Welcome back to Week No. 6 of Justin and Favian’s Weekly MLS Awards where SBI staff writers Justin Ruderman and Favian Renkel bring you a glimpse at the best of each week in MLS.
With the international break in the rearview window, the stars were back and shining bright.
Let’s take a look at our picks for Week 6:
Player of the Week
Justin Ruderman: Carles Gil (NE Revolution)
The New England Revolution’s 2025 season was always going to be dependent upon captain Carles Gil. Would he be able to provide a bounce-back season or had age regression hit early?
On Matchday 6, the 32-year-old sent Revs fans a clear message: He’s back.
Beginning with a bending free kick David Beckham would admire and ending with a winning stoppage-time penalty, Gil steered the Revs to their first win of the season at home, 2-1, over the reigning Eastern Conference champion, New York Red Bulls.
Favian Renkel: Diego Rossi (Columbus Crew)
Many questions were asked about this Columbus Crew side after Issa Tall sold Cucho Hernández, one of the best players ever to play for the Crew. Would Nancy be able to keep the team playing at the same level without their best player? Who would score the goals for the team? Who would step up for the crew?
Versus D.C. United last weekend, many of those questions were answered with Diego Rossi’s two-goal performance, which could have been a hat trick if the first chance the Uruguayan got went into the back of the net. This was Rossi’s 9th multi-goal game in his career, and the Crew are now six games unbeaten, sitting in third place in the eastern conference. Let’s see if the Crew and Rossi can keep this up until the reinforcements come in the summer.
Young Player of the Week
JR: Chris Brady (Chicago Fire)
Tip save, kick save, diving save, or volleyball parry – Chris Brady had it all on Saturday night.
The 21-year-old U.S. youth international goalkeeper earned the Chicago Fire a point at home against CF Montréal in a 1-1 draw despite being left out to dry by his defense time after time. He ended up bailing his team out on six occasions with various unique stops to frustrate opposition attackers.
Even when he made a mistake by coming out of his box for an attempted clearance – with Prince Owusu easily maneuvering around him toward goal – Brady recovered in a full sprint to clear the danger with a center back’s slide tackle inside of the six-yard box which Manchester City’s Rúben Dias would be proud of.
FR: Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF)
We haven’t mentioned this name much this year, but given the way Inter Miami has quietly been playing this season, it was only a matter of time before 20-year-old Miami teen heartthrob Benjamin Cremaschi was on this list.
As the main character of Inter Miami’s TikTok, Cremaschi has quietly become one of the team’s stars. With his charisma and appearances in big moments during Lionel Messi’s first year with the Herons, he definitely played like one for the team from South Beach this weekend versus the streaking Philadelphia Union. Cremaschi didn’t have the best start to this match as the young midfielder could have easily been sent off for a challenge where he arrived late and put some cleats into the Union’s Gazdag. A couple of minutes later, the 20-year-old makes a veteran move and passes a final ball across the face of the goal instead of shooting a Jordi Alba cross, giving Robert Taylot an easy tap-in to go 1-0 in a big matchup without Lionel Messi starting.
Now linked with Tottenham Hotspurs, it’s only a matter of time before the Miami kid spreads his wings and flies off like a Heron. Wait, Herons fly, right?
Goal of the Week
JR: Artem Smolyakov (LAFC)
Welcome to MLS, Artem Smolyakov!
The 21-year-old Ukranian youth international introduced himself to the league with a jaw-dropping first LAFC goal in his fifth appearance on Saturday. After the ball squirted out to him about 25 yards from goal, Smolyakov took a touch to settle and struck a dipping, curling strike with pace over San Diego FC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos in full stretch, yet still smashing off the underside of the crossbar into the net.
It proved only to be a silver lining in the Black & Gold’s 3-2 loss in San Diego, but it was a hell of a silver lining.
FR: Evander (FC Cincinnati)
If you are reading this, you already know that I love some MLS superstars scoring goals. For the second consecutive time, I will tell you how much Evander is a star.
The Brazilian is starting to heat up and has scored another free-kick goal. The former MVP finalist is starting to heat up; the question is, will Lionel Messi be able to keep up with Evander this year?
FC Cincinnati’s first road win came thanks to goals from Evander and Kevin Denkey and a massive performance from Roman Celetano.
Team of the Week
JR: Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids entered Matchday 6 fresh off a crushing 3-0 defeat to the Portland Timbers at home, with Charlotte FC, arguably the most in-form team in the league, coming to town. From a neutral perspective, the game seemed unlikely to end in a positive result for the ‘Pids.
Luckly, Djordje Mihailovic is not a neutral.
The 26-year-old U.S. international joined the matchday trend by scoring a brace to propel Colorado to a 2-0 triumph at Dick’s Sporting Good Park, their first MLS win in 2025. For his efforts, he also won MLS Player of the Matchday.
Of course, keeping Charlotte scoreless was no simple task either. The Rapids back line managed Wilfried Zaha, Patrick Ageymang, and Pep Biel skillfully as Zack Steffen came up with a few important stops as well. Marquee winter signing Josh Atencio also put in a strong shift alongside Cole Bassett in midfield.
FR: San Diego FC
A new rivalry ignited: LAFC vs. San Diego FC. As two of Major League Soccer’s newest and flashiest franchises, it didn’t take long for tensions to rise. From fights on and off the field, this match came with fireworks whether you wanted it. While the mainstream headline of this matchup wasn’t the game in the stadium, this was the first home win for San Diego FC, and it came against one of the contenders in the Western Conference. San Diego scored three goals in the first half on possibly one of the best defenses in MLS, talk about sending a message.
SDFC still doesn’t have a healthy Chucky Lozano, but they are still finding a way to grab points throughout their inaugural season. San Diego currently sits in third place in the Western Conference with 11 points. With reinforcements on the horizon, the sky is the limit for SDFC.
Moment of the Week
JR: The Peter Vermes run ends
This news was so paramount that Favian and I have decided to officially amend the SBI Soccer Awards Constitution, renaming the final award our “Moment of the Week” instead of the “Best thing we saw this week” because sometimes the important moments are not particularly positive.
Peter Vermes, the league’s longest-serving head coach, parting ways with Sporting Kansas City was one of those moments.
After joining the club in 2006 as technical director, Vermes took the head coaching position three years later, winning the 2013 MLS Cup and three U.S. Open Cup titles (2012, ‘15, ‘17) for SKC during his tenure.
But over the past few years, things have turned sour. SKC missed the playoffs in 2022 and began the 2023 season on a 10-game winless streak. Vermes likely rescued his job with a miraculous playoff qualification but missed the postseason again last season, finally reaching the end with SKC at the bottom of the MLS table, winless after six games.
Nonetheless, Vermes will be remembered as one of the greatest coaches in American soccer history, with 609 matches coached across all competitions for SKC, including the most ever for a single club in MLS.
FR: Messi is back!
Well, well, well, haven’t we been here before? It’s that time again. Lionel Messi is healthy and playing soccer again. Not only did Lionel Messi come onto the pitch, making all the fans happy to see him, but the GOAT scored a goal on his first touch, making it look extremely easy. In Messi fashion, he celebrates with a tennis-inspired goal celebration after going to watch Novak Djokovic at the US Open, which took place in Miami during the week.
Lionel Messi’s return from injury couldn’t come at a more crucial moment, as Inter Miami CF head to Los Angeles for a midweek showdown against LAFC in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
