MLS Wrap - Week 5

LOS ANGELES 0 TORONTO 0

Chad Barrett hit the crossbar in the 13th minute, Todd Dunivant hit the crossbar in the 61st, and David Beckham hit the right post off a free kick in the 70th minute, but the Galaxy couldn't figure out a way to beat Stefan Frei as they were forced to settle for one point on the road. Already without Landon Donovan who didn't travel with the team, the Galaxy got more bad news as David Beckham earned his 5th yellow card of the young season which means he'll be facing a suspension, and Juninho got sent off in stoppage time meaning a suspension for him as well. Donovan Ricketts made a pair of big saves to preserve the shutout denying Gianluca Zavarise in the first half and Joao Plata on headers from close range, one in each half. This game marked the third straight 0-0 draw between these two teams. Toronto hosts Columbus next Saturday while the Galaxy will host the expansion Timbers.



REAL SALT LAKE 1 COLORADO 0

Real Salt Lake takes an early lead in the first leg of the Rocky Mountain Cup after getting a stoppage time winner from Fabian Espindola. Espindola's goal was not without contoversy though as replays show he appeared to be offsides when he scored. The play started when Javier Morales' free kick in the 93rd minute struck the right post, but deflected to Paulo Jr whose touch went forward to Espindola who tucked it home from close range. No flag on the play though as Espindola gets his first goal of the season, and Real Salt Lake continues to roll winning their 4th straight. Espindola also put one in the net in the first half, but was ruled offsides. The Rapids have now dropped two straight after winning their first three and were without Conor Casey in this one going instead with Omar Cummings and Caleb Folan up top to start the match. Colorado heads back home to take on Seattle next Saturday while Salt Lake will try to keep rolling this week as they have the first leg of their Champions League Championship match on Tuesday night against Monterrey.


PORTLAND 4 CHICAGO 2

The Timbers have their first MLS win knocking off the Chicago Fire in a high scoring affair 4-2 in Portland on Thursday night. After Kenny Cooper's header off a corner kick in the 11th minute was called back because the kick was ruled to have gone out of bounds before curling back in it looked like it might not be the Timbers' night, but they responded. Kalif Alhassan sprung Jorge Perlaza in the 29th minute and he was able to beat Sean Johnson for his first goal of the season. The Timbers were just getting started though. Rodney Wallace drilled home a poor clearance from the top of the box in the 38th minute to make it 2-0. Then less than 2 minutes into the second half it was Perlaza again, this time jumping on a bobble by Johnson for the easy goal putting the Timbers up 3. They nearly made it 4 when Alhassan hit the cross bar less than 5 minutes later. The Fire would fight back though. First Eric Brunner deflected a ball past his keeper Jake Gleeson for an own goal to make it 3-1. Then with just 10 minutes to go, Marco Pappa scored his second goal of the season with a beautiful left footed shot to make it 3-2. But Portland caught a break when an apparent handball in the box by Cooper went uncalled and the ensuing scrum led to an own goal by Dasan Robinson when he failed to clear the ball off the endline giving the Timbers a 2 goal advantage which they'd ride to the end. Next up for the Timbers a trip to L.A. on Saturday while the Fire host the Dynamo.



PHILADELPHIA 1 SEATTLE 1

Seattle stole a point from the Union on Saturday getting a goal in the 91st minute from Alvaro Fernandez to salvage a tie on the road. Carlos Ruiz opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with his 2nd goal of the year. Ruiz hit a free kick from just outside the box that deflected off the wall just enough to fool Kasey Keller and find its way into the net. That goal held up all the way until stoppage time when Fredy Montero lofted a ball into the box that Fernandez put a head on and knocked it off the post and in for his first goal of the season. It was just the second time all year that Faryd Mondragon and the Union defense had been beaten in 5 games. Seattle, who hasn't lost in there last four matches after starting the season 0-2, will head to Colorado to take on the Rapids on Friday while the Union have a long layover, not playing again until April 30th against the Earthquakes.



DC UNITED 3 TORONTO 0

Charlie Davies made his first start for United, and DC wasted little time getting to work against Toronto. Chris Pontius got them on the board in the 5th minute with a fantastic individual effort before ripping a left footed shot toward the fat post and past a helpless Stefan Frei. Then it was Davies turn. Josh Wolff's initial effort was saved by Frei, but the rebound deflected right to Davies who hit it home first time for this league leading 5th goal of the young season. Things only got worse for Toronto in the second half as Ty Harden was sent off early in the second half for a tackle on Chris Pontius leaving Toronto a man down and chasing two goals. Pontius would make it three a little while later, this time scoring with his right foot for the brace on an assist from Fred. Bill Hamid needed to make just one save to get the shutout as DC earned their second win of the year. For Toronto it snapped a four game unbeaten streak as they drop to 1-2-3. Next up for United is a home game against New York on Thursday while Toronto hosts Columbus on Saturday.


VANCOUVER 0 CHIVAS USA 0

 Chivas USA remains the only winless team in MLS following their 0-0 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps. While Chivas has picked up points in their last three matches, they've still failed to get over the hump and have been shut out in two straight. Dan Kennedy made a pair of saves for Chivas and got a little help from the woodwork as both Wes Knight and Eric Hassli hit the post in the first half. Jay Nolly had 4 saves for Vancouver as they recorded their first shutout in franchise history. Chivas will look to make it 4 in a row without a loss as they travel north to take on in-state rival San Jose on Saturday. Vancouver meanwhile will play host to FC Dallas.


COLUMBUS 1 KANSAS CITY 0

Suddenly the Crew, who looked so bad in an early 3-1 loss to DC United, can't be scored on. Will Hessmer and company posted their 4th straight shutout and suddenly look like a contender in the East. Taking on Sporting Kansas City who was again without star Omar Bravo, the Crew defense held fast and the offense eventually broke through when Dilly Duka flicked a pass from Kevin Burns to the back post where Robbie Rogers was able to gather it in and beat Jimmy Nielsen for the goal. Eddie Gaven had a chance to make it 2-0 in the 68 minute on a beautiful setup from Rogers, but Nielsen made a brilliant kick save to keep the lead at one. Any hopes Sporting had of coming back were dashed in the 72nd minute though when Julio Cesar received his second caution for a questionable handball and was sent off. The Crew will now look to make it 5 shutouts in a row as they take on struggling Toronto FC north of the border on Saturday while Kansas City plays at New England.


NEW YORK 3 SAN JOSE 0

New York had been struggling to score goals lately, but all those problems went away on Saturday as Luke Rodgers and Thierry Henry combined for 3 goals in a route of the Earthquakes at Red Bull Arena. Rafa Marquez's corner set up the first goal in the second minute. Jan Gunnar Solli flicked the ball all the way to the back post where Dane Richards volleyed it back across the goal mouth with Rodgers flicking it past Jon Busch for his first goal of the season. Then Thierry Henry stole the ball from Ramiro Corrales and slotted a cross right across the goal mouth to a wide open Rodgers who made it 2-0 not even 15 minutes in. Henry had several chances throughout the match getting denied by Busch of multiple occasions and missing wide from close range early in the second half. Finally, in the 87th minute, Rodgers floated a cross to the back post for Henry who ripped a header past Busch, finally getting his first goal of the season, and first league goal since September 11, 2010. New York outshot San Jose 16-6 in the match, and Busch managed to make 6 saves, but the Red Bull offense was just too much as New York finally got their second win of the year. The Red Bulls will look to build on that tomorrow night as they take on DC United while San Jose plays host to Chivas USA on Saturday.


LOS ANGELES 2 CHICAGO 1

The Galaxy, playing without Juninho, David Beckham, or Landon Donovan, bounced back from a midweek tie with Toronto FC to beat struggling Chicago 2-1. Chad Barrett made a well timed run through the Chicago defense and received a perfect pass from Miguel Lopez en route to his first goal of the season. Lopez also picked up the assist on the second goal when Omar Gonzalez headed home his corner kick in the 72nd minute to put LA up two. Dominic Oduro was able to cut the deficit to 2-1 when he scored on Donovan Ricketts from a tough angle in the 89th minute, but it was too little too late as the Galaxy defense held up against a late charge by the Fire and picked up the 3 points on the road. At 3-1-3, the Galaxy now sit in 2nd place in the Western Conference, while the struggling Fire, at 1-3-1 are in last place in the East. The Fire will try and get back on track when they host Houston on Saturday while the Galaxy will try to keep rolling when they host the expansion Timbers.


PORTLAND 3 DALLAS 2

Just days after their first MLS win, the Timbers picked up another jumping out to a 3-0 lead for the second straight match. Just like against Chicago earlier in the week though, they watched their lead get cut to one before bearing down and clinching the win. Jack Jewsbury opened the scoring in the 13th minute taking a pass from Kalif Alhassan and blasting in literally through Kevin Hartman for his second goal of the year. About 20 minutes later it was Jewsbury doing the table setting for Kenny Cooper when his corner found Cooper's head and he too beat Hartman for his second goal of the year. Then it was Rodney Wallace's turn to get in on the action. After Alhassan beat 5 Dallas defenders before finding Wallace in the box to make it 3-0. Things started getting dicey in the final ten minutes though. First the reigning MVP David Ferreira got Dallas on the board in the 83rd minute when he redirected a cross from Brek Shea past Jake Gleeson. The two would combine again just two minutes later, this time with Ferreira finding Shea who took a ball out of the air with a beautiful first time finesse volley deflecting over Gleeson's outstretched arms. Gleeson would save the Timbers from an embarrassing collapse when he just got his fingertips off a blast from Ferreira forcing it off the crossbar in the 93rd minute preserving the 3-2 win. So the Timbers survive and get a pair of wins behind 7 goals this week, but now travel to LA to take on the Galaxy this weekend. Dallas meanwhile will try and regroup as they go north to take on Vancouver.



HOUSTON 1 NEW ENGLAND 0

The Dynamo won their second in a row taking advantage of the Revs missing Pat Phelan and Shalrie Joseph. The Dynamo outshot New England 27-11, took 11 corners and forced Matt Reis to make 6 saves. New England also cleared a couple balls off the goal-line, and Houston hit the post a couple twice. All the pressure finally paid off for Houston in the 86th minute when defender Hunter Freeman broke the scoreless deadlock. The play started with a corner and Cam Weaver's header hit the crossbar and went straight up in the air.  Freeman got himself positioned for the rebound and the ball appeared to deflect off his hand and into the goal. No call was made giving the Dynamo a well-deserved, if controversial result as they dominated the match. Houston looks to make it 3 in a row at Chicago on Saturday while New England looks to regroup as they host Kansas City. The Revs were able to add US National Team member Benny Feilhaber to their roster this week so that should help them out moving forward.