Emmanuel Sabbi scored one goal and assisted on another as the Vancouver Whitecaps continued the best start in club history with a dominant 3-0 victory over visiting Sporting Kansas City on Friday night.

Bruno Caicedo added his first MLS goal in the 21-year-old’s third appearance — and first start — in the league as the Whitecaps raced out to their three-goal lead by the half-hour mark.

Thomas Muller added his fourth goal of the season for Vancouver (7-1-0, 21 points), which has played all but one of its first eight league matches at home while building an exceptional +18 goal differential.

The Whitecaps will have one more home game on April 25 against the Colorado Rapids. Then they will play eight straight on the road while BC Place is prepped and used as a 2026 World Cup venue.

Kansas City (1-6-1, 4 points) lost its fourth straight in MLS and fifth straight overall. Manager Raphael Wicky’s Sporting squad have been outscored 13-3 combined in those four league defeats.

Vancouver outshot Kansas City 25-3 and led 6-1 in efforts on target in a game that quickly tilted in the hosts’ favor.

Sabbi scored in the 13th minute on an attack that began when Vancouver intercepted a Kansas City goal kick at midfield.

Eventually it was White who got into the right side of the penalty area and chipped it over charging goalkeeper John Pulskamp but not into the net.

The ball arrived to Vancouver’s Mathias Laborda on the opposite post, who couldn’t direct an effort goal-bound under defensive pressure. Sabbi cleaned up the loose ball with a finish through the scrambling SKC defense, off a defender, off the crossbar and in.

Caicedo created the second goal in the 23rd minute. He snuck up field and intercepted Cielo Tschantret’s ill-advised square pass, then finished low from the edge of the area off the inside of the far right post.

Another long clearance intercepted at midfield led to the hosts making it 3-0 in the 28th minute.

This time it was Sabbi providing the service from the right wing after doing excellent work to keep the ball in play. His outswinging ball fell at the back post for Muller, who headed it firmly past the flailing Pulskamp.

–Field Level Media

FC Dallas, with Santiago Moreno’s arrival this year adding to an already potent attack led by Petar Musa, will try to keep their early-season form going Saturday night when they continue a homestand against the Los Angeles Galaxy in Frisco, Texas.

Moreno enjoyed 4 1/2 good years in Portland, scoring 20 goals and adding 40 assists in 131 fixtures for the Timbers. But a high-profile transfer to Brazilian side Fluminense resulted in Moreno logging just 18 minutes total.

Fluminense loaned Moreno to Dallas for the season’s balance with an option to make it permanent at year’s end. He believes he can help Dallas (3-1-3, 12 points) become a contender in MLS’ Western Conference.

“The few times I’ve been able to train with the group, I’ve felt very good,” Moreno said. “They train a lot on the physical side and that is vital in a team, so I’m just waiting to adapt to keep competing.”

Moreno figures to slot in as a central playmaker for Dallas, providing service for Musa and Logan Farrington, who have combined for 11 of the team’s 15 goals.

FC Dallas are on a four-match unbeaten streak (2-0-2).

Meanwhile, the Galaxy (2-3-2, 8 points) aim to bounce back from a 3-0 loss to Toluca on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in Carson, Calif. Needing to win by three goals to advance on aggregate, Los Angeles didn’t come close, falling 7-2 in the series overall.

“We’ve got to answer the bell here and we’ve got to respond,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said.

Los Angeles did at least win its latest MLS fixture, edging Austin FC 2-1 on April 11 for its first victory since a 3-0 rout of Charlotte FC on Feb. 28. The Galaxy have fired 51 shots on target, the top total in the league, but rank in the middle of the pack with 10 goals.

Captain Maya Yoshida was agitated when asked after the Wednesday loss if it was good that the team could now focus on its league schedule.

“We have to make it good,” he said. “We have no choice.”

–Field Level Media

St. Louis City and the Seattle Sounders met six weeks ago, but St. Louis coach Yoann Damet isn’t focusing much on that match as the clubs are set to square off Saturday in Seattle.

“It feels like it was months ago, to be honest,” Damet said of St. Louis’ 1-0 defeat. “That’s how much we’ve played since then, and that’s how much we’ve improved, I think, as well.

“I’m not putting too much into that game thinking it’s going to be the same game. It’s going to be completely different at their place.”

Seattle (4-1-1, 13 points) won 1-0 at St. Louis on March 7 as Kalani Kossa-Rienzi scored the lone goal in the 47th minute. The Sounders’ Andrew Thomas made five saves in posting the clean sheet.

This will be the Sounders’ first MLS home match since the season opener. They went 3-1-1 on a five-game trip while a grass surface was being installed at Lumen Field in anticipation of this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

The Sounders got a chance to play on the new surface Wednesday, a 3-1 victory against Tigres UANL in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Despite the outcome, the Sounders were eliminated from the competition due to the away-goals tiebreaker.

As for the field?

“I think all the players liked it. I definitely liked it. It played really well,” Sounders forward Danny Musovski said. “I feel like the ball was moving smoother than it usually does, and I think it feels better on our bodies as well.”

Midfielder Paul Rothrock leads the Sounders with three goals, and forward Jesus Ferreira has recorded four assists.

St. Louis (1-3-3, 6 points) is 1-0-2 over its past three league matches following a three-game losing streak. St. Louis played to a 1-1 draw last Saturday at FC Dallas as defender Timo Baumgartl scored the equalizer in the 61st minute and goalkeeper Roman Burki made two saves.

St. Louis also had a midweek match, defeating FC Tulsa of the USL Championship 4-0 to reach the Round of 16 in the U.S. Open Cup. Marcel Hartel scored the opening goal for St. Louis in that match and leads the team in league play with two tallies.

–Field Level Media

Striker Tai Baribo’s return to Philadelphia may be delayed beyond D.C. United’s scheduled visit to the Union on Saturday night.

The Israeli international led Philadelphia with 16 MLS goals in 2025. After joining D.C. (2-4-1, 7 points) from Philadelphia (1-6-0, 3 points) in a $4 million cash trade during the offseason, Baribo owns three of the four league goals scored by D.C. this season.

That includes the only tally in D.C.’s 1-0 home win against the Union to open the season.

But a thigh injury has kept Baribo out of the Black-and-Red’s last two matches — a 1-0 league loss last weekend at the New England Revolution and a defeat on penalties to One Knoxville following a 3-3 draw in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on Wednesday night.

D.C. manager Rene Weiler said Baribo is questionable for Saturday.

“He trained for himself, so we have to check it tomorrow,” Weiler said Thursday. “I hope he will be with the team. And it would push the team, of course. I’m not sure if he (will be) ready for the game on Saturday, but we will check it out (Friday).”

With Baribo and a few other regulars who departed in the offseason, Philadelphia earned the 2025 Supporters’ Shield awarded to the best regular-season finisher.

Without him, the Union have endured a miserable start to 2026. They finally earned their first league win last Saturday with a 2-1 decision over a Montreal side that also only has one MLS victory on the year.

Philadelphia awaits its first multi-goal scorer of the season after Japhet Sery Larsen and Jesus Bueno each contributed their first goals to lead its second-half rally in Canada.

Meanwhile, manager Bradley Carnell admitted the uncertainty over arguably D.C.’s most important player have made preparations a bit more difficult.

“We always want to face the best opponents, and a D.C. United with Tai Baribo is certainly a force to be reckoned with,” Carnell said Thursday. “We are preparing and planning accordingly, but we cannot control what we cannot control. Whether he’s in the building, traveling or not, that’s a narrative we cannot drive and control, so we’re only focused on us and the team that we think will play.”

–Field Level Media

Real Salt Lake have their sights set on continuing the second-best start in franchise history when they oppose San Diego FC on Saturday night at Sandy, Utah.

The only time Real Salt Lake (4-1-1, 13 points) have notched a better six-match start during their 22-season history came in 2011 when they were 5-1-0.

“Going into the season, nobody really gave us a chance this year,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the fast start that includes a five-match unbeaten stretch (4-0-1).

Real Salt Lake’s tie came on the road against San Diego FC on March 22 when Victor Olatunji scored in the 85th minute to forge a 2-2 final.

Though RSL is 3-0-0 at home, Mastroeni expects a fierce challenge in the rematch.

“San Diego is a fantastic team,” Mastroeni said. “They are going through a bit of a (rough) patch at the moment, but they have quality players who can make a difference in any games. … I anticipate a hard-fought match.”

Salt Lake notched a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City last weekend. Diego Luna, Sergi Solans and Zavier Gozo scored the goals.

San Diego FC (3-2-2, 11 points) is winless in their past four matches (0-2-2). They lost their last two games, falling 3-0 to the host San Jose Earthquakes and 2-1 to visiting Minnesota United.

“Last game was a step in the right direction even though the result didn’t go our way,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said of the Minnesota match. “We feel like we’re getting back on track.”

During that setback, stellar defender Chris McVey drew a red card in the first minute of the second half to leave San Diego short-handed. McVey will miss the match against Salt Lake.

Luca Bombino scored the San Diego goal against Minnesota. He feels the club is close to regaining last season’s expansion form when the club finished first in the Western Conference.

“It’s definitely frustrating because we expect a lot of ourselves and we proved in the first year that we can do it,” Bambino said. “Things haven’t necessarily gone our way, but we know we have all the talent and hard work within the squad to achieve the things we want to do on the field.”

In last month’s matchup, Marcus Ingvartsen and Anders Dreyer scored the San Diego goals. Solans joined Olatunji in scoring for RSL.

–Field Level Media

As Orlando City prepares to host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night, both teams are coming off victories in the U.S. Open Cup.

But wins have been rare this season for both sides when it comes to MLS league games.

Orlando City (1-5-1, 4 points) and Houston (2-4-0, 6 points) still have time to battle back into playoff contention. Saturday’s matchup provides an opportunity to build toward those goals.

Orlando City’s only MLS victory came March 14 against Montreal, but was followed by losses to LAFC and Nashville by a combined score of 11-0.

This week, though, has been the most positive yet for the Lions after dueling Columbus to a 1-1 tie and scoring a 1-0 win over FC Naples to advance to the U.S. Open Cup’s Round of 16.

Orlando City, which parted ways with coach Oscar Pareja after starting the season with three losses, announced Friday that Argentina native Sebastian Setti, who has coached in MLS, Europe and Liga MX, will join interim coach Martin Perelman as an assistant coach. Martin Ojeda and Marco Pasalic lead the Lions with two goals each.

“It’s important,” Orlando City forward Tyrese Spicer said about the U.S. Cup win this week. “Every game is like a final, as Martin (Perelman) says. We have to stack up the victories one by one and we have to keep building.”

Houston rebounded from an ugly 6-2 loss to Colorado last Saturday with a 4-1 win over El Paso in the U.S. Open Cup.

“We were able to manage the game in the best way possible to set us up hopefully with some success here on the weekend — and on the road where we have not performed well, to be honest,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said.

Midfielder Guilherme has been one of the bright spots for a team looking for consistency. Before the lopsided loss to the Rapids, two of the Dynamo’s losses have been by one goal and another by two goals.

Guilherme has five goals this season, tying him with reigning league MVP Lionel Messi and others for the fourth-most in MLS.

–Field Level Media