Carlos Vela and Krisztian Nemeth both hit hat tricks as their respective clubs rolled to massive wins in MLS on Saturday night.
Vela's three goals sparked a 5-0 thumping of of the San Jose Earthquakes, the Mexican forward opening the scoring by walking the ball into the net after a horrendous error from San Jose goalkeeper Daniel Vega .
SIGN UP to watch the 2019 MLS season in Canada on DAZN
His third was a classy curled finish from 25 yards, with Steven Beitashour and Diego Rossi also finding the net as Bob Bradley's held firm atop the Western Conference for another week.
Nemeth's hat trick came in an equally impressive win for Sporting Kansas City. The forward became the first Hungarian-born player to score a hat trick in MLS as his club ran to a 7-1 blowout victory over the Montreal Impact.
Johnny Russell struck twice while Felipe Gutierrez and Gianluca Busio also found the net for SKC before Saphir Taider hit for the Impact late on to at least keep the Canadian club from being shut out.
The Houston Dynamo kept the blowout train rolling with a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rapids.
Memo Rodriguez opened the scoring for the Dynamo before a brace of own goals pushed the lead to 3-0, with Alberth Ellis adding Houston's fourth. Kei Kamara scored for the Rapids, his 114th goal moving him up to fifth all time in the league scoring charts, but it was too late to help avoid the lopsided loss.
A Tim Parker own goal made it back-to-back losses for the New York Red Bulls, who fell 1-0 to the Chicago Fire, who also saw Nicolas Gaitan make his debut for the club in the second half.
The New England Revolution left the ranks of the winless on Saturday, Brad Friedel ringing the changes and seeing his side take a 2-1 victory over Minnesota United thanks to Brandon Bye's winner just after the hour mark.
It's a 2-1 @NERevolution lead now after Brandon Bye finishes from a tight angle! 📐#NEvMIN https://t.co/maTOvTcQCj
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 30, 2019
Marco Fabian and David Accam were both on target for the Philidelphia Union as they cruised to a 2-0 win over FC Cincinnati. Accam added the assist for Fabian as his hot start to the 2019 season continues.
Defending MLS Cup champion Atlanta United continued to struggle, dropping a 2-0 result against the Columbus Crew.
Pedro Santos scored just two minutes in for the home side and Gyasi Zardes added a second before the break as Atlanta's winless run to open the season has now reached four matches.
Zardes doubles the lead for #Crew96! https://t.co/dCqPyCua5T
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 31, 2019
Real Salt Lake saw red for the third time in as many games and, for the third time in as many games, ended up on the losing end.
Carlos Gruezo had FC Dallas on the board in the opening minute, and Damir Kreilach being sent off just 17 minutes had things looking bleak for RSL early on.
Even when Jefferson Savarino pulling RSL level just after the half hour mark, the club could only hold it for a minute before Paxton Pomykal put the visiting side back in front.
Pomykal would add another in the 64th and, despite Marcelo Silva finding the net two minutes later, Jesús Ferreira 's 69th minute goal sealed a 4-2 win for FCD.
The Seattle Sonders entered Saturday as one of just two teams not to have dropped any points on the year, but couldn't keep pace with Toronto FC as they slipped to a 0-0 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Vancouver seemed close to a late winner only to have a penalty overturned by VAR.
