiterated their MLS Cup credentials.
Hello. I’m Will Gittins, soccer/football journalist and MLS convert.
This is the first issue of MLS Mix, a weekly newsletter bringing a little taste of Major League Soccer to your inboxes. Published every Monday, it’ll bundle together a few of the best moments, stories and goals from the previous weekend’s action.
So please enjoy this inaugural edition. To get started, here’s a quick look back at the action from Matchday 10, which saw all 14 games played across one very hectic Saturday:
Real Salt Lake claimed top spot in the West with a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union.
Lionel Messi scored twice in Inter Miami’s 4-1 win over the New England Revolution, taking his tally to nine goals and four assists in seven MLS games.
FC Dallas picked up their first win in two months with a 2-0 Texas derby victory over Houston Dynamo.
Denis Bouanga fires LAFC back into contention
In normal circumstances it would be unfair to describe four goal-less games as a drought. But when talking about Denis Bouanga, the reigning MLS Golden Boot winner and scorer of 38 goals in 49 games last season, his slow start to the new campaign was certainly notable.
The Gabonese forward was deadly in 2023, repeatedly cutting in from the left flank to thrash, fire and whip the ball past goalkeepers across MLS. This season’s early dry patch came as LAFC were adjusting to life without former captain and record goalscorer Carlos Vela, who had been the focal point of their attack in recent years. Vela’s movement and vision was key to facilitating Bouanga in 2023 but now, two months into the new season, LAFC are starting to find new solutions.
On Saturday night Bouanga scored a 92nd-minute winner against a strong Portland Timbers side, opening his body in trademark style to lash the ball past former teammate Maxime Crepeau.
It was textbook Bouanga; ruthless opportunism and lethal finishing, the sort of play that helped elicit transfer interest from the top European leagues in January. It showcased the decisiveness that has taken LAFC to the MLS Cup final in both of the last two seasons and makes them genuine contenders again this year, regardless of their defensive limitations.
The victory over Portland was the second consecutive game in which Bouanga had proved decisive for Steve Cherundolo’s side. A week earlier he had scored twice, including a 95th-minute leveller, to earn his side a draw against high-flying New York Red Bulls.
At the moment Cherundolo is rotating his offensive options, alternating between former Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Bogusz as a false nine and the more stationary presence of 39-year-old Kai Kamara. If, as has been widely reported, Olivier Giroud arrives in the summer the Frenchman will provide the perfect foil for Bouanga and Cristian Olivera on the flanks. But even with Giroud in the squad it is Bouanga, the mercurial match-winner, who will be the key to this LAFC attack.
Goal of the weekend: Alexandros Katranis
In-form Real Salt Lake claimed top spot in the Western Conference after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union. RSL continued their fine form away from home and ended the last remaining unbeaten start to the season in MLS.
This dipping 30-yard volley from left-back Alexandros Katranis clinched the three points for Pablo Mastroeni’s side in the 89th minute. A brilliant goal to secure a dramatic late win for his team. Bonus points for the celebration.
The unfortunate Leonardo Campana
At first glance, it’s quite difficult to feel sorry for Inter Miami striker Leonardo Campana. Not only is he a professional athlete, 6ft2 and almost cartoonishly handsome, but the 23-year-old is the son of an Ecuadorian government minister and a relative of the country’s current president. As a member of this illustrious family his substantial career earnings will, one day, be bolstered by a share of the $1.08 billion fortune that he stands to inherit. It’s a pretty nice life, all things considered.
And yet, watching Campana toil away for Inter Miami makes clear what he does not have. He is not short on effort. Whenever he takes to the field he hustles and harries. He runs the channels and links the play, busily occupying himself and opposition defenders with commendable gusto. What he doesn’t do, very often, is score.
Across his five-year professional career he has scored 34 goals in 120 games. It’s a decent return but hardly the record of a prolific striker, and he failed to add to that tally in Inter Miami’s 4-1 win over a depleted New England Revolution side on Saturday. Instead, he sweated away in his usual manner for around an hour before being replaced by Luis Suarez.
Suarez, now 37 years old, is essentially broken. He hobbles around the field, barging into opponents and gesticulating at officials, but with none of the dynamism that marked his time in Europe. A 20-year professional career has squeezed every drop from his aging body and left only the essence of what he once was. He did not start against the Revs on Saturday due to the artificial turf at Gillette Stadium, a surface deemed too harsh for his dusty knee joints to endure for more than 30 meandering minutes.
The Uruguayan, however, remains a cut above Campana and all but a handful of MLS players. His body is withered and creaking but it retains the muscle memory and the instinct of a genuine superstar. He barely touched the ball in Saturday’s cameo appearance, completed less than two-thirds of the passes he attempted and mustered just one shot. And yet when the opportunity came, when Lionel Messi poked the ball in his direction, Suarez simply passed the ball into the top corner. As easy as that.
During the first hour of the game Campana had been eagerly running about, working hard for the team and maximising his talents for the collective good. But all that energy and effort will find itself back on the bench next weekend, sidelined by the superior talents of a player closing in on his 500th career goal.
There is nothing that Campana can do about it. That is simply the way that it will be for as long as Suarez can bend down to tie his laces. There are no extra training sessions, no marginal gains or minute tweaks, that will bridge the gap between the good and the genuinely great.
Extra time
Want a bit more? Here’s a couple of other things I’ve written recently, from the day job with AS USA…