Orlando City and D.C. United both ended scoring droughts in a big way on Wednesday night, each putting up a season-high four goals.

When the sides meet Saturday night in Washington, they’ll try to maintain the momentum for their newfound attacks.

After being outscored 13-1 in their previous four MLS matches, Orlando City broke out with a 4-1 home win against Charlotte FC earlier this week.

Martin Ojeda had a brace and 19-year-old Luis Otavio scored his first goal as a pro for the Lions (2-6-1, 7 points).

Orlando was efficient at the offensive end, hitting the back of the net on four of its six shots on goal. At the other end, goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau had four saves.

After starting the season with three straight defeats, Orlando dismissed coach Oscar Pareja in his seventh season and promoted assistant Martin Perelman to the interim head coach role. The Lions are 2-3-1 since the switch.

Ojeda (four goals) is the top scorer, while veteran Ivan Angulo (five assists) and newcomer Tiago Souza (three assists) are the top facilitators.

“We’re working. The team is growing. The players are doing an amazing effort,” Perelman said. “This is a long season. What matters is where we stand at the end. That is our mindset.”

D.C. United’s offense had failed to produce a goal in four straight MLS matches before playing the host New York Red Bulls to a 4-4 draw on Wednesday.

D.C. (2-4-3, 9 points) entered with a league-low four goals, but Tai Baribo notched a hat trick and Jackson Hopkins added a goal and an assist, fueling a rally from a 3-1 second-half deficit.

On Saturday, D.C. United will try to solve their woes at home, where they have won just one of their last 14 MLS matches dating back to May of last year.

“I think they will be more compact because of the change of the coach,” D.C. manager Rene Weiler said of Orlando. “The players, they want to show their best side to the new coach.”

Orlando has gone 3-0-1 against D.C. the last two seasons to square the all-time series 9-9-3.

— Field Level Media

Now that forward Daniel Gazdag has finally scored and the Columbus Crew have won a home match, they can set their sights on climbing the Eastern Conference standings, starting with hosting the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

It has been a rough go for the Crew’s designated player since the Union’s all-time leading scorer (59 goals) was acquired in a trade a year ago.

He had just four goals and four assists in 26 matches for the Crew (2-4-3, 9 points) last season. Under first-year coach Henrik Rydstrom this season, Gazdag found himself stuck on the bench for a stretch of four matches. But when leading scorer Wessam Abou Ali sustained a season-ending ACL tear on April 12, Rydstrom reinserted Gazdag looking to spark a struggling offense.

The move paid off when Gazdag scored his first goal of the season on Wednesday to help the Crew, ninth in the East, to a 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy to improve to 1-1-2 at home.

“Obviously the last two months, I would say it was not the best two months of my life,” Gazdag said. “I was working hard every day on training and I was hoping to get a chance. I think I did good in the games that I played, but obviously I don’t want to stop now. I want to help the team as much as I can.”

The Union (1-6-2, 5 points) must rebound from a devastating 3-3 tie on Wednesday when in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Toronto FC’s Luka Gavran became the third goalkeeper in MLS history to score.

“We have to let that go and build on the positives and also make sure we have a look at these negatives,” Union coach Bradley Carnell said. “For sure, we’ll do that as well, but we move on to Columbus.”

One of the positives was Danley Jean Jacques scoring the second goal after Carnell moved him further up the right wing to put Toronto under pressure. The goal came off a turnover.

“That’s why we went with Danley,” Carnell said. “Just because of his physical nature and his athletic nature to get to get pressing cues and triggers and hunt the ball and stay in it and go all the way in taking the last step.”

–Field Level Media

The New York Red Bulls and FC Cincinnati spent Wednesday scoring four goals in their respective matches.

Most times, that’s enough to register a win, but neither team could clamp down defensively, each settling for one point.

Two teams coming off differing types of draws and trying to gain ground in the Eastern Conference standings get together Saturday night when the Red Bulls visit Cincinnati.

New York (3-3-3, 12 points) is 1-3-3 in its past seven matches since starting this season with one-goal wins over Orlando and New England. The Red Bulls have allowed 22 goals over that stretch, including eight in the past two.

On Wednesday, New York settled for a 4-4 tie against visiting D.C. United after blowing a two-goal lead by allowing three goals after the 54th minute. Jorge Ruvalcaba scored twice after Julian Hall and Ronald Donkor tallied in the first half.

“At the moment, we’re giving away too much,” New York coach Michael Bradley said. “The chances and goals we give away in certain moments are broken plays where a little bit of chaos — if we don’t take care of the chaos, then they’re going to start running guys through and our ability to deal with that wasn’t what was needed.”

Cincinnati (2-4-3, 9 points) is winless its past four games (0-1-3) and scored four goals for the second time this season when it rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final minutes for a 4-4 tie at New York City FC.

Kevin Denkey scored his second goal of the contest in the 65th minute, and Cincinnati added on twice in stoppage time when Andrei Chirila and Evander scored in a span of three minutes. Denkey leads the team with four goals and Evander notched his second of the campaign.

The comeback occurred after Cincinnati overcame a two-goal deficit and earned a 3-3 draw with the Chicago Fire last Saturday.

“He’s certainly confident in himself and what he’s capable of,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said of Evander. “Production-wise, didn’t start the season the way I’m sure he would have liked, or maybe what we would have expected. But we needed him to step up and Kevin to step up on a night where you need your biggest players to carry the team.”

–Field Level Media

Two teams with identical records but opposite momentum collide as Minnesota United host Los Angeles FC on Saturday in Saint Paul, Minn.

Coming off a 1-0 win over Dallas FC on Wednesday, Minnesota (5-2-2, 17 points) has picked up a new offensive tempo. Anthony Markanich notched the most recent game-winner, but Kelvin Yeboah has provided the scoring impetus with three goals in Minnesota’s last four matches, all victories as part of a 4-0-1 run.

LAFC (5-2-2, 17 points) sit with a mirrored resume but carry an 0-2-2 record in their last four matches across all competitions. With just three goals in that span, Los Angeles will need to reset its gameplan heading into Saint Paul, followed by the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals.

Minnesota is tied for third in the Western Conference with LAFC, but the Loons are the only team within the top eight to have a negative goal differential (minus-2).

LAFC are 1-1-1 in road matchups this season, while Minnesota has yet to lose at home (2-0-1).

Minnesota’s newfound energy can also be contributed to goalie Drake Callender, who allowed just two goals and made 18 saves in the team’s last five matches. On the other hand, LAFC goalie Hugo Lloris hasn’t allowed a goal in seven of his eight MLS appearances this season but let four past in Sunday’s loss to the San Jose Earthquakes.

LAFC defender Aaron Long saw the pitch on Wednesday for the first time since he ruptured his left Achilles in July 2025. Head coach Marc Dos Santos said there were more positive than negative takeaways from Long’s first 45 minutes of the season.

“I think (Long) was aggressive in the right moments. He was connected with the back line,” Dos Santos said. He also noted that Long’s minute count will slowly increase as they assess the timeline for his full return.

Minnesota coach Cameron Knowles expressed concern about the quick turnarounds his team has been facing after matches.

“Certainly the tighter turnaround makes it difficult,” Knowles said. “We’ve got a number of guys who’ve been clocking some serious minutes and significant mileage.”

Knowles acknowledged that LAFC have also been playing a tight schedule and gave credit to their “incredible” start to the season.

“Regardless if they come to us full strength or they rotate their squad … they’re a very good team and certainly one that we have to be prepared for,” Knowles said.

–Field Level Media

Atlanta United will be searching for better play on both ends of the pitch in a bid to snap a four-match losing streak on Saturday when they visit a Toronto FC side frustrated by recent defensive struggles.

Atlanta (1-7-1, four points) came into 2026 with high expectations after the return of manager Tata Martino, who led the club in its first two years in MLS and finished that tenure with a 2018 MLS Cup title.

But so far, Martino has overseen only a continuation of the struggles under previous manager Ronny Deila.

Atlanta lost consecutive home matches, a 2-0 decision to Nashville on Saturday night and a 2-1 setback to New England on Wednesday. And in three of the latest four losses, Martino’s group has conceded multiple goals after halftime.

“I don’t think it’s a question of how we play in the first or second half,” Martino said Friday through an interpreter. “I think it’s just a matter of being more consistent and how we’re able to limit mistakes. And when I talk about errors, I’m not just talking about when we’re conceding goals, but also moments where we have a chance to assure the result.”

Alexey Miranchuk, who leads Atlanta with four goals, and Fafa Picault have been the only goal scorers during the four-game slide.

Toronto (3-2-4, 13 points) is unbeaten in its last seven MLS matches. But the last three of those were draws, including consecutive 3-3 results at home to Austin on Saturday and Philadelphia on Wednesday.

In each of those, it took a late equalizer to secure a share of the points. Kobe Franklin leveled in the 88th minute last weekend and Luka Gavran struck deep in second-half stoppage time in midweek.

Center back Walker Zimmerman also was limited to 65 minutes on Wednesday in his return from an 18-day layoff with a minor calf issue.

“We’re not always gonna keep a clean sheet,” defender Zane Monlouis said, as reported by TFC Republic. “That’s obviously the goal. But things happen sometimes. There are areas where we need to improve, and I think we’re just working to keep the goals down, try to keep clean sheets as much as we can.”

Atlanta’s Miguel Almiron remains out with a knee injury.

–Field Level Media

Under new leadership, CF Montreal are looking for their first set of consecutive wins this season when they host New York City FC on Saturday afternoon.

Following a 1-6-0 start, Montreal fired Marco Donadel on April 12. Interim head coach Philippe Eullaffroy helped lead the club to its first home victory of the season — a 4-1 triumph over the New York Red Bulls last Saturday.

For Eullaffroy and company, the season is far from over, despite the lackluster start.

With the debut win behind him, the 62-year-old head coach wants to continue implementing a refreshed viewpoint ahead of Saturday’s match.

“There’s a word we’ve used perhaps most often; it was ‘smile,'” Eullaffroy said. “We wanted to bring back the smile to all corners of the team and staff. The second word was ‘intensity.’ We wanted to be an animal, very intense, who does everything to win.”

Last time out, Prince Owusu scored to extend his team lead to five goals in his second year with the club.

Wiki Carmona has added three goals for Montreal (2-6-0, six points), who still sit 13th in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only the Philadelphia Union and Atlanta United.

New York City FC (3-3-3, 12 points) will be out to snap a five-match winless stretch (0-3-2). The team won three of four to begin the year but has failed to build on the early-season momentum.

Head coach Pascal Jansen’s group will be eager to remove the bad taste from a 4-4 draw versus FC Cincinnati after yielding a pair of second-half stoppage time goals. Jansen believes the team’s current shortcomings began with a March 22 loss to Inter Miami CF.

“There’s a few things that happened in the game against Miami which I’ve seen come back and it’s been specifically addressed,” Jansen said. “We’ve made ourselves aware of a couple things that have to be banned from our game in order to have the results that we’re looking for and that we might even deserve. If you’re very stubborn to learn from those moments, they will come back and haunt you at some point.”

Paced by Nicolas Fernandez’s MLS second-best eight goals, NYCFC leads the Eastern Conference with 19 goals on the year. Agustin Ojeda has scored three times for the struggling club.

–Field Level Media