In chronological order, up first is
Up next is Vancouver’s Sebastian Fernandez, who only seems to score spectacular goals. Reminiscent of his long-range bomb against New York back in March, Fernandez collected the ball from Pedro Morales, lifted his head and
And the final candidate features regularly in these sorts of lists: Chivas’ Cubo Torres. The Mexican striker has been fantastic since arriving on loan last season, taking over the all-time MLS goals record amongst his countrymen, and not looking back.
His
Onto the results:
Midweek Results in a Sentence (or Two)
Toronto looked firmly in the ascendency in Chicago until the referee dismissed Luke Moore for what he saw as a malicious elbow, catching Fire midfielder, Chris Ritter, in the 29th minute. TFC would take the lead before half-time through Jackson, but playing down a man proved costly as the match wore on and Chicago’s pressure paid off when Harrison Shipp whipped a deflected effort past Joe Bendik in the 56th minute.
One goal was all that was required in this late-night Western Conference clash, as Cubo Torres’ predatory strike in the 53rd minute proved decisive, exhibiting his instinctive sharpness once more when a right-sided Mauro Rosales cross was flicked on via several heads before falling to him at the back-post.
Results in Brief
The round proper kicked off in Houston as the struggling Dynamo looked to reverse their fortunes against a side that has regularly been a thorn in their side, New York – Red Bull has outscored the Dynamo fourteen-to-five in their last five meetings.
Added to that hurdle is the fact that Houston had not scored a goal in nearly five hundred minutes of play, losing their last five matches without finding the back of the net.
It took just 39 seconds (give or take a few) for Houston to get that weighty stat off their back with Giles Barnes arriving on the end of a right-sided Kofi Sarkodie, rising up in front of Jamison Olave to nod in the opener.
New York would respond quickly, through Bradley Wright-Phillips, who pounced on a long ball up-field from Eric Alexander after eluding his marker, Eric Brunner, with an alert run; his first-time left footer, after letting the ball bounce and settle to a useable height, whistled across Tally Hall to level the match in the 13th minute.
And it was Wright-Phillips again who made Houston pay in the 72nd minute when Ambroise Oyongo worked past Andrew Driver on the left and delivered a dangerous ball into the box for his teammate to meet with a fade-away header, helping it on to the far side-netting beyond the reach of Hall. The in-form Englishman, who now has fourteen goals on the season, has enjoyed playing the Dynamo, notching five goals against them through two matches.
But Houston, who welcomed back their influential trio of Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis, and Oscar Boniek Garcia, were handed a life-line in the 82nd minute, when Chris Duvall was deemed to have handled in the box. Regardless of the suspect nature of the decision, Davis made it count, sending his left-footer low to Luis Robles’ right after sending the keeper the other way.
The 1-1 draw ends Houston’s long drought – it was their first point in nearly six weeks – while extending New York’s unbeaten run to four matches, three of which have been draws.
Meanwhile a little further north in Texas, Dallas was playing host to Philadelphia in one of four cross-conference clashes this round – the West would win three of the four.
Coincidentally, both sides entered the match in possession of three-game unbeaten runs, looking to put long fruitless slides firmly in the review mirror – Dallas has just one win in eleven matches and Philly a one in twelve run, before putting two wins between them and that poor run.
The hosts would take the lead after 26 minutes when Blas Perez chipped a ball over the Philadelphia back-line for Tesho Akindele, who finished with his first good look of the match, sending a right-footed volley past Zac MacMath.
The Union would claw back level before half-time when Danny Cruz outraced Zach Loyd to a loose ball and touched towards Cristian Maidana, who traced a square ball through the goalmouth, catching the Dallas defenders off-balance. Victor Ulloa was closest, but could not plant his feet to get in a clearance, allowing Amobi Okugo to arrive and tuck a left-footer inside the post in the 43rd minute.
But Dallas has looked hungry recently, rejuvenated by the convalescence of two key midfielders, Hendry Thomas and Mauro Diaz - who would return later in the match, not to mention the burgeoning understanding between strike partners Perez and Akindele.
The big Canadian drove towards goal from the right, playing into his teammate, who returned a leading ball into the box. Union left-back Fabinho closed down the pass, but his attempted clearance caromed off the knee of fellow defender, Sheanon Williams and ricocheted past MacMath.
Frustration would set in for the visitors, who picked up a pair of bookings, including one to Sebastien Le Toux – it was his first ever MLS yellow card (coming in his 170th appearance; a remarkable stat), before Maurice Edu was dismissed, somewhat harshly, in the 89th minute for a lunging challenge that caught Perez.
With the 2-1 win, Dallas extend their unbeaten run to four matches; given the return of Diaz, who sparked them to their fast start this season, things are looking up for Oscar Pareja’s side.
For Philadephia, it was Jim Curtain’s first loss as interim manager; a frustration that was compounded by travel delay (reportedly sitting on the runway for three hours prior to departure – a sentiment anyone familiar with a layover in Philadelphia can attest to).
The Friday night spectacular – five overlapping matches – continued yet further north, as Colorado welcomed Columbus to the lofty confines of the Rocky Mountains.
The two sides exchanged early half chances, with Marvell Wynne’s whipped in service just beyond the reach of an outstretched Deshorn Brown boot and Ben Speas drive blocked by Shane O’Neill en route to goal, before entering half-time scoreless.
Columbus looked to have taken the lead in the 57th minute, when Jairo Arrieta slotted the ball into the back of the net, only for the assistant referee’s flag to correctly chalk it off for offside. Two minutes later, it was Colorado who would go ahead.
Wynne again surged up the right to get on the end of a Dillon Powers ball and send a cross towards the heart of the area, where it was met by a darting run from Vicente Sanchez and redirected on to the far-side of goal – or so it seemed. The MLS clip is entitled, ‘Vicente Sanchez breaks the deadlock with an amazing header’ but the official record has it down as an own goal, coming off Eric Gehrig as the two contested for the ball.
Either way, the Rapids were in front and given their strong home-form (unbeaten in last four) and propensity for clean-sheets (leading the league with eight), as well as Columbus’ back-to-back scoreless draws, it looked as though the match would stay that way.
But Gregg Berhalter has instilled an attacking mindset into his Crew, who made a series of Colorado mistakes turn costly in the 76th minute. The comedy of errors began with a miss-hit cross-field relief ball from Powers that sailed straight to Arrieta, who turned towards goal in attack. He deftly tried to play a ball for Ethan Finlay on the overlap, but it appeared as though the pass was poorly placed, until the retreating Jared Watts inexplicably touched it into the forward’s path.
Finlay coolly beat Clint Irwin with a right-footed effort. leveling the match – the goal ending Columbus’ drought at over two hundred minutes
Two minutes later Powers nearly made amends for his error, but Columbus keeper, Steve Clark, got down quick to deny his effort.
The 1-1 draw was likely a fair result on the night, extending Colorado’s home unbeaten run to five and stretching Columbus’ winless run to an equal mark; of concern to both coaches will be the fitness/availability of their players, as Sanchez was booked in the 78th minute for a ugly-looking lunging challenge that caught Hector Jimemez high, and may result in further sanctioning from the league – Jimenez was carried off the pitch on a stretcher.
The festivities carried on across state lines to the West, with Salt Lake entertaining New England in the fourth match of the evening.
A little over a month ago, these were two of the hottest teams in the league – Salt Lake still unbeaten through twelve matches and New England riding a five-match winning streak – but something occurred that May 24 weekend, and since then neither has been the same.
Salt Lake limped in, winless in their last five matches, having lost their last two – at home to Portland and away to Chivas – while New England were mired in a three-game losing streak, their longest of the season.
Having welcomed home their international heroes – Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando – Salt Lake looked destined to turn around their season, but through the first thirty minutes of play neither side could find a breakthrough, that is until the referee inserted himself into the match.
In the 33rd minute, the official decided that Chris Schuler was undercut by Darius Barnes as the two jostled for a corner kick and pointed to the spot. Javier Morales stepped up, right-footing past Bobby Shuttleworth after a stuttered run, beating the keeper to his right after eyeing him the other way.
Barnes, if it was indeed him who conceded the foul – it was not all that clear – made amends quickly, tying the match two minutes later by fighting his way in front of Chris Wingert to get on the end of a deliciously inviting Chris Tierney free-kick.
The two would enter the half level and when play resumed, it looked as though the visitors would take the lead – Jose Goncalves struck the post with a shot that rebounded off the back of Rimando and danced along the goal-line before being cleared.
But again the referee would intervene, awarding Salt Lake a second look from twelve paces after Tierney caught John Stertzer with a lunge in the box – at first it appeared as though the foul was awarded the other way, as Devon Sandoval and Tierney jockeyed to reach the loose ball, but a penalty kick it was.
Joao Plata stepped to the spot, drilling a right-footed finish high to the top left-corner of the goal after Shuttleworth dove helpless to his left. New England would snatch at their two chances to level – a whipped in Tierney ball was just beyond the reach of Patrick Mullins and Kelyn Rowe could not keep his effort from a Lee Nguyen chipped pass on target.
With the 2-1 win, Salt Lake and first-year manager, Jeff Cassar, will hope to put this frustrating spell behind them – they retain second spot in the West, but have seven points to make up on Seattle. Jay Heaps and the Revolution however, fall to a fourth-straight loss, all but erasing the territory gained by their winning streak.
The final match of the evening pitted two of the more heralded sides against one another in the marquee fixture of the round with the Galaxy taking on the Timbers.
The first sixty minutes passed without major incident, aside from Marcelo Sarvas striking the post with a fierce drive in the 15th minute, before the match came to life in the 65th. Stefan Ishizaki poked a ball down the right for Juninho, whose cross was flicked on by Diego Chara, falling to Landon Donovan on the left-edge of the area. Donovan settled the ball and laid it off to Sarvas for a right-footer across Donovan Ricketts into the far-side of the goal.
Two minutes later Portland equalized when Jorge Villafana’s left-sided cross was met by Fanendo Adi with a bullet header that smashed into Robbie Rogers and fell to Diego Valeri, whose right-footer deflected off AJ DeLaGarza to lift over a diving Jaime Penedo.
Three minutes on and the guests took the lead. Will Johnson played a ball down the left for Villafana, the defender cut a low cross into the middle, which was poorly dealt with by Tommy Meyer, falling to the boot of Valeri. His shot was blocked, but fell invitingly for Villafana, moving in-field, to sneak a right-footed bouncer into the bottom corner at the short-side.
Undaunted, LA went in search of an equalizer and thought they should have earned a penalty when Chara chopped down Donovan as he made his way into the box. A free-kick inches outside was awarded – the correct call – but Juninho’s rasping effort was pushed over the bar by Ricketts.
LA would continue to press, their work rewarded, in the 86th minute when Donovan lifted a ball in for Baggio Husidic down the left. The midfielder drove a squared cross through the goalmouth that Portland centre-back Rauwshaun McKenzie could only walk into his own goal – had he not, Robbie Keane was on hand to tuck in at the back-post.
The 2-2 draw extends both side’s unbeaten runs – LA to six and Portland to five – though the single point did little to help either side make up ground on the playoff divide, currently each four points shy of fifth-place in the West.
Saturday’s trio of matches began in Toronto, when the unbeaten-in-six Reds took on DC United.
Mere moments before the match began, Costa Rica were eliminated from the World Cup on penalty kicks by the Netherlands, and Toronto welcomed Michael Bradley, who made the start, back from Brazil.
The first half was largely uneventful, with TFC failing to click in the attacking end and DC appearing more interested in staying hard to beat and wasting time – a tactic employed by many who venture to the shores of Lake Ontario these days.
A more generous assessment would state that DC were biding their time, waiting for a mistake to hand them a look – that mistake came in the 54th minute. Rookie centre-back Nick Hagglund could not contain a return pass from Justin Morrow as the two worked up the left, allowing Nick DeLeon a touch towards Luis Silva, who returned a ball down the channel for DeLeon to break in on goal.
DeLeon held off the recovering run of the rookie, and then shaped around two block attempts from Collen Warner, before placing a left-footer into the bottom right-corner of the goal.
TFC would respond in the 60th minute on a play begun by Jackson pushing up-field. The Brazilian laid a neat ball down the left for Jermain Defoe, who outmuscled Bobby Boswell then pulled back to the top of the box for a return pass. His right-footed effort was saved, but spilled by Bill Hamid and Luke Moore was on hand, quickest to react to the loose ball, stabbing in a sliding finish to level.
But nine minutes later DC would reinstate their lead from a corner kick, when Perry Kitchen stole in-between the TFC centre-backs to head down a right-sided Lewis Neal delivery that made its way under Joe Bendik in goal.
Toronto would press for an equalizer that would not come; any hope fizzled out with a red card to Hagglund for bringing down Eddie Johnson on a breakaway, the circumstances of which were bizarre to say the least – more on that below.
The 1-2 win sees DC reassert themselves at the top of the Eastern Conference, taking over sole possession of first place (at least until Sporting play on Sunday) and proving that despite the absence of Fabian Espindola, they can score goals.
The loss ends Toronto’s unbeaten run at six, eating up one of their games in hand, passing on the chance to overtake New England into third, while allowing New York and Columbus, who drew the day previous, to within a point in a crowded Eastern table.
All three Canadian teams were in action this night, the second of which was Vancouver, who played host to Pacific Northwest rivals, Seattle.
The Whitecaps were looking to respond from a poor start to their post-break campaign – having fallen in Colorado last weekend after playing to a scoreless draw against Montreal midweek – which snapped their record unbeaten run at eight matches.
It was a task that appeared difficult against the top team in the league, Seattle, though the continued absence of Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin, as well as suspensions for caution accumulation to Osvaldo Alonso and Gonzalo Pineda, stripped the Sounders of key players.
One goal was all that was needed to decide the outcome – and what a goal it was.
In the twelfth minute Pedro Morales played into Sebastian Fernandez from the right, who took a touch to settle and move forward before unleashing a right-footed blast that swerved as it bore down on a defenseless Stefan Frei in the Sounders goal from 25 yards.
Unstoppable.
Neither side really threatened for the remaining eighty-odd minutes remaining, the best chance coming in the 67th minute when Morales again played provider, threading in Erik Hurtado, who inexplicably shot early – perhaps it was a chip attempt that went horribly wrong.
The 1-0 win was enough for Vancouver to solidify their hold on the fifth and final spot in the West, four points ahead of challengers LA and Portland, while keeping them within striking distance of those above – Dallas and Colorado are a point ahead.
The loss ends Seattle’s imperious run, but will not be overly concerning with their roster about to be restocked with plenty of first teamers.
Sunday capped off with one final match, between two of the league’s struggling sides, though both have shown indications of life in recent weeks.
Chivas entered the match on the back of two straight wins – their first winning streak of any kind since last March, having kept clean-sheets in each of those victories, while Montreal were unbeaten in two, similarly having not conceded throughout.
What transpired was a slow match, dotted with intermittent breaks forward from both sides. Montreal’s best chance of the opening frame fell to Andres Romero, but he could only send Felipe’s pull-back rising over the bar. Chivas showed some life before the break, with Marvin Chavez cutting in from the right, but he whisked his shot wide of the far-post.
In the second half, Jack McInerney would fail to steer a Romero ball through the goalmouth on target, while Eric Avila would see his drive tipped over the bar by Troy Perkins – the match seemed destined to end as a scoreless draw, satisfying no one and everyone at the same time.
Then struck Cubo.
In the 94th minute, the final minute of added time, Nathan Sturgis and Mauro Rosales combined on the right, before playing in to Marky Delgado, who cut around Callum Mallace for a right-footed shot that rose up, striking Matteo Ferrari firmly in the face, stunning the defender.
Torres reacted, pouncing on the loose ball, leaping up high and contorting his body to sneak an acrobatic right-footed side-volley past Perkins at the near-post, before jumping into the crowd to celebrate.
Interestingly, Torres had tried for the audacious earlier in the match – failing to connect on a bicycle kick from a Rosales cross in the 72nd, but this time he got it perfect, winning the match for his side.
The 1-0 win was Chivas’ third-straight by that score-line – with Torres providing the goals in each (he has scored in their last four matches and accounts for twelve of their seventeen this season), willing his side out of last place in the West – that dishonour now falls to San Jose.
Montreal, for all their efforts, remain winless on their travels, and see their shutout streak ended at 315 minutes.
Sunday’s lone fixture took place under the blazing heat of an early afternoon sun in Kansas City, as Sporting hosted Chicago.
With both sides short-handed - KC without Matt Besler, Toni Dovale, Chance Myers, to name a few, and Graham Zusi only entering from the bench and Chicago missing Quincy Amarikwa to suspension and Jeff Larentowicz to the birth of a son, as well as the trying conditions, it should come as no surprise that this was a match decided by mistakes.
Viewers were offered a preview of what was to come after two minutes when Kevin Ellis underhit a pass to his centre-back partner Aurelien Collin, allowing Mike Magee to steal in alone and round the keeper, only for Collin to recover, blocking on the line.
The next misstep would fall the other way, when, in the 33rd minute, Dom Dwyer stripped Patrick Ianni and walked in alone down the left-channel, finishing with a bending left-footer around Sean Johnson to the left-side of goal. He celebrated with his now-famous, or infamous, ‘Selfie’ shot – and was duly booked for his efforts.
Chicago would respond through a forced mistake of their own, when Alex nicked the ball off Seth Sinovic, sidestepped a recovering challenge, and played in Magee, who beat Eric Kronberg with a right-footer, going to the left when the keeper expected right.
Both sides had chances in the second half, but could not find the cohesion necessary for a winner, as the legs grew weary and the sun pounded – one telling play saw both Zusi and Benny Feilhaber attempt to line up the same shot, getting in each other’s way. Time apart and a baking heat can do strange things to a football team.
Both sides were content enough with the 1-1 draw; KC relinquished their grasp on top spot in the East and Chicago more-or-less remain rooted to the basement, with their tenth draw through sixteen matches.
CanCon
As always, the extended Canadian Content review will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday).
After last round’s deluge, this weekend featured a marked paucity of Canadians on the pitch – both TFC and Vancouver began the match without a national representative in their starting lineups.
That said, Tesho Akindele continued his fine form for Dallas, while Will Johnson, Patrice Bernier, and Karl Ouimette also started for their respective sides.
Overheard
Gregg Berhalter revealed a little known auto-review, enacting any time a player leaves the pitch injured, referring to Vicente Sanchez’ tackle on Hector Jimenez: "[Jimenez] is on crutches and wearing a knee brace. We're waiting on an MRI, but he can't put weight on it. It's not good. Thankfully the [sic] MLS technical committee enacted a rule where they auto-review a play where the player leaves injured.”
TFC had plenty to say on the magical, colour-changing card:
Scotsman Steven Caldwell offered, “Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I’ve never seen a referee make a decision and change a decision like that. The call was a yellow card, and I’ve never known anything like it. We should start changing penalty decisions and reassess everything from above in the stand and tell the referee everything in his ear. Essentially there is no point in having a referee out there as we’d be better off with three or four guys out there with ear pieces and microphones doing the job.”
While Jermain Defoe offered a diplomatic assessment of MLS officiating, “There are a lot of things I’ve seen, that I’ve never seen before. Obviously I don’t want to criticize the referees because I’ve never been a referee, but you see things and you just wonder. I feel sorry for Nick, a young lad that’s come into the team and done so well and then you get sent off. It was strange to see that.”
Michael Bradley summed up the whole experience neatly, “Nothing surprises me anymore.”
A few weeks ago Robbie Keane let loose on what he thinks about summer afternoon matches, this time it was Dom Dwyer who chimed in on how he feels about playing in the heat: “It was stupidly hot. Whoever decided to have a 2 p.m. game – I understand it's TV time and all that, but it was very tough conditions. I think you saw that in the last 10-15. Guys were struggling, and I was cramping up. It wasn't fun, but that's part of football.”
From the New England broadcast, it was a little rich, given their history, that Paul Mariner complimented Joao Plata on his penalty taking skills, though it could just be a measure of personal growth and not holding grudges.
See It Live
Dom Dwyer’s selfie celebration – he was booked. KC released what was purported to be the image that Dwyer took, but it looks more like the aftermath than the actual planned stunt.
Dan Kennedy became Chivas’ all-time record appearance holder on Saturday; has any one player meant more to his side than Kennedy has meant to Los Ameri-Goats?
Thierry Henry’s back-heel pass to Tim Cahill nearly resulted in a wonderful goal – believe it or not, the greatness of Henry is not fully appreciated in this league, especially when one thinks of all the hype that David Beckham inspired.
Controversy
Plenty of controversial moments this week, starting with Luke Moore’s red card in Chicago - it was rescinded, but likely helped determine the outcome of the match. It is good that the league has decided to get things right in the end, but it would be better if the referees got it right at the time.
Friday was full of debatable decisions, starting with Chris Duvall’s supposed handball that led to Houston’s late equalizing penalty
Then there was Maurice Edu’s red card, which was likely a little harsh, whereas Vicente Sanchez likely deserved one for his tackle on Hector Jimenez, though only a yellow was shown.
Both of Salt Lake’s penalty kicks were a touch soft – on Darius Barnes and Chris Tierney; but Lee Nguyen’s rake/stomp on John Stertzer was naughty, very naughty.
Bruce Arena and Landon Donovan both thought Diego Chara’s foul on Donovan was worthy of a spot kick – but it was on the edge of the area.
And finally, Nick Hagglund’s yellow-then-red card: it was probably a reverse case of what happened to Moore earlier in the round – the referee getting it right, eventually, if with a little help from his friends.
Upcoming Fixtures
With the US Open Cup quarterfinals set for midweek, most of the MLS sides will get a slight respite from the flurry of July, before returning for a full slate of weekend fixtures.
Friday: San Jose-DC. Saturday: Philadelphia-Colorado; New York-Columbus; Toronto-Houston; Montreal-Kansas City; New England-Chicago; Vancouver-Chivas; Los Angeles-Salt Lake. Sunday: Seattle-Portland.
Keep an eye out for the LA-Salt Lake match – their first two meeting came dreadfully, early, but this one could be good. And as if one Seattle-Portland clash was not enough for one week, avid fans are blessed to have two on the docket – they meet in the Open Cup too:
Tuesday: Philadelphia-New England. Wednesday: Atlanta-Chicago; Carolina-Dallas; Seattle-Portland.
All videos 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