The Houston Dynamo’s perfect week concluded with Ben Olsen’s squad claiming three points in a Western Conference beatdown of defending MLS Cup champions, Los Angeles FC.
Four different Dynamo players found the back of the net in Houston’s 4-0 rout of LAFC on Saturday, giving the Texas-based club their second victory over the past week. Nelson Quinones opened the scoring in the 11th minute after finishing Adalberto Carrasquilla’s assist for a 1-0 lead.
Amine Bassi’s 50th-minute penalty kick extended the Dynamo’s lead to 2-0 before Corey Baird and Franco Escobar added goals of their own to cap the final score at 4-0. The loss for LAFC continued a worrying run of form for the defending league champions, while the Dynamo jumped to seventh place in the process.
After advancing to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals earlier in the week, the Dynamo answered with a monumental home performance.
Here is the rest of the Best of MLS for Week 17:
Goal of the Week
There were several top choices for Week 17 Goal of the Week honors, but only one truly edged out the rest of the competition.
Lucas Zelarayan’s 93rd-minute wondergoal helped the Columbus Crew defeat the Chicago Fire 2-1 at Soldier Field on Saturday night. The Armenian international caught Fire goalkeeper Spencer Richey off his line before testing his luck from midfield.
Richey was unable to scramble Zelarayan’s audacious effort out as the Crew claimed an important road win. The result was also the Fire’s first home loss in league play in 2023.
Player of the Week
Sporting Kansas City has gotten back on track in recent weeks, moving up to ninth in the Western Conference after a dire start to the season.
Peter Vermes’ squad extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 4-1 win over Austin FC, using Alan Pulido’s two goals and one assist in the dominant home performance. It was the latest gem from Pulido, who has started to get back to his best after missing the entire 2022 campaign due to injury.
Pulido followed up on his goalscoring performance last week, by playing a part SKC’s opening three goals of the match.
Mason Toye was an Honorable Mention after scoring twice in CF Montreal’s home win.