Emmanuel Latte Lath, Tomas Jacob and Alexey Miranchuk had a goal apiece — with Miguel Almiron assisting on all three — as Atlanta United picked up its first win of the season in a 3-1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Union on Saturday afternoon.

Atlanta’s win was its first since a 1-0 road defeat of Nashville SC on Aug. 30, 2025. It also snapped a five-match winless streak (0-3-2) against the Union.

Philadelphia (0-4-0, 0 points) remained without a win while suffering its third straight loss across all competitions.

Atlanta (1-3-0, 3 points) opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Almiron slipped a ball ahead to Latte Lath, who raced into the scoring area. With Union goalkeeper Andre Blake pulled off his line, Latte Lath easily finished into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.

The Union were awarded a penalty late in the first half after Elias Baez was ruled to have committed a foul in the box, but Milan Iloski’s attempt from the spot struck the left post.

That allowed Atlanta to double its lead in the 47th minute. Almiron’s pass from the left-hand side was laid off by Latte Lath, leaving Jacob plenty of space and time to score his first MLS goal for a 2-0 lead.

Miranchuk made it a 3-0 advantage in the 68th minute, scoring his third goal in two matches.

Agustin Anello had the Union’s lone goal in the 87th minute, his first in MLS.

Lucas Hoyos turned aside two of Philadelphia’s three shots on target. Blake had a pair of saves for the Union.

Atlanta’s win was its first at home in an MLS match since beating Orlando City 3-2 on May 28, 2025. It also defeated the Union for the first time since July 2, 2023.

–Field Level Media

Colombian star James Rodriguez is expected to make his long-awaited MLS debut Sunday afternoon when Minnesota United travel to Vancouver to take on the Whitecaps.

Rodriguez, who won the Golden Boot in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil after scoring six goals while leading Colombia to the quarterfinals, signed with the Loons on Feb. 6 after a stint with Club Leon in Mexico. In a video posted on X by streamer Pelicanger, Rodriguez said he plans to play Sunday.

“Yes, with the grace of God,” said Rodriguez, who sat out Minnesota’s 3-1 loss on March 7 at Nashville with a contusion. “Against (Thomas) Muller’s team. I don’t know what it is called. Vancouver, I think.”

Muller, the 2010 Golden Boot winner after leading Germany to a third-place finish, and Rodriguez were teammates for two seasons at Bayern Munich from 2017-19.

Head coach Cameron Knowles said Rodriguez returned to training on Tuesday for Minnesota United (1-1-1, 4 points).

Vancouver (3-0-0, 9 points), which entered the weekend in a four-way tie for first place in the Western Conference with San Diego, San Jose and Los Angeles FC, has outscored its opponents 8-1 in MLS play. However, the Whitecaps are coming off a 3-0 home loss to the Seattle Sounders on Thursday in the first leg of CONCACAF Round-of-16 action.

Paul Arriola scored two goals in the first 58 minutes to lead Seattle. Vancouver lost despite finishing with huge edges in shot attempts (16-10) and possession (64.2%), but managed just three shots on goal. The second leg is Wednesday in Spokane, Wash., while Lumen Field undergoes preparations to hold World Cup matches this summer.

“We had a lot of shots and a lot of opportunities, but we did not hit the target,” Vancouver coach Jesper Sorensen said. “That’s where we have to be a little more cool in the moment and be able to get a quality shot instead of rushing it in the moment.”

Now the Whitecaps face a quick turnaround to host the Loons.

“It’s tough, but we have two days for recovery,” goaltender Yohei Takaoka said. “We have a game in two days against Minnesota, and we need to react in a good way.”

–Field Level Media

Oscar Cluff had 17 points with 14 rebounds and No. 18 Purdue advanced to the Big Ten Conference championship game with a 73-66 semifinal victory over short-handed UCLA on Saturday at Chicago.

The No. 7-seed Boilermakers (26-8) earned the win over the sixth-seeded Bruins (23-11) behind two strong first-half runs, as well as Cluff’s nine offensive rebounds and dominant play in the paint over the closing five minutes.

The victory avenged Purdue’s 69-67 loss at UCLA on Jan. 20 and gave the program a chance for its third conference tournament title on Sunday.

Fletcher Loyer scored 14 points, and Trey Kaufman-Renn totaled 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Braden Smith had five points and nine assists.

The Boilermakers held a 37-26 rebounding advantage.

The Bruins were without top scorer Tyler Bilodeau (right knee), who was injured in Friday’s 88-84 win over No. 3-seed Michigan State, and only received 10 minutes from second-leading scorer Donovan Dent, who left in the first half with a calf injury.

Trent Perry scored 15 points with nine assists for UCLA, while Xavier Booker scored 12 points. Eric Dailey Jr. notched 11 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, while Skyy Clark scored 10 points, four steals and three assists for the Bruins.

Purdue set the tone early with a 15-2 lead less than four minutes into the game behind Loyer’s second 3-pointer, Kaufman-Renn’s four points and a technical foul on the Bruins.

As the Boilermakers hit a significant cold spell, UCLA took off on a 15-2 run to knot the game at 17-17 as Booker and Dailey each tallied five points.

In a first half defined by runs, Purdue used a 9-0 stretch for a 26-17 lead, while UCLA had to cope with the injury to Dent, who was scoring nearly 14 points per game and had been key to the Bruins’ late-season surge.

Top-five n assist nationally at 7.5 per game, Dent returned from the locker room and joined the team on the bench in the final seconds of the first half, but he only had two points and did not play in the second half.

The Boilermakers increased a seven-point lead to 40-27 on Loyer’s 3-pointer inside the second half’s first minute, but Clark’s steal and layup with seven minutes left and a 3-pointer made it 58-57 with 6:14 remaining.

UCLA tied it 62-62 with 3:41 left, but Purdue closed it out with an 11-4 down the stretch as Cluff scored six of the Boilermakers’ last seven points.

–Field Level Media