The Vancouver Whitecaps look to maintain their home dominance when they host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.

The Whitecaps improved to 5-0-2 in their last seven home league games after scoring a franchise-high six goals in a 6-2 win over the visiting Houston Dynamo on Wednesday.

Vancouver (5-5-5, 20 points) became the first team in MLS history to score within the first 30 seconds of each half. The Whitecaps set franchise records for the fastest goals to start a half when Pedro Vite scored 15 seconds into the game, and Brian White found the back of the net just 10 seconds into the second half.

Sporting Kansas City (4-8-4, 16 points) finished May with consecutive wins for the second time in the month after a 2-1 victory over visiting FC Dallas on Wednesday. SKC are 4-1-1 in their past six league games after going winless through their first 10 contests (0-7-3).

Sporting Kansas City have collectively scored 12 goals in their past six league matches after scoring just three times in their first 10 MLS games combined.

Kansas City took a 2-0 lead on goals by Gadi Kinda in the 41st minute and Daniel Salloi in the 60th. Dallas pulled to within 2-1 on Jesus Ferreira’s tally in the first minute of stoppage time.

“I would say that our buildup play was actually really, really good,” Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. “I also thought that late in the game, some unfortunate situations occurred.”

Vancouver had no trouble scoring against Houston, as the Whitecaps scored five times after the Dynamo took a 2-1 lead in the 16th minute.

Julian Gressel had the first two-goal game of his MLS career, while White, Ryan Gauld and Sebastian Berhalter each had a goal and an assist.

“The difference was that in the first half, we never wanted the ball back,” Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini said. “In the second half, we wanted the ball back every time. And that’s a reason why we played better.”

–Field Level Media

The San Jose Earthquakes will try to build on their first away win of the season when they visit last-place Colorado on Saturday night.

The Earthquakes (6-5-4, 22 points) snapped their winless road mark with a gutsy 1-0 victory at the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday night.

Jeremy Ebobisse scored his sixth goal of the season just after halftime. From there, the Quakes held on with some valiant defending and goalkeeping.

“It was a good feeling to see all the work we’ve put in on the training ground in set pieces come to fruition,” Ebobisse said afterward. “I think we’ve come close a few times: a free-kick goal last game, a corner-kick goal. We’ve had some good looks as well. Today, we had a clean header, guys ended up in their spots, and I was able to convert. It’s some(thing) to build off of.”

San Jose goalkeeper Daniel made eight saves to keep his first shutout in MLS and the Earthquakes’ fourth of the season. It was only his fourth start after missing a chunk of about two months due to knee surgery.

Colorado (2-8-6, 12 points) has lost five in a row following a 3-2 defeat at the Columbus Crew on Wednesday night.

That marks the Rapids’ longest losing streak since dropping eight in a row during the 2019 season, a tailspin that contributed to the dismissal of former coach Anthony Hudson.

Current coach Robin Fraser remains in the job for the moment as his team sits in the Western Conference cellar. But with Inter Miami dismissing Phil Neville earlier this week and the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire also parting with coaches earlier this season, pressure could be mounting.

Regardless of Fraser’s future, midfielder Cole Bassett knows a turnaround will have to come quickly if the Rapids want to still contend for the playoffs.

“We’re going to have to dig ourselves out of this,” Bassett said after scoring a late consolation goal in the loss at Columbus. “We’re going to have to start winning games at the same rate we’re losing them right now.”

–Field Level Media

Back to their winning ways, expansion St. Louis City will have their eyes on first place in the Western Conference as they host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.

St. Louis (8-4-1, 25 points) is tied with LAFC for second in the West, one point behind the Seattle Sounders. Seattle faces the Portland Timbers on Saturday afternoon.

After three straight losses across all competitions, St. Louis City have won their past two games by a combined score of 7-1. Their 3-1 triumph over the Vancouver Whitecaps on May 27 made them the first expansion team in MLS history to total 25 points in their first 13 matches.

Eduard Lowen scored his fourth goal of the season on a long, curling free kick. St. Louis capitalized on a Vancouver own goal before halftime and Miguel Perez added his first during second-half stoppage time.

“It feels good to score goals, and some of them might have been lucky, but I think you create your own luck so we’ll take what we can get,” midfielder Indiana Vassilev said. “But yeah, seven goals in two games feels good.”

St. Louis now leads the conference with 29 goals, which figures to be bad news for a Houston Dynamo team that just lost 6-2 at the Whitecaps on Wednesday. Houston had been stingy, allowing a mere five goals in its previous eight MLS matches.

The Dynamo (5-6-3, 18 points) are also one of four MLS clubs still hunting for their first win on the road. They’re 0-5-2 away from home to date.

“I’m concerned that we didn’t show up in the way we needed to for this game (against Vancouver),” Dynamo coach Ben Olsen told reporters. “We’re not good enough yet to not have players show up and give everything and to have their bellies empty and not be hungrier than the team we’re playing against. That was concerning (Wednesday).”

Amine Bassi leads the Dynamo with six goals. His goal in the 16th minute Wednesday made it 2-1 Houston before the Whitecaps stormed ahead.

The Dynamo have a suspect track record against expansion teams like St. Louis. Houston is 2-9-6 in its last 17 matches against first-year opponents, according to MLS.

St. Louis coach Bradley Carnell said midfielder Rasmus Alm (abdominal) will be available to play Saturday, while “it might be a game too soon” for Joao Klauss (quad), who’s returned to practice. Klauss leads the team with five goals.

–Field Level Media

Resurgent Austin FC will be chasing history and look to move up in the standings when it hosts struggling Real Salt Lake on Saturday in a Western Conference match.

Austin has won three of its past four matches (3-1-0), including both matches at home. The club has never won three straight games at home in its three years in MLS.

Austin’s most recent win was a rousing 2-1 home victory over Minnesota United on Wednesday. The Verde (5-6-4, 19 points) got the game-winning goal from Sebastian Driussi in the 82nd minute and held on thanks to a pair of saves by Brad Stuver in the final minutes.

“I think that we put ourselves in a position where we weren’t going to break,” Stuver said after the win. “The team’s resiliency, the team camaraderie, the team belief that we were going to get three points out of this is what I want to carry into next game and the games after that.”

Driussi, last season’s runner-up for league MVP, entered in the 61st minute after a groin injury sidelined him for over a month, as he was making his first appearance in a match since April 29. He will likely fill the substitute role again on Saturday as he works back into form after the layoff.

Saturday’s match will be the ninth overall in 29 days for Austin FC across all competitions.

“The guys are exhausted,” Austin coach Josh Wolff said. “I haven’t seen that ever in the league, certainly at this point in the season.”

Real Salt Lake (4-7-4, 16 points) has won just once in its past seven MLS matches (1-2-4) and head to Austin after a 3-2 loss at home to the L.A. Galaxy on Wednesday.

Danny Musovski and Pablo Ruiz had second-half goals for RSL but it could not hold on, surrendering two goals to the Galaxy over a two-minute stretch in the second half.

“We can do a lot better in really managing the emotional roller coaster of the game,” Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “You want to get after it and keep the foot on the gas, and in doing so open up a lot of space in the middle.”

The most recent match between the sides, on March 11, produced a 2-1 win for Austin that was the first road victory for either team in the series.

–Field Level Media

Goals have been hard to come by for both Toronto FC and Minnesota United this season. But if their brief head-to-head history is any indication, a matchup between the two could be just what the doctor ordered when they square off on Saturday in Saint Paul, Minn.

The two sides, who will face off for only the fourth time, have combined for 19 goals in their three previous meetings, with at least five total goals in each contest.

Overall, Minnesota (5-6-4, 19 points) has scored 14 goals on the season, tied for third fewest in MLS. The Loons have scored once in each of their past four matches after being shut out in three of the previous four. The home pitch hasn’t been much of an advantage for the Loons, who are 1-1-4 as the hosts this season.

There could be some good news for the club, however, as star midfielder Emanuel Reynoso could be on the matchday roster. The Argentine, who ended a four-month holdout on May 6 and had his MLS suspension lifted on May 16, hasn’t played since the MLS Cup playoffs last October. He led United with 10 goals last season.

“He’s getting frustrated,” coach Adrian Heath said Wednesday. “He wants to play, but we have to be mindful of the fact that he hasn’t played and done an awful lot for a long time. But no, he’s not far away, that’s the best way to describe him.”

Toronto (3-5-8, 17 points) settled for yet another draw in its last outing, a 0-0 final against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday. The Reds, who have scored 15 goals on the season, have now been shut out in five of their past six contests.

“We’ve been tested,” coach Bob Bradley said. “We’ve been tested on the fact that we’ve had a lot of close, tight games where we certainly could have taken more points than we did. We’ve had a lot of days where we don’t give much away and overall we play all right but don’t create enough. And I say over and over that our margin becomes really small.”

Veteran forward C.J. Sapong has recorded at least one shot attempt in six of his seven matches with the club and is third on the team with 13 shot attempts. He scored in his Toronto debut on April 29 but has not tallied since.

–Field Level Media

Nashville SC will look to extend their unbeaten run in MLS play to eight games when they visit FC Dallas on Saturday.

Nashville (8-3-4, 28 points) is coming off a 3-1 home victory over the Columbus Crew last Saturday and is in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, eight points behind FC Cincinnati.

FC Dallas (6-4-5, 23 points) had its five-game unbeaten run (2-0-3) end in MLS play with a 2-1 loss at Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday. Dallas is in fourth place in the Western Conference and just three points behind first-place Seattle.

Nashville is 5-0-2 in its past seven MLS games dating to a 2-1 setback at New York City FC on April 15.

Nashville used a second-half surge to knock off the Crew.

After Columbus’ Yaw Yeboah scored in the second minute, Fafa Picault tied the game in 56th minute before Teal Bunbury’s goal in the 80th made it 2-1. Hany Mukhtar, the league’s reigning MVP, scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time to secure the win.

“It looked like we grew another foot or two as the game went on and they shrunk a foot or two and life looked a little more difficult for them,” Nashville coach Gary Smith said.

Mukhtar’s nine goals are tied for second in the league, one behind LAFC’s Denis Bouanga. Picault has four goals for Nashville, while Mukhtar has a team-high seven assists, four more than Shaq Moore, who ranks second.

Dallas, meanwhile, had its rally come up short against Sporting Kansas City.

Trailing 2-0, Jesus Ferreira scored in the first minute of stoppage time, but Dallas couldn’t get the equalizer.

“It’s always frustrating to lose, especially in a game where we did have chances,” Dallas defender Nolan Norris said. “We had moments where we did well in combination and attacking but it’s just about being clinical and taking the positives and moving forward to the next one.”

Ferreira is carrying FC Dallas offensively this season. He also has nine goals, which are at least seven more than any of his teammates. Nkosi Tafari and Alan Velasco are tied for second on the team with two goals apiece.

–Field Level Media