MLS Week in Review – Round 06 - 24th Minute

After the goal-explosion of the past two weekends, MLS can be forgiven for coming back earth in round six.

Nine matches took place over the weekend, with eight on Saturday and a lone Sunday fixture in San Jose, resulting in four draws and two more away wins.

It should be noted that no match was decided by more than a single goal this weekend, indicative of that much-discussed parity. The last few seasons of MLS have been marked by one or two teams falling away from the pack, propping up the league from their position in the basement – based on the opening salvos, it is hard to say whether that will be the case this season as no team has looked entirely out of its depth.

A mere twenty goals were scored this round, a stark contrast with last round’s 31, though by rights there could have been at least one more, had not the penalty kick been well-saved in Philadelphia. Of course, Stephen Keel would have rather there been one less, his own-goal drew the natural reaction to such a situation – head in hands.

With the calming of the action came a calming of the officials, who, in the more-mellow spirit of the round, flashed just 28 yellow cards and did not eject a single player this weekend – were it not for the eight-card monte in Dallas, a very chippy match indeed, that number would be further reduced. In fact, there were two ‘clean’ matches this round that did not see a single booking.

All told it was a weekend of top goal-scorers continuing their good form, winless sides extending their search for elusive victories, immediate dividends from an early season trade, and one heart-warming tale, at a much-needed time.

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

Up first is Kevin Alston’s cracking strike, his first-ever MLS goal, that stood the test as the winner in New England:

While hardly the most picture perfect, it was an emotion-laden hit, and that celebration spoke volumes about what the man has meant to the club and the club to him.

Then came Clint Dempsey’s glorious free-kick, kissed in off the underside of the bar:

Perfectly taken and unstoppable, even the net was disgusted at its execution, immediately spitting out the ball.

Speaking of execution, consider Robbie Keane’s goal against Vancouver:

Notice how Stefan Ishizaki toys with Jay DeMerit, backing him into position to make space for that inch-perfect cross.

On to the matches…

Results in Brief

Philadelphia 2 – Salt Lake 2

The sole remaining unbeaten side in MLS emerged from a hard-fought affair in Philadelphia with a point, but will despair at once more dropping two via a late concession.

Luke Mulholland opened the scoring after six minutes – it was Alvaro Saborio who stepped to the spot after Austin Berry was deemed to have fouled Olmes Garcia, barging him over at the edge of the area; there was some debate whether the action took place outside the box, but no matter, the referee pointed to the spot.

The Costa Rican’s near-perfect penalty record took a hit as Zac MacMath, for a second-straight weekend (having denied Mike Magee in Chicago), dove sharply to his left, but was alert enough to get his trailing hand on the ball to make the save.

Unfortunately for the keeper, his defenders were not as alert, allowing Mulholland to arrive first to the loose ball on the right-side of the area and pounce, tucking a right-footer inside the far-post.

Salt Lake would see that lead into half-time, but upon emerging, the recently-arrived Andrew Wenger would tally his first for his new club.

Brian Carroll would cut out a hopeful cross from Salt Lake, touching to Sheanon Williams, who nodded over the pressure of Mulholland and ran into space down the right. He spotted the building run of Vincent Nogueira and threaded the needle, finding him between two defenders to continue the break. Nogueira backed off Chris Schuler, while sizing up the run of Wenger at the back-post, and hit an excellent cross, which Wenger chested down and swept in past Jeff Attinella, deputizing for Nick Rimando once more, with his right-foot in the 55th minute.

Philadelphia would continue their resurgence, seeing a good penalty shout of their own waived away when Mulholland was deemed to have won the ball on Leo Fernandes in the box, but it was Salt Lake who would capitalize on a sloppy play to reinstate their lead.

A broken play fell down the right-side of the Union box, where Berry, rather than hoof a clearance, tried to touch around the attentions of Javier Morales – big mistake. The Argentine blocked and collected near the end-line, cutting back a pass towards the top of the box for a late-arriving Kyle Beckerman, who needed no invitation to right-foot a low shot into the bottom left side of goal.

But holding leads has proved troublesome for the Lakers and for the fourth time this season, they would see victory settle to a draw, as Maurice Edu would rise up completely unmarked to a 90th minute left-sided, out-swinging Cristian Maidana corner kick, helping it on to the far-side of the goal.

And it could have been worse, as another penalty shout from the home side went unanswered.

John Hackworth chose his words carefully, but will have enjoyed the character and fight shown by his side, if not the lack of total concentration. Jeff Casssar will be proud of his unbeaten side, while wishing a few of those four draws had remained as wins.

Toronto 0 – Colorado 1

A depleted TFC knocked and knocked, but could not force open the door against a sturdy Colorado-side, who took advantage of a goal-mouth scramble to seal the fine road victory.

One year ago it was Edson Buddle who capitalized on a slip from defender Logan Emory to pounce on a loose ball and score in the waning minutes to take a 1-0 win at home in Colorado over his one-time employers.

Once more it was Buddle who was on hand to power in the winner - a touch earlier that last season, in the 77th minute in Toronto.

Right-back Thomas Piermayr made a strong run up the right flank and picked out Dillon Serna with a cross-field ball, the youngster hit a fierce drive back into the middle that was blocked and fell back towards him. He collected, touching back to Dillon Powers arriving in the box through a crowd of defenders, Powers managed to drag the ball with him on his run to the end-line by the left-post, bringing a pair of markers with him. His deft cutback left the two out of position and found Buddle lurking by the edge of the six yard box above the near-post, where his quick, opportunistic left-footed strike squeezed past Julio Cesar to the short-side.

Without the services of Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley (obligatory DP reference achieved), not to mention three other starters, Toronto struggled to really threaten, their best chances coming from a pair of Kyle Bekker free-kicks that each found wood, but no net.

For head coach Ryan Nelsen, it was a disappointing result, the match was there to be won, but as happens sometimes, goals go against. While Pablo Mastroeni will be pleased with the resilience of his side, who picked up a second-straight road win (having won in Vancouver last round) and their first-ever point in Toronto, where they won the MLS Cup in 2010.

Montreal 1 – Chicago 1

What happens when two winless teams, who draw a lot, meet? Well they drew, exchanging goals through Jack McInerney and Quincy Amarikwa either side of half-time.

The two traded half-chances, including a big save on Felipe by Sean Johnson, through the first forty minutes before the Brazilian midfielder nodded a bouncing ball in the centre-circle towards Marco Di Vaio.

Di Vaio, retreating off his marker, hooked the ball in behind the Chicago defense into the path of McInerney who tore in on goal alone. Struggling to settle a bouncing ball on the indomitable turf, McInerney waited patiently and did well to blast a strike on goal, straight at Johnson. The keeper would get a leg on the shot, but not enough as it kicked up into the net to open the scoring in the 43rd minute – that same trade paying dividends once more.

On the other side of half-time, Di Vaio himself would have an excellent look after Felipe squared a ball across the area to the Italian, but his right-footer sailed over the bar.

Chicago would make hay of that miss, leveling the match five minutes later on a left-sided corner kick from Harrison Shipp. Jeff Larentowicz met the service at the back-post, nodding across the face of goal, hitting the bar in the process. The rebound fell to Mike Magee at the left-post, who sharply put the ball back through a crowd in the middle to find Amarikwa at the top of the six, where the in-form striker notched his third goal of the season.

Montreal boss, Frank Klopas, who was facing his old club, lamented a lack of energy that saw his new one pick up a third-straight draw, rather than that elusive first win six matches into the 2014 season. His opposite, Frank Yallop, too suffered through yet another draw, their fifth-straight - one shy of tying an MLS record.

New England 2 – Houston 0

Two clubs very familiar with one another, due to their repeated meetings in past MLS Cup Finals, met once more on the freshly-laid plastic at Gillette Stadium, where the home side strolled out winners on goals from Kevin Alston and Jerry Bengtson.

An uneventful first-half, most notable for a heavy tackle from Rico Clark on Jose Goncalves that saw the Revolution captain leave the game and Lee Nguyen stinging the palms of Tally Hall from fierce drive, it was Alston who finally broke the deadlock in the 68th minute, having suffered an own-goal scare early on.

New England cycled the ball from right to left with Andy Dorman finding Alston out wide, he played in to Daigo Kobayashi, who tried to feed a return ball into the full-back’s path, only for Kofi Sarkodie to cut it out. Kobayashi collected the block and found Teal Bunbury by the arc with his second attempt. Bunbury could not get past Jermaine Taylor, but got enough of the ball to force it behind the defender, where Alston arrived to hit a thunderous right-footer past Hall in goal.

It was his first goal in MLS after six seasons in the league and it came in his first home start since last March, shortly after which he was diagnosed with leukemia. It was celebrated properly.

Houston struggled to find their flow away from home and fell behind by two in stoppage-time, when Hall came rushing off his line to an AJ Soares long ball, entering into a foot-race with Bengtson, who won the ball, rounded the keeper, and bore down on the keeper-less cage. Rookie defender, AJ Cochran did his best impression, but could not prevent the Honduran from tucking a right-footer into the near-corner.

Tom Soehn, who manned the touch-line with Jay Heaps serving a suspension for his ejection in DC last weekend, will hope the goals, doubling their total output, will spur the offense in the coming weeks. Dominic Kinnear will be very disappointed with his side falling to a third-straight loss and may be losing another important player, as Clark may join Brad Davis on the sideline for his tackle on Goncalves.

DC 1 – New York 0

Speaking of teams all too familiar with each other, the first encounter of this season’s Atlantic Cup took place on Saturday night, with DC United riding the positive energy from ending their depressingly long-winless streak with an early goal that stood up as the winner.

After enduring so many struggles, it took just four minutes for the hosts to find the much-needed breakthrough.

Fabian Espindola, who has really driven their attack, hit an in-swinging corner kick from the right-side that was met by Bobby Boswell at the near-post. The big defender flicked on a header to the back-post, where Davy Arnaud escaped his marker, Eric Alexander, to nod in with a diving header – his first goal for the club having arrived in the off-season from Montreal.

Equally important, DC rode the waves of Red Bull pressure to see out the early goal – especially through the second half as Johnny Steele dragged a low shot wide, Thierry Henry saw a reaching header sail over, then played in Roy Miller with a back-heeled drag pass oozing of class for chip shot that drew a big save out of Andrew Dykstra, Peguy Luyindula hit a near-post blast kicked off the top of the upright, and Lloyd Sam went wide from a free look eight yards out.

For Ben Olsen, two weeks is all it takes to turn a bad streak into a good one, as DC won back-to-back matches for the first time since October of 2012, but the question that lingers, is … does starter Bill Hamid resume his position when fit, with Dykstra posting two clean-sheets in his absence?

Mike Petke on the other hand will marvel at how his snake-bitten side, who have yet to win this season through six matches, were unable to find an equalizer despite numerous chances.

Dallas 2 – Seattle 3

The Clint Dempsey show rolled on, this time to his home state, as the American quieted any doubters with another scintillating performance after struggling through the first six months of his return to MLS.

Having opened his account against TFC in the second round of the season and served a two-match suspension for general hand-flickery, Dempsey has returned a man on a mission, notching five goals in his last two matches.

But it was Dallas who took the lead at home after ten minutes, gifted the opener when Stefan Frei rushed off his line to collect a loose ball, only to be beguiled by the spin and the savage wind, that kicked the ball up awkwardly and helped it over his outstretched arms. David Texeira, who put that initial spin on the ball from a Michel pass up the gut, was on hand to head the missed ball into the open net and celebrated his first MLS goal with no sign of shame.

Twelve minutes later Dempsey countered with some fierce English of his own, tucking a devilish free-kick in, kissing off the underside of the bar from nearly thirty yards to elude keeper, Chris Seitz. The ball immediately exited the goal and Obafemi Martins nodded in, just to make sure.

The match, already fractious, got down-right physical, and Dallas were handed a chance from the penalty spot when DeAndre Yedlin needlessly (and with malice aforethought) put a forearm into the chest of Texeira to hold off the forward, all but gifting a goal.

Michel would make the young defender pay for his moment of madness, coolly putting in his effort off the base of the right-post, after eyeing Frei the other way.

After half-time though, there was only one team on the pitch, as Seattle returned with intent, driven largely by the efforts of Dempsey.

It was his low, goalmouth ball to Martins that was turned in by Stephen Keel for an own-goal, after Marco Pappa hit a lovely left-sided cross to the back-post. Hedges flicked clearance fell unkindly to Dempsey who made pay in the 75th minute.

And ten minutes later it was another Pappa move, cutting in from the left to play up to Martins by the arc that started the move. Martins drew out both Dallas centre-backs, before laying off to Dempsey arriving to make a run off his back-shoulder. Dempsey laid a ball out wide right for Chad Barrett, who unselfishly returned the favour rather than shoot, finding Dempsey in the six for a simple left-footed finish.

It was the first loss of the season for Dallas, ending Oscar Pareja’s unbeaten start to his tenure and snapping a three-match winning streak. For Sigi Schmid, finally getting his high-octane attack flowing will be a boon, but for the rest of the league, it is more a warning.

Portland 1 – Chivas 1

Portland’s early season woes continue as Will Johnson’s early strike is cancelled out by goal-hound Erick Torres deep into the second half.

Capitalizing on Chivas’ Carlos Bocanegra leaving the pitch to address some improper foot-ware, Max Urruti pounced on a Kalif Alhassan cross that Eric Avila could not control and laid off to Darlington Nagbe. Confronted by a pair of defenders, Nagbe deftly poked through a ball into the path of late-arriving Johnson, who struck a strong right-footer into the bottom left-corner of the goal in the 7th minute.

Portland would have several chances, riding that momentum, to find a second – Dan Kennedy was called upon to make a huge, lunging save on Urruti and Johnson himself could only find the out-side netting when played into space down the right-side of the box with a rocket of a shot.

The match turned when rookie and head-ware aficionado, Thomas McNamara suffered what appeared to be a bad knee injury in the 63rd minute, halting play while he received treatment and was carried off the pitch.

‘Cubo’ Torres would turn a modest spell of Chivas pressure into an equalizer in the 79th minute. Leandro Barrera, one of the many impressive newcomers to MLS, played square to former Timber Andrew Jean-Baptiste from the left and the big defender returned the favour, popping a ball down the left-side of the box for Barrera to chase.

The tricky Argentine fought past Alvas Powell and made space to deliver a cross into the middle, where Torres was on hand to touch in a right-footed finish, his fifth goal of the season, to level the match.

Timbers captain, Johnson, would see a chance to steal back the point with a late stoppage-time free-kick, but his right-footed effort caromed off the post from 20 yards.

Caleb Porter’s Portland, projected to be a contender this season, are now winless through six matches, conceding a late goal to change the result’s status for a third-straight match. Wilmer Cabrera’s Chivas however rebound from a disappointing display in the LA derby by salvaging a point in a trick away fixture, though their winless streak extends to five matches, stretching back to an opening day win.

Los Angeles 1 – Vancouver 0

Los Angeles get the better of Vancouver in the opening match of a home-and-home back-to-back series when the Whitecaps defensive lockdown stumbles for a fraction of a second, just enough for Stefan Ishizaki and Robbie Keane to combine to do the damage.

Facing down the high-profile Galaxy, Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson opted to field a sturdy defensive formation that featured Russell Teibert and Gershon Koffie sitting deep in the midfield to counter the dropping off of Keane and Landon Donovan that causes such trouble.

A stoic first-half performance that saw Keane’s frustrations at Teibert’s over-attention – and a stray hand or two – result in a spot of shoving and the exchange of words was undone within 71 seconds of the restart.

Juninho hit a long pass down the right-flank for Ishizaki to chase, beating Jay DeMerit to the bouncing ball, the savvy Swede backed off the defender and waited patiently for runners to arrive, positioning DeMerit perfectly to swerve a cross past him, in-between David Ousted and Andy O’Brien to find Keane arriving at the back-post unmarked for a simple left-footed volley into the back of the net.

Vancouver’s speed caused momentary troubles for LA’s defense, but nothing to worry Bruce Arena, as his side would see out a second-straight win. Robinson admired the effort his side put into their tactical game-plan and will no doubt have a very different look to throw their way come the return leg next weekend back at home.

San Jose 1 – Columbus 1

Sunday’s lone fixture saw San Jose and Columbus trade goals from their superstars on either side of half-time, with Federico Higuain putting the Crew ahead, only for Chris Wondolowski to level shortly thereafter.

Braced for a physical contest, Columbus came out swinging, collecting a pair of yellow cards in the early goings for their over exuberance before San Jose collected one of their own – to Brandon Barklage for persistent infringement.

With the half-time whistle moments away, Columbus took advantage of a little too much space offered by their opponents with a nice build reminiscent of their play in the season-opener against DC.

Giancarlo Gonzalez played up to Josh Williams high on the right; he found Hector Jimenez in-field, who hit a searching cross-field ball to Waylon Francis on the left. The dynamic left-back took a very attacking touch down the side of the box and pulled a pass back to the penalty spot, where Higuain arrived in stride to help it on to the right-bottom corner with a cool left-footer.

But San Jose had a little attacking flair of their own up their sleeve, bringing the very impressive Yannick Djalo on for his first extended appearance in MLS – he saw some eleven minutes last match, against New England two weeks prior.

The Portuguese maestro would nearly score from a few half-chances, later, but it was his help in winning a corner kick in the 51st minute that proved decisive. Shea Salinas, whose service this year has been inch-perfect, hit another lovely in-swinging corner from the left that sailed over the crowd at the near-post to pick out a staggeringly wide-open Chris Wondolowski to power it down and in to the near-post.

San Jose’s Mark Watson has found a gem in Djalo (who wears Dja’ on his back), just the sort of spark plug that the Earthquakes have been looking for to provide a Plan B and force defenders from congregating in the middle as the trees go up for long balls – to have that short threat along with the long one will open up space and, hopefully for their sake, reinstate that home-form that has abandoned them.

Gregg Berhalter’s Columbus rebounded well from the disappointment of losing at home to Toronto last weekend and maintain their unbeaten run on the road, but will not be pleased with conceding an equalizer from a set-piece and leaving the clear danger-man so wide open. Back to the drawing board.

CanCon

A cracking weekend for Canadian talent as Will Johnson put in his most dominant performance of the season, Kyle Bekker did his best Michael Bradley impression, and Russell Teibert took the new dimension to his game to a higher level.

Special mention will be made of Karl Ouimette’s first start of the season and young Jordan Hamilton seeing his first few minutes in MLS.

For once, plenty to discuss this round in Tuesday’s (tomorrow) post.

Overheard

On the Philadelphia broadcast, a moment of serendipity as Andrew Wenger scores for the Union mere moments after Jack McInerney’s goal for Montreal is announced - the two exchanged spots in a recent trade.

Genuine heart-warming moments can be few and far between in this oft-cold world, so when Kevin Alston smashed home that goal, smiles were born – Alston said, “It’s amazing to finally break the seal. It’s six years later and I’m just glad it’s finally here. I can say I scored at least one in my career.”

And Andrew Farrell summed it up well, “It felt really good to get that goal, especially at home. It was an awesome feeling, especially for Kevin and everything that he’s been through. It’s a great story.”

See It Live

A pair of examples from the darker side, as Stefan Frei suffers due to wind and spin, those most hated of goalkeeping foes:

And Stephen Keel’s later levels the gaffe score, exhibiting quite the own-goal face – though to be fair, he had to do something, Obafemi Martins was on hand and likely would have scored had he not touched the ball:

Controversy

With the officials largely keeping to themselves this round, only some minor controversies to consider – was this infringement by Philadelphia’s Austin Berry on Salt Lake’s Olmes Garcia inside the area?

Unforunately, neither of Philly’s shouts were available in the highlights, but keep an eye out for Simon Borg’s Instant Replay, due out tomorrow.

But what about the Dallas penalty kick? What was DeAndre Yedlin thinking with that forearm shiver? And did David Texeira make a meal of it or what?

Will Houston’s Ricardo Clark see further punishment for his late, heavy tackle on Jose Goncalves that saw the New England captain exit the match?

And there were a few handbags swung at the end of the San Jose-Columbus match, wonder if the referee will put anything in his report.

Upcoming Fixtures

The first midweek fixture of the season steps out on Wednesday, while with the weekend cometh a staggering nine-match Saturday.

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

Parting Thoughts

Send some positive vibes the way of the Soccer Don, Don Garber, as it was announced that he has begun to undergo treatment for prostate cancer.

Love him or not, he has overseen a radical and rapid transformation of the league since taking the helm in 1999 with all the professionalism and respect a fan could hope for and expect - somewhat fitting that Alston would score that cracker this weekend, eh?

Don issued a statement, “Obviously no one wants to hear that they have cancer.*However, I am being treated by exceptional doctors at two of the top hospitals in the world and am confident, as are they, that the prostate cancer will be successfully treated, with a full recovery.* I plan on keeping a normal schedule and will continue managing the league and Soccer United Marketing during my course of treatment.* With the support of my family, friends, colleagues and doctors, I am feeling very strong, energized and extremely focused.

“Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men.* It will affect one in seven men during their lifetime. “I hope through my experience that I will be able to create awareness of prostate cancer and encourage men to get regular testing, the surest way to ensure a successful outcome for those who get the disease."

Best of wishes to Don as he takes care of himself and continues his stewardship of the top level of professional soccer in the US and Canada.

All quotes and videos 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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