MLS Wrap - Week 6

NEW YORK 4 DC UNITED 0

The New York Red Bulls and Thierry Henry are suddenly red hot. After breaking out with 3 goals this weekend, the Red Bulls were right back at it on Thursday night blowing out DC 4-0. Thierry Henry got it going in the 12th minute with a header from the penalty spot off a cross from Jan Gunnar Solli for his second goal in as many matches. Solli and Henry combined again in the 38th minute as Henry got on the end of his cross easily beating Bill Hamid from the top of the six yard box for his second goal of the match. Then it was Henry's turn to do the table setting as he sprung Joel Lindpere on a counterattack. Lindpere did a nifty bit of footwork to school Clyde Simms and hammered the ball home for his first goal of the year to make it 3-0. But New York was still not done. Juan Agudelo came on as a substitute and scored just a sensational goal to close out the scoring in stoppage time. Solli tallied his third assist of the match as Agudelo flicked the cross to himself and volleyed it past Hamid for just an amazing finish for the teenage sensation. DC was unable to break through against Bouna Coundoul with substitute Branko Boskovic coming the closest. Boskovic hit the post twice after coming on at halftime but was unable to prevent the shutout. Both teams are off this weekend as DC will play again next Friday at Houston and New York will host Kansas City as they look to continue their recent offensive explosion.


SEATTLE 1 COLORADO 0

Colorado's struggles continue as Brian Mullan was sent off in the third minute for a hard foul of Steve Zakuani. Zakuani's leg was badly broken on the play and the Sounders have likely lost him for the season. Fredy Montero scored on a counter attack in the 19th minute for his first MLS goal since August for the game's only goal. Matt Pickens made 3 saves for the Rapids to keep it close, including coming up huge to stuff O'Brian White from point blank range, but Colorado couldn't overcome the man-advantage and fell for the third straight match. Seattle's mood is sober despite the good win as they must now look to move forward without their star midfielder. The Sounders' next match is next Saturday at home against Toronto. The Rapids host the struggling Fire as they look to snap their own skid.


CHIVAS USA 2 SAN JOSE 1

It took 6 games, but the Goats are finally in the win column. It didn't look good early though as Chris Wondolowski put the Earthquakes ahead 1-0 in the 16th minute beating Dan Kennedy with a flicked header for his 3rd goal of the year. But Chivas kept battling and eventually got the equalizer in first half stoppage time when Alejandro Moreno headed in a free kick from Heath Pierce for his second goal of the season. Then late in the second half, Chivas took the lead getting the go ahead goal from Mariano Trujillo. Justin Braun set the play up with a great run down the right side and while Jon Busch made a great save to deny Braun, the rebound deflected right to Trujillo who easily tapped the ball into the empty net for the game winner. Braun and Trujillo both came on as second half substitutes for the Goats. San Jose had a couple of chances late, but they couldn't quite get the final touch on the ball and they end up falling to their in-state rivals. Worse still, the Quakes now find themselves in last place in the Western Conference with a record of 1-3-2. San Jose is back in action again next Saturday when they travel to Philly to take on the Union while Chivas USA will play host to the Revolution.


COLUMBUS 1 TORONTO 1

For the second time this season we saw a player get sent off for picking up a second yellow during an excessive celebration. Tony Tchani scored the first goal against the Crew since their opener against DC United when he got on the end of a ball played over the top by Julian de Guzman. However, his decision to leave the field of play and celebrate with the home fans was deemed unsportsmanlike, and now Toronto was forced to go the rest of the match a man down. Three minutes into the second half, the Crew capitalized on the advantage when Emilio Renteria headed in a cross from Sebastian Miranda tying the game at 1. The Crew outshot Toronto 16-7 in the match, but forced Stefan Frei into making just two saves and were forced to settle for earning one point on the road. The Crew are now unbeaten in their last 5 matches and have moved up into 4th place in the Eastern Conference with 9 points. Toronto meanwhile gets their 4th draw of the year. The Crew take on another Canadian team next weekend when the host the Whitecaps while Toronto will head west to take on the Sounders.


DALLAS 2 VANCOUVER 1

Dallas fell behind early but battled back to steal 3 points on the road from Vancouver defeating the Whitecaps 2-1. Alain Rochat opened the scoring in the 25th minute when he headed a cross from Davide Chiumiento past Kevin Hartman for his first goal of the year. Chiumiento now has league-leading 5 assists this season. The Caps would take that lead into the intermission thanks to a missed PK from the reigning MVP David Ferreira. Ferreria had keeper Jay Nolly going the wrong direction, but he pulled his kick wide of the mark. It was a day Ferreira would just as soon forget as he would later leave the match with an injury in the 52nd minute. Almost immediately following Ferreira's exit, George John equalized for Dallas off a corner. Marvin Chavez drove the ball near post where it was flicked into the box by Jackson Goncalves and John then headed it in for his first goal of the year. The score would stay tied for another 30 minutes when Ferreira's replacement, Eric Avila would break through for the game winner. Avila ended up with the ball at the top of the box and beat Nolly with a driven shot to the back post for his first goal of the season. Dallas will look to build on this win when the host the Galaxy next Sunday night while the Caps will try and regroup for their match against the Crew on Saturday.



New England 3 Kansas City 2

The Revs overcame a 2-1 deficit and a brace from Kei Kamara to pull out a 3-2 win in front of the home crowd in Benny Feilhaber's MLS debut. Feilhaber wasted no time making an impact setting up Marko Perovic's long distance strike in the 12th minute to give the Revs a 1-0 lead. Kamara would tie it up a little over a minute later though beating Matt Reis at the near post with a low driven left-footed shot from near the top of the box. Kamara would then make it 2-1 after Teal Bunbury was taken down in the box by Kevin Alston burying the PK past Reis for his 2nd of the match and 3rd of the year. The lead was short-lived though as Shalrie Joseph would head a free kick from Kenny Mansally just under the bar to tied the game at 2 in the 72nd minute. Rajko Lekic would add another header about ten minutes later to make it 3-2 and giving the Revs back the lead. So the Benny Feilhaber era is off to a good start as the Revs take 3 points in front of the home crowd. With the loss Kansas City remains in last place in the East with just 4 points on the year through their first five matches. Next up for New England is a Saturday night match against Chivas USA while Sporting will travel to New York to take on the red hot Red Bulls.


Chicago 1 Houston 1

Chicago led almost the entire match, but Houston rallied late to tie it late salvaging a point on the road. Chicago's goal came as a result of a turnover by Houston's defense. Marco Pappa made the steal and got all the way into the box where after a brief scrum he was able to find Diego Chaves who slammed a shot past Tally Hall for his 4th goal of the year and a 1-0 lead. Chicago nearly made it 2-0 in the 66th minute when former Dynamo strike Dominic Oduro struck the crossbar after getting in behind the defense. The miss would prove costly as Bobby Boswell would equalize when he headed in a Brad Davis corner for his second goal of the year. Davis now has 4 assists. With the tie Houston is now in 3rd place in the East, leading the Crew and Revolution on goal differential while the Fire get out of the cellar and into 8th place with just 5 points through 6 matches (1-3-2). The Fire are currently tied for the league lead with 12 goals allowed. The Fire now head to Colorado to take on the Rapids, losers of 3 straight while the Dynamo will look to extend their unbeaten streak to 6 when they take on DC United on Friday night.


LOS ANGELES 3 PORTLAND 0

Landon Donovan broke out with a pair of goals and the Galaxy got their 4th win of the season thumping the expansion Timbers 3-0. Donovan, David Beckham and Juninho all returned to the lineup and it didn't take long to see the difference in the Galaxy's form. The Galaxy got on the board just 3 1/2 minutes into the game when Beckham and Donovan combined to assist Chad Barrett for a blistering half volley past Troy Perkins for the early lead. Then, not even 5 minutes later Donovan was fouled in the box by Rodney Wallace trying to get to a pretty ball from Beckham. Donovan stepped up to take the PK and got his first points of the season sending Perkins the wrong direction and easily rolling his shot into the lower left corner. The goal was Donovan's first in 731 minutes of MLS play. There would be no such drought between goals for Donovan this time as some pretty passing between Donovan, Chad Barrett and Juan Pablo Angel. It ended with Angel sending a floated cross from the touchline right across the six where a wide open Donovan easily headed it in for the brace. Donovan Ricketts made 6 saves to earn the shutout as the Galaxy improve to 4-1-3 and briefly take over first place in the Western Conference from idle Salt Lake. The Galaxy are next in action at FC Dallas on Sunday while Portland has a tough test hosting unbeaten Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.