MLS Week in Review – Round 18

With the heat and humidity ratcheting up, the Gold Cup on the horizon, and a festive season on either side of the border approaching, one could be forgiven for assuming Round 18 would sink into the background.

But no, this weekend, which featured seven matches on Saturday and a lone, eighth fixture on Sunday, was just about as crazy and controversial as any other of the season.

The eight matches provided 27 goals – an average of over three per match – a full one-third of which (nine) – were scored in either stoppage-time (four) or the final fifteen minutes of regulation (five) and only one from the spot.

The officials were once more the centre of attention, with 33 yellow cards and four reds – two of which were straight (Doneil Henry and Tony Beltran for their shoves in Toronto) – but equally contentious were the calls they didn’t make.

The decisive penalty kick in DC, the one uncalled in Toronto, the late goal-line clearance in Philadelphia – not to mention the even later equalizer, a couple of dicey second yellow cards, and of course, all those late goals - including the kindling of a certain team at Stanford Stadium with a conclusion very much reminiscent of their Supporter’s Shield season last year – made for an entertaining weekend.

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

As with last week, a pair of goals for your viewing pleasure, each wonderful in its own right - leave your vote in the comments section below.

Up first is Montreal’s Hassoun Camara with his self-made bicycle volley, lying on his back in the Colorado box.

Rapids keeper, Clint Irwin, made a mess of the initial service into the box, flapping on the corner kick delivery. The ball bounced off Nathan Sturgis at the back-post, giving Irwin another chance to collect, but he could only fumble the ball towards Camara lying prone with his head closest to goal.

He popped the ball up into the air with his right foot before poking a finish with the same boot to level the match after Atiba Harris had put the Rapids in front.

Very different, though equally entertaining, was Los Angeles’ opener in front of fifty-thousand at Stanford Stadium in the California Clasico.

Robbie Keane, after a fractious opening that saw him irate on two separate occasions, was on fire. He collected the ball near the centre-circle and headws towards goal before feeding up to Gyasi Zardes. The young forward in turn played out to Landon Donovan on the right.

Donovan moved in-field, chipping a pass to Keane who had continued to move towards the box. The Irishman touched the delivery first time into the path of the unmarked Marcelo Sarvas, who deftly directed his effort towards the right-side of the goal with a flick off the outside of his right-foot.

Two goals, each marvelous in their own way; which do you prefer? Or did another strike catch your eye this round?

Results in Brief

Toronto 0 – Salt Lake 1

A lone early afternoon fixture in Toronto kicked off the weekend and despite a change of ends, TFC conceded another late goal – in the final minute of the first half – falling to Salt Lake, who stretch their lead atop the league with a fourth-consecutive win.

Cuban defensive midfielder, Yordany Alvarez slammed a right-footed blast into the bottom left-netting through a crowd, leaving Toronto keeper, Joe Bendik rooted to the ground, after Olmes Garcia perfectly laid a pass back to him at the right corner of the box.

In the midst of his third season in MLS, his first goal proved decisive after a dramatic conclusion that twice saw goalkeeper Nick Rimando deny equalizers late in the match. Though too early for proper fireworks, Tony Beltran and Doneil Henry each saw red for a fracas that escalated quickly – in truth, there could have been several more cards.

Toronto boss, Ryan Nelsen, will rue those missed chances – and the stone-wall penalty (in his mind, at least) denied his countryman Jeremy Brockie when Nat Borchers appeared to drag a leg, upending the attacker in the box – as Toronto’s modest unbeaten run comes crashing to a halt.

Post-match, Jason Kreis beamed about the unheralded depth of his squad, reserving special praise for Aaron Maund, who made his league debut for RSL at centre-back against his former employers.

Philadelphia 2 – Dallas 2

If the earlier match was chippy – six yellows and a pair of reds – this one was equally, if not more so, contentious – nine yellows, resulting a red to Je-Vaughan Watson for his second booking - as the two sides met in a cross-conference clash, each in search of points to assert their position.

The home side entered in second place in the East, though tied with New York and within reach of both Kansas City and Houston, while the visitors had only recently been knocked off their perch atop the West, by the surging form of Salt Lake and Portland.

Crossing and headers proved the order of the day, as Sheanon Williams and Michel each proved their worth from set-pieces.

It was Williams who provided the opener, when his long throw from the right found Amobi Okugo unmarked at the near-post in the 20th minute. But Michel responded four minutes later when his deep free-kick, curled towards the right-post, was met by the head of rookie defender, Walker Zimmerman, making his fifth appearance and marking his second consecutive start with a second goal to go with that he scored in his first.

The Union would take the lead once more with three minutes remaining, when Michael Farfan played out wide to Williams on the right touch-line. His perfectly placed cross was met in front of the River End and the Sons of Ben by Aaron Wheeler, a player who drew rave reviews in reserve and Open Cup matches, making only his second ever appearance for the club. He now has one goal in twelve minutes of play – not bad.

But the celebrations were short lived.

Blas Perez appeared to have the ball over the line in the 92nd minute – Williams was on hand to clear it, perhaps a fraction too late, before another deep Michel free-kick in the seventh minute of stoppage-time forced an equalizer.

Philly keeper Zac MacMath could not collect the ball – was he fouled? Not really – and David Ferreira looped the loose ball to the back-post, where Perez was on home to nod home the leveler.

Union boss, John Hackworth was steamed at the decision to extend the match well past the allotted five minutes, but will secretly be quite satisfied with the maturation of his young team.

Dallas’ Schellas Hyndman will once more beam about the commitment of his side in the face of adversity and their ability to move on from a disappointing midweek exit in the Open Cup at the hands of Portland.

Montreal 3 – Colorado 4

As that match was finishing off, another perhaps more dramatic one was kicking off in Montreal.

Atiba Harris opened the scoring in the 24th minute, placing a header from a Dillon Powers free-kick beyond the reach of Troy Perkins in the Montreal goal. Camara’s volley equalized before Daniele Paponi put the Impact in front with a cracking curling effort, cutting onto his right-foot after Marco Di Vaio played his through – his first in MLS.

Powers himself leveled the score fourteen minutes after the restart, placing a low first-time shot to the near-bottom corner from a low right-sided Nathan Sturgis ball into the box.

Paponi scored his second of the night – touching in a left-sided ball through the goalmouth from the fit-again Davy Arnaud – in the 72nd, but Deshorn Brown re-equalized five minutes on after a good spell of pressure – and at least two blocked shots – allowed Chris Klute in down the left. His cutback was smashed into the net by the first year forward, setting up a hectic final quarter of an hour.

Tony Cascio, who has found minutes few and far between this season, netted the winner in the 96th minute, after Arnaud dawdled on the ball and was dispossessed by an excellent tackle from Klute. The left-back raced up the pitch, he and Brown with only Patrice Bernier and the keeper to beat. Bernier cut out the pass, but Cascio, trailing the play, collected and hit a right-footed effort, that kicked up off the leg of Bernier and over Perkins in goal for the winner.

Montreal coach, Marco Schallibaum, will be furious with the loss – their first at home, snapping a run of four-straight victories at Stade Saputo – and with an eighth goal against in the final fifteen minutes of a match.

Oscar Pareja’s Rapids snap a three-game losing skid of their own, but failed to address the glut of goals they have allowed – twelve in their last five matches.

DC 0 – Vancouver 1

Seven goals were not needed in DC, where one was enough to decide the outcome – and what a controversial one it was.

In the second minute after the restart, Kenny Miller laid a ball down the left-channel for Matt Watson to steal in on goal. Bill Hamid raced out to challenge, Watson got the first touch, but Hamid the second – pushing the ball wide of the path of the attacker, before clattering into him.

The referee pointed to the spot; the red-hot Camilo converted the penalty kick for his ninth goal of the season – sixth in the last four matches – and DC were left fuming at the decision.

Post-match, as will be addressed shortly, Ben Olsen let loose with a tirade that will live long in the memory, as the good work his side has put in over the last few weeks – snapping their winless run and progressing in the Open Cup – was undone with the tweet of a whistle.

Martin Rennie, cocksure as ever, could not see what the fuss was about, reveling in his side’s third-straight win – including two on the road, where they have historically struggled.

Kansas City 3 – Columbus 2

The goals returned, while the controversy stayed, in the next match of the evening, as Kansas City and Columbus played out a contentious match of their own at Sporting Park – this one should have had far more than three yellows.

Kei Kamara scored the first in the 34th minute, taking down a defense-shattering cross-field ball from Soony Saad on the left before ripping a left-footed drive past Andy Gruenebaum in the Columbus goal.

Jairo Arrieta leveled three minutes after half-time, sauntering up-field after collecting a Federico Higuain flick, and crafting a low right-footed finish under Jimmy Nielsen, despite being the lone attacker in a sea of four KC defenders and with the keeper still to beat.

Straight from the restart, as the announcers discussed the dangers of conceding after scoring, Claudio Bieler nabbed his eighth of the season, volleying a Chance Myers cross that fell kindly to him after skimming off the head of Crew defender, Josh Williams.

Not to be outdone, Dominic Oduro netted his eighth three minutes later, latching onto a weak back-pass from Seth Sinovic and rounding the keeper to tie the match at twos.

Late goals were the order of the day and Kamara would not be denied, scoring his second of the night after a broken play fell to him on the right-side of the box and he lashed a finish under the onrushing Columbus keeper.

Peter Vermes, KC’s manager, will appreciate snapping a four-match winless skid, but will not be happy with the manner in which his side conceded. Columbus’ Robert Warzycha, whose side has now lost three of their last four, bemoaned that Sporting’s winner came with Bernardo Anor lying up-field, in need of attention – not very sporting, eh?

San Jose 3 – Los Angeles 2

They’re Ba-ack – oops, wrong Eighties movie…

The late fireworks – literally in this case – continued in the marquee fixture of the weekend, with San Jose hosting California Clasico rivals, Los Angeles, in front of a massive crowd at Stanford Stadium.

The Galaxy, riding the play of the dynamic Robbie Keane, appeared to have a strangle hold on proceedings, taking the lead in the 20th minute – through Sarvas’ deft finish of some fine passing – before doubling down in the 65th on a similarly well-constructed passage that resulted from Donovan and Keane crisscrossing as the former fed the latter on the left-side of the box before the Irishman squared to the open side for Hector Jimenez to finish.

But – must not use the G-word – San Jose did as they used to do, clawing back into the match three minutes later with an Alan Gordon header – his first goal of the season - at the near-post from a left-sided Shea Salinas cross.

Salinas himself turned in the equalizer in the second minute of stoppage-time, pouncing on a long throw in from Justin Morrow on the left that skimmed off Omar Gonzalez, struck AJ De La Garza, and was saved by Carlo Cudicini, only to fall kindly to the wide midfielder.

Then, barely a minute later, Salinas chased down an over-hit ball on the right and cut back to Sam Cronin at the top of the box on the near-side. Rather than have a go, he hung a ball up to the back-post, where Gordon - against one of his former clubs, of course - was on hand to power home the winner and kick off the explosive celebrations – there was indeed a fireworks show post-match – earning himself a yellow card for his shirtless frivolity.

Newly-installed bench-boss, Mark Watson, celebrated the sequel to last season’s drama at Stanford – where San Jose similarly won a thriller at the death; it was his second win in three matches at the helm, and they will hope it will provide the spark that their season has been missing.

For Bruce Arena, there was no joy, blaming poor play and “a lack of intelligence” for their failure to close out the two-goal advantage – ignoring for a moment how dangerous of a score-line that is: the most dangerous. They were the league-leading twelfth and thirteenth goals LA had conceded in the final stage of a match, not to mention the four they allowed in the Champions League.

Chivas 1 – New England 1

The team closest to LA in the late-concession category is also the one nearest geographically speaking – and Chivas would not be outpaced by their more glamourous neighbours and yet of course, their failure was less spectacular – and there were no fireworks.

The Ameri-Goats took a shock lead in the 18th minute when a bouncing ball fell to Laurent Courtois – making his first start since March – on the right-side of the arc. He lashed the opener, which may have skimmed off of Chris Tierney, into the top-right corner of the New England goal.

Chivas had lost seven-straight matches and were mired in a longer – ten-match – winless run. Just as they let themselves dream of snapping both skids, Chad Barrett, having joined the fray a mere five minutes earlier, somehow turned in a Diego Fagundez left-sided cross at the back-post – bundled would be a better term for what transpired.

Barrett’s left-footed touch was blocked by a Chivas defender, but the ball trapped between them, hitting each several times before finding its way between the legs of keeper, Dan Kennedy to level the match in the 88th minute.

It was the eleventh goal Chivas had allowed after the 76th minute.

Head Goat, Jose Luis Real, picked up his first point as manager, after losing his first two league fixtures, and will take some heart in a hard-fought point, though they are now winless in eleven – changes continue as the club announcer four players, including goal-scorer Courtois would be leaving the club; what is going on in Chiva-land?

Jay Heaps will gladly take the point on what was a bit of an off-night for his young team, though a three-match winless streak will be of some concern.

New York 2 – Houston 0

And finally, the lone Sunday match – a meeting between two of the more high-profile sides in the East, though both struggling at the moment – was a touch disappointing, with New York handily disposing of Houston.

Neither side could press the advantage, until on the hour mark Eric Alexander laid a lovely through-ball down the right-side for Fabian Espindola. The Argentine striker made a great run mirroring the movement of the ball from outside to in, blazing past a turning Jermaine Taylor and in on goal.

Espindola opened up his body and placed a low left-footed shot to the far-side of the goal to open the scoring.

Jonny Steele capped off the match with New York’s second from the left, collecting a visionary through-ball from Thierry Henry, before taking a touch and lashing a left-footed effort high into the top-right corner.

Mike Petke’s New York, snuff out their winless run at three matches – including back-to-back losses; while Dominic Kinnear and Houston see their fruitless march stretch to seven, creating little without the creative presences of Brad Davis and Oscar Boniek Garcia.

CanCon

As usual the extended look at the Canadian performances this round will be up midday tomorrow (Tuesday), featuring another red card to Toronto’s Doneil Henry, an unfortunate end to Patrice Bernier’s evening, and a trio of Canadians going head-to-head when Russell Teibert’s Vancouver made the trip to Dwayne De Rosario and Kyle Porter’s DC.

See It Live

The DC event staff betrayed just how desperate things are in the US capital, rushing to open up the sign boards less they infringe on a corner kick at the death - frimly clinching to whatever straws are available as they search for answers, but showing some excellent hustle.

Robbie Keane was very angry at the physical play Victor Bernardez and other ‘Quakes confronted him with on Saturday, but it only served to energize the fiery Irishman, who was running rampant through the first hour of their match.

The image of Steven Lenhart knocking over two LA defenders on one header attempt - like bowling pins – was most enjoyable.

Kei Kamara, hitting his stride after returning from his English spell, scored his third and fourth goals of the season and celebrated with a pretty snazzy slow jam – and most likely some Chipotle - after the winner.

Overheard

Somebody – whether a spectator, a player, or someone on the touch-lines – shouts, “It’s not over; Come on!” when LA went up 0-2 at Stanford – prescient.

The San Jose announcers lost their rag when Gordon scored the winner, as did Colorado’s, both getting a little too caught up in the moment, when Cascio nabbed the decider. No cheering in the pressbox.

But the top comment goes to DC’s Ben Olsen, who let rip on referee, Matthew Forrester for his penalty decision, saying, “It’s a joke. We get the same clown show every weekend. ‘They all even out, they all even out.’ [Expletive]. They don’t even out. Not this year they haven’t. Again, nobody wants to hear the coach in last place complaining about the referees. Nobody wants to hear that. But I’ve got a group of men in there that have fought their tails off today. And they’re gutted, because I asked them to give me everything this week.”

Judge for yourself - What did you make of the decision?

Vancouver’s Martin Rennie, offered no sympathy, “I think it was a stonewall penalty. I didn’t have any doubt in my mind that that was a penalty kick,” while Matt Watson was a little bit less sure, “I got a little bit of a touch but the goalkeeper also got a touch on it. I’m going to have to watch it again but he definitely got a piece of the ball and definitely went through me as well, so I guess it’s a PK. He took out my feet and that’s what the referee called the penalty for, and there’s nothing I could really do. But hey, obviously I’m happy with the PK and Camilo put it away.”

Controversy

The penalty called in DC was the most decisive decision, but not alone.

How about the one not given in Toronto, when Nat Borchers seemed to clip Jeremy Brockie in the box? Was he looking for it? Or did the little back-heel from the defender catch him as the Kiwi tried to skip around towards goal? Note – of course, video of the incident is not available at Big Site (MLSsoccer.com), check later for their Instant Replay segment.

And what about the two red cards in that match? Warranted? Would Tony Beltran have been dismissed if Doneil Henry hadn’t come crashing in? Were both clubs lucky only two reds were shown? Luis Silva – for his kick out, Yordany Alvarez, Aaron Maund, Jonathan Osorio, and Robbie Findley were all heavily involved.

A pair of further of dismissals were highly contentious. Did Dallas’ Je-Vaughan Watson deserve to be booked for this “dive”?

And what of Victor Bernardez’ second yellow for San Jose? Does he even touch Juninho?

Did Blas Perez’s first equalizer cross the goal-line? And should

Opinion Poll

When should the game be stopped? Whenever a player is down or at the referee’s discretion?

The strategic feigning of injury is indeed a blight, but is missing a dangerous situation worth the risk of refusing to fall victim to gamesmanship?

Take Kansas City’s winner. Bernardo Anor is laying up-field and Columbus wants the ball played out. Their defending is shambolic and Kamara nets his second of the night.

Post-match, Crew keeper, Andy Gruenebaum said to MLSsoccer.com, "It's one of those things I'd like to have seen them kick the ball out. Obviously, that would have been ideal. It's not the first time a team has done that and probably not the last."

While coach, Robert Warzycha “absolutely” thought play should have been stopped, adding, in an interview with the same site, "The referee didn’t stop the play for a head injury, at some point you hope a player would knock the ball out of bounds. You have a player with a history of concussions go down. The play should have been stopped." – referring to an incident where Chad Marshall, a player with a history of concussion troubles, was twice down in need of treatment, once after a clash of heads with Kamara.

KC’s Peter Vermes, offered, in his post-match conference, the explanation that, ““There's a gamesmanship in this game. People, a lot of times, will pick very, very interesting moments to decide that they need to go down and get a little bit of treatment. And, as Kei will tell you, when he played in the EPL, there's no stopping for those things. You just go.”

Should sole responsibility for stopping matches rest with the centre official who already has far too much for one man to deal with on his plate? Or should players decide? Does the game situation matter? Or is the health of the players, faking or not, trump all other concerns?

Upcoming Fixtures

Another massive double-game week in MLS prior to the kickoff of the Gold Cup on Saturday – lots on display for one’s viewing pleasure.

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

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