MLS Team of the Week: Morris, Manotas, Shelton Stand out in Attack-Heavy Week 29
Week 29 in Major League Soccer belonged to strikers and attack-minded midfielders beginning at Yankee Stadium on Friday night and ending in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday.
Seven different players found the back of the net more than once over the last three days, and a pair of players dished out three assists, one of which was a defender.
Since we couldn't fit all of those massive individual performances into a single Team of the Week, we selected three forwards whose showings on the pitch meant the most to their respective sides.
As tempting as it was to name only forwards to the Bleacher Report best XI from the weekend, we aligned our squad in a 4-3-3 since there were some strong defensive performances as well.
Continue reading to see who was named to the Week 29 Bleacher Report MLS Team of the Week.
GK: Tim Melia, Sporting Kansas City
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Tim Melia may not have had one of the four clean sheets in Week 29, but he still produced a stellar showing in net for Sporting Kansas City.
Melia was called into action for the first time with 14 seconds on the clock as he laid out to stop a Chris Wondolowski effort from the middle of the box.
Twenty-five seconds into the second half, Melia denied Wondolowski from close range with a two-handed save. The Sporting KC netminder also made a diving save on an Alberto Quintero shot to keep the match with San Jose level at one goal apiece in the 60th minute.
Thanks to Melia's performance in net and a late goal from Kevin Ellis, Sporting KC won in San Jose for the first time in 16 years.
RB: Harrison Afful, Columbus Crew
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Harrison Afful was unlucky not to score in the final match of the weekend, as he was a driving force down the right wing for the Columbus Crew.
The 30-year-old Ghanaian was a constant presence in the final third for a Crew side that put 10 of their 21 attempts on target. Afful's best opportunity to score came in the 66th minute as he struck the right post.
On the defensive side of the pitch, Afful held Diego Fagundez to 49 touches and zero shots on target.
The three points from Sunday's 2-0 win over New England moved Columbus within five points of sixth place in the Eastern Conference with five games remaining.
CB: Kevin Ellis, Sporting Kansas City
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Kevin Ellis produced a moment of brilliance in front of the net in the 81st minute of Sporting KC's 2-1 win over San Jose at Avaya Stadium.
The center-back used a backheel finish off a Benny Feilhaber corner to beat David Bingham and send Peter Vermes' side home with three points.
Ellis' game-winner helped Sporting KC in the Western Conference playoff race as they moved back into the fifth place with 43 points.
Sporting aren't guaranteed a postseason spot just yet, but they enter October with a safe enough feeling about their position in the standings.
CB: Walker Zimmerman, FC Dallas
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Walker Zimmerman made one of the tackles of the season in FC Dallas’ 0-0 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday.
The American center-back helped preserve his side’s clean sheet in the 45th minute as he tracked back to make a perfect sliding challenge on an incoming Olmes Garcia.
The tackle looked a bit violent because of how Garcia went down, but on second look, Zimmerman took a perfect angle and made a clean challenge.
The 23-year-old defender also made four interceptions, four clearances and won four aerials in the scoreless tie at Rio Tinto Stadium.
LB: Taylor Kemp, D.C. United
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D.C. United earned a vital boost in the Eastern Conference playoff race on Saturday as they downed Orlando City 4-1 at RFK Stadium.
Left-back Taylor Kemp played a key role in a few of the tallies scored by the Black and Red in front of their home crowd.
Kemp’s laser of a cross from the left side of the box found Patrick Mullins for the opener in the 34th minute, and he picked up a second assist in the 51st minute as his pass from the left wing met the head of Lloyd Sam.
The 26-year-old finished off his stellar night by contributing to Julian Buescher’s late strike. The only other time Kemp recorded more than one assist in his career was August 17, 2014 against Colorado.
MID: Khiry Shelton, New York City FC
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Khiry Shelton delivered his best showing in a New York City FC shirt on Friday night in the club’s 4-1 thumping of Chicago.
The second-year player out of Oregon State got off to a fast start at Yankee Stadium as he handed out assists in the eighth and ninth minutes.
Shelton played a header from the right post over to Jefferson Mena in the buildup to the opener and sent a nice ball over to David Villa a minute later to help Patrick Vieira’s side extend their lead to two.
The 23-year-old finished off his night with another dish over to the boot of Villa in the 83rd minute. Shelton has surged up the league assist chart in the last month as he has five in his last four contests.
MID: Daniel Royer, New York Red Bulls
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The New York Red Bulls don’t change their starting XI much, but when head coach Jesse Marsch makes an alteration, he expects the replacements to step up right away.
Midseason acquisition Daniel Royer, who has started the last three matches, did that on Saturday in the 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact.
The 26-year-old Austrian headed home Chris Duvall’s cross from the right wing to score his first MLS goal and hand the Red Bulls a home victory.
The win clinched a playoff berth for the Red Bulls, and it moved them above Toronto FC into first place in the Eastern Conference standings.
MID: Shkelzen Gashi, Colorado Rapids
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The first brace of Shkelzen Gashi’s MLS career came in tremendous fashion in Saturday’s 3-3 draw between Colorado and Vancouver.
The 28-year-old Albanian produced one of the goals of the weekend with his stellar free-kick that curled into the top-left corner of the net in the 75th minute.
Gashi got on the board 18 minutes prior to his brilliant strike from the spot to put the Rapids ahead by a goal for the time being.
Despite the strong performance from Gashi and the Rapids attack, Pablo Mastroeni’s side conceded a 93rd-minute goal and left BC Place disappointed with a point.
FW: Mauro Manotas, Houston Dynamo
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The resurgent play of the Houston Dynamo may not be getting attention because they’re out of the playoff race, but Wade Barrett’s men have put together a string of respectable performances to end the year.
Mauro Manotas was the attacking catalyst in Houston’s 3-1 win over Portland on Saturday as he scored a hat trick with goals in the 34th, 73rd and 85th minutes.
Manotas started his night off with a routine finish from the spot with 11 minutes left in the first half. The 21-year-old Colombian put Houston in the lead with a cool left-footed finish in the 73rd minute off an assist from Boniek Garcia.
The Houston forward completed his first MLS three-goal performance on the counter as he slotted his shot through the legs of Jake Gleeson.
The hat trick came two weeks after Manotas scored his first goal in MLS in 15 appearances. Manotas is one to look out for in 2017 as the Dynamo look to qualify for the postseason.
FW: Patrick Mullins, D.C. United
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Patrick Mullins broke his three-game scoreless run with his second multiple-goal performance of the season for D.C. United.
The 24-year-old University of Maryland product pounced for the first and third goals netted by D.C. United in their rout of Orlando.
Mullins scores off Kemp’s first assist of the night in the 34th minute and off a Patrick Nyarko dish from the left wing to move his season goal tally up to seven.
D.C. hold the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with four games to go. They have a chance to further control their destiny on Wednesday when they host the Crew.
FW: Jordan Morris, Seattle Sounders
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Jordan Morris tightened his grip on the Rookie of the Year award on Sunday as he bagged a brace in Seattle’s 4-2 road win over the LA Galaxy.
The Stanford University product powered the Sounders into the lead in the second half as he worked his way around Daniel Steres and finished from the right side of the box.
The United States international, who gets criticized for not using his left foot, scored his second of the match with his left boot from close range in the 73rd minute.
Seattle’s win combined with Portland’s loss to Houston put them three points behind their biggest rivals with two games in hand left on the schedule.
Bench
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GK: Chris Seitz (FC Dallas)
CB: Jefferson Mena (New York City FC)
LB: Demar Phillips (Real Salt Lake)
CM: Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders)
FW: Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)
FW: David Villa (New York City FC)
FW: Ola Kamara (Columbus Crew)
Joe Tansey covers MLS for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @JTansey90.
All statistics obtained from MLSSoccer.com and WhoScored.com.
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