MLS REVIEW 6 Sep 2026: two from seven, and the model's biggest calls all fell to draws and upsets

Another rough card for our model, which got two of its seven calls right. The two that landed were the shootouts. Portland 5, Minnesota 4 carried a piece of history: Vincent Janssen scored the first regular-season hat-trick in Timbers history, and in his first start. He converted a penalty in the 11th, Minnesota goalkeeper Drake Callender turned the ball into his own net in the 21st, and Janssen struck again in the 26th for a 3-0 lead. Minnesota clawed all the way back — Caldeira in the 32nd, Markanich in the 38th, Caldeira again in the 51st — before Janssen completed his treble in the 55th and Kristoffer Velde made it 5-3 in the 71st, a late Chancalay goal setting up a frantic finish but no more.

The other winning call was Dallas 4, Sporting KC 3. Sporting led through Taylor Calheira in the 4th and Stephen Afrifa in the 19th, before Dallas rattled off three before the break — Logan Farrington in the 27th, Petar Musa in the 30th, Kaick in the 45th — to lead 3-2 at the interval. Calheira levelled in the 78th, and Musa settled it from the penalty spot deep in stoppage time, his league-leading 18th goal of the season.

The biggest miss was the model's own home banker in Vancouver, where St Louis City won 3-1 and keep rolling. Sabbi put Vancouver ahead in the third minute, but the former Whitecaps striker Simon Becher levelled against his old club in the 23rd, Tomas Totland scored one and made another late in the first half, and Conrad Wallem added the third before the break to stretch St Louis City's unbeaten run to 13 games.

The draws did the rest of the damage. Real Salt Lake 2, LAFC 2 got away from a side the model fancied: Denis Bouanga opened in the 14th and Son Heung-Min restored the LAFC lead in the 39th for his first goal in eight matches, but Saba Lobjanidze and then Noel Caliskan, from a 75th-minute rebound, levelled twice, and Son was denied a winner when Yedlin cleared off the line in the 87th. Seattle and the New York Red Bulls drew 0-0 despite Seattle hitting the woodwork twice and forcing six saves from Ethan Horvath, and Austin were held 1-1 by San Jose, Beau Leroux's opener cancelled by a Guilherme Biro strike deep in stoppage time.

The last of the misses was LA Galaxy 2, New England 1 — the model had leaned to the visitors — Marco Reus converting an 11th-minute penalty and Robert Taylor striking in the 33rd for his first of the season, with Carles Gil's stoppage-time penalty the only reply and goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski making six saves to see it out.