MLS Week in Review – Round 08 - 24th Minute

Another weekend, another fine round of MLS action in the books as the eighth week of play took place, bringing to an end the second month of the season.

Leaving aside the midweek fixture, eight matches were played over the two days (seven on Saturday and a lone Sunday fixture), resulting in three draws and zero away wins – perhaps a signal of a normalization following a very erratic opening quarter of 2014.

All told, 22 goals were scored this round, including a perfect two-for-two from the penalty spot (each as unstoppable as the other), while 26 yellow cards were flashed and four reds – three straight and one accumulative to Dallas’ Zach Loyd.

From late drama – three stoppage-time result-changers - to burgeoning strike partnerships; from former players haunting (or not) their old clubs, to red cards changing matches, this review will travel through the round that was in MLS, at times in excruciating detail.

But before the results, the goals of the round:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

In chronological order, up first is Salt Lake’s opener against Vancouver:

Nobody slices through the opponent’s defenses quite the way Salt Lake does… but would such early dominance be enough?

Not if Sebastian Fernandez had anything to say about it, and his long-range dipping bomb eluded the feline-alertness of Nick Rimando late:

This guy only scores beauties.

Speaking of Gatos, and not to be outdone by his namesake, Portland’s Gaston Fernandez is as predatory a finisher as there is in the league:

Too bad the rest of his team is having trouble finding the back of the net.

Honourable mentions go to

, and

– with special note to Nick LaBrocca for the pass, lovely.

Onto the results…

Midweek Result in a Sentence (or two – maybe three)

Wednesday night saw New York continue their dominance over Houston (in the regular season) laying another four goals on the Dynamo as the partnership between Thierry Henry and Bradley Wright-Phillips begins to flourish. Henry played a role in the first two of Wright-Phillips’ hat-trick, notching his own (from a Wright-Phillips driven cross) before winning the penalty kick and handing off the ball to his strike partner to round out the scoring in the 86th minute.

Having not won through the first six matches, New York now have two wins in a row, while Houston see their winless run stretch to five, without a goal in some 319 minutes of play.

Results in Brief

Seattle 4 – Colorado 1

When the weekend kicked off on Saturday, it was time for another of those strike partnerships to flourish. The dynamics between a pair of forwards can be a funny thing – horrible when they are working, but devastating when they do.

Enter Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins.

But first, it was the third of Seattle’s attacking threats who broke the deadlock in first half stoppage-time, with a little help from the aforementioned duo.

Victor Pineda touched the ball away from Gabriel Torres to Lamar Neagle, who hit a cross-field pass to Marco Pappa on the right. Pappa moved up-field and played to Martins when the forward checked back, drawing defenders towards him before shredding the Colorado back-line with a ball that found the diagonal run of Dempsey moving across from the left.

Dempsey rounded Clint Irwin and put a weak shot towards goal that was brushed away by the recovering Drew Moor, only for Neagle to swoop in for a simple right-footed finish into the unguarded net.

Two minutes after the restart it was Dempsey who added a second from a similarly simple finish, but not until after a skillful touch in the build-up, picking out Pappa with a flicked back-heel to set up the shot from the midfield and swooping in on the spilled rebound to lift over Irwin.

Five minutes later he added a second – his league-leading eighth of the season – from a left-sided Pineda corner kick that was met at the back-side by Chad Marshall, heading in to the near-post for a looping header from the red-hot striker.

Dillon Serna would draw one back for the Rapids, after a glorious through-ball from Nick LaBrocca played in the youngster for a tidy right-footer over the on-rushing Stefan Frei in the 62nd, but Martins would reinstate the three-goal lead in the 75th minute, going it alone from a Neagle throw-in to place a right-footer across the keeper having attacked from the left and opened his body up for the finish.

With the 4-1 win, Dempsey and Martins have now combined for eleven goals and seven assists on the year, as Seattle surged into a joint lead atop the Western Conference and the league with a third-straight win, forming one of the most dangerous tandem attacks in the league – even the oft-measured Sigi Schmid thinks so.

Pablo Mastroeni will be disappointed with the lack of energy displayed by his side as their unbeaten streak ends at three and they remain winless in eight all-time trips to Seattle.

Montreal 1 – Philadelphia 0

A month ago, Montreal and Philadelphia met in Philly, playing to a 1-1 draw that saw Andrew Wenger sent off for a rash challenge – he was roundly booed as he made his way from the pitch. Shortly thereafter, he was traded to the Union as the two sides exchanged young talent, with Jack McInerney headed in the opposite direction, en route to Montreal.

The two clubs would enter the match riding long winless streaks; Montreal having gone without a victory through seven matches this season, and Philadelphia winless through six since a week two win over New England.

Through six all-time meetings, these two have produced goals, with eighteen scored, averaging three per match, but it was a single goal that would determine the outcome on this occasion. And it came early.

In the fourteenth minute, Patrice Bernier read the intentions of Sheanon Williams, swooping in to intercept a pass bound for Maurice Edu and charging up field. His driven shot was spilled by Zac MacMath in the drizzle and the Philly back-line was caught napping by the alert follow-up from Felipe, who beat a stagnant Ray Gaddis and Aaron Wheeler to the rebound, finishing with a simple right-footer past the helpless keeper.

Both Wenger and McInerney would look to impress revenge upon the team that traded them; each denied by some fine keeping as Troy Perkins was out quick to stop a sharp toe-poke from Wenger, while MacMath similarly prevented McInerney from finishes after he was played in by Felipe.

The 1-0 win was Montreal’s first of the season, ending what has been a terrible start to Frank Klopas’ precarious tenure as head coach, though that it was their first match played on a proper surface at Stade Saputo rather than the indomitable carpet at Stade Olympique should not be overlooked.

John Hackworth continues to believe in the quality of his side, though their inability to convert possessional dominance into goals – with just nine through nine matches – has proved costly once more.

DC 4 – Dallas 1

When Ben Olsen rebuilt his struggling side in the offseason he decided to rely heavily on proven MLS talent, bringing in the likes of Fabian Espindola, Eddie Johnson, Bobby Boswell, Sean Franklin, Jeff Parke, and most recently, Chris Rolfe.

It is a strategy that is now paying dividends.

Dallas entered as the top side in the league, on sixteen points from seven matches, having rebounded to their first loss of the season – against Seattle – with a dominant performance and win over Toronto FC last weekend.

They looked to continue that form, taking the lead after thirteen minutes through Mauro Diaz.

Jair Benitez played the ball up the left touch-line for Fabian Castillo, who spun in-field and played up to Blas Perez just inside the area. The Panamanian touched back to Diaz, who faked his way past the sliding challenge of Christian (or maybe it’s Cristian, there seems to be no consensus on spelling) before slotting a right-footer across the convalescent Bill Hamid, back in goal for United.

But a pair of bookings to Zach Loyd – first for pulling down Espindola from behind and then for a lunging challenge on Davy Arnaud (catching him high, though in the process of pulling out) – reduced Dallas to ten in the 39th minute and handed the initiative to DC.

Having finally ended that horrid winless run at the start of the month, DC has put the horror of last season behind them, entering the match unbeaten in four, with draws either side of a two-game winning streak. Now with the man-advantage, they sought to punish Dallas – and they did.

Espindola would notch the first, deep into stoppage-time (the fifth minute to be exact). He began the play himself, collecting the ball on the right and moving across the top of the area before feeding up to Nick DeLeon. DeLeon would reverse the stream, back to Johnson on the right, who was given far too much time to hit a cross to the back-post.

Espindola continued his run, getting in front of his marker, Hendry Thomas, to head down and past Chris Seitz in goal.

Fifteen minutes into the second half it was another off-season acquisition would put DC in front. Again Espindola provided the spark, playing a short corner back to Franklin who hit a ball deep to the back-post, where yet another MLS veteran, Parke, nodded it back to Conor Doyle.

Doyle’s shot was denied, but the rebound fell to Boswell arriving at the top of the box and his right-footed smash would not be stopped.

Four minutes on it was Franklin’s turn, once more thanks to Espindola. DeLeon played out to the Argentine wide on the left; he skipped past two defenders to the end-line and chipped a cutback into the middle where Franklin stole in front of Benitez to touch on to the far-side of goal with a right-foot.

And just five minutes later it was again Espindola who added the fourth. His pressure on a heavy touch from Adam Moffat ricocheted to Rolfe, who attacked down the left before cutting back to Espindola. He settled with his right and finished with his left across the keeper for his second of the night.

The two goals and assist bring Espindola’s season totals to four goals and three assists, involved directly in seven of DC’s ten goals this season after a mixed year in New York.

With the 4-1 win, Ben Olsen’s United climb into the upper grouping in the Eastern Conference – a long way from their basement days of the past year – and stretch their unbeaten run to five matches, while welcoming Hamid, Luis Silva, and Chris Korb back from injury.

For Dallas it was a second loss in their last three, but of more concern for Oscar Pareja will be the fitness of Diaz, who left the match before half-time with a muscle injury – never mind that Michel, who has proved crucial to their set-piece success, was shown red in the 89th for a frustrated swipe at Rolfe and will miss their next match with suspension.

New England 2 – Kansas City 0

Former players return and red cards change games – themes from the previous two matches that would repeat themselves in New England.

Sporting has dominated the recent in-league meetings between the two clubs – unbeaten in their last six and having not conceded a goal to the Revolution in some 502 minutes of play. The two also met in one of last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals, with New England taking the home leg 2-1, but losing 3-1 in extra time back in Kansas City.

With both entering in good form – the hosts unbeaten in two after a slow start and Kansas City undefeated through five with three wins and a pair of draws – and neither taking advantage of half-chances through the first hour-plus of play the match looked destined to end in a draw.

That is until Aurelien Collin was sent off in the 74th minute for lunging into a challenge on Diego Fagundez when New England were breaking in on goal. It was a somewhat harsh decision from the official, but Kansas City weathered the remaining twenty minutes of regulation without much difficulty, further enhancing the likelihood of a goal-less tie.

That is until one of their former players, forward Teal Bunbury struck for his first goal with his new club in the second minute of stoppage-time. Lee Nguyen played out wide to Fagundez on the right and the teenager flung a cross toward the near-post that Bunbury bundled across the line with an unintentional pelvic thrust – hardly the prettiest of finishes, but they all count.

Three minutes on New England would seal the result from the penalty spot after a counterattack from a KC corner kick resulted in Uri Rosell handling a Fagundez header, after keeper Eric Kronberg denied his initial attempt.

Nguyen would convert, eyeing right and finishing to the left, freezing the keeper in the process.

With the 2-0 win Jay Heaps’ Revolution, who welcomed back club legend Shalrie Joseph midweek, have three wins in their last five matches and just one loss in their last six, after starting the season winless through three, despite scoring less than a goal per game throughout.

For Peter Vermes, who judged the red card to be overly harsh, it was just the second loss of the season for his defending champions, who must now scramble to fill Collin’s position. Given the season-ending injury to Ike Opara, it could be time for the debut of highly-touted prospect, Erik Palmer-Brown.

Columbus 1 – New York 1

The Eastern Conference may well be the weaker of the two, but with one extra team in place, the playoff race already looks set to be a tight contest. As such, hard fought close-affairs like the one between the Red Bulls and the Crew look to be the order of the day.

Jairo Arrieta, who was given the start ahead of Dominic Oduro – and his outrageous hairdo – put the hosts ahead in the 39th minute from the penalty spot after Kosuke Kimura wrestled Justin Meram to the ground.

Josh Williams laid a ball down the right flank for Hector Jimenez, who hit a cross back into the middle, where Meram had gotten in front of his marker, tempting Kimura into pulling him down. Arrieta’s right-footed blast from twelve paces was unstoppable, catching the underside of the bar to Luis Robles’ right.

Bradley Wright-Phillips, fresh, (well, tired - as were the rest of the New York starters) off his midweek hat-trick notched his fifth of the season on the other side of half-time. Lloyd Sam attacking from the right used the overlap of Kimura to make space, playing a low ball into the feet of Wright-Phillips above the left-post.

With his back to goal, the striker controlled the ball and turned, kissing his right-footed shot off the base of the left post, across Steve Clark to level the match in the 66th minute.

The 1-1 draw was a fair result on the night, through Crew chief Gregg Berhalter will be troubled by his side’s winless run that stretched to four matches with a third-straight draw.

For Mike Petke, a four-point week extends their unbeaten run to three matches and a few rest days should see them ready and reinvigourated for a match next Sunday – the continued form of Henry and Wright-Phillips could well be the catalyst to climb up the table as the defending Supporters’ Shield champs look to defend their title after a slow start that saw them go winless through their first six matches.

Salt Lake 2 – Vancouver 2

Timing is everything in soccer – when one scores is nearly as important as how many.

Salt Lake burst out of the gates when they welcomed Vancouver to Utah in one of Saturday’s late matches - it took just two minutes for Joao Plata, returning to the starting lineup after missing three matches with a hamstring concern, to get on the score-sheet.

Pressure forced a turnover out of Russell Teibert, whose breakout pass was intercepted by Chris Schuler, bottling up the attacking left. Salt Lake’s overload and interplay tore through the Vancouver defense, as Ned Grabavoy and Chris Wingert exchanged passes before the full-back played a low diagonal ball towards the corner of the box. Luke Mulholland left it, drawing Andy O’Brien out of position, isolating Plata on Johnny Leveron, who came over to cover.

The trickster Plata faked inside then surged outside, finishing with a strong left-footer across David Ousted into the far netting.

Seven minutes later Salt Lake added a second, from a similar passage on the right.

Mulholland played Tony Beltran down the side of the area where he cut a ball across the top of the box. Alvaro Saborio dummied the service which was collected by Grabavoy, who tiptoed through a hesitant gauntlet of Vancouver defenders, straight towards Saborio.

The big Costa Rican pounced on the loose ball, curling a left-footer to the top left-corner of the goal, past a helpless Ousted.

Salt Lake should have added a third to kill the match – two-goal leads are the most dangerous after all – and when they did not, Vancouver found their response deep in the match.

Carl Robinson went to his bench thrice after the hour-mark, bringing on Nicolas Mezquida and Sebastian Fernandez, as well as Erik Hurtado, and two of his additions would turn the match.

A potentially dangerous free-kick in the 86th minute was clipped to the back-post by Mezquida, finding only the head of Sebastian Velasquez, whose clearance fell weakly to Darren Mattocks on the left. Mezquida, got on his proverbial horse, charging into the box, as Mattocks beat Velasquez to get in a left-footed drive. His attempt was uncharacteristically spilled by Nick Rimando and Mezquida was on hand to dink a right-footed touch into the Salt Lake goal to draw the Whitecaps within one.

Deep into stoppage-time, the final minute of four to be played, saw a heavy touch from Saborio, who was attempting to counter, intercepted by Steven Beitashour with a sliding challenge. The loose ball fell to Fernandez, who picked his head up and slammed a dipping shot from some forty yards, beating Rimando low to the bottom right-corner of the goal, leveling the match at two.

Jeff Cassar and Salt Lake may have not yet tasted defeat – the only remaining unbeaten side in MLS – but the foul aroma of dropping more points via late goals, as they did against San Jose, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia previously, and a fifth draw out of eight matches will leave them with bitter questions to be answered.

For Robinson on the other hand, the fighting spirit shown by his club is truly an accomplishment – but can they afford to keep falling behind and relying on those special moments to salvage results?

San Jose 1 – Chivas 0

Saturday’s final match pitted two of the Western Conference’s struggling sides against each other in San Jose.

The Earthquakes were one of four teams who entered the eighth round of MLS action without a win, though on the back of collecting their first clean-sheet of the season in last weekend’s score-less draw in Colorado. Los Ameri-Goats on the other hand were winless in six, stretching back to opening day, alternating draws and losses.

It was a combative first half that saw some four yellow cards issued – three to San Jose; of interest, each of their three bookings, to Jordan Stewart, Alan Gordon, and Sam Cronin, were for fouls on Mauro Rosales – clearly a marked-man as Chivas’ most troublesome provider.

The best chance of the opening frame fell to the most dangerous and in-form player on the pitch, Chivas’ Erick Torres, who shockingly sent a right-footer from nine yards out wide after a cross fell to him in a pocket of space in front of goal.

San Jose would unleash their secret weapon – a Plan B – in the second half with the introduction of the slippery Yannick Djalo and the Portuguese attacker (born in Guinea-Bissau) would break the deadlock in the 66th minute.

Stewart played up the left-side for Shea Salinas, who moved easily past Eric Avila and sent in yet another wonderfully inviting ball – his delivery this season has been so impressive – to the back-post, where Djalo tracked it carefully, to hit a bouncing volley down and across the keeper into the left-side of goal past Dan Kennedy.

Chivas’ red card woes would continue in the 77th minute, when Kennedy was caught out of his area by a sharp Gordon attack and instinctively got his hand on the striker’s touch past him – it was the third red card of the season through eight games for the LA-based club.

The 1-0 win ends San Jose’s winless start to the campaign and allows Mark Watson’s club to climb out of the basement in both the West and the league, while stretching their current unbeaten run to three matches and keeping a second-straight clean-sheet.

For Wilmer Cabrera and Chivas, the loss – their second-straight – ends the cycle of draws and losses in an undesirable manner, now winless in seven since opening day against Chicago, despite showing signs of vastly improving from last season.

Houston 1 – Portland 1

Sunday’s lone fixture saw two struggling supposed-powerhouses duel to a sluggish draw in the steamy heat of a Houston swamp as summer nears – really, any day now.

The Dynamo entered winless through five matches, having lost three straight – most recently that devastating midweek collapse at New York – and gone more than five hours without scoring a goal.

The Timbers meanwhile are yet to win this season, with three losses and four draws to their name this year.

Will Bruin would put the hosts in the lead after sixteen minutes thanks to service from the now-fit Brad Davis. Davis had missed three matches with an ankle sprain, but did not miss a step when Corey Ashe laid a ball down the left for the left-footed wizard.

Davis swung his usual perfect service into the middle, where Bruin was allowed a free run by the poor recognition of Pa Modou Kah, rising up to meet the delivery, guiding it down and in past a helpless Donovan Ricketts.

Seventeen minutes on Portland would level with a stunner, as Gaston Fernandez notched his third of the season with a predatory strike from just inside the Houston box.

Kalif Alhassan tried to pick out the run of Darlington Nagbe with a ball, but it slowed after taking a touch off a Houston defender, falling into vacated space near the arc. Fernandez reacted quickest and smashed a right-footed blast into the top right corner of the goal – Tally Hall had no chance.

With the temperature climbing in the afternoon sun, neither side had the energy to find a winner, though Houston were definitely in the ascendancy with Portland faltering away from the cooler climes of the Pacific Northwest.

The draw would extend both winless runs, though it would be folly to assume early-season struggles will determine final positions of either Dominic Kinnear or Caleb Porter led sides.

Kinnear’s Dynamo may well have not won in six, but they ended that score-less drought and have two draws in their last three, while the return of Davis and Bruin getting on the score-sheet are strong portents.

Porter’s Portland may be winless, but with just three losses on the season, they are in every match, and need an extra goal or two to push them over that precipice – they have a mere nine through eight games, including that four-goal outburst against Seattle.

CanCon

As always, the extended look at the Canadian performances this round will be posted midday tomorrow (Tuesday).

With Toronto off this weekend, participation dropped markedly, but strong performances from Patrice Bernier, Will Johnson, Russell Teibert, and others will provide a few talking points at least.

Overheard

A few weeks ago many were questioning Clint Dempsey and how effective his partnership with Obafemi Martins may be, but, as per Sigi Schmid - “Right now Dempsey and Martins are as good as it gets in our league.”

Brave words or speaking the truth?

He may play like a selfish individual, but off the pitch San Jose’s latest acquisition, Yannick Djalo, is a team man – he’ll fit in nicely there and could prove to be a very useful acquisition indeed, “It was a great team play. Shea Salinas made a great pass to get it over to me and I was happy to be able to score, but it was the hard work of the team that scored.

“The ball made the goal. I was wide open. I just had to focus, and put the ball in the corner.”

Sometimes the pass is as good as a goal.

Not strictly related to the weekend, but some wise words of advice from MLSsoccer.com’s Armchair Analyst, Matt Doyle:

"Watch a player, and see how good they are on the ball - that's how good they are on the day. Watch a player, and see how good they are off the ball - that's how good they are."

Sagacious indeed – be sure to check out his excellent posts sprinkled throughout the weekend, while the match previews and such other videos are well worth the time.

See It Live

Dominic Oduro’s hair – that is all.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>OMG, it's soooooo real. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PizzaHead&src=hash">#PizzaHead</a> <a href="http://t.co/HonTW8Km9S">pic.twitter.com/HonTW8Km9S</a></p>— Andy Edwards (@AndyEdMLS) <a href="

">April 27, 2014</a></blockquote>

Controversy

A pretty clean weekend, aside from the occasional half-hearted handball shout, though Aurelien Collin’s red card could be said to be a little harsh – but how

is stunning.

Then there was the bizarre Donovan Ricketts handball outside his box – which was more comical and confusing than egregious.

Upcoming Fixtures

Another nine matches on the docket for next week – don’t forget about the second leg of the play-in round of the Voyageur’s Cup on Wednesday between Edmonton and Ottawa, delicately poised at zeros – with seven matches on Saturday and a pair on Sunday.

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