Before the results, the goals of the round:
All three candidates have something in common – they were the opening goals in their respective matches.
In chronological order, up first is the first goal of the round –
Not to be outdone, Friday’s opener was just as lovely -
And finally, the third candidate, from Saturday night –
Each brilliant in its own right, but, which was the best?
Special mention for Yannick Djalo’s cushioned chip – this fellow could be the story of the second half of the season, if only he can stay fit, and Gabby Torres’ pronouncement of his return to the pitch – emphatic.
On to the results…
Results in Brief
The round began on Wednesday night where a struggling Earthquakes side, winless in their last five matches, finally put their scoring boots on, rolling out as 5-1 winners over a flat-footed Chicago side.
The marked lack of goals has hampered San Jose; known for their rampant offense over the past few seasons, one statistics stood above all in summing up their season: seventeen games played; seventeen goals scored - averaging just a goal a game makes the margin of error near impossible, the slightest miss-step and the opponent has the advantage; they score two, they win.
But with former boss Frank Yallop making his first and only return of 2014 to his old stomping grounds, something changed – and it nearly wasn’t to be, as a late injury to Steven Lenhart opened the door for Yannick Djalo to start alongside Chris Wondolowski in attack; he would prove instrumental.
It took until the final minute of the first half for the hosts to find the breakthrough, Djalo stabbing a long ball forward for Shea Salinas to chase down in the left-corner, before walking into the box, in front of a pair of inattentive defenders to find the back of the net with a fizzing right-footer.
The floodgates opened in the second half.
Atiba Harris added a second in the 52nd minute after Djalo found him wide right. Harris played in-field to Wondolowski and continued his run towards goal, on hand to deposit the rebound from Wondolowski’s strike past a prone Sean Johnson in the Chicago goal.
Ten minutes on Wondolowski himself would add a third; Harris laying him down the left-side of the area after a poor miss-touch from Bakary Soumare conceded possession – Wondolowski’s left-footer took a slight deflection before beating Johnson, but it did not matter to Wondo, who kissed his child on the touch-lines in celebration.
Chicago would find consolation in the 75th minute, Tottenham loanee, Grant Ward, scoring his first goal in MLS when Matt Watson laid him down the right and his low, first-time right-footer across Jon Busch was too well placed for the keeper to reach.
But San Jose were not done; Djalo himself added a fourth in the 79th, directing Cordell Cato to feed a ball down the right-side for him, before cushioning a deft, looping finish over a stranded Johnson before returning the favour for Cato, who added a fifth in the 84th minute, picking the pocket of Matthew Fondy in the midfield, then threading Wondolowski down the right – his low cross deflected off a retreating defender, but Cato was able to corral the bouncing ball and usher it towards goal.
Not only did San Jose lay a five-goal thrashing on their former boss, but the win snapped a five-game winless streak, extending an unbeaten run to two matches, and, though still bottom of the table, putting them in position to look up the table invitingly with games in hand, making the tight Western Conference look even more congested. It was Chicago’s first loss in five matches, though why they were so sluggish, is something Yallop will no doubt investigate in training - with running.
Come Wednesday night, viewers were treated to a tight contest between two desperate sides.
Salt Lake’s season, their first without Jason Kreis, had started so well, going through their first twelve matches without defeat; however, since the end of May, a span of eight matches, they had won just once, though they still sat comfortably in the upper reaches of the conference standings.
Montreal, on the other hand, had no strong start to look back on, having begun the season winless in seven, winning just three of the twelve matches since then, currently riding a four-match losing streak, and firmly nestled at the bottom of the league on fourteen points from nineteen matches.
It did not take long for the home side to get the leg up against the struggling Canadians, with Luke Mulholland latching onto a fallen Javier Morales corner kick, nodded down by Chris Schuler, inside of three minutes, lashing a low, left-footer on the half-volley past Evan Bush in goal from above the penalty spot.
Montreal would respond shortly after the half-hour, Hassoun Camara picking out the far bottom-corner with a right-footer after Krzysztif Krol’s cross-field ball found Callum Mallace on the right, who teed up his teammate on the edge of the area with a nice cut-back pass.
But the night would turn with a decision in the 65th minute that saw the Impact reduced to ten men, when Issey Nakajima-Farran went into a fifty-fifty tackle with Schuler, hanging a high boot, catching the defender on the shin, and seeing a red card for his troubles – Frank Klopas was not pleased at the decision, earning himself a suspension for his comments post-match.
Colombian striker Olmes Garcia would put Salt Lake ahead within five minutes, getting on the end of a Morales cross from the right, flicking his header on to the far-side of goal from the near-post area. Garcia, beaming after netting his first of the season, would add a second in stoppage-time, after a sumptuous scoop pass from Morales played him in down the right side of the box and his right-footer beat Bush in the 93rd minute of play.
The 3-1 win, their first in three matches, allowed Salt Lake to retake second place in the West, on the strength of addressing their lack of goals from open play. For Montreal, it was a fourth-straight loss, as their season continues to sputter along in vain, nine points adrift of the playoff line.
Friday night’s lone contest was an all-Western affair with Colorado welcoming Chivas to the lofty confines of the Rocky Mountains - both sides entered on the downslide, Colorado winless in three matches and Chivas off the back of a loss in DC that halted their four-game winning streak.
Having welcomed current manager and former player, Pablo Mastroeni to the Gallery of Honor pre-match, the Rapids came out firing, nearly taking the lead inside the first two minutes with Dillon Serna rattling the bar.
It would take them all of sixteen minutes to find their lead, when Nick LaBrocca’s curling strike kissed off the top of the post and in. Their second would come a mere ten minutes later, Drew Moor rising highest to meet a Dillon Powers left-sided, in-swinging corner kick at the edge of the six yard box with a powerful header that more-or-less sealed the result inside thirty minutes.
Shorn of several starters, including preferred centre-back pairing of Carlos Bocanegra (concussion) and Bobby Burling, Chivas rarely threatened, even red-hot Cubo Torres, who had goals in their last six matches, was stifled – los Ameri-Goats would tally just a single shot on goal all evening.
Moor would nearly repeat his goal-scoring exploits, meeting another Powers corner kick in the 63rd minute only to strike the bar, before Gabriel Torres finished off the match for good in style, collecting a ball wide left from Carlos Alvarez, before cutting in-field to hit an unstoppable, dipping right-footer over Dan Kennedy in the Chivas goal.
With their first win in four matches, Colorado would end the round in a three-way tie for third place in the congested Western Conference, alongside Dallas and Los Angeles on thirty points. A second-straight loss for Chivas will have been made all the more frustrated by the fact that they barely showed up.
The first of two Saturday matches had the makings of a gripping contest, with Toronto looking to make up ground on visiting Sporting KC. Though separated by nine points, TFC’s three-games in hand meant that theoretically they could catch up to the conference leaders, or at least make it a three-horse race at the top of the table, alongside DC, leaving the chasing pack in their dust.
As such, the hosts came out like a shot, their speed and trickery on the wings causing all sorts of trouble for Sporting, who took advantage of Toronto’s open play to pick their spots on the counter – twice nearly scoring inside the first ten minutes.
But it was Toronto who would take the lead in the sixteenth minute, when Dominic Oduro played an unbelievable pass into the path of a streaking Jackson, who rounded keeper, Andy Gruenebaum, and deposited his right-footer into the gaping cage.
And the match may have ended right then, as TFC would first see their pleas for the dismissal of Aurelien Collin waived away after he got tangled with Gilberto, who was racing behind the defender, clear on goal courtesy of a Michael Bradley ball, before hitting the post twice in quick succession – Nick Hagglund in the 23rd minute and Oduro in the 33rd.
Sporting would weather that storm, entering half-time behind by just one, and cue up their second half response – it would come within minutes, as Graham Zusi, who had been quiet all match due to the shutdown performance of Hagglund, found space by swapping over to the right. Zusi began the play, moving in-field, before Benny Feilhaber drove into the box – his effort was blocked, as was Dom Dwyer’s follow-up, eventually falling to Zusi floating under the left of the arc, to right-foot an arrow into the top right-corner of goal, leveling the match.
The match devolved into a furious tug-of-war, each side asking questions of the other and getting tested themselves; the red card that was clearly going to make its appearance, finally came in the 75th minute, when KC centre-back Matt Besler saw his second yellow of the night – each for upending Oduro with late stopping challenges.
But, Toronto, who had cried so vociferously for justice in the first half would be hoisted by their own petard, when five minutes after going down a man, Kansas City found the winner.
And of course, it was a former TFC player who made the difference, Jacob Peterson emphatically right-footing a low shot into the right-corner of the goal after a scrambled play from a deflected cross allowed Dwyer to find a yard of space for his teammate with a neat back-heeled set-up.
With the 1-2 win, Sporting stretched their road-winning streak to an awesome five-straight matches, while remaining unbeaten through their last seven to open a four-point gap on idle DC atop the East. For TFC, the loss was a reminder that, though they have done well, they are not yet on par with the class of the league, where one must score more and concede less game in and game out.
Saturday’s other fixture was also an all-Eastern affair, with two clubs tied for fifth-place in the conference on 23 points, jostling to be on the playoff side of the dividing line.
New England entered looking to reverse an unfortunate run of late, falling to seven-straight losses, plummeting down the standings without a win since the end of May. Columbus too have struggled for victories this season, but looked to build on a win over Montreal last weekend.
The Revolution looked nothing like the dispirited side they should be, linking up with numerous flicks and one-twos, threatening the Crew without finding the back of the net, and, as is so often the case, it was their opposition who took the lead, somewhat against the run of play,
The opening goal would come in the 43rd minute, when Federico Higuain was allowed look at goal from a free-kick about 25 yards out, slightly to the right of centre. His right-footed effort would bend over the wall to find the top right-corner of the goal, leaving Bobby Shuttleworth little hope of a save.
Conceding at the end of a half is perilous at the best of times, but for a side lacking in confidence such as New England, it should have proved deadly, but they would respond in the best way possible, leveling five minutes into the second half, when AJ Soares rose to meet a right-sided Kelyn Rowe corner kick with a thumping header.
With both sides desperate for the win and sensing it there for the taking, the match opened up, chances coming thick and fast at each end, but it was the visitors who found the dagger in the 84th minute, when recent substitute Justin Meram cut open New England with a long ball from the centre-circle, springing Ethan Finlay, who held off Darius Barnes and beat Shuttleworth with a firm right-footer.
The 1-2 win stretches Columbus’ winning streak to two games, leapfrogging over New York into fourth in the East, tied with Toronto FC on 26 points, having played three more matches than their Trillium rivals. An eighth-straight loss finally sees New England drop out of the top five, though there was plenty to build on from the performance.
Sunday’s opener was of similar importance, as the two clubs scrapped over precious points in the congested West. Entering the week, seven teams were separated by just six points, contesting the four places available behind league-leaders, Seattle. With Salt Lake and Colorado having already taken full points and Portland and Los Angeles still to play, should either featured side take the win, their stock would rise; the loser at risk of falling off the pace.
It was Vancouver who wrestled the initiative in the eleventh minute when Darren Mattocks was slipped through the middle by a lovely Gershon Koffie ball to score his third goal in as many matches, much to the pleasure of former captain, Jay DeMerit, who was in the broadcast booth, having announced his retirement earlier in the week, sadly due to insurmountable injury troubles.
The Whitecaps would pass on chances to pad their lead and Dallas, through Blas Perez, would respond in the 29th minute, pouncing on a loose ball in the box after Zach Loyd’s header from a Moises Hernandez cross struck the bar – the Panamanian striker calmly bringing down the bouncing ball on his chest before stabbing in with his right-foot.
And Vancouver would gift Dallas the lead ten minutes later, when Carlyle Mitchell and David Ousted got their wires crossed on a harmless ball into the box, the keeper coming out as the defender rose to clear, bizarrely somehow handling the service, allowing the referee to point to the spot – Michel dispatched the effort coolly with his left-foot, low to the keeper’s left having sent Ousted lurching in the other direction.
Vancouver would be offered a chance of their own from the spot at the start of the second half, when Hernandez was adjudged to have handled a bouncing ball as Mattocks tried to touch past him. Pedro Morales made no mistake, right-footing low to the keeper’s left.
The Whitecaps would press for a winner, twice drawing fine save from keeper, Raul Fernandez – most notably, Morales’ rasping drive from distance that stung the palms of the keeper as he leapt to save, but the match would end drawn at twos.
Form would remain true for both sides: Vancouver now winless in four matches and Dallas unbeaten in six; two sides of the same coin.
The all-Canadian-based Sunday would continue across the continent in Montreal, as the Impact played host to the Portland Timbers, rivals from back in the USL days.
Looking to enter the CONCACAF Champions League, which begins the week after next, on a good note, Montreal came out sharp taking the lead after thirteen minutes when Jack McInerney laid Justin Mapp down the right and his low ball picked out the Argentine at the top of the box to step easily around an off-balance Danny O’Rourke to smash a right-footer past Donovan Ricketts.
Despite rarely meeting, being in separate conferences and all, regular trades have made these two rather familiar with each other. As such it was a scrappy affair with Montreal keeping a lid on Darlington Nagbe by fouling him innumerable times – racking up twenty on the night, mostly on Nagbe.
But Portland persevered, leveling the match in the 34th minute when Max Urruti was slipped in down the left-side of the area by Nagbe after walking around the sliding challenge of Felipe to set up an explosive end to the first half. Urruti, after making a neat turn to face goal, hit a low right-footer, beating the keeper to the short-side, bouncing in off the inside of the left-post.
Six minutes later Portland would take the lead after Urruti played Gaston Fernandez into the area drawing Evan Bush out to block, the rebound fell to Diego Valeri, who was taken down by Hassoun Camara as he cut back to get an angle on goal. Will Johnson would convert the penalty kick, beating Bush with a low right-footer to the keeper’s right; Bush read his intention but could not reach the well-placed strike.
Montreal would not go quietly into that good night, raging against the falling rain to level in the penultimate minute of the half when Felipe found Bernier in space down the left-side of the box and the Canadian veteran unselfishly laid back to Maxim Tissot, who beat Ricketts with a low left-footer towards the far-side.
The pace slowed for the second half, though the chances kept coming – Montreal would see a penalty shout waived away when Jack Jewsbury brought down Tissot in the area after McInerney had clipped in his teammate, Jewsbury, who was making his 300th MLS appearance, nervously laughed away the complaints, while Johnson would nearly make Bush pay for his inattention from a corner kick, attempting to sneak in an Olimpico, curling a corner kick just over the bar in the 65th minute.
The winner would have to wait until the 82nd minute, when Rodney Wallace’s cross was weakly cut out by Futty Danso, falling to Valeri outside the area; for a second-consecutive match, his dipping shot from distance would prove decisive, though Danso nearly made amends in the 92nd minute with an audacious effort, chesting down a long Mapp ball only for his volley on the turn to sail high.
For Portland the 2-3 win marked just the second time this season that they have won consecutive matches, as they seek to replicate the sort of form that won them such plaudits last season. Montreal, on the other hand, fall to a fifth-straight defeat – though given the lack of consistency in the East, they are still only ten points off the playoff spots.
The round closed on Monday night with a high-profile meeting of Western Conference titans, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Seattle, who had won their last six home matches, were dealt a bizarre blow pre-match, when Chad Marshall was forced to sit out the match due to back spasms brought on by a fender bender in the days prior to the match.
The evil portents kept coming for the Sounders, as the broadcast was interrupted and the match carried on without lights as the stadium was hit by a power surge – LA excel in such situations, having used a pair of outages against Houston back in 2009 in the Western Conference Championship match to turn the tide on the Dynamo and move on to that year’s MLS Cup.
Just as the broadcast returned, the match was all but over; with LA taking the lead in the eighth minute when Gyazi Zardes opened the scoring with a left-footer past Stefan Frei from an unselfish Landon Donovan layoff after Robbie Keane had threaded Donovan into the Seattle area.
Donovan then doubled the lead for a rampant Galaxy in the eighteenth minute, pouncing on the rebound from a Marcelo Sarvas rip to left-foot into the open net with Frei prone having denied Sarvas’ left-footer from the top of the box. The rout was complete in the 36th minute when Sarvas found Stefan Ishizaki in space down the right and his powerful, first-time right-footer across the keeper from the bottom left-corner of the goal.
With the result sealed, the match got contentious in the second half with national teammates Clint Dempsey and Omar Gonzalez regularly mixing it up. Seattle played better in the second half, but the damage was already done.
With the 0-3 win, LA rebound from last weekend’s loss in Kansas City, launching themselves into the reckoning at the top of the Western Conference, drawing within eight points of the league-leading Sounders and two behind second-placed Salt Lake.
For Seattle, it was simply a night to forget.
CanCon
The extended review of the Canadian performances will be posted midday tomorrow (Wednesday), featuring goals from Will Johnson and Maxim Tissot, an assist from Patrice Bernier, and the debut of Jeremie Lapare-Gagnon for the Impact.
Overheard
Kansas City’s Peter Vermes showed the lighter side of his competitive personality: “We're actually going to start the next game down a man. We're just going to play a 4-4-1. That's what we're going to do, going forward” alluding to his side’s success despite picking up six red cards this season.
Pablo Mastroeni heralded designated player, Gabby Torres, who has struggled since joining MLS: “This has been an unbelievable experience for Gaby and myself as a young coach, having to work with a player who’s so focused and so dedicated. To do what he did to get to the point where he is tonight, speaks volumes for the type of character he has and his commitment to the team. I said, “Gaby you have to be patient, your time is going to come and you just take advantage of it.”
“Tonight was one of those performances that validates the kind of player he is and has been. Like all of us, we go through tough times but it’s about overcoming those tough times. I think tonight was a step in the right direction for Gaby as far as his career is concerned, but more importantly to see a guy that was playing carefree, playing his kind of game, getting in behind - it was a joy to watch. Those guys had a phenomenal teammate out there.
According to MLSsoccer.com’s Rapids beat reporter, Chris Bianchi, “Torres took part in a highly-individualized set of exercises in May and June designed to help him lose weight and improve his posture, but additionally, Mastroeni spent time jogging with the striker, getting to know him and speaking with him on a one-on-one basis.”
Mastroeni continued, “For strikers it’s all about scoring goals, and I think tonight [Torres] took a big burden off his shoulders with that goal he scored. That’s the kind of quality he has and has shown in training, and now to translate that into games is really an important piece for this team moving forward.”
Club captain Drew Moor chimed in as well, “[Torres] puts so much effort into every single time he’s on the field, whether it’s in training or in the gym. We absolutely love having him in the locker room. When he scores a goal like that, I think maybe he breathes a little bit of a sigh of relief, but again, forwards go through their moments and hopefully it’ll boost his confidence.”
As did Torres himself, remarking about scoring his first of the season, “In truth, I felt really good. I thank God that I had the opportunity to score a goal, but the most important thing is that the team won. We had three games without getting the full three points, so it was important to get the win. We won, and now we have to focus on a difficult game on Wednesday that we will hope to win as well.”
A lesson to fans around that league that sometimes it takes players, even designated ones, time and additional effort to adjust to the league and they should be given the time they need to flourish - looking at you Gilberto.
See It Live
The handball from Vancouver’s Carlyle Mitchell was as strange a moment as has been seen all season; nearly as bizarre as
Best moment of the weekend was Portland’s Donovan Ricketts flattening Montreal’s Jack McInerney in retaliation for the striker daring to finish an offside play with a chip moments earlier – don’t mess with Ricketts.
Controversy
Frank Klopas was not pleased with the match-turning decision in Salt Lake that saw Issey Nakajima-Farran dismissed with a red card. “Listen, when you see both players go with their studs up, they're both going for the ball. For me, how you can give a straight red in a play like that, and then the [RSL] guy doesn't even get touched.” – He was suspended for his protestations.
No doubt, Issey left his boot high, but it was more the result of him pulling out a challenge as he lunged for the loose ball, no malice in it at all, but MLS officials react to such obvious signals.
Toronto was left perplexed at the official’s decision to overlook Aurelien Collin’s tangle with Gilberto as the striker was breaking in clear on goal. Ryan Nelsen ponder, “I was wondering, ‘what’s going on here?’ before stating “The Gilberto one seems so obvious. It’s not even a question. You tell them to forget about all the decisions and the ridiculous yellow cards and try and focus on the game but they’re human.”
While Michael Bradley summed it up perfectly, “The refereeing was questionable”, even if Alexi Lalas disagrees – expect fines all round, except the official of course.
Video is not available – strange how often such controversies are not deemed worthy of note – but can be seen in
Upcoming Fixtures
Full service resumes this week with four midweek matches feeding into a proper slate of weekend fixtures.
Wednesday: DC-Toronto; New England-Colorado; Chicago-Vancouver; Salt Lake-New York. Friday: Kansas City-Philadelphia. Saturday: Los Angeles-Portland; Montreal-Toronto; New York-New England; Chicago-Columbus; Colorado-Salt Lake; San Jose-Seattle. Sunday: Houston-DC; Chivas-Dallas.
All video & 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