MLS Week in Review – Round 04 - 24th Minute

The fourth round of MLS play over this past weekend had a little bit of everything for one’s viewing pleasure.

Nine matches were scheduled (eight on Saturday and one on Sunday) resulting in three draws and three way wins, as the Eastern Conference sought a bit of revenge against the feted West.

If goals are what draw the eye – there were some 28 scored, including a perfect six-of-six from the penalty spot and a pair of horrendous and hilarious own-goals.

Red cards and controversy more to one’s liking – well, 29 bookings and four straight reds (as well as a fifth dismissal for a pair of yellows), littered the weekend as the officials continued to flex their card muscles having returning to action last weekend post-strike.

If drama is what makes the heart race – this round had no less than four stoppage-time goal that determined the outcome of the points and three more in the final ten minutes of play that proved integral to the result.

Before those results, as always, the goals of the round:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

A trio of top class finishes - two from some of the best forwards in the league and the third from a contender looking to join them.

Up first, Montreal’s Marco Di Vaio announces his return to MLS following a three-match suspension by rescuing a draw for his struggling side:

Give him an inch and he’ll take it.

Next, Kansas City’s Dom Dwyer smashes home from a similar angle, opting to blast short-side instead, to grab the winner:

Simply unstoppable.

A little more subtle than those two was Salt Lake’s Alvaro Saborio, who punished Toronto’s loose lips (and marking) twice, thanks to some skillful midfield dominance from Javier Morales:

On to the matches…

Results in Brief

DC 2 – Chicago 2

DC United finally broke their goal-less drought with strikes from Fabian Espindola and Perry Kitchen after Jhon Kennedy Hurtado had put Chicago in front, only for a late Quincy Amarikwa equalizer to put a damper on a soggy night in the American capital.

A pair of winless teams kicked off Saturday’s action - DC had lost their first two matches of the season, while Chicago followed up an opening day loss with consecutive draws.

DC were on the prowl through the opening stages, but Hurtado put the visitors ahead in the 27th minute from a Harrison Shipp corner kick. The impressive homegrown rookie hit an out-swinger from the right to the edge of the six yard box, where the burly centre-back eluded his marker, Sean Franklin, and out-jumped Christian, to nod his header back against the grain into the top right corner of the goal.

Eight minutes later United would finally notch their first of the season from a dead-ball routine just outside the box. Nick DeLeon ran over the ball, touching it back inside to set up Espindola’s thunderous left-footed drive that found a gap in the wall and beat Sean Johnson low to the bottom right corner of goal.

The two scrapped to break the deadlock in the falling rain and DC took the advantage in the 73rd minute from an almighty scramble in the box. Espindola’s out-swinging corner from the left was won at the back-post by Bobby Boswell, but Johnson clawed it away from goal. Boswell’s follow up attempt struck the base of the right-post and bobbled around in the area before falling to Kitchen, who lifted in a right-footed finish and celebrated with a corner-flag-slide-and-pile-on befitting of a team in desperate need of a victory.

But it was not to be.

Nine minutes later a long Greg Cochrane cross isolated Patrick Nyarko on Christian deep in the right corner. The tricky Ghanaian nutmegged the defender en route to goal and cutback a pass for Amarikwa at the near-post – his right-footed drive beat Hamid to level the match at twos.

While neither side could find the elusive victory they wanted, the draw was a fair result on the day. Ben Olsen, who viewed scoring as a step in the right direction, sees his DC pick up their first point, while extending their forgettable winless streak to fifteen matches – a new club record – having last won on August 3rd of last season (against Montreal).

Frank Yallop’s Chicago, who drew a third-straight match, also remain without a win this season – something he hopes to redress with a home match next weekend.

Philadelphia 1 – Montreal 1

Vincent Nogueira looked to have sealed a second win of the season for the Union, only for the returning Marco Di Vaio to make his presence known in the final ten minutes of play.

Philadelphia and their revamped midfield have been one of the revelations of the new season – Mo Edu, Christian Maidana, and Nogueira have reinforced the always sturdy Brian Carroll, helping the Union control large swathes of each match they have played.

And it was Nogueira who put the hosts in front after 35 minutes.

A poor Heath Pearce ball was read by Carroll, who easily intercepted and played up to Jack McInerney racing up the right-side of the pitch, McInerney in turn laid a ball down the right-side of the box for Nogueira, who finished high over Troy Perkins with a right-footer on the break.

Montreal entered as strugglers, opening the season with three-straight losses after embarrassing themselves in their playoff collapse in 2013 - one of the ramifications of which was Di Vaio’s three-match suspension.

His absence had been severely felt by Montreal, who had not scored since opening day, shutout in their last two.

When Andrew Wenger was sent off in the 76th minute for a rash tackle on the Union goal-scorer, it looked as though both streaks would continue. Cue Di Vaio.

In the 80th minute, having warned Philadelphia with an offside look ten minutes earlier, Di Vaio collected the ball on the left after Justin Mapp pounced on a poor touch and turned up-field. The Italian finisher backed Amobi Okugo off, threatening to cut inside, as he is wont to do, but instead stayed wide and picked out the top right-corner of the goal with a pinpoint right-footed finish across Zac MacMath to level - it was his fifth goal is as many matches against Philadelphia.

For John Hackworth’s Union, it was the second time this season they snatched a draw from the jaws of victory, having conceded a stoppage-time equalizer on opening day in Portland. Meanwhile, Frank Klopas picks up his first point in charge of the Impact, a much needed one.

Colorado 2 – Kansas City 3

Another match, another pair of penalty kicks for Colorado – both converted by Vicente Sanchez - seemed to have put the hosts in the driver’s seat, but a dismissal for Marvell Wynne and goals from Graham Zusi, Benny Feilhaber and a stoppage-time winner from Dom Dwyer overturned the result.

Zusi would open the scoring in the 50th minute; tapping in a low Sal Zizzo ball from two yards out after Paulo Nagamura played him past the stretching Marc Burch down the right side of the pitch. Ten minutes on, Colorado were given their first spot kick, after a curious decision that saw Ike Opara penalized when he appeared to fall on the ball after Sanchez sent a cross to the back post. Either way, the Uruguayan dispatched the opportunity to tie the match.

Eight minutes later Sanchez again converted from the spot after Feilhaber scythed down Shane O’Neill in the box, leaving little doubt about this one – it was the fifth penalty kick awarded to the Rapids this season, four of which Sanchez has taken and scored.

Feilhaber would find salvation for his error within a minute of the restart, whiffing on the first attempt before swatting in a right-footer from the ground after Zusi’s cross from the left was nodded into the middle by Zizzo. Colorado keeper, John Berner got a piece of it, but could not stop the shot from crossing the line and tying the match at two.

Wynne, who had a tough match, was dismissed in the 85th for a second bookable offense, going in hard on Zusi and the hosts would have to see out the draw with ten men.

Undaunted by a tricky – and perhaps, unfortunate – afternoon, Kansas City would craft a winner in the second minute of stoppage-time when Feilhaber played straight up the middle to Zusi, who in turn helped it on to Dwyer at the left-corner of the box. The substitute forward backed O’Neill off and made a yard of space for himself before unleashing a thunderous left-footed smash high to the near, top corner of the goal, leaving Berner little hope of preventing the inevitable.

The last-minute loss is the first of Pablo Mastroeni’s career behind the bench for the Rapids, who had ridden the wave of penalties to a win and a draw through two matches. Peter Vermes’ defending champions add a second-straight win, having gone winless through their first two.

Vancouver 2 – Houston 1

Goals from Jordan Harvey and Kenny Miller in the opening fifteen minutes of each half were enough for Vancouver to see out the challenge of Houston, who clawed one back late through Rico Clark.

Houston, who had yet to concede through two wins at home, found themselves trailing after fourteen minutes in their first away match of the season, having been put off-balance by Vancouver’s yet-to-be-seen diamond 4-4-2.

The breakthrough came from a half-cleared corner kick that was recycled back to Pedro Morales on the left, his cross was cleverly put behind a sluggish Dynamo back-line by Andy O’Brien’s header and Harvey reacted quickest, darting in behind and beating Tally Hall to the loose ball with a left-footed touch.

Miller would double the advantage in the 58th minute from the penalty spot after Russell Teibert played Darren Mattocks down the left-side-line and the Jamaican speedster bore down on Kofi Sarkodie. Mattocks stepped around the defender, who went to ground, only for the ball to catch a trailing arm as Sarkodie slid – prompting the referee to point to the spot.

Miller coolly dispatched from twelve paces, only for an over-eager Mattocks to encroach, thus forcing the Scotsman to take again, which he similarly put past Hall to reinforce the Vancouver advantage.

It was reinforcement needed too, as a Brad Davis free-kick from deep on the right picked out Clark on a near-post run, flicking his header down into the bottom right-corner of the Whitecaps goal, to draw the Dynamo within one in the 75th minute. Such an equalizer would not come.

Vancouver’s Carl Robinson continues the impressive start to his coaching career, unbeaten through four matches and a perfect two wins from two at home. Houston’s Dom Kinnear will look to shake off a disappointing road result before heading into next week’s Texas showdown back home.

Dallas 2 – Portland 1

Dallas’ triumphant stroll through the first month of the season continued thanks to goals from Blas Perez and Mauro Diaz, despite an unfortunate own-goal from Matt Hedges, which handed a life-line to a struggling Portland.

It was a busy night for the officials, who were more than eager to pull out the cards – booking Portland centre-back, Norberto Paparotto, inside the first three minutes of play. A bizarre decision saw both Dallas’ Je-Vaughan Watson and Portland’s Michael Harrington dismissed in the 40th minute, after the two clashed off-the-ball behind the play, reducing each side to ten men.

The match opened up with the extra space and Perez, the consummate poacher, exploited that space in the third minute of first half stoppage-time with a predatory header. Left-back Jair Benitez drove into the top left-corner of the box and hit a lazy cross to the back-post where his opposite full-back, Kelyn Acosta, nodded it down into the middle. Perez was on hand to pounce, redirecting the ball into the left-side of goal with a strong header past backup keeper, Andrew Weber, in for the suspended Donovan Ricketts.

Portland, who struggled to find much purchase despite good attacking play, were gifted an equalizer on a good build. Will Johnson found Diego Valeri moving down the right-channel from the centre-circle, who in turn threaded a ball to Max Urruti inside the arc. The Argentine tried to lay a ball to the right for Kalif Alhassan only for his poked pass to carom off the leg of Matt Hedges, loop up and handcuff Chris Seitz in goal as it sailed into the Dallas net.

But true to form, Dallas would find the eventual winner from a broken set-piece in the 84th minute. Michel, whose free-kick had salvaged a point against Kansas City two week previous, curled another ball into the box. It was half-cleared and put back into the crowd at the top of the box, falling kindly for the evermore impressive Diaz, who made a yard of space moving to the right and finished with a low right-footed shot that found the bottom left-corner of the goal.

With the win, Oscar Pareja’s Dallas remain unbeaten and take an early hold atop the league with three wins and a draw. Caleb Porter’s Portland, however, who many projected to be contenders this season and an attacking force, are still winless through four matches with just three goals scored.

Salt Lake 3 – Toronto 0

Salt Lake dismissed any early speculation about the quality of Toronto with a resounding victory at home on a brace from Alvaro Saborio and another from Luis Gil.

It was billed as a clash of top sides, but the difference between potential and earned plaudits was evident from the start. It took just eleven minutes for Salt Lake to take the lead from the penalty spot after Doneil Henry spun Saborio to the ground inside the Toronto box. The Costa Rican striker would convert and pretty much seal the result from there.

Seventeen minutes later Luis Gil added a second for the home side. Saborio was again involved in the buildup, dummying a Javier Morales ball to Chris Wingert wide on the left. His cross was deflect off Bradley Orr, falling to Gil above the right-post, where his left-footed shot kicked up off the sliding challenges of Henry and Justin Morrow to elude Julio Cesar in the Toronto goal.

If the first two could be deemed unlucky on TFC, the third dispelled any doubt about which side was superior, as Morales, who was scintillating on the night, collected the ball from midfield partner Kyle Beckerman, chipped a pass over Steven Caldwell caught in no-man’s land, to Saborio, who touched past Cesar and bounced his finish in off the right-post.

Dismayed, Toronto would have a few good looks, including a Michael Bradley shot from distance that froze Nick Rimando and struck the base of the post, but consolation would not be found.

The win stretches Jeff Cassar’s – ‘Hail Cassar’ scarves were cleverly circulated – unbeaten start to his managerial career to four matches with two wins and two draws through four potentially troublesome fixtures – who needs a savior when there is an emperor about. The loss was the first for Ryan Nelsen’s rebuilt side this season after opening with a pair of wins and should prove as both a lesson and a target as the year progresses.

Seattle 1 – Columbus 2

In an alliterative contest, the hosts would take the lead through Kenny Cooper in the first half, only for Federico Higuain and Justin Meram to find vengeance in the final half hour of play.

Matches between the Seattle Sounders and the Columbus Crew have been interesting since the former entered the league by poaching the cup-winning coach from the latter. The Sigi Schmid-derby (fittingly more alliteration there) got underway in the 22nd minute when Cooper stole down the left in transition. The big man used the run of Lamar Neagle to buy space, opened his body, and placed a right-footed shot across Steve Clark to the right-side of the Columbus goal.

While hardly in charge – Higuain had struck the bar with a looping chip and Bernardo Anor missed a sitter from the follow-up before half-time – Seattle looked to have a grasp of the match only for it to turn shortly before the hour mark.

Dominic Oduro, nightmarish haircut and all, had snuck in behind Djimi Traore on a bouncing ball and found himself in alone on Stefan Frei. The centre-back could not help himself, inserting a high boot into the mix, sending Oduro to the ground as Frei saved the attempt, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot and show Traore red, reducing the hosts to ten men.

Higuain would take the chance from the spot, leveling the match at one and Columbus would press for a winner that would not come.

Then, from virtually the last kick of the match, Higuain took a quick, left-sided corner kick short to Meram at the edge of the box, catching both the Sounders and the official by surprise. The substitute shaped a perfect shot over the crowd into the top right-corner of the goal in the 94th minute to seal the victory.

Schmid’s Seattle decried the double jeopardy and the dastardly quick-wittedness of Columbus, falling to a second straight home loss. Gregg Berhalter’s Crew continue their perfect start to the season with a third-consecutive win, though perhaps thanks to a bit of good fortune on this night.

San Jose 1 – New England 2

A Victor Bernardez own-goal and a bit of late magic from Lee Nguyen saw visiting New England turn the narrative on hosts, San Jose, cancelling out a Chris Wondolowski strike.

Saturday ended as it began – with a pair of winless teams meeting in a wet match.

Rain played a role in much of round four, but nowhere was its effects more obvious than in the slip-and-slide first half of this match as neither side seemed prepared for the drenched field conditions thanks to a rainy afternoon, causing players to fall all over the place in a misadventure of a first half.

Fittingly, the opening goal came from just such a blunder. Miscommunication between Jon Busch and Jordan Stewart saw the Earthquakes keeper rush off his line to collect a Diego Fagundez ball just as his full-back touched it back towards goal. Rolling goal-ward, Bernardez scattered back for a routine sliding clearance, only to catch one foot with the other and turn it into his own net in the 35th minute.

It was New England’s first goal for of the season, ending a three-hundred-plus minute dry spell – and they didn’t even have to score it themselves.

San Jose would finally awake on the hour mark – as usual – with Chris Wondolowski making up for a poor attempt into the side-netting five minutes earlier by scoring his second goal of the season in the 69th minute.

Cordell Cato stole down the right-side and drove a ball to the near-post, where Jose Goncalves was on hand to turn it away. His clearance fell straight to Wondolowski, who made space to drive a low, right-footed shot across the face of goal, finding its way through the crowd and the keeper to nestle inside the far-netting.

The Earthquakes are renowned for their late match-altering strikes, but those who live by the sword, must occasionally suffer its fate themselves.

In the third minute of stoppage-time, Charlie Davies took a quick free-kick to Scott Caldwell, catching San Jose out of position. Caldwell put Nguyen in down the left-channel, from whence he moved in-field past a retreating Clarence Goodson and faked a shot before tucking a right-footer into the bottom left-corner of the goal to win the match for the visitors.

With the defeat, Mark Watson’s San Jose remain winless on the season, having lost their last two after a resounding draw against Salt Lake to open the season. Jay Heaps’ New England notch not only their first goals – including one they actually scored – but grab a first win of 2014.

New York 1 – Chivas 1

In Sunday’s lone match, it appeared as though Erick Torres’ strike would stand up as the game-winner when Chivas visited New York, but Peguy Luyindula had other plans, salvaging a draw in the 95th minute of action with the last play of the match.

New York’s dreadful first half saw Armando booked early, Tim Cahill leave injured and Chivas take the lead after 25 minutes from the penalty spot after Richard Eckersley obstructed Thomas McNamara from leaping for a Mauro Rosales cross from the right.

Red-hot ‘Cubo’ Torres converted straight down the middle as Luis Robles dove to his left, notching his fourth goal in as many matches – one in each.

Jamison Olave would send their best chance of the first half over the bar from a Thierry Henry free-kick in stoppage-time and Eckersley too would leave injured during the break.

New York, no doubt after a stern talking to, would come out for the second half in desperate search of an equalizer that refused to come. Whether missed, deflected, or saved by Dan Kennedy, it looked as though the Red Bulls’ search would be in vain – even Dax McCarty’s wonderful half-volley that looked to dip under the bar from the outside the box was turned away by the leap of Kennedy, standing on his head once more.

But in the 95th minute with virtually the last kick of the game, Eric Alexander set an in-swinging corner kick into the box from the left and Luyindula escaped his marker, Adolfo Bautista, found an inch of space at the edge of the six yard box to win the header, helping it on to the right-side of goal to tie the match at one.

The disappointing afternoon, though saved, extended New York’s winless start to the season to four matches with a third-straight draw – Mike Petke was not best pleased post-match. Though disappointed to drop two points late, Wilmer Cabrera will undoubtedly be satisfied with the effort his troubled team has put into their first four matches.

CanCon

As usual, the extended look at the Canadian contributions will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday) midday – pickings were rather slim with only Russell Teibert, Will Johnson, and Doneil Henry starting matches for their respective sides.

But debut appearances for Karl Ouimette, Kyle Bekker, and, MLS newcomer, Issey Nakajima-Farran will provide some fodder for discussion.

Overheard

More on that off-screen double-dismissal in Dallas (alliteration is fun) – from the referee, Sorin Stoica to the pool reporter, “The players were moving out from Portland’s penalty area when Watson struck Harrington. Harrington struck him back. Both were off the ball. Both players were sent off for violent conduct.”

Both players responded to the charge post-match:

Je-Vaughan Watson - “I’m still pissed I got a red card for nothing. He didn’t say nothing to me and I didn’t say nothing to him. So I don’t even know what to say, because it was like he just issued a red card for nothing at all.”

Michael Harrington - “I probably do something like that in a match every game that I’ve ever played in my career. It’s a physical game that we play. We’re not swimming or anything like that. It’s going to get physical, guys are going to get shoving sometimes and like I said it wasn’t like we were fighting or anything or like it was a serious scuffle. I was pretty shocked by it.”

A touch of the Commentator’s Curse struck in Seattle when Ross Fletcher on the call could not stop himself from uttering, “I can’t believe that Columbus haven’t got a winning goal at the very last” as the clock struck 93:37 in the fourth and final minute of stoppage-time. By 93:43 the ball in the net.

Mike Petke’s disappointment brought some harsh words for his starters, “I’m going to pay very close attention to the reserve players throughout this week because there has to come a point that some of these kids are given the opportunity they deserve.*… But we need some life in this team at times and we saw it in the second half, but we saw it very sparingly throughout the first four games.*That to me – talk tactics all you want, talk individual players and mistakes – but at the end of the day, if we’re going to come out flat like that, then might as well not come out at all.”

See It Live

Plenty of little Easter eggs scattered throughout the round – Mike Magee’s reaction to getting bumped by the referee was priceless, as was Uri Rosell’s attempt to keep his feet as he tracked back at pace – can’t; stop; running; and Federico Higuain’s chip off the bar followed by Bernardo Anor’s miss exhibited both sides of the game.

Then there was Victor Bernardez’ horror own-goal:

Controversy

A whole raft of controversy this weekend:

Did Montreal’s Andrew Wenger deserve to see red for this tackle? Should Kansas City’s Eric Kronberg and Portland's Pa Modou Kah only have seen yellows for their respective infractions? And what to make of the double reds in Dallas?

Was that really a penalty kick on Ike Opara? What about on Kofi Sarkodie? Did Alvaro Saborio use his veteran guile to goad Doneil Henry into this one?

And what about the

that drew protestations from the Sounders at the referee allowing the play to restart so quickly? Something similar struck in San Jose as

caught out the home side, but was the ball moving? Should it have been retaken?

Upcoming Fixtures

Another nine fixtures on the docket for next weekend, with a smattering of rivalry matches to spice up the round – the first Cascadia match of the season, Texas and LA derbies, and a rematch of last season’s MLS Cup Final; not too shabby.

Saturday: Portland-Seattle; Montreal-New York; Chicago-Philadelphia; Columbus-Toronto; Vancouver-Colorado; DC-New England; Houston-Dallas; Kansas City-Salt Lake. Sunday: Chivas-Los Angeles.

All video and quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com

Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.

You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View

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