MLS Team of the Week: Giovinco, Villa Star in Thrilling Week 19
The 19th weekend of play in Major League Soccer brought out the best in two of the league's top offseason acquisitions.
Sebastian Giovinco and David Villa combined to score five goals in the 4-4 draw between Toronto FC and New York City FC on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The performances by the pair of forwards showcased just how high the bar has been raised in regard to attacking talent in MLS.
A day before the thrilling eight-goal contest in New York City, plenty of surprising results were handed out across the league, including big wins from the New York Red Bulls and Philadelphia Union.
Because there were a plethora of superb individual showings from midfielders and forwards in Week 19, we lined up our MLS Team of the Week in a 3-4-3 formation. We attempted to put all of the terrific midfielders in the squad, but only four could make it due to three remarkable forward performances.
Continue reading to see which players found a way into our latest MLS Team of the Week.
GK: Tim Melia, Sporting Kansas City
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Tim Melia's play in between the pipes allowed Sporting Kansas City to leave BC Place with a vital road win in the Western Conference over Vancouver.
The sixth and final stop from Melia came in the 90th minute on Tim Parker, whom he also denied back in the first half.
"That was a world-class save. The guy was a monster today," Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said, per the club's gameday Twitter account, after the match.
Melia's six saves also matched a career high that he recorded on June 6, 2015 against Seattle.
RB: Saad Abdul-Salaam, Sporting Kansas City
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The Sporting KC defense entered the match against the Whitecaps with a tall task in front of them in the form of Octavio Rivero, Kekuta Manneh and Cristian Techera.
Thanks to the play of Saad Abdul-Salaam and a few others, Vermes' side left British Columbia with a win that put it five points ahead of San Jose in the race for the final playoff spot in the West.
Abdul-Salaam totaled eight interceptions, six tackles and three clearances against a Whitecaps side that put seven shots on target.
CB: Matt Hedges, FC Dallas
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Matt Hedges and the FC Dallas back four forced Orlando City into one of its worst attacking performances of the season on Saturday night.
The United States international made 11 interceptions and four tackles on the way to giving up zero shots on goal at the Citrus Bowl.
"We probably got what we deserved, which was nothing, and that’s probably the easiest points on the road Dallas will get this season. They were better than us in every department," Orlando City boss Adrian Heath said, per MLSSoccer.com's Simon Veness.
Hedges' strong match at the back was one of a few standout showings by defenders in the USMNT talent pool, which is a positive sign for fans of the Yanks given the rough defending so far at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
LB: DaMarcus Beasley, Houston Dynamo
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USMNT boss Jurgen Klinsmann must have been smiling once he heard about how DaMarcus Beasley's night at Avaya Stadium went.
Beasley, who could be called into the USMNT squad for the Gold Cup knockout round, produced plenty of positive runs forward down the left wing. The left back also stood firm on the defensive side of the pitch.
Thanks to the contributions of Beasley's, the Dynamo earned their first league victory since June 5, when they defeated the New York Red Bulls.
RM: Dominic Oduro, Montreal Impact
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Dominic Oduro is notorious for speeding down the wing to catch up with the ball only to fire a chance wide of the goal. So when he did the opposite in the fifth minute against the Crew on Saturday, we were handed a delightful surprise.
On the Impact's first of three goals, Oduro rounded Emanuel Pogatetz with ease and latched onto the ball before Steve Clark could cover it up. After gaining possession, Oduro slotted in his first of two goals.
In the 80th minute, Oduro raced to the ball after Clark spilled it out in front of him following a save on Dilly Duka's shot from the right side of the box.
The brace was the first for the journeyman Oduro, who has played for seven different MLS sides since 2006. Despite his individual accomplishment, Oduro was quick to credit the club's defensive play in the 3-0 win over Columbus.
"We scored some goals tonight but the most important was the complete game and clean sheet," Oduro said after the match, per the club's Twitter account.
CM: Dax McCarty, New York Red Bulls
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Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty was busy dishing out terrific passes in the club's 4-1 rout of New England at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night.
McCarty recorded the first of his two assists in the 12th minute on a nice one-touch pass to Bradley Wright-Phillips. His second dish of the night came in the 56th minute, when he dumped a pass back to Anthony Wallace before the defender struck the back of the net.
Per the club's YouTube page, McCarty said:
"[New England] is a team that has given us trouble in the past and I think it's mainly because they've outfought us and outworked us. We wanted to make sure we set the tone early. Getting three (early goals) is like hitting the jackpot.
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CM: Vincent Nogueira, Philadelphia Union
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Vincent Nogueira's second-half brace handed Philadelphia its third win in four games in all competitions against one of the league's top in-form sides. The Frenchman recorded tallies in the 71st and 82nd minutes to help seal the Union's 3-0 win over Portland.
On his first goal, the Frenchman broke into a patch of space in the middle of the box to connect with a Cristian Maidana cross. Eleven minutes later, the former Sochaux man finished off a splendid give-and-go with Maidana to secure three points at home for Jim Curtin's side.
The brace was the second of Nogueira's career and first since joining the Union last season. He also netted his first goal since June 3 versus Columbus.
LM: Harry Shipp, Chicago Fire
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Harry Shipp's top contribution on Saturday night was a short pass to Michael Stephens in his own half to spring a 92nd-minute counter, but he did so much more in an attempt to put the Fire ahead before stoppage time.
The 23-year-old midfielder took three shots and handed out four key passes in Chicago's 1-0 win over the struggling Seattle Sounders.
Although he didn't receive an assist on the team's winner in stoppage time, he deserves plenty of credit for springing Stephens who then fed scorer Jason Johnson on the right wing.
FW: Bradley Wright-Phillips, New York Red Bulls
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Before Giovinco and Villa stole the show just north of him on Sunday, Bradley Wright-Phillips bagged a brace for the Red Bulls in their win over the Revolution.
Wright-Phillips opened his Week 19 account in the fourth minute, when he rose above a pair of defenders and nodded a Lloyd Sam cross into the back of the net. After Sam scored the second Red Bulls strike, Wright-Phillips pounced in the 12th minute to complete the club's terrific start.
Per the club's website, Wright-Phillips said:
"Excellent. Excellent performance. I said to Lloyd [Sam] and Sacha [Kljestan] when I got on the bench I was proud to be on the team. These are the type of things we do in training and it came off in 12 minutes and we won the game.
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FW: David Villa, New York City FC
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Villa scored the first of eight combined goals at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon on a terrific free-kick in the 17th minute.
The Spanish forward, who was supposed to be joined by Frank Lampard before a late injury removed the Englishman from selection, then equalized in the 65th minute from the spot.
On top of his brace, Villa put six of his eight shots on goal, which was a higher total than his Italian counterpart Giovinco. Despite his two-goal performance, NYCFC dropped two points at home against Toronto.
"We’re creating attacking chances, creating goal-scoring chances and taking goals, but for whatever reason seems to be a moment every game we just stop," NYCFC manager Jason Kreis said after the draw, per Mike Levitt of MLSSoccer.com.
FW: Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC
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When Giovinco rattled his 19th-minute penalty off the left post, no one expected him to recover from it with a nine-minute hat-trick.
Starting in the 34th minute, the Italian forward delivered a ridiculous amount of skill to put Toronto ahead by a goal entering halftime. His first goal came from the spot after Daniel Lovitz earned a penalty on the left side of the box.
In the 40th minute, he bested Shay Facey while sprinting into the box so he could put his shot past Josh Saunders. Three minutes after his second goal, Giovinco clinched the first hat-trick in franchise history with a chip in space over a diving Saunders.
The three goals in nine minutes handed Giovinco the third-fastest hat-trick in league history, per ESPN's Paul Carr.
Toronto manager Greg Vanney told MLSSoccer.com's Armen Bedakian:
"You see what he’s capable of doing on a day like today because he brought out a lot of skills and treats. This one has to go down as one of his best games for sure. He was excellent.
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Bench
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GK: Tyler Deric (Houston Dynamo)
CB: Matt Miazga (New York Red Bulls)
CB: Jared Watts (Colorado Rapids)
CM: Marco Donadel (Montreal Impact)
CM: Soni Mustivar (Sporting Kansas City)
LM: Andrew Wenger (Philadelphia Union)
FW: Patrick Mullins (New York City FC)
Joe Tansey covers MLS for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @JTansey90
All statistics obtained from MLSSoccer.com and WhoScored.com.
