MLS Week in Review – Round 11 - 24th Minute

Round eleven of MLS action has come and gone; a jam-packed week featuring six matches on Wednesday night and a full slate of nine over the weekend.

41 goals were scored – one own-goal, one from the spot, and another missed attempt, courtesy of New England’s Sair Sene; 44 yellow cards displayed – only two reds: one rescinded (Salt Lake’s Carlos Salcedo for mistaken identity) and the other to a very angry Marcus Hahnemann on the Seattle bench, after the handball on Kansas City was missed.

A staggering six away wins, in a league marked with struggles on the road, are worthy of note, with Houston’s four-goal demolition of DC at RFK Stadium leading the way.

There has been a strange current of foresight running through these opening weeks of MLS.

[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

First there was Caleb Porter’s text message cajoling Will Johnson to score from a free-kick against San Jose – which he duly dispatched to win 1-0 over the Quakes. Then there was Philadelphia’s Amobi Okugo, who told his teammate, Danny Cruz, he’d score against Seattle – little did Okugo know Cruz had two in him that day.

This weekend saw a third, as Dallas’ Je-Vaughan Watson went so far as to tell his coach and call his mom in Jamaica – on the weekend of Mother’s Day (Hi Mom) – that he was going to score for her, which he did, nabbing the game-winner over DC on Saturday.

Premonition aside, back to business; before the results, the nominees for goal of the round.

Leaving aside Thierry Henry’s bicycle kick from midweek against Montreal – enough ink has already been spilt over that strike – there were some wonderful contributions this week.

Mauro Rosales’ lovely curling direct free-kick; the individual effort from his teammate, Lamar Neagle, to grab his second of the afternoon as the Sounders routed San Jose; Jackson’s finish, after some strong hold up play from Eric Hassli, was definitely worth a watch – or two, as were Russell Teibert’s brace - each as enjoyable as the other; Dwayne De Rosario finally getting off the mark, with that familiar low free from the left side, outside the eighteen and all three of Portland’s goals – they are simply stunning in attack.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

In that vein, Portland’s second goal earns the nod for this week.

Darlington Nagbe muscles his way through the midfield on the right touch-line playing ahead to Ryan Johnson. Pressured by Steve Purdy, Johnson curls toward the near corner flag and plays back to Nagbe.

He slips in-field to the red-hot Rodney Wallace, who takes a nice touch to elude the pressure of Joaquin Velazquez and threads to Diego Valeri, shredding the Chivas defense and solidifying the Timbers dominance in the affair.

Valeri makes his finish look simple, lifting a right-footer over the sliding Patrick McLain, towards the far-side. This Portland team, under the tutelage of Porter – as well as the equally strong, if less excitingly so Dallas - is the story of the first months of the season.

Midweek Matches - In a Sentence (or Two)

Will Bruin scored a brace – the eighth and ninth of his career versus DC – and added a pair of assists – on goals from the British contingent, Giles Barnes and Andrew Driver, as the Dynamo ran roughshod over a struggling United.

Dominic Kinnear’s Houston picked up a second consecutive road win, their only two of the season, with DC falling to a sixth-straight loss, tying a club-record.

A Thierry Henry brace, including a turn-back-the-clock bicycle kick, were enough to keep New York in front of a surging Montreal with Marco Di Vaio notching in stoppage time and nearly drawing his side level moments later, striking all three bits of the woodwork with one attempt.

Mike Petke’s Bulls picked up a fourth consecutive win, rising to the top of the Eastern Conference – tied with Houston – while Marco Schallibaum’s Montreal saw their unbeaten streak end at three in the midst of a trying schedule of seven matches in twenty-one days.

Ryan Guy’s lovely volley from the top of the box gave New England the lead at home, but a late push from Salt Lake erased that advantage with Devon Sandoval scoring his first and Colombian sensation, Olmes Garcia, forcing home the winner.

Jay Heaps was left in agony when his strikers quarreled over who would take the injury-time penalty kick and Sair Sene had his weak effort saved; Jason Kreis must appreciate the effort and never-say-die attitude of his side, shorn of their first-choice strike pairing of Alvaro Saborio and Robbie Findley.

Kei Kamara’s return to Kansas City was ruined in the final moments when Aurelien Collin whiffed on a pass bound for Djimi Traore, who controlled and hammered home from close range in the 94th minute.

It was a third shut-out loss in their last four matches for Peter Vermes’ Sporting, while Sigi Schmid’s Seattle continue their rapid ascent up the Western Conference, unbeaten in four, notching a third clean-sheet during the run.

Two in-form sides, both entered undefeated in seven, tied in a controversial fashion with Darlington Nagbe’s back-post finish cancelled out by a 77th minute Kenny Cooper penalty kick, against his former employers, after Andrew Jean-Baptiste was adjudged to have fouled Blas Perez in the box.

Schellas Hyndman’s side escaped a near miss, their perfect home record merely dented, not broken, but dropped their first points in Frisco; Caleb Porter was fined for his post-match criticisms of the official with both sides stretching streaks to eight matches.

When late-goals-for hosted late-goals-against the ending was inevitable – Chris Wondolowski poking a flicked corner kick into the Toronto goal after Adam Jahn had cancelled Justin Braun’s opener to snap San Jose’s six-game winless streak.

Frank Yallop reportedly tore a strip off his Earthquakes at half-time and it worked, with Ryan Nelsen’s side again capitulating having taken the lead – a third-straight loss and now winless in eight.

Results in Brief

Chicago 0 – Philadelphia 1

The first leg of a fractured home-and-home series – the Union host LA between – witnessed Jack McInerney continue his scintillating form, scoring his league-leading seventh goal of the season.

Stretching back to the removal of Piotr Nowak last season – an obstacle to regular playing time for the twenty-year old – McInerney has now scored 15 goals in his last 30 appearances and is leading his side’s charge to relevance in the East.

Sebastien Le Toux’s quickly taken free kick was lobbed over the Chicago back-line, where McInerney controlled it with his right before touching it in with his left. It was far from a clean strike – Fire keeper, Sean Johnson, got a piece – but as is often the case with an in-form striker, bounces go their way and it found the back of the net.

Frank Klopas’ struggling Chicago side – tied with TFC on seven points – have failed to click after an offseason midfield reconstruction; Klopas opted to field Patrick Nyarko, a midfielder, as the point-man of their attack. Nyarko proved dangerous but Union keeper Zac MacMath was up to the task, making several impressive saves.

John Hackworth, fresh off a fractious meeting with Seattle – that saw three red cards and Hackworth fined for his comments – will have enjoyed the victory, but must brace for a tough three-game week.

Montreal 3 – Salt Lake 2

Montreal, in the midst of an exhaustive schedule of their own, dug deep and found enough to out-gun Salt Lake in the end.

An unfortunate Matteo Ferrari own-goal in the first ten minutes – deflecting a Lovel Palmer strike that looped over Troy Perkins in goal – opened the scoring; Felipe responded scuffing in a low Justin Mapp cross from the right before half-time. Kyle Beckerman – powering in a loose ball after a Javier Morales corner kick - put RSL back in front in the final quarter of an hour, but the Impact’s resilience showed once more as Marco Di Vaio tallied his sixth – all in their last eight matches, finishing some clever passing by Maxim Tissot and Andrew Wenger, before Ferrari found redemption with a 93rd minute winner, smashing in a corner kick that found him unmarked in the box.

Marco Schallibaum’s rotation policy through this difficult stretch has proved valuable – and must continue with the final series of the Voyageurs Cup starting on Wednesday; while Jason Kreis will lament the collapse from his side due to a simple lack of concentration on a late set-piece.

Seattle 4 – San Jose 0

Seattle’s climb up from the basement in the West after a Champions League-induced coma at the start of the season was kicked up a notch with their impressive display over San Jose on Saturday.

Neagle’s brace – finishing off a rampant counterattack and then single-handedly making space for a low shot to the short-side as he cut in from the right – and goals from Rosales – the aforementioned free-kick - and Obafemi Martins – pouncing on a defensive clearance from Justin Morrow that struck fellow centre-back Victor Bernardez and fell kindly for the Nigerian striker – marked their best offensive display of 2013.

Coach Schmid’s Sounders are now unbeaten in five – three wins and two draws – having gone winless through their first four matches – to sit in seventh in the West; while Frank Yallop’s San Jose face a trying run – four of their next five matches on the road – as they try to sort out both defensive and attacking issues.

Vancouver 3 – Los Angeles 1

It was a shirts-off, coming out party for Mr. T (yes, much of that was said on-air - sigh) with Canadian boy, Russell Teibert scoring the first two goals of his professional career thirteen minutes apart to bring to life Vancouver’s match against LA after a lifeless first hour.

Nigel Reo-Coker surged up-field after a one-two with Darren Mattocks and dished out to his buddy, Teibert, who cut in across the top of the box onto his left-foot to unleash a low drive to the far-post beating Carlo Cudicini in goal.

Teibert, full of confidence, added a second after threading Gershon Koffie down the right-side of the box and receiving a lay-off in return for a similar left-footed drive, low to the far-post.

Not to be outdone - either on the pitch or in the hair-department - the Galaxy’s highly-touted prospect Gyasi Zardes, scored his first professional goal, coolly redirecting a right-sided Jose Villarreal – another starlet who scored his first career goal in this fixture last season – cross on to the far-side past Joe Cannon to rattle the nerves, if only for a moment.

Darren Mattocks ended his long goal-less run, notching his second of the season – first since the end of March – with a predatory turn-and-strike after a Teibert throw-in on the right was worked towards the near-post by Koffie and Jordan Harvey.

Martin Rennie, who lambasted the softness of his side last weekend, will find validation in ending a long seven-match winless run in style and celebrate a first-ever franchise win over LA; Bruce Arena’s Galaxy have now lost two straight and eagerly await the return of Robbie Keane, whose absence has been keenly felt.

Columbus 0 – Colorado 2

Oscar Pareja’s motley Colorado, despite the lengthy injury bug, continue to find ways to win, handing the Crew of Columbus yet another shut-out loss.

Edson Buddle - healthy of knee, but lacking in game-fitness - scored his second in as many games (both against former clubs), capping off a powerful bit of interplay from Danny Mwanga and Atiba Harris, who chested a left-sided cross into the path of the streaking Buddle for a sliding right-footed finish at the far-post.

First-year midfield sensation, Dillon Powers, added a second – and his second of the season – on another long-range bomb, this time, fortunately so, after a severe deflections off the foot of Columbus defender Josh Williams that handcuffed Andy Gruenebaum in goal.

It was a second-straight win for the Rapids and fourth clean-sheet for goalkeeping hero, Clint Irwin; Robert Warzycha’s crew fall to a second consecutive loss, having been shutout in three of their last four contests.

New England 1 – New York 1

The Revolution’s ten-year unbeaten run at home against their East Coast rivals continued, but coach Jay Heaps will rue how his side threw away victory once more – after the midweek penalty kick debacle - against a Henry-less Red Bull.

Teenage Diego Fagundez forced in a right-sided Chris Tierney corner kick at the second time of asking, swatting in his own rebound after his initial attempt was cleared off the line. But Lloyd Sam drew New York level straight from the restart, as Kosuke Kimura and Andre Akpan exchanged passes on the right before the latter threaded through Sam with a diagonal ball for a low right-footed shot that squeaked past Bobby Shutteworth in goal.

The draw extends New England’s winless run to three matches and stretches Mike Petke’s New York’s unbeaten run to five.

Dallas 2 – DC 1

A desperate DC fought valiantly but could not see out a result against the red-hot – unbeaten in nine - Dallas.

Jackson opened the scoring in the 11th minute, receiving a through-ball from Hassli and lifting his finish high into the goal past Joe Willis who was selected over regular starter, Bill Hamid. De Rosario scored his first of the season from a free-kick, a right-footer sent low to the far-bottom corner from outside the box.

But a set-piece goal – Dallas’ eighth of the season – in the 77th minute, when Watson bundled a right-sided Michel corner kick in at the far-post, handed Ben Olsen’s side a club-record seventh straight loss.

Schellas Hyndman’s side retains their lead atop the league with a stunning 24 points from eleven matches.

Portland 3 – Chivas 0

Caleb Porter’s Timbers roundly beat El Chelis’ Chivas with an attacking display to stretch their own unbeaten run to nine matches.

Marked by career-high goals from Wallace and Will Johnson – their third and fourth, respectively – either side of the goal of the round from Valeri.

Wallace, holding off the pressure of Eric Avila, deftly finished with a left-footer on the counter after Ryan Johnson had sprung him down the left in the 34th minute. Valeri doubled the lead – his third of the season – in the 70th, before Will Johnson’s 92nd minute strike, cutting in from the left across the top of the box to lash a right-footed shot across the keeper to the far-bottom corner, rounded out the scoring.

Plenty to celebrate in Timber town as they solidify their position in second place – behind only Dallas – in the West, while Chivas’ quick start – and strong defense - has evaporated, going winless through five, having conceded nine goals in their last three outings.

Houston 0 – Kansas City 1

The marquee match of the weekend, rife with grudge, as the Dynamo have knocked Sporting from the playoffs in the last two seasons, took place late on Sunday evening to close the round.

With revenge on their minds, Kansas City turned the tables on Houston, putting in a performance reminiscent of their hosts, grabbing a 73rd minute set-piece goal – Aurelien Collin flicking a left-sided Seth Sinovic long throw towards the far-side of the net and in – and then holding on for dear life as the Dynamo ratcheted up the pressure.

In holding the lead, KC become the first side to win in Houston side 2011 – a run of 30 league matches and 36 all competitions – and the first ever to defeat the Dynamo at their not-so-new BBVA Compass Stadium.

Dominic Kinnear offered his congratulation to opposition coach Peter Vermes post-match – and will secretly be glad to not have to talk about the streak any more – while Vermes’ side celebrated their scalp as a group on the pitch as though there was a trophy to be had – to be fair, defeating the Dynamo has been a hurdle they had yet to mount.

CanCon

As per the last few weeks, the Canadian Content section will be up as a separate post midday on Tuesday.

Overheard

Kasey Keller takes a shot at Toronto FC when discussing San Jose’s winless streak having come to an end against the Canadian side – “can’t really count them, can you?” Ouch.

“Wigan Athletic’s Roger Espinoza, formerly of Kansas City, has become the first player to win the [coveted] FA Cup and US Open Cup double.”

Carnìval Real – note the accented I – some sort of pre-match festivities at the Rio Tinto outside of Salt Lake sounds magical – probably just bouncy castles, human foosball, and the like.

Portland’s John Strong with one of the best lines of the weekend, describing a Wallace slip as being “on a turf goblin”; the Timbers’ broadcast team of Strong and Robbie Earle is consistently one of the better ones in the league. No wonder they are both moving on to bigger things with Earle bound for NBC’s Barclay’s Premier League coverage and Strong to replace Arlo White on the NBC MLS matches.

See It Live

The officials this weekend all wore black armbands in remembrance of amateur referee, Ricardo Portillo, who succumbed to his injuries after a week in a coma having been punched by a youth player in a dispute over a yellow card.

In less-tragic circumstances, Salt Lake’s Devon Sandoval’s run-in with an official - cleaning out an assistant referee in their match against New England - was good spirited; they shared a smile and neither was hurt.

Claudio Bieler getting blanked by half of the Kansas City coaching staff as he looked for some hand slaps after being subbed was equally entertaining.

Chivas’ Mario de Luna’s run-in with a Portland ball-boy, who turned away from giving him the ball late in their match, brought about the most recent flare up in the discussion of their antics, unprofessionalism, and kids involved in a game for adults – still never cool to shove a kid though.

Upcoming Fixtures

A lone midweek fixture this week on Wednesday night the same evening that Montreal and Vancouver begin their Voyageurs Cup final series with the Impact hosting the Whitecaps at Stade Saputo.

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

Parting Thoughts

A few questions to ponder and discuss:

Montreal and Vancouver – following dramatic wins on the weekend – return to cup competition midweek in the first leg of the Voyageurs Cup Final at Stade Saputo, who takes the advantage? And will viewers outside of those cities tune-in?

The Whitecaps then face a difficult task, returning home to face Cascadia rivals, Portland, on Saturday. Was the win over LA a sign of things to come, is Teibert for real, or will their old flaws rise to the surface once more?

And what of poor TFC; are the latest loan signings the answer to their late-game woes or just more of the same from a constantly disappointing front office? Is patience wearing thin already? Or does Nelsen and Co. have the backing of the board and the fans?

Surging Seattle take on league-leading Dallas in a must-see match on Saturday; while New York and LA face off in the cross-continental battle of the stars. Who wins when unstoppable force meets immovable object and does money overpower money in financially-restricted MLS?

Struggling DC face a difficult prospect – home matches against two of the stronger sides in the league, Kansas City and Portland – sitting on a seven-game losing streak. Should they lose both, they will tie Toronto’s nine-match losing run from last season – an unthinkable task at the start of the year. Can they escape that ignominy?

Just what is a Kolache?

So much going on, enjoy the soccer.

Until next weekend.

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

Sign In

MLS Week in Review – Round 11

Categories

Articles

Forums

All Activity