MLS Matchday 3 provided a variety of interesting results.
NYCFC pummeled Orlando City with a 5-0 win. CF Montreal shocked the New York Red Bulls with a 3-0 win. San Jose Earthquakes pulled off a semi-big upset over the struggling Philadelphia Union, and DC United set a record for attendance. Well, sort of.
Four clubs in the West improved to 3-0-0: LAFC, San Jose Earthquakes, San Diego FC, and Vancouver Whitecaps. Out of the four, LAFC, San Jose, and San Diego have yet to concede one goal. Pretty crazy stuff early on.
Charlotte FC picked up its first win of the season to kick off a five-game homestand. They capitalized on Guilherme Biro being sent off in the 25th minute for Austin FC in a 3-1 win.
Sunday Night Soccer featured FC Cincinnati hosting Toronto FC. It appeared that Josh Sargent would make his MLS debut for Toronto after being unveiled earlier in the week, but he did not make the trip to Q2 Stadium. We will have to wait another week.
Let's get to a few matches that highlighted MLS Matchday 3.
Instead of playing at Audi Field, Saturday's match between DC United and Inter Miami was held at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The only reason for the change of scenery was the stadium's larger capacity to hold all the fans who were going to see Lionel Messi. I have my own gripes about changing locations because of one player, but I won't dive into that here.
Rodrigo De Paul put Miami ahead first with a goal in the 17th minute. Ten minutes later, Messi's 899th career goal doubled Miami's lead.
DC started to improve in the second half, and Tai Baribo cut the deficit to one with a goal in the 75th minute. Late pressure from DC looked like an equalizer was coming, but Miami held on and left Baltimore with three points.
The most dominant performance of Matchday 3 goes to NYCFC. A five-goal spectacle over Orlando City at Yankee Stadium is raising many questions about where Orlando goes from here.
Agustín Ojeda, Nicolás Fernández Mercau, Maxi Moralez, and Keton Parks, all added to the scoresheet. NYCFC dominated possession and controlled the tempo throughout the entire 90 minutes. This one was over quickly.
A 1-0 win over FC Dallas keeps LAFC perfect in the 2026 season. They are 3-0-0 and have yet to concede a goal in league play.
David Martínez was the lone goal-scorer for LAFC in the 55th minute with a long-range strike from outside the box. Dallas outshot LAFC, but Hugo Lloris came up huge multiple times on the way to a clean sheet.
LAFC were at the top of the list for potential Supporters' Shield winners and even MLS Cup winners before the season began, and they are indeed playing like contenders. But the top four in the West right now are all pretty good.
The Philadelphia Union were heavy favorites going into Saturday evening's match. San Jose entered Philly 2-0-0, but drew skepticism after beating only Sporting Kansas City and Atlanta United in their first two matches.
But San Jose might have put the skepticism aside after beating the reigning Supporters' Shield winners, 1-0.
The only goal came in the 59th minute when Ousseni Bouda finished off a lovely pass from Timo Werner. Philly controlled good portions of the game, but their lack of offensive creativity showed yet again.
Nashville SC got back to its winning ways with a 3-1 win over Minnesota United. In Matchday 2, Nashville drew 0-0 with FC Dallas.
Sam Surridge scored a brace (26th minute, 47th minute), and Cristian Espinoza got his first goal with his new club in the 78th minute.
Nashville's attack looked like what we expected it to be going into the year.
NYCFC 5-0 Orlando City
DC United 1-2 Inter Miami
Atlanta United 2-3 Real Salt Lake
Charlotte FC 3-1 Austin FC
Columbus Crew 0-0 Chicago Fire
Philadelphia Union 0-1 San Jose Earthquakes
Nashville SC 3-1 Minnesota United
Sporting Kansas City 0-1 San Diego FC
St. Louis City 0-1 Seattle Sounders
Colorado Rapids 4-1 LA Galaxy
LAFC 1-0 FC Dallas
Portland Timbers 1-4 Vancouver Whitecaps
New York Red Bulls 0-3 CF Montreal
FC Cincinnati 0-1 Toronto FC
Mar 7, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Chicago Fire midfielder Maren Haile-Selassie (7) dribbles the ball against Columbus Crew forward Diego Rossi (10) in the second half at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
Aaron Doster
NYCFC - 7 pts
Nashville SC - 7 pts
Inter Miami - 6 pts
New York Red Bulls - 6 pts
Chicago Fire - 4 pts
Charlotte FC - 4 pts
FC Cincinnati - 3 pts
DC United - 3 pts
Toronto FC - 3 pts
CF Montreal - 3 pts
Columbus Crew - 2 pts
Philadelphia Union - 0 pts
New England Revolution - 0 pts
Atlanta United - 0 pts
Orlando City - 0 pts
San Diego FC - 9 pts
Vancouver Whitecaps - 9 pts
San Jose Earthquakes - 9 pts
LAFC - 9 pts
Colorado Rapids - 6 pts
Seattle Sounders - 6 pts
Real Salt Lake - 6 pts
LA Galaxy - 4 pts
FC Dallas - 4 pts
Minnesota United - 4 pts
Austin FC - 4 pts
Houston Dynamo - 3 pts
Portland Timbers - 3 ts
St. Louis City - 1 pt
Sporting Kansas City - 1 pt
