MLS Week 14 Roundup: Bruce Arena Returns to LA & Eastern Conference Teams Win Big

Week 14 of the 2019 MLS season saw the most successful manager in US football history, Bruce Arena, return to the club where he won three of his five MLS Cups.

New England travelled to Los Angles to take on LA Galaxy in the final matchup of the week with two main storylines on everyone's mind. After serving a two-match suspension, Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned for the Galaxy and scored a trademark Zlatan goal late in the game to bring his squad within one. 

Despite the Swede's fantastic effort late in the match, the Revs took home all three points courtesy of goals from Cristian Penilla and Teal Bunbury, as Arena got his dream return to the City of Angels.

Several Eastern Conference teams faced off against Western opposition this week with many of them coming away with big wins. 

After D.C. United drew with San Jose on Saturday evening, Philadelphia had a chance to take over the top spot in the East. The Union were tested early in their match with Minnesota but ultimately showed their quality over the full 90 minutes and came away with a 3-2 win. Philadelphia has a game in hand over D.C. and can extend their lead against fourth-placed New York Red Bulls next week. 

Speaking of the Red Bulls, a flurry of second-half goals gave them a 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in the most lopsided match of the week. Salt Lake had their chances in the first 50 minutes of the game but collapsed around the 60-minute mark and allowed four goals in just over 20 minutes. 

In one of the few all west-coast contests of the week, LAFC continued their winning ways with a 3-2 triumph over Portland. The Timbers' celebration of the re-opening of Providence Park was soured early in the match by Carlos Vela, the leading candidate for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award. Vela has scored 16 goals in 16 games, holding a six-goal lead in the race for the Golden Boot. 

Colorado continued to surprise everyone, making it three wins in a row against Cincinnati after failing to register a win in the first 12 matches of the campaign. The 3-1 victory over the central-Ohio club avenged their 1-0 loss to the league's newest team on the first day of the campaign.