MLSAces Week 5 - Team of the Week
Week 5 might have been the best week of the 2021 MLS season, mainly because we got more games! Mid-week games are always fun, but they also allow players a chance to get a second chance at securing a MLSAces team of the week spot. Obviously, this is what every player is thinking about week in and week out. Joking aside, let’s check out my picks, based on 20 games over the last week:
GK: Tyler Miller - Minnesota United FC
DEF: Alex Roldan - Seattle Sounders
DEF: Jack Elliott - Philadelphia Union
DEF: Yeimar Andrade - Seattle Sounders
DEF: Kyle Smith - Orlando City SC
MID: Eryk Williamson - Portland Timbers
MID: Robin Lod - Minnesota United
MID: Joao Paulo - Seattle Sounders
MID: Michael Barrios - Colorado Rapids
FWD: Bjorn Johnsen - CF Montreal
FWD: Alan Pulido - Sporting Kansas City
Bench:
GK: Alex Bono - Toronto FC
DEF: Brad Smith - Seattle Sounders
DEF: Julian Araujo - Los Angeles Galaxy
MID: Leon Flach - Philadelphia Union
MID: Jackson Yueill - San Jose Earthquakes
FWD: Gonzalo Higuain - Inter Miami CF
FWD: Lewis Morgan - Inter Miami CF
Overall, we saw a dominate week from the Seattle Sounders and Minnesota United, who both played two games and recorded shutout victories in both. As a result, you will see a lot of representatives from Seattle and Minnesota this week, with guys like Tyler Miller, Yeimar Andrade, Alex Roldan, Robin Lod, and Joao Paulo showing up. Tyler Miller recorded 7 saves Minnesota wins against the Whitecaps and Dallas. Sticking with the Loons theme, Robin Lod was the key offensive piece for the club - he had an assist in their first match and scored the lone goal in their second game (both were 1-0 wins). For Seattle, they were very strong defensively, as Yeimar Andrade and Alex Roldan had a combined 11 tackles across both games. Roldan also had an assist against LAFC. Lastly, João Paulo stepped up AGAIN, with 5 tackles and an assist this week.
Obviously, there are other players outside of Seattle and Minnesota that did well this week. I want to highlight Eryk Williamson and Michael Barrios - when you have players that put up two assists in a single game, you know they’re creating a ton of chances. Williamson was able to set up Yimmi Chara and Marvin Loria in the Timbers 2-0 win over San Jose. Meanwhile, Barrios was able to set up Sam Vines and Diego Rubio in the Rapids 3-1 win over Houston. If you want to talk about production, Bjorn Johnsen and Alan Pulido PRODUCED this week. They both had braces as Montreal and Sporting KC split results this week. Johnsen was also able to score two goals in just ELEVEN minutes against Miami midweek, while Pulido put up his brace against Vancouver over the weekend.
Who do you agree with? Who did I miss? Let me know! Week 6 is almost here!!!
