Americans at home: It is far from over

This week decisions were made. They were made on Decision Day. The MLS playoff tournament thing they’re doing this year will be full of games as 20 teams will make the postseason. That picture is now complete with some Americans having a say in their teams’ fate in the last week of the season.

Mueller strikes again

He just keeps striking, again, and again, and again. This week the American winger scored a goal midweek agains the Columbus Crew. His goal came after a nice move by Orlando and put the team up 1-0 in the 27th minute on the way to a 2-1 win.

He just keeps going

This might be the last goal Chris Wondolowski scored, and it’s a beauty. We can say a lot about him, but the guy scored a lot of goals and took about the most unlikely career path a pro soccer player could have. Hopefully, the US can produce another Chris Wondolowski.

San Jose would win the match 3-2 and claim the California Cup. Also of note in the game, Nick Lima went the full 90 while Jackson Yueill came off after an hour.

Djordje nabs a pair of assists

His first assist came largely thanks to defensive indifference as Robert Beric calmly walked into space two yards in front of the goal for an all too easy score to put Chicago behind 2-1 to NYCFC.

The second offering was from Przemyslaw Frankowski when he scuffed a volley into the forward’s path.

Elsewhere on the field, Keaton Parks appeared for 68 minutes as NYCFC pulled out a 4-3 win as the Fire were eliminated from the playoffs.

Gyasi sends Atlanta packing

The Columbus Crew will end the 2020 season in third place in MLS as Atlanta United misses the playoffs for the first time in team history following a 2-1 win for the Ohio club. The Crew went ahead to a 2-0 lead thanks to Gyasi Zardes netting their second goal of the match and his 12th goal of the season.

This might be the weirdest goal that Zardes has ever scored. He dribbles 40 yards down the field and just shoots it into the net. It didn’t even bounce off of his face or anything. Very strange. Elsewhere in the match, George Bello, who established himself as a starter at left back and possibly Atlanta’s best player on the season, went 86 minutes.

An All American scoresheet for NYRB

The Red Bulls beat a nearly full strength and very talented Toronto FC side 2-1 thanks to a pair of goals scored by young Americans. The first came as Tom Barlow scored on a classic NYRB scrum goal in the 24th minute on a corner.

That was followed up by Brian White starting and finishing a nice move that was assisted by Sean Davis and Kyle Duncan.

For Toronto, Ayo Akinola played for an hour before being taken off for Jozy Altidore as Michael Bradley played the full 90.

Daryl Dike finds the net

Orlando City had their best season in club history as Daryl Dike stepped up for the team in 2020. While they lost their final regular season game 3-2 to Nashville, they’re in a strong position headed into the playoffs.

Chris Mueller really makes a great run here bringing the ball upfield and creating space for Dike to find room to shoot.

The Rapids are in the post season

Colorado perhaps surprised a lot of people by taking the 5th seed in the West this season. The team took some risks on players and is largely built around an American core. Cole Bassett rightfully gets most of the attention as he had a stellar season, but Jonathan Lewis, Kellyn Acosta, Sam Vines, and Auston Trusty also stepped up this year. Bassett will be one to watch in terms of possibly following Brenden Aaronson abroad as an exciting attacking midfielder next year. To cap off 2020, he makes a smart pass to find the game winner for Colorado as Diego Rubio scored a last minute goal against Houston to win 2-1.

Khiry and puts the orange visibility ball in the net

It’s taken a while and he still might not exactly reach what some expected of him, but Khiry Shelton capped off his best MLS season with a goal against RSL on Sunday.

The forward has five goals on the year as SKC is headed to the playoffs as the top seed in the West. Gianluca Busio played 79 minutes as Jaylin Lindsey went the full 90 for Sporting.

JoMoMVP?

Jordan Morris had, hands down, the best regular season of any American in MLS this year. He capped it of with his 10th goal of the year as the Sounders easily beat San Jose 4-1 to finish the year.

The match also featured an assist by Cristian Roldan and Cade Cowell going the full 90.