The Pitch: Olsen’s “Cowboys” Lead Houston into Texas Showdown

Below is a selection of marquee MLS matches to watch during Matchday 10 action on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

Raining Goals in the Midwest: A swashbuckling fixture that saw 20 goals scored across five regular season and postseason matches in 2023 makes its debut in 2024 as Sporting Kansas City hosts St. Louis CITY SC on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET).

Ten years after he captured the MLS Coach of the Year award in 2014, Ben Olsen is once again maximizing the talent up and down his roster as Houston Dynamo FC sit in third place in the Western Conference (13 points, 4-2-1). The club continues to impress on the field despite just a combined 112 minutes of action from the Designated Player duo Sebastián Ferreira and Héctor Herrera , the latter of whom recorded 21 goal contributions last year. Maintaining that success has required a special mix of talent and “moxie”, which Olsen sees in droves in the 2024 edition of the squad.

“These guys are cowboys, man. They want to roll and win games,” said Olsen following the club’s 2-1 victory at Minnesota United FC on Matchday 9. “Sometimes you just have to let them go, and I think there’s a lot to this group as there was last year. They’ve got some moxie, they’ve got a belief, and they’re fearless.”

The Dynamo, who finished fourth in the West during Olsen’s first season with the club in 2023, have had six different players score this season, including a club-high three from 22-year-old forward Ibrahim Aliyu in his second MLS season. The Dynamo have seen 19 different players score since the start of last season, which is tied for the fourth-most over that span.

With the return of Herrera on the horizon and Ferreira returning to play with a goal in his first start of the season (March 30), reinforcements are on the way as the club looks to keep their cowboy mentality and continue climbing the Western Conference table on Matchday 10 against in-state rival Austin FC on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).

The Philadelphia Union remains the last unbeaten in MLS in 2024, but the club’s success doesn’t stop there as the entire player pathway is humming for the Union. In MLS NEXT Pro, Union II are unbeaten (3-2-0) and the club’s U17 side recently won the 2024 Generation adidas Cup title. Philadelphia’s successful player development model has been working for years, and the introduction of Union II head coach Marlon LeBlanc has refined the model to produce…