MLS Week in Review – Round 10 - 24th Minute

The tenth round of MLS began on Thursday with Portland’s ascension held by a scoreless draw at home against New England and concluded late Sunday night when Houston avenged consecutive MLS Cup Final defeats, at the very scene of such disappointments, with a one-goal away victory over Los Angeles.

All told, eight matches littered the schedule, resulting in three home wins, two away victories, and a triumvirate of draws.

The flurry of yellow cards that had marred the recent past, diminished slightly – only 21 this round – but there was an uptick in reds with four – thanks in large part to a three-card affair in Philadelphia that had Union coach John Hackworth livid with the standards of refereeing.

17 goals were scored – one from the spot, two other attempts missed – and in many ways, that was the story of the weekend.

Two of the more accomplished spot-kick takers – Federico Higuain and Landon Donovan – missed opportunities to give their sides the lead, only to see the opponent’s eventually win by a 0-1 score-line, both dropping points at home.

It was Donovan’s second miss from twelve paces, having had his attempt in Dallas saved – another match decided by the only goal of the night – after having been a tidy 28 for 31 previously in his career. Higuain has less time in the league, missing his first penalty kick in only his third attempt.

Their misses raise an interesting conundrum - what is going on with penalty takers?

Previously thought to be a mere formality, the awarding of a penalty was as good as a goal for the attacking side, but after converting eight of nine to start the season, only one of the last four – and three of the last ten – have been transitioned into goals.

A startling development and something to keep an eye on as the weeks progress.

Before the results, the goal of the round.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

It was not a spectacular weekend for goals. There were some well-worked ones – Salt Lake’s pair on the break – both, in part, created by the diminutive Joao Plata; Kansas City’s relentless cut and thrust against Chivas; Tim Cahill scrappy game-winner, his third in two matches; and Danny Cruz’s brace for Philadelphia mere seconds apart (he looked as surprised as anyone) – were all considered.

Fighting the temptation to award the honours to Toronto FC’s latest gaff – has any goal ever so perfectly summarized a side’s inability to perform the routine when faced with the weight of expectation – this week, the nod goes to Montreal’s Justin Mapp and his long-range, left-footed arc off the inside of the post.

San Jose, it is fair to say, had dominated the match through the first twenty minutes, and could have had two goals by then.

Marvin Chavez was a man possessed, flinging crosses into the box; the Earthquakes repeatedly asking questions of Troy Perkins in goal, who, equal to the task, stood on his head to deny their efforts.

But as often happens, the opener came against the run of play.

On the counter, as is their wont, Andrew Wenger and Marco Di Vaio combined to drop the ball back to Felipe in the centre-circle. He picked out Mapp on the right-side of the pitch with a simple pass. Shea Salinas tracking back, applied a modicum of pressure, but soon relented. Rafael Baca, Sam Cronin, and Nana Attakora were slow to collapse on the in-form midfielder – a goal and assist midweek in the Voyageurs Cup – and Mapp, moving in-field, seized the opportunity of time and space.

From some 30-plus yards out his sweetly struck left-footer dipped as it snuck past Jon Busch at the near-post.

One of those goals that makes onlookers pop out of their seats and shout, “What?” And it was only slightly less-annoying to TFC fans than Edson Buddle’s late decider – it’s been a tough week.

Results in Brief

Portland 0 – New England 0

In Thursday night’s lone fixture red-hot Portland were held to score-less draw at home by the bulwark-ish defenses of New England and a few well-timed saves from Bobby Shuttleworth in goal.

A reworked Revolution back-line featuring Stephen McCarthy, Darius Barnes, and the recalled from loan to Rochester, Bilal Duckett – in place for the injured AJ Soares and Andrew Farrell, the ill Kevin Alston, and the suspended Chris Tierney – enforced a first shutout of the season on the Timbers, maintained New England’s third clean-sheet in four matches, and earned a precious road point after snapping a five-game winless skid with a 2-0 win over Philadelphia last weekend.

Caleb Porter’s Timbers remain unbeaten through their last seven matches and stake their claim as the surprise performers of the first months of the campaign with 14 points from nine matches and are tied for third in the West. Jay Heaps Revolution will look to continue their two-game unbeaten run into a busy week that pits them against Salt Lake and New York back at Gillette Stadium.

Columbus 0 – New York 1

Red Bull keeps rolling thanks in part to the aforementioned Higuain penalty attempt saved by Luis Robles, stealing the points in the final minutes when Cahill nabbed his third of the season with a looping header.

A Lloyd Sam cross from the right fell to Jonny Steele at the back-post, his volley was parried back into the middle by Andy Gruenebaum, where Cahill reacted quickest with a looping header just beyond the reach of the recovering keeper in the 80th minute.

Brandon Barklage had tripped up Eddie Gaven less than ten minutes earlier to concede the spot kick but the Argentine playmaker failed to convert, snapping Columbus’ home unbeaten streak at twelve, and continuing New York’s domination of the Crew – a third-straight win and unbeaten in five stretching back to 2010.

Columbus coach Robert Warzycha can bemoan the miss, and applaud Red Bull’s ability to neutralize his side’s aerial threat, while Mike Petke, after struggling through the early fixture list, will enjoy a third-straight win – and a fourth in their last five – as New York moves into a tie for first in the East with Kansas City.

San Jose 2 – Montreal 2

San Jose pressed, but wasted chances allowed Montreal to steal a two-goal led through a Mapp brace, against the run of play.

His first earned goal of the round plaudits, while his second capitalized on a bit of static defending two minutes into the second half when Andrew Wenger pounced on a blocked Andres Romero pass and set up Mapp for a tap-in at the back post.

Rookie threat Adam Jahn scored his third of the season twelve minutes later, finishing a nice bit of interplay between Chavez, Chris Wondolowski, and Sam Cronin with a calm strike across the keeper into the left-side of goal from the right side of the box. Cronin himself found a stoppage-time equalizer when Wondo cushioned a header from a long Walter Martinez ball down to the midfielder, who took a touch and struck to the same corner, from a little further out, as Jahn.

Frank Yallop’s San Jose won the Supporter’s Shield last season on the strength and quantity of their late goals, but this season’s inability to find the back of the net – only eleven goals through ten matches – is a concern as their winless run stretches to six. Marco Schallibaum will lament the late concession, but will take pride in how his side have fought through a difficult run in the schedule – unbeaten in three, not including their midweek triumph.

Philadelphia 2 – Seattle 2

A contentious match that ended in controversy – a non-call on supposed a Leo Gonzalez handball that blocked Conor Casey’s last-minute attempt – had Philadelphia manager John Hackworth fuming, “Look, I’ll raise my hand and take the fine,” he said. “Because it has to be said that we cannot be in this league and have this level of play and have officiating be as bad as that.”

He’s definitely right; he will indeed be fined for those comments.

Seattle took an early lead on ten minutes, when Eddie Johnson escaped his marker on a right-sided Mauro Rosales corner kick and keeper Zac MacMath could not keep his downward header from squirming over the line.

Danny Cruz put the Union back in front with a one-minute brace that began five minutes into the second half – the first, a rebound after Casey’s header hit the right-post and the second, following a blast from Jack McInerney that slipped through the hands of Michael Gspurning, struck the bar and fell to the physical midfielder at the top of the box for a low finish.

Rosales leveled thirteen minutes later, finishing off a nice series that saw Mario Martinez thread Gonzalez down the left-side of the area to hang a ball to the back-post, where both Rosales and Johnson were ready to pounce.

From there the match descended into chaos, Lamar Neagle and Sheanon Williams were both shown reds after going head-to-head following a meaningless altercation in the 84th minute and rookie full-back DeAndre Yedlin was dismissed one minute into extra time, for a hack on Michael Farfan.

Philly may have been left fuming at the officials, but Seattle’s Sigi Schmid, shorn of five starters – Steve Zakuani, Obafemi Martins, Marc Burch, and Shalrie Joseph to injury and Ossie Alonso, who remained with his wife who recently gave birth to a daughter (Paulina, for those interested in that sort of thing) - will take the point and ready his side for a pair of tough fixtures at Kansas City and home to San Jose that could go some way to rectifying the Sounders poor start to the season.

Colorado 1 – Toronto 0

Argentine young designated player, Matias Laba’s debut performance for Toronto seemed destined for a score-less draw until late misery once more doomed the club to a soul-sapping loss in Colorado.

Defensive miscues – Darren O’Dea being knocked to the ground and Logan Emory whiffing his clearance and slipping, allowed Buddle to smash the loose ball into the back of the net in the 86th minute of play – are one thing, but Robert Earnshaw wasting glorious chances and Colorado keeper Clint Irwin denying Luis Silva from range defined the match.

Rapids coach, Oscar Pareja had done his scouting and committed four attackers in the final throes, snapping his side’s two-game winless skid with a valuable three points amid an injury streak of outrageous proportions; Ryan Nelsen must get to the bottom of these issues as the Reds concede at the death in a fourth-straight match after a humbling loss midweek in Montreal.

Salt Lake 2 – Vancouver 0

Vancouver’s struggles on the road – last won in July of 2012 – continued with a disappointing performance in Salt Lake.

Joao Plata and the Salties crisp passing twice shredded the Whitecaps defense on the counter with Luis Gil nabbing the first with a header after a quick restart from Nick Rimando. The Salt Lake keeper moved the ball up-field to Plata who sent an early cross behind the back-line in the second minute after the restart. Javier Morales doubled the advantage in the 71st after some slick ball work between himself, Sebastien Velasquez, and Plata saw the attacking midfielder slipped in – his low right-footed shot beat Joe Cannon in goal.

The ever-surly Jason Kreis will have enjoyed the strong display from his side and will smile – if only privately – at the result after a woeful match against Los Angeles last weekend. Martin Rennie and bulldog Nigel Reo-Coker were left pondering the effort of their players, calling them soft, as their winless streak stretches to seven matches.

Kansas City 4 – Chivas 0

Kansas City, fresh off a humbling loss to Portland, battered Chivas from pillar-to-post, but only really pressed their advantage after Chivas keeper, Dan Kennedy was dismissed twelve minutes into the second half.

Claudio Bieler scored his fifth of the season at the end of the first, capitalizing on a misplaced back-pass and hard-work from his teammates and later added his sixth, from the spot, after Kennedy upended Paulo Nagamura, conceding a penalty and seeing red.

Graham Zusi continued his scintillating form, adding a goal to his assist on Bieler’s opener, touching a Josh Gardner left-sided cross in past second-string keeper, Patrick McLain - who began his MLS debut in vain, watching helplessly as Bieler stroked his second of the night from twelve yards.

CJ Sapong rounded out the scoring in the 87th minute in a similar fashion, touching in a right-sided Mechack Jerome cross for his first of the season.

Peter Vermes shuffled his lineup – with Peterson Joseph and Jacob Peterson in for Benny Feilhaber and Sapong - and will be pleased with their response; Chivas’ El Chelis could only hold his hands up post-match and congratulate the victors.

Los Angeles 0 – Houston 1

The final match of the round was a rematch of the last two MLS Cup Finals, with Los Angeles and Houston again meeting on the Home Depot Center pitch.

LA had won their last six meetings at their home ground, but Houston had taken the last two league meetings in the regular season.

It was a tight affair with neither side opening up the match for fear of being punished.

Houston blinked first; in the 25th minute Tally Hall rushed out to confront Jose Villarreal - after Donovan had played him through with a wonderful leading ball off the outside of his right-boot – bringing the attacker down and conceding the penalty. Donovan stepped to the spot, but his weak attempt was saved by Hall, diving to his left to parry.

The Dynamo recovered quickest from that surprise, taking advantage of a slow to recover LA back-line – Bobby Boswell sent a long ball for Giles Barnes up the right side of the pitch, Barnes continued down the side of the box and cut a pass back to the opposite top of the area where Andrew Driver was ready with a low first-time shot to the near-post, into the corner of the goal past Carlo Cudicini.

The result saw Houston push into a four-way tie at the top of the East, with New York, Kansas City, and Montreal all tied on 17 points and kept LA from making up further ground on Western leaders, Dallas – they sit in a three-way tied, with Salt Lake and Portland on 14 points in second.

Bruce Arena saw a missed Donovan penalty result in a second 1-0 loss for his team and will have to address that touchy subject, while Dominic Kinnear will inwardly revel at having addressed that haunting jinx and store that feeling in his pocket, should fate see them once more showdown there for the silverware.

CanCon

The Canadian Content section has been expanded into a separate feature and will be available around noon on Tuesday.

Overheard

Yallop’s barely-concealed rage at having conceded on Montreal’s first attempt, despite dominating in his in-game interview was palpable.

Kreis calling out a reporter in the post-game interview in response to whether Devon Sandoval’s performance was a step back for the young striker – “Man, you’ve got really bad questions tonight.” – was amusing. He is a prickly individual at the best of times.

But most entertaining was the stipulation that no weapons were allowed at Rio Tinto Stadium for Star Wars Day. No light-sabers, no blasters. Not sure if droids were allowed on the premises.

See It Live

El Chelis’ modern trench coat ensemble was striking – and the Univision announcers called him Telly Savalas, which was both amusing and accurate.

Other than that it was pretty tame. Logan Emory desperately hoping the ground would swallow him up was the definition of the expression – apologies for continuing to harp.

Upcoming Fixtures

A whole slew of midweek action – six matches - will make this the busiest week of the season to date, with all but eight clubs pulling double duty.

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

Parting Thoughts

A few questions to ponder and discuss:

What is going on from the spot? Are keepers, with their video sessions and reams of data, more prepared than ever or is it just a run of dumb luck?

With separation beginning to emerge between the contenders and the pretenders – especially in the East – who can use this crucial double-game week to claw their way back in? Or will the leaders build on that gap?

How long will it take the league to hand out Hackworth’s suspension? Last week was a busy one for both the disciplinary committee and the appeals council, as Steven Lenhart and Chris Tierney were handed supplemental discipline and the red card appeals of Jeff Larentowicz and Brad Davis were upheld. Who’s next? Any plays from this weekend worthy of appeal or punishment?

Does Houston’s win at the scene of their previous depantsing mean anything? Can that experience serve them well when next they meet – which can only be in the playoffs?

Did DC use their bye week wisely to address their issues? Is Martin Rennie the most bombastic manager in the league with his declarations and insinuations? Are his threats, to weed out any uncommitted individuals, for real or just for dramatic effect? Can Nelsen stop the rot and build a ninety minute side? What must Laba be thinking of his new club and can he make the difference?

And Montreal, are they really one of the best teams in the league? Or will they crumble like pretenders once the grind and the summer get into full swing?

Until next weekend – or in this case, Wednesday.

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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MLS Week in Review – Round 10

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