MLS Week in Review – Round 16 - 24th Minute

The sixteenth weekend of MLS transpired on Saturday, and though truncated once more, it was not short on action.

Five matches played, sixteen goals scored – two from the spot and another own-goal in DC, two straight red cards and 19 yellows on way to a pair of away wins and not a draw in sight.

Portland’s streak continues, as does DC’s, but Toronto’s comes to an end. Big wins for beleaguered sides – not just TFC – with Columbus and San Jose each picking up valuable points against in-form opposition and how about that Vancouver-New England game, a seven-goal thriller.

But before the results, the goal of the round.

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There were of course fewer candidates to choose, but this is about quality, not quantity.

As such several contenders emerged this weekend. Be it Darlington Nagbe’s turn-and-fire game-winner for Portland - venomous, Steven Lenhart’s opener in Colorado, winning a foot race before slamming on the breaks and lifting a shot high into the net – much-needed, or the wonderful New England passing between Sair Sene, Diego Fagundez that played Kelyn Rowe in for a skillful finish - silky.

They were all great, and there were several others, but hands down, goal of the round must go to Kenny Miller and his lovely half-volley to ensure smoother sailing for Vancouver in their win over New England.

The once-maligned Scotsman has been fantastic this season and was again instrumental in Vancouver’s success.

After falling behind two-nil, it was Miller who won the penalty and forced a red card to Andrew Farrell - who shoved him from behind in the box. He then leveled the match by playing a ball for himself over the Revolution back-line before surging in on goal and finishing neatly across the keeper.

And when the Whitecaps needed some insurance with New England rallying, again it was Miller who came to the rescue.

Camilo, himself having a solid stretch of form, played a long ball from deep in his own half to the streaking Miller, breaking between the two opposing centre-backs.

Rather than risk not outpacing the recovering defenders, Miller slows just atop the arc, lets the ball bounce twice, settling it ever so slightly with a chest down before swiveling on his left peg to loft a right-footer toward the right-side of goal.

The look on the faces of the Revolution players – goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and the vastly experienced, Jose Goncalves – is priceless. They know they are beat the second it leaves him foot.

Pure class – hard to believe some were calling for his head after struggling through an adjustment period last season.

Results in Brief

Portland 1 – Dallas 0

Two of the top teams in the West met in the opening match of the weekend; thanks to some stellar goalkeeping, a single goal would decide the outcome.

Darlington Nagbe, equal parts spectacular and inconsistent, scored in the 52nd minute, capitalizing on a threaded ball down the left-side of the box from Kalif Alhassan – and some flat-footed defending from George John – to turn and hit a right-footed screamer to the far-side of goal.

Dallas’ Peruvian minder, Raul Fernandez, showed why he was brought it, making at least three high-calibre saves, including a miraculous diving recovery to parry a goal-bound shot off the line, having been caught out of position chasing an aerial ball.

Caleb Porter’s Timbers stretch their unbeaten run to thirteen matches and have not allowed a goal at home in five straight, pulling themselves within two points of the conference leaders, Dallas.

Schellas Hyndman’s side, shorn of all three of their big strikers – Blas Perez on international duty with Panama, Kenny Cooper having to return home pre-match due to family concerns and Eric Hassli, who lasted a mere eight minutes before packing it in with back troubles – struggled to create, but were denied a sure goal when Donovan Ricketts blocked a blistering shot from Jackson.

The two, forging a rivalry of their own, meet once more in league play this season, but will face-off in the Open Cup in two weeks time.

DC 1 – Toronto 2

The battle for the basement, the Derby of Payne, call it what one will, this was a match that could well define the season for either side.

Each struggling and already well adrift at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the winner would offer themselves a lifeline, while the loser would be condemned to ignominy – and last place, both in conference and league.

DC began brightly, taking the lead in the 19th minute after a suspect penalty decision from the referee, who pointed to the spot when Nick DeLeon’s surging tear through the midfield was ended by a stray boot from Gale Agbossoumonde – was it outside the box, was it a dive, if not, was it even a foul.

Not one to stand on ceremony, Dwayne De Rosario duly dispatched the attempt – low to the keeper’s right – shaking and baking against one of his former sides.

Robert Earnshaw, he of the long slumber, emerged from his cocoon with a wonderful header, climbing higher than Brandon McDonald – perhaps climbing McDonald – to reach a Steven Caldwell free-kick hit from deep on the right towards the back-post. Earnshaw’s downward header dinked off the inside of the post to tie the match in the 30th.

Eleven minutes on TFC had taken the lead, when a Luis Silva free-kick from forty yards on the left curled towards the back-post and skipped off the scrum-capped head of Daniel Woolard – United’s third own-goal of the season, unlucky.

And for once, Ryan Nelsen’s side saw out that slim margin, struggling through the remainder of the match and five minutes of stoppage time to halt their winless run at eleven, earning their first away victory of the season, and nabbing their first three points in over three months.

Ben Olsen, who reportedly read the riot act to his side - both at half and full time – endures a winless run that has stretched to thirteen matches and are now five points below their nearest foes, solidly in the league’s basement. The clock is ticking.

Columbus 2 – Montreal 0

In the shock result of the weekend, a tired and battered Crew dispatched the rested and in-form Impact handily.

The Open Cup has not been kind to Columbus, they lost Eddie Gaven for the season to a knee injury in Round Three, only to see Brazilian defender, Glauber, similarly join him on the sidelines in Round Four, not to mention inclement weather pushing their midweek match back a day to Thursday – they lost to Chicago.

But, despite a long bus ride home, they came out swinging against the East leading Impact – assisted by the returns of Chad Marshall and Josh Williams from injury spells to solidify the back-line.

Playing their sixth match in the last 21 days, Dominic Oduro proved too much to handle for a Montreal side without Alessandro Nesta and coach, Marco Schallibaum, serving his touchline ban for the fracas in Kansas City two weeks ago.

Oduro created the first in the sixth minute, collecting the ball from Federico Higuain and turning towards goal before being felled by Hassoun Camara. The loose ball fell kindly to Matias Sanchez, whose low right-footed drive deflected off Jeb Brovsky and over Troy Perkins in goal. It was the Argentine’s first goal in MLS and a much-needed stroke of luck for the Crew.

Oduro would double the lead in the 22nd, picking the pocket of Collen Warner in midfield and exploiting the wide gap between the Montreal centre-backs to steal in on goal, open up his right-boot and finish low to the keeper’s left for his seventh goal of the season.

For Robert Warzycha’s Crew, the victory snapped a three-game winless streak and was only their second home win of the season - in front of their largest crowd thus far no less. Mauro Biello, standing in place of the suspended Schallibaum, and the Impact will be looking over their shoulders, as they passed up the opportunity to build a bit of distance between themselves and the chasing pack with the meat of the season fast approaching.

Colorado 1 – San Jose 2

The Earthquakes, playing their first match under Mark Watson following the surprise departure of Frank Yallop, found their scoring boots, and inched past the Rapids, thanks in part to an early red card to Atiba Harris.

Steven Lenhart opened the scoring in the eleventh minute, collecting a flick-on from Alan Gordon, hitting the breaks to let the chasing defenders reverse past him and placing a big right-footer high to the right-side of goal from just above the arc.

Harris then lunged in on Gordon and, after some deliberation from the officials, was shown a red – the third of his career - reducing Colorado to ten.

Sam Cronin doubled the San Jose lead seven minutes into the second half, when Rafael Baca spotted his run from deep and played a wonderful ball behind the back-line for him to calmly lift over the onrushing Clint Irwin.

Nathan Sturgis, really finding a home and some form in the Rapids midfield having drifted around the league, scored his third goal in the last four matches, getting on the end of a right-sided Brian Mullan cross after Martin Rivero had played out wide to the veteran midfielder turned full-back.

Tempers flared post-match, with Oscar Pareja and Watson exchanging angry words and some minor shoves, while Hendry Thomas and Chris Wondolowski exchanged few thoughts as well.

Pareja sees his side’s impressive six-game unbeaten run ended, while Watson takes all three points in his debut as manager, with San Jose earning their first road win and first win since May 1st (against Toronto), as they look to turn around a season that has failed to live up to expectations.

Vancouver 4 – New England 3

A barnstormer of a match, one that saw momentum swing wildly from one end to the other, before being decided by the goal of the round.

New England began brightest, with Juan Agudelo latching onto a wonderfully penetrative ball from Chris Tierney to open the scoring in the tenth minute. Kelyn Rowe doubled their advantage ten minutes on capping some fine passing from Sair Sene and Diego Fagundez down the right with a low finish across Brad Knighton.

But a red card to Andrew Farrell in the 23rd minute – and the subsequent penalty kick converted by Camilo - drew Vancouver back into the affair. Sixteen minutes later Kenny Miller had leveled the match at twos with the first half of his brace, lifting a Carlyle Mitchell defensive header over the New England back-line before collecting the ball himself, surging in on goal, and finishing low across the keeper.

Jordan Harvey put the ‘Caps in front before the half-time whistle, when he redirected a lovely right-sided Russell Teibert cross at the back-post in the 43rd.

The Revs regrouped and came out pushing in the second half, but Vancouver padded their advantage with Miller’s delicate goal-of-the-round half-volley in the 68th minute.

Dimitry Imbongo pulled the visitors within one in the 84th minute, before Rowe spurned a glorious chance and Knighton parried a Lee Nguyen free-kick bound for the top corner in the dying seconds.

Martin Rennie, though tired of not seeing matches out in a calm and orderly fashion, will gladly take the three points- their first ever win over New England, while Jay Heaps’s Revs will lick their wounds and look forward to dropping goals on Chivas in two weeks time – after spending some time in training working defensively while down a man.

Canadian Content

The extended look at the Canadian contributions will be up midday tomorrow (Tuesday) featuring Will Johnson, Dwayne De Rosario, Jonathan Osorio, Patrice Bernier, Nana Attakora, and Russell Teibert.

Interesting stat: this was the first – and possibly only weekend – that featured a Canadian player in every match.

See It Live

De Rosario’s reaction to Darel Russell’s high elbow that drew blood from Daniel Woolard, pointing to him from the sidelines and uttering a word or two that were likely unfit for print.

Russell was on a mission, protect the lead through sheer destruction, and Woolard suffered the consequences.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Photo by Tony Quinn. Viewer discretion is advised: <a href="http://t.co/B8NOmSiij8">pic.twitter.com/B8NOmSiij8</a></p>— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) <a href="

">June 16, 2013</a></blockquote>

Oscar Pareja is as mild-mannered as Colombian’s come, but he was livid post-match. The incident was apparently spawned by Mark Watson’s reaction to a Hendry Thomas foul, with claims that the interim Earthquakes coach directed a ball the Honduran’s way from the touch-lines.

Overheard

Jason Kreis’ press conferences are always interesting, straddling the line between answering questions thoughtfully and leaping over the table to throttle the reporters. This one, from their midweek Open Cup match, leans more towards the latter as an incoming call was wreaking havoc on the audio clarity at the podium – and exacerbating Kreis’ migraine – it’s called Airplane mode people, use it; though those videos where a coach answers a phone are always good for a chuckle.

Vancouver’s Martin Rennie is similarly feeling the health detractions of being in charge, stating, when asked about his side’s difficultly in holding leads, “I have no idea. It can’t be good for my health watching these games… right now we just seem to be doing things the hard way.”

Some gems from the announcer’s booth this weekend, from the gloriously nostalgic “make the final..” to the absurd “Cotton Candy: it gets everywhere” to the downright inappropriate “Who’s Your Daddy?” ringing in Father’s Day – happy to all.

Upcoming Fixtures

Loads of matches coming up with a half-slate (four) on Wednesday and a return normalcy (eight) come the weekend.

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

Parting Thoughts

A few questions to ponder and discuss:

Montreal struggled mightily in a match they should have won; do they come back down to earth after a heavenly start to the season? On the opposite end of the spectrum does this win propel Toronto upwards? And Vancouver lie somewhere in the middle, will their woes at centre-back stifle a playoff push, at least until reinforcements or health rejuvenate?

With a double-game week ahead for several teams is this the point that the season that the race for the top five spots really begins in earnest?

With the news that Eric Avila and perhaps more Chivas USA players are off to Guadalajara, are the Ameri-Goats tanking this season? When does the league step in and what should they do? Sympathies to the flock fans out in LA.

Or does the upcoming Superclasico instill some pride in the remaining patchwork side?

Salt Lake versus Seattle matches are always good, Montreal-Houston should prove tasty, as should LA-Portland; which fixture is most appetizing?

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

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MLS Week in Review – Round 16

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