Uruguay’s Facundo Torres scored the first goal of his MLS career with a header in the 10th minute as Orlando City beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 on Saturday.
Ercan Kara seized a ball on the right flank and sent a perfect cross to Uruguayan Torres, who in front of the penalty spot finished off powerfully to beat goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.
The Peruvian Pedro Gallese, goalkeeper for Orlando, made sure that the minimum advantage persisted until the end, with at least a couple of saving saves. The Mexican Javier “Chicharito” Hernández played the entire game but went blank for the Los Angeles team.
Orlando City continued to surprise this season, reaching seven points to move into third place in the Eastern Conference.
The Galaxy stalled at six units, to be seventh in the West.
Also on Saturday, Argentina’s Thiago Almada and Brooks Lennon scored late as Atlanta United stretched to draw 3-3 at home against Montreal.
The Venezuelan Josef Martínez did the other goal for the locals.
New York City FC, the defending league champion, fell 2-0 to the Philadelphia Union, with goals from Alejandro Bedoya and Daniel Gazdag.
Cincinnati won 3-1 over Inter Miami, with two goals from Brandon Vázquez and one from Costa Rican Ronald Matarrita.
The Colombian-American Jonathan Osorio reached 50 goals in the different competitions with Toronto, which beat DC United 2-1.
At night, the Paraguayan Luis Amarilla contributed the goal with which Minnesota United beat the San José Earthquakes 1-0, and Dallas thrashed the Portland Timbers 4-1, with a hat trick by Jesús Ferreira, Colombian naturalized American.
In other games, the Chicago Fire won 3-1 over Sporting Kansas City; Charlotte beat the New England Revolution by the same score; the Houston Dynamo drew 1-1 against the Colorado Rapids, and Real Salt Lake beat Nashville 2-1.