First, let's get this out of the way at the top: There should be no edition of How We Voted this week because Major League Soccer should stop forcing teams to play while extremely shorthanded during international breaks.
We are very much right in the middle of a big International Break that feels like an International Month if, like MLS, you exist inside the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf).
Many, many high-quality MLS players are away from their club teams and with their national teams for a variety of significant international matches like FIFA World Cup qualifiers, high-profile international friendlies, or continental competitions like Concacaf's Gold Cup.
The league and its schedule-makers still had 10 teams playing on Matchday 18, which was only a fraction of a real Matchday, with 67% of the league's clubs inactive. The matches must go on, in Don Garber & Co.'s world, and thus the voting for MLS Player of the Matchday must go on.
This isn't a business-as-usual column recapping my Player of the Matchday vote, though. There was no Team of the Matchday named for this round – presumably due to the low number of teams in action. MLS apparently didn't want to see five members of Chicago Fire FC in Team of the Matchday since they won 7-1, so all we're doing in this column is recapping how I voted for Player of the Matchday, and who won the final vote.
Speaking of Chicago Fire, they had the winner of the actual Matchday 18 vote, but the Fire's fill-in striker didn't get my vote despite his hat trick. It's a controversial decision, maybe, but not that controversial when considering the performance of the player who received my vote.
The HRB Ballot, Matchday 18
1. Denis Bouanga, Los Angeles FC
Not jumping into discussing Bouanga's performance just yet, because the context of his game feels significant. Los Angeles the place is in a period of serious civil unrest, with spontaneous protests breaking out last weekend in response to increased raids and activity in the city by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
People spent the weekend in the streets of LA protesting against the federal government's immigration sweeps, but LAFC still had a game scheduled for Sunday in the thick of the protests. Inside BMO Stadium, LAFC supporters took action of their own, staging a silent protest while unfurling numerous signs and banners condemning ICE. It was a surreal scene, a soccer match occurring at a fraught moment for the city while also serving as a canvas for further protest.
.@LAFC3252 employing a silent protest at tonight's #LAFC game against the current ICE actions in Los Angeles
— Justin Ruderman (@JustinRuderman_) June 9, 2025
"Abolish ICE" pic.twitter.com/zndKp0XwQh
The fans of LAFC put in an excellent performance while making their collective voices heard (and unheard, importantly). When the match was played, LAFC's star and MVP candidate also put in one of his best performances of the season to give the home LA fans a comeback win to celebrate.
Denis Bouanga had direct involvement in all three LAFC goals as they rallied from 0-1 down to beat Sporting Kansas City 3-1, with Bouanga picking up two assists and adding a match-winning penalty-kick goal of his own.
Sure, Tom Barlow of Chicago Fire FC scored a hat trick in a 7-1 road win. Chicago was already up 2-0 and DC United looked to be about at the point of "giving up entirely" by the time Barlow started banging in his goals. Bouanga carried his team back on an emotion-heavy afternoon and single-handedly turned the tide in the game.
I'm dinging Barlow for scoring while DC had given up, but Bouanga also benefited greatly from going head-to-head against a converted winger-turned-right-back and former New York City FC MLS SuperDraft pick, Khiry Shelton. Shelton got twisted and turned all game long by Bouanga, most noticeably on the penalty kick Bouanga drew. The LAFC winger ghosted past Shelton and then got hacked down by Memo Rodriguez, a clear-cut PK if there ever was one.
His assists included a pinpoint corner-kick delivery headed home by defender Eddie Segura, as well as the rare feat of setting up Olivier Giroud to score a goal in 2025, his third and the second the Frenchman has scored in his last three appearances.
Barlow was the easy selection given his hat trick, but I gave my vote to Bouanga for both his influence on all three LAFC goals and for delivering this kind of performance during what must have been a slightly bizarre time for LAFC to play a match. The protests happening outside the walls of BMO Stadium are much more important and significant than who won Player of the Matchday, but it should have been Bouanga.
2. Tom Barlow, Chicago Fire FC
A hat trick in a 7-1 win is the kind of performance that wins Player of the Matchday, but I couldn't vote for Barlow. He scored a bunch of tack-on goals while each team, his Chicago and opposing DC United, were missing a slew of key players due to a mix of international call-ups and injuries.
The DC-Chicago game wasn't quite as egregious as Seattle Sounders vs Vancouver Whitecaps when it came to the number of players missing in action, but DC-Chicago felt like the East Coast's poster child for MLS's refusal to pause the schedule during busy summer international windows.
Barlow's finishes were all of good quality, especially his first goal, which included an amazing long pass to Barlow's feet from Chicago fullback Andrew Gutman. His final two goals were more of the "poacher's specialty" variety but that's the job of a striker, especially one filling in for one of the top strikers in MLS in Hugo Cuypers.
Hat tricks aren't easy to dismiss but all the mitigating circumstances of each game were enough for me to pass on Barlow for Bouanga. You can watch his hat trick below and judge for yourself if I made the right call.
Leading the line for Chicago when they dropped 7️⃣ goals. 👊 pic.twitter.com/IgGA5580NV
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 9, 2025
Official Player of the Matchday: Tom Barlow
Congratulations to Tom Barlow of the @chicagofire.bsky.social on being named this week's Player of the Matchday!
— North American Soccer Reporters (@soccerreporters.bsky.social) June 9, 2025 at 6:02 PM
[image or embed]
Not many voters took my approach, but that's fine. It's more fun to divert from the crowd sometimes even if it means the player I voted for lost by over 30 percentage points. "See hat trick, vote for hat trick" is usually the approach taken by voters for Player of the Matchday, so this played out as expected.
Really, we shouldn't be even holding these votes when 67% of the league remains idle, but you play the hand that you're dealt, as they say.
MLS Team of the Matchday: There Isn't One!
Look no further for evidence of how farcical this round of MLS matches was: The league didn't name a Team of the Matchday because only 10 of 30 teams played games. Barlow and Bouanga would have been in there if they picked a Starting XI, so too would have been former New York City FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver, who kept a clean sheet for Austin FC in a 2-0 road win over Colorado Rapids. It's unfortunate for the players who did shine during Matchday 18 to not get the recognition of making a Team of the Matchday. MLS should really consider its approach to scheduling during international windows, a topic that's come up regularly around the league for years.
