MLS Week in Review – Round 05 - 24th Minute

As if last week’s cracking round was not enough to draw the eye towards the early season, MLS Rivalry Week ratcheted up the entertainment this weekend with a series of hard-fought matches.

Beginning with a Cascadia Derby that will live long in the memory, moving on to a Trillium Cup that turned the all-time series on its head, before taking a trip through Texas where the Battle for El Capitan turned on a questionable red card decision.

As if that were not enough, a rematch of last season’s MLS Cup provided plenty of eye-catching action, though goals proved more difficult to come by, before Sunday’s LA derby put a neat little bow on the round.

All told, nine matches were played (eight on Saturday and a lone fixture on Sunday), resulting in four draws and a surprising four away wins – implying that just one home side took the full points this round, DC; though of course, Los Angeles and Chivas both play at the same ground.

[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Some 31 goals were scored throughout, including more than a handful of gems and the astonishing eight-goal thriller in Portland. Two own-goals and a pair from the penalty spot counted amongst that number and there could well have been more, as a further two penalty kicks were saved and a third caromed off the post.

An equal number - 31 - yellow cards were shown this round, two of which led to the first red card of the weekend in Vancouver, which was followed two more, of the straight variety, in Houston and Kansas City before the night was through.

Before the results, the goals of the round:

In chronological order, the first nod goes to Portland’s Max Urruti and his clinical, shaped finish that left Seattle’s Stefan Frei no choice other than to pick the ball out of his net for a fourth time:

Just when it looked as though his delay had cost the chance, he pulls that off.

Not to be outdone in the class department, Colorado’s Jose Mari offered up this bending beauty to level the match in Vancouver at ones – his second was equally top-notch:

Just plain unstoppable that was.

And finally, the Galaxy toy with an already beaten Chivas, passing the ball as though in training to slice through the Ameri-Goats meager defenses for their third of the afternoon:

On to the games matches…

Results in Brief

Portland 4 – Seattle 4

Wow; there is little else to say.

Rivalry week can be criticized as a cheap marketing ploy, designed to draw eyes to the league early in the season, but any such complaints were silenced with the opening volley of the round, as a back-and-forth eight-goal thriller in front of a vibrating crowd in Portland will go down in history as a famous match in MLS lore.

Kenny Cooper would kick off the festivities a mere three minutes in, stabbing in a low Jalil Anibaba drive from a yard out at the right-post after a Gonzalo Pineda corner kick found him deep at the back-post. His low shot back into the crowd may have been heading in, but Cooper took no chances against his former club and classily opted to not celebrate too much in front of the home fans who once cheered his name.

Six minutes on those same fans would herald another, as Diego Chara leveled the match with a right-footed blast from outside the box that sailed into the top left-corner of the goal, having forced a turnover out of Pineda in midfield before running unmolested towards goal.

The match truly underway, Diego Valeri would see the Timbers take the lead in the fourteenth minute after Darlington Nagbe surged up the left, found Michael Harrington, who saw his mystery red card overturned midweek, on the overlap. The left-back in turn found Valeri marked by Anibaba at the near-post – nothing that a quick turn a fire couldn’t handle; the Argentine’s snap left-footer kissed off the underside of the bar as it powered over Stefan Frei in the Seattle goal.

Not to be outshone, Clint Dempsey, still grumpy from a rough transition back to MLS, re-equalized ten minutes on after Cooper cut out a poor pass from Portland centre-back Norberto Paparotto on the attacking right, Ossie Alonso nodded the ball on to Obafemi Martins, who slipped Dempsey in alone down the left, where his low left-footer found the bottom right-corner of the goal, past a sliding Andrew Weber.

Returning from half-time with the match tied at twos, Chara again would be granted far too much space as he bore down on goal through the middle in the 55th minute, smashing a glorious right-footer from 25 yards once more into the top left-corner past a helpless Frei.

Two minutes later Max Urruti again victimized the Seattle keeper, curling a beauty into the top right-corner after pressuring a turnover out of Anibaba in the Sounders half.

The two-goal cushion should have been enough to see the Timbers secure their first win of the season, but Lamar Neagle, who entered the match on the hour-mark, had other plans, breathing life into a stale Seattle attack.

It took him 25 minutes, but he turned the match, beating Harrington wide right and busting towards goal to poke a cross that was touched by Martins towards the streaking Dempsey, whose second of the afternoon drew the Sounders within one.

Two minutes later, in the 87th minute, it was DeAndre Yedlin’s turn to dart in from the right and cause trouble, running onto a poked Martins pass to force a stray tackle out of Ben Zemanski, earning his side a chance to equalize from the spot. Dempsey would step up, beat Weber to his right having eyed the keeper the other direction and complete his first MLS hat-trick.

Portland’s Caleb Porter was philosophical afterwards, separating the dejected competitor from the encouraged coach in his assessment of the match; his counterpart, Seattle’s Sigi Schmid admired the fighting spirit of his side, and must hope that the Dempsey of this day would be the one seen in those to come.

What a game; what a way to start off the round.

Montreal 2 – New York 2

Montreal would take an early lead through Andres Romero, only for goals from Jonny Steele and Peguy Luyindula to hand visiting New York the lead at half-time; Luyindula would squander the chance to seal the match in the second half and Felipe would make the opponent pay for such profligacy.

It took just five minutes for Montreal to storm out to the lead against New York on the abominable carpet at Olympic Stadium. Hernan Bernardello forced a turnover in midfield, his tackle bounded to Heath Pearce, who played up to Felipe in attack, The Brazilian slipped a ball inside the slow-turning Armando for Romero to reach in stride around the outside on the left; his low right-footer beat Luis Robles to the right-side of goal.

Red Bull would claw back into the match in the 31st minute, when Kosuke Kimura’s long ball down the left sprung Lloyd Sam. He backed off Pearce and sent a cross to the back-post, where Steele beat Eric Miller to the service to head in an equalizer.

And Luyindula would put the visitors ahead three minutes later, capitalizing on a poor Marco Di Vaio pass straight to Steele on the left. The Northern Irishman threaded Luyindula in down the right-channel to beat the on-rushing Troy Perkins with a low right-footer to the left-side of goal.

Luyindula would waste a chance to solidify his side’s lead on the other side of half-time after helping to win an attempt from the spot. It was his ball over the top that played in Bradley Wright-Phillips, who was bundled over by Matteo Ferrari, earning the penalty kick, but the Kinshasa-born Frenchman’s right-footed effort struck the post in the 49th minute, handing Montreal a shot at redemption.

Ten minutes on, Felipe once more proved crucial, initiating the attack by spreading a long ball towards the right corner flag from Justin Mapp to collect. Mapp turned back to the outside, making space for a cross towards the penalty spot, where the darting run of Felipe split the stationary defenders, to flick a header down and on to the far-side of goal.

The diplomatic result would please neither coach, as each side must search on for their first win of the season. Montreal’s Frank Klopas was astonished that their statistical advantage did not translate into a result, while New York’s Mike Petke took the positives of a road-point en route to a fourth-straight draw.

Chicago 2 – Philadelphia 2

Mike Magee would open the scoring only to miss a chance to play the hero from the spot with the final kick of the match after Juan Luis Anangono’s late header drew the Fire back from a pair of Union first half strikes from Mo Edu and Leo Fernandes.

Last season’s golden-boot winner would open his account after sixteen minutes thanks to some good work from Quincy Amarikwa on the left. The lively striker nipped in front of Amobi Okugo to steal possession and made a bee-line towards goal, playing a little pull-back for the near-post run of Magee, who touched in with a trailing leftt-boot.

Philadelphia would level the match exactly sixteen minutes later when Vincent Nogueira’s blast was blocked by Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, only to fall to Edu at the left-post, where he turned and fired a low left-footer across Sean Johnson on to the far-side of goal.

Seven minutes later Fernandes would continue his hot start to the season and put the visitors in front with a free-kick from the right touch-line when his left-footed delivery bounced through the crowd jostling in front to find the back of the net untouched.

Chicago would rally for an equalizer that eventually came from the most unexpected of sources, the much-maligned Anangono. Magee provided the service, hitting a free-kick deep to the right-side of goal, where the big Ecuadorean won a header back towards goal, crossing the line before Bakary Soumare made sure it counted with an extra touch.

And Anangono would play a role it the last-minute dramatics, winning a penalty kick when emergency centre-back, Aaron Wheeler, put a high boot into the striker’s chest, absent-mindedly reaching for a long ball in the box in the 95th minute. Magee would step to the spot, but Zac MacMath was equal to his low right-footer, sent too close to the keeper’s right, saving the initial attempt and blocking the follow-up as well to preserve the point for his side.

Frank Yallop’s Chicago collect a fourth-straight draw, but will lament passing up on the chance to taste their first win of the season at the death; John Hackworth and Philadelphia must come to terms with the problem of conceding late, which has cost them six points already this season, as three wins have turned to draws in the final phase of matches.

Columbus 0 – Toronto 2

As unlikely as it may have seemed, a severely short-handed Toronto get one over on their Trillium Cup rivals, throttling Columbus’ previously perfect start to the season with a gritty road performance and goals from Michael Bradley and Issey Nakajima-Farran.

Few gave the visitors, without the services of starters Jermain Defoe, Jonathan Osorio, Steven Caldwell, and Doneil Henry little hope of besting the high-flying Crew, but Bradley had other ideas, putting them ahead after just eleven minutes.

A half-cleared ball fell to Justin Morrow who played out to Mark Bloom on the right, Bradley alertly ran into space pointing for a ball, which the right-back duly delivered and though the angle was ridiculously tight, the American international powered a low right-footed blast through Columbus keeper, Steve Clark.

The early strike gave Toronto something to cling to, which they saw into half-time without much concern. Columbus would intensify the pressure from the start of the second, bringing on attacking reinforcements throughout, drawing several saves from Julio Cesar and a key block or two from the makeshift centre-back duo of Bradley Orr and Nick Hagglund.

With the clock ticking down, TFC sought to kill some time by the left corner flag, only for a weak clearance to fall to Jackson, who spotted an opening. He dinked a pass to Morrow, who found space for a cross to the near-post where Nakajima-Farran got in front of Waylon Francis to touch in an insurance goal with his right boot.

Gregg Berhalter and Columbus will rue coming out so flat and getting ahead of themselves as the news of Toronto’s absences trickled in to poison their resolve and halt their three-game winning start at the fourth. Ryan Nelsen hailed the effort of his charges, who rebounded from a disappointing outing in Salt Lake last week with a solid victory on the road.

Vancouver 1 – Colorado 2

Vancouver’s unbeaten start to the season looked assured when Darren Mattocks opened his account, but a contentious red card to Matias Laba turned the tide, opening the door for a pair of jaw-dropping strikes from Colorado’s Jose Mari.

The brash persona of Mattocks demands that he score goals, but since that awkward rant of an interview that received such wide condemnation over the summer, he has returned to the Whitecaps as a different player – rather than letting his mouth to do the talking; his play on the field has spoke volumes.

Through the first four matches, the Jamaican had yet to find the back of the net, but his self-less, energetic play had helped Vancouver to an unbeaten start, picking up a pair of assists and creating space for his teammates with his endless running on countless occasions.

It appeared as though that hard-work had finally paid off in the fourteenth minute, when he turned in the rebound from a Pedro Morales shot, only for the offside flag to deny his first goal of 2014 – he would have to wait 53 more minutes, but he would not be denied again.

In the 67th minute, the two teams played a spot of head-tennis in the midfield, before Sebastian Fernandez’ header was flicked on by Mattocks towards Kenny Miller. Miller did very well to hold off the attentions of his marker, Shane O’Neill, before flicking the ball into the path of Mattocks, streaking in alone away from Drew Moor.

Clint Irwin had denied several previous Whitecaps attempts and got a piece of Mattocks’ right-footed effort, but could not prevent it from spinning into the goal, putting the home side ahead.

Colorado had done little to threaten, but were handed a life-line in the 77th minute, when Laba was dismissed for a second bookable offense, handling the ball to stop play after he deemed himself fouled by Nick LaBrocca in transition.

The Rapids would seize that advantage straight from the restart in the 79th minute, when the ball was sent wide left to Marc Burch, who in turn found Mari in a pocket of space above the left-corner of the box. Andy O’Brien hesitated to apply pressure and the Spaniard unleashed a sweetly-hit left-footer that swerved sumptuously into the top right-corner of the Whitecaps goal, around a helpless – and slightly stunned – David Ousted.

Two minutes later, Mari struck again with an equally skillful touch. Charles Eloundou, the teenage Cameroonian debutant, collected a long ball on the left-side of the box and cut-back a ball into the space atop the Vancouver box. Nathan Sturgis touched the ball back to the former Zaragoza man, who passed a right-footer into the right-side of goal – much to the surprise of players and commentators alike.

The loss, their first of the season and the first of Carl Robinson’s young coaching career, will have come as a nasty sting to the home side, who decried the soft decision to reduce them to ten. Fellow first-year head coach Pablo Mastroeni collects his second win of the season, while his side finally score a goal that did not involve a penalty kick, having scored four from the spot and once on the rebound from a saved attempt.

DC 2 – New England 0

DC finally see their long winless streak end thanks to a Jose Goncalves own-goal and a Chris Rolfe injury-time insurance strike, hopefully turning the page on an eight-month barren spell that stretched back to last August.

It was August 3rd, 2013 the last time that DC United won a match in MLS play (3-1 against Montreal at RFK Stadium, to be exact) – fifteen matches had come and gone in the mean time without a win for Ben Olsen’s struggling side, but that dismal spell, the second-longest winless run in MLS history, came to a crashing halt on Saturday against New England.

The first half was a tight affair and it took a moment of madness to break the deadlock and own-goal, that most hated of scorers, would prove decisive.

Fabian Espindola drifted out wide left and laid a ball down towards the end-line for left-back Cristian Fernandez, who took on Daigo Kobayashi to sneak a cross into the centre of the box. Goncalves looked to have it covered, but a left-footed, stabbed clearing attempt went all wrong, nestling instead on the wrong side of the post and into his own goal.

Both sides would see half-chances come and go through the second half before the recently-acquired-from-Chicago Rolfe, was picked out in tons of space by Espindola’s cross from the left and his right-footed touch doubled the home side’s lead and sealed the result.

Olsen had to be relieved at his DC side finally getting that monkey off its back and will look to parlay this success into further results. His counterpart, Jay Heaps, was dismissed from the touchline for reasons unknown, should take some solace for a rough start (three losses, a win, and a draw) in the knowledge that four of those matches were away from home.

Houston 1 – Dallas 4

Houston looked to overpower their instate rivals, dominating the early throes, but a penalty kick, a red card, and an own-goal – the unholy triumvirate – not to mention the return of a former player, turned the tide in the visitors’ favour.

All of Houston’s good early work was undone in the 31st minute, when Michel calmly converted from the penalty spot with his left-foot after Ricardo Clark stuck a boot in on Mauro Diaz as he wound up for a shot, winning his side the spot kick.

Clark would find redemption ten minutes on when he flicked a dangerous Brad Davis free-kick from the left end-line on to the right-side of goal, losing his marker, Zach Loyd, and out-leaping the rest of the Dallas defense.

But a questionable red card to David Horst on the hour mark would reduce the Dynamo to ten men and Dallas would penalize the infraction straight from the restart, when Je-Vaughan Watson, who was traded between the clubs prior to last season, met Diaz’ left-sided delivery with a standing, downward having wrestled position on Giles Barnes at the back-post.

Seven minutes later it was another set-piece, a right-sided corner kick from Michel, that proved costly for the hosts, when both Will Bruin and Barnes battled with Watson for position, only for the ball to bounce off Barnes into his own goal.

And Watson would complete the route himself two minutes on in the 70th, when Fabian Castillo moved in-field from the left to find Diaz in the centre, who deftly laid a ball inside the right-back Corey Ashe, for the streaking Watson, who rolled a finish past Tally Hall into the left-side of goal.

Dominic Kinnear and company may have questioned the decision that changed the course of the match, but know that on the night they were their own worst enemy, falling to second-straight loss, while Oscar Pareja’s Dallas solidify their grasp on the early Supporters’ Shield race with thirteen points from five matches, four more points than their nearest competitors.

Kansas City 0 – Salt Lake 0

In a rematch of the 2013 MLS Cup, Salt Lake back-up keeper, Jeff Attinella stood tall in place of the injured Nick Rimando, backstopping his side, who were thoroughly outplayed, to a scoreless draw in Kansas City.

A week removed from their drubbing of Toronto, but without Rimando and Tony Beltran, who returned from midweek international duty with the US match against Mexico with knocks, Salt Lake were second best against a flying KC side in search of a third-straight win.

Outshot twenty-to-five and out-possessed by a margin nearly three-to-two, Salt Lake relied heavily on Attinella to preserve the clean-sheet, despite the barrage he faced.

First Dom Dwyer, then Seth Sinovic, then Chance Myers (Attinella saving even when KC were offside), and finally Benny Feilhaber, each tested out the keeper, only to come up second best in a series of spectacular saves. Dwyer looked to finally have bested the stand-in star in the 63rd minute when Attinella raced off his line to force the striker wide, only for Dwyer’s low shot to hit the base of the post – the rebound fell kindly to Sal Zizzo, but Nat Borchers had retreated to get in a crucial block.

Much of the pre-match build focused on the genuine dislike between the two clubs, and as time dwindled that emotion built, resulting in several rash tackles, a bit of retribution, a flurry of yellow cards and a red to Uri Rosell, who went in heavy on Devon Sandoval after the big-haired striker left a boot in on Sinovic minutes earlier.

Sporting’s Peter Vermes noted afterwards that sometimes the game is not fair, while Salt Lake’s Jeff Cassar joined the chorus heaping praise on the stellar, point-saving play of Attinella.

Chivas 0 – Los Angeles 3

Sunday’s lone fixture saw Los Angeles take on cross-hallway foes Chivas and easily dispatch them on three goals from Robbie Keane, Stefan Ishizaki, and Baggio Husidic.

The Galaxy have dominated their in-town rivals, going unbeaten through the last five meetings, winning ten of the last twelve and eighteen of the 28 all-time meetings.

It may have been a Chivas home match, but LA made themselves comfortable it due time, taking 37 minutes to open the scoring after spurning several good chances through the opening.

Marcelo Sarvas began the attack by playing out to Ishizaki on the left, who hit a raking cross-field ball for right-back Dan Gargan, who in turned placed a dangerous header towards goal. His knock-down eluded Carlos Bocanegra and forced goalkeeper, Dan Kennedy, off his line; his touch would go straight into the leg of Keane, who virtually walked it in to the goal.

Five minutes on Ishizaki would double the advantage after Juninho burst through the midfield via a one-two with Landon Donovan before laying a ball down the left-side of the box for the Swede. Just as it appeared that he had been forced too wide, Ishizaki delicately hit a tasty chip over Kennedy into the far side-netting, exhibiting the class that saw him recruited in the off-season by LA.

The Galaxy would find their third on the other side of half-time, when Baggio Husidic capped off a wonderful spell of ball-movement with a low right-footer past Kennedy in the 56th minute. Donovan played wide right to Sarvas, who pulled back to Keane atop the box; Keane in turn touched forward to Donovan, who laid it back off to Husidic – toying with a beaten Chivas like a cat with a mouse, in front of David Beckham no less, who would not have enjoyed such an unsporting contest.

Wilmer Cabrera bluntly assessed the disappointing outing as the worst since he took charge – no doubt this will serve as motivation, no matter how soul-crushing it was at the time. Bruce Arena, who trotted out his diamond 4-4-2 once more, will like the goal-scoring, but love the clean-sheet.

CanCon

As usual, the extended review of the Canadian performances will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday) midday – at the risk of going Toronto-centric, very strong outings from Kyle Bekker, Dwayne De Rosario, and Issey Nakajima-Farran will duel with continued, if understated, matches from Russell Teibert and Will Johnson for the top spots.

Overheard

Columbus’ Will Trapp did not enjoy losing a Trillium Cup match at home, "I'd say [it feels more like a rivalry]. They came into our home field and beat us. That's unacceptable." It may indeed be a manufactured derby, but a few more competitive meetings could see if evolve into something more.

MLS fans and media alike wrestle with an inferiority complex, as such Colorado’s Jose Mari, formerly for Real Zaragoza, was asked to compare MLS to La Liga, In response, he offered, “More than anything else the attacks here are a lot faster. It’s also very hard, you have to be on the right side of the field all the time. But the reality is I’m very surprised with how high the level is here in MLS and I’m very happy to be playing here.”*

Chicago’s Quincy Amarikwa’s silent half-time interview – courtesy of technical difficulties – was chuckle-worthy, though a shame, as he is an interesting guy, while the Colorado’s TV crew were caught as much by surprise as Vancouver was at Jose Mari’s second goal finding the back of the net.

See It Live

Plenty of little bits from across the weekend:

The most obvious penalty of all time – Aaron Wheeler on Juan Luis Anangono and Jose Goncalves’ comedy own-goal – perhaps worse than Victor Bernardez’ from last week – showed the weak side of defenders:

While Fabian Espindola losing his boot in a challenge with the big Portuguese centre-back and a series of saved or missed penalty kicks – Peguy Luyindula, Mike Magee, and Oscar Boniek Garcia – evidenced forwards not at their best.

Clint Irwin’s leg-save on Pedro Morales with three Vancouver players bearing down on goal was immense – but strangely not available as standalone video, while Jeff Attinella could sweep the save of the week category by himself – with his best two coming on Seth Sinovic and Benny Feilhaber.

Controversy

Matias Laba’s handball that led to his second booking and dismissal turned the match in Vancouver, but was he fouled by Nick LaBrocca, as he assumed, in the build-up?

Similarly, David Horst’s red card in Houston flipped that match on its head; harsh call or fair for such a scissoring challenge to the ankles?

What about Uri Rosell’s red in Kansas City?

And should Lewis Neal have seen one for his early tackle on Andrew Farrell?

Upcoming Fixtures

Another full schedule of nine matches on the docket for next weekend, with eight matches on Saturday and a single fixture set for Sunday.

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

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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