Rather than limit to three, though it is a worthy number, there are six candidates for top strike of the round – May as well cram them all in and let readers decide who reigns supreme.
In chronological order, up first is Colorado’s
Which goal will earn this week’s Goal of the Week?
On to the details…
There are an infinite number of ways that a given match can play out, but one of the most enjoyable to watch – for the neutral fan; those with invested interests may feel otherwise – are comebacks. They too can take myriad forms and this round provided two such differing examples of the dreaded and exhilarating come-back.
Wednesday night provided a classic example of the ‘tale of two halves’, as Colorado scored three goals inside the first half hour to take the lead into the break against Los Angeles. Rookie forward Marlon Hairston nabbed the first – and the first of his MLS career - after fourteen minutes, pouncing on the rebound from a Deshorn Brown shot that was saved by Jaime Penedo, right footing in at the right-post. Buddle would add the second three minutes later, finally finding the 100th goal of his MLS career (the eighth player in league history to reach that milestone), from a free-header on the end of a right-sided Dillon Powers out-swinging corner kick. And then left-back Marc Burch notched the third in the 30th minute with a blistering left-footed free-kick from some 25 yards, blasting past the wall and in off the underside of the bar.
Robbie Keane had pulled one back for the Galaxy when an excellent Dan Gargan right-sided cross found the Irishman all alone at the back-post for a well-placed header back across Clint Irwin in the 20th minute.
Bruce Arena would read his side the riot act at half-time before calling them out on the broadcast and they responded within minutes. Omar Gonzalez headed in the first in the 55th minute, getting on the end of a right-sided Landon Donovan free-kick. Gonzalez then set up Alan Gordon by nodding down a Marcelo Sarvas cross from the right at the back-post for Gordon to push past Irwin; his first for his new club. And Donovan would net the winner in the 80th minute, racing onto a Keane through-ball, rounding the keeper and right-footing into the net – not the nicest way to thank the Rapids for their pre-match gifts as the Landon-retirement tour continues.
The second-half response is one form of the comeback and as exhilarating as it may be, the back-forth, call-and-response type multi-comeback may be a better spectacle all told. One such match was on display Saturday, when Toronto hosted Chicago in the shadow of the fairgrounds with the Canadian National Exhibition underway.
It would take just three minutes for the hosts to find the lead, Justin Morrow’s hopeful cross from the left kicking up off the outstretched leg of Bakary Soumare to loop over Sean Johnson and find the far-side of the Chicago goal. Toronto, dominating large stretches, should have added a second and as is often the case, their wastefulness would prove costly.
Chicago signed former TFC striker Robert Earnshaw last week and it took the Welsh goal-wizard just five minutes to put his name on the score-sheet for his new side, finding a gap behind TFC centre-back Nick Hagglund to get on the end of a Grant Ward got a cross in from the right past Mark Bloom, guiding his header past Joe Bendik in goal.
Toronto would make an influential change of their own, bringing on Luke Moore for Jermain Defoe, who promptly set up Gilberto two minutes after taking the pitch. Moore sprung the Brazilian with a well-weighted ball, setting up a chase between Gilberto and Jeff Larentowicz, which the TFC striker would win before rounding Johnson to the right and right-footing into the gaping net – it was his fourth-goal in as many games, scoring one in each.
But again Chicago would respond and again it was a former TFC striker who did the damage, when another cross was flung in from the right, this time by Lovell Palmer. Earnshaw would attempt the spectacular, missing his bicycle attempt, but the ball fell to Quincy Amarikwa at the back-post and his acrobatic right-footed blast found the top near-corner of the goal, with Jackson and Bendik watching in vain.
The top two spots in the Eastern Conference are all but spoken to, with DC and Kansas City well-ahead – more on them shortly – but the scrap for the remaining three will be a dogfight. Wins on the weekend from New York, Columbus, New England, and Philadelphia meant that at the end of the round five teams were crammed within three points for those places, while two more – Chicago and Houston – sit only slightly adrift.
But weary legs from a midweek trip to El Salvador weighed heavy for the Impact in the second half with Thierry Henry scoring twice – a diving header from an Eric Alexander cross in the 53rd and a right-footed bouncer that eluded Evan Bush and banked in off the post in the 67th – before setting up Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 74th minute, threading the striker in down the right-side of the box for a clinical right-footer across the keeper.
Montreal would draw one back in the 79th following a marauding run up the middle by Wandrille Lefevre, who dished off to Andres Romero on the right. The Argentine would walk in-field to curl a left-footer towards the left-side of goal, cutting New York’s lead to one.
Wright-Phillips would respond, notching his second of the match - and twentieth of the season - in the 90th minute, getting on the end of a Peguy Luyindula ball down the left, opening up his body and squaring his hips to right-foot once more across Bush in the Montreal goal. With that strike, Wright-Phillips surpassed Juan Pablo Angel’s single-season mark for most goals from a Red Bulls player; with ten matches still to play, the all-time single-season MLS record of 27 is perhaps within reach.
With the win, New York took up that fifth and final playoff spot, on 31 points, two points off of Toronto and
Having said their goodbyes to standout World Cup centre-back Giancarlo Gonzalez pre-match, as he departed to finalize his transfer to Palermo, Columbus would rely on the in-form Justin Meram to kick start their attack, but not before Steve Clark saved their bacon, denying a Will Bruin break in the opening twenty minutes.
Meram would pounce on a poor touch from David Horst in the 35th minute, stepping around a pair of desperate tackles to power a left-footer high into the net over Tally Hall – scoring in a third-straight match – before setting up the Crew’s second of the night in the 59th minute, picking out Adam Bedell with a left-sided cross having raced to keep the ball in play. The towering striker was seconds away from being subbed before getting in behind Horst to help the delivery on to the far-side of goal.
Bedell’s replacement, Aaron Schoenfeld would add a third in the 64th minute with a header of his own, meeting a left-sided Waylon Francis cross after nicking in front of Jermaine Taylor to bullet his header down to the left-side of goal past Hall.
It was Columbus’ fourth win in their last six matches, moving into a tie for that third spot, while Houston fall to a second loss in their last three, having hoped their season was on the turn.
Whereas the Crew got three goals, the Revolution needed just one to overturn Chivas in their Saturday night meeting; it was enough to stay within a point of the Red Bulls and it would be Lee Nguyen who provided the winner.
New England would have to wait until the 56th minute to calm their nerves. The play began with a cross-field ball from Diego Fagundez to Kelyn Rowe on the right. He played in-field to Daigo Kobayashi, who sought to flick a return back-heel into the path of the darting Rowe, but a Chivas defender got a weak clearing touch. New England can be accused of trying to be too pretty; sometimes goals are less crafted and more taken: Nguyen’s was such a case, as the clearance fell to him atop the arc and he bent his right-footed blast into the left side-netting, arcing away from a diving Dan Kennedy into the Chivas goal.
Bobby Shuttleworth, who kept his side in it with a lovely early save on Felix Borja, would preserve the win, getting down low to claw a Cubo Torres header off the line late.
Sunday provided yet another match with Eastern implications, as
Having taken a two-goal lead inside the first fourteen minutes - with Andrew Wenger capping off a scintillating counter in the tenth minute with a left-footed smash past Jon Busch after Sebastien Le Toux played a ball into the area from the left for his teammate and Le Toux himself adding the second four minutes later, pouncing on a poor Victor Bernardez clearing header of a Sheanon Williams cross from the right - the Union conceded twice within eleven minutes, allowing the Earthquakes back level.
Sam Cronin got the first with a thunderous right-footer from distance on the half-volley after Jordan Stewart’s long ball was weakly cleared by Carlos Valdes in the 59th and Chris Wondolowski scored in the 70th minute, getting on the end of a perfect cross from Shea Salinas on the left, having ghosted in behind Ray Gaddis at the back-post for a right-footed volley: a pair of unstoppable strikes welcoming new Philadelphia keeper, Rais Mbolhi to MLS in his first appearance.
Two minutes later, Williams would put Philadelphia back in front with a low header at the near-post from a right-sided Le Toux free-kick, outmuscling Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi to flick over Busch from inside the six-yard box, and Wenger would seal the result seven minutes after that, winning a header to Le Toux, who poked a ball forward, allowing Wenger to blaze past Shaun Francis and stab a blistering right-footer past Busch at the left-post.
Philadelphia’s win would see them keep pace with New England, on 30 points, while San Jose’s hopes of a playoff berth in the West dwindled further, as their winless run stretched to four.
While the scrap for the bottom places in the East tightened up, a top of the table clash between Kansas City and DC looked primed to provide entertainment on Saturday – few would have expected it to be such a one-sided affair, with
Seven minutes of shoddy defending saw Sporting split wide open by the rapacious DC attack. Fit-again Fabian Espindola grabbed the first in the 24th minute, walking in from the left after Luis Silva had found him wide, twisting up Aurelien Collin and beating Jon Kempin with a low right-footer to the far-side of goal. Chris Rolfe would get the second four minutes later, Silva again playing provider with a poked-ball behind the KC back-line – Rolfe would finish calmly with a left-footer that the keeper got a piece of, but could not prevent from crossing the goal-line, though Rolfe may possibly have been offside.
DC’s third came in the 31st minute, this time with Rolfe playing the defensive-killing pass, springing Perry Kitchen down the left, where he cut on to his right-foot to beat Kempin with a right-footer to the far-side. Again the rookie keeper got a touch, but not enough.
Noteworthy, aside from DC taking over the top spot with the victory, was that this was the first MLS match to feature homegrown goalkeepers at each end of the pitch.
Friday night provided a similar top-of-the-table spectacle, as Dallas hosted Salt Lake with second place in the West on the line. Dallas entered as the form team in the league, going unbeaten through their last nine matches, winning their last three. Salt Lake too were on the rise, unbeaten in six, having also won their last three.
A closely-fought first half would end scoreless, the major talking point being the expulsion of Dallas forward Blas Perez for a pair of yellow cards, each soft in their own way – he apparently fell too hard when Chris Schuler shoved him after the two clashed.
Regardless of being down a man, Dallas took the lead in the 50th minute, through Je-Vaughan Watson, who bodied in a left-sided out-swinging Michel corner kick by racing in front of Nat Borchers at the near-post to get on the end of the delivery.
Dallas would add some insurance in the 74th minute, when red-hot Fabian Castillo scored his fourth-goal of the last three matches with a low right-footer across Nick Rimando after Tesho Akindele nodded down a long ball from Michel to his teammate, who darted into space on the right before finishing expertly.
It was insurance they needed, as Salt Lake’s Olmes Garcia found consolation in the 91st minute with the ugliest overhead kick-finish one is ever likely to see. Sebastian Velasquez hustled to keep the ball in on the right before hitting a cross to the back-post where Garcia made contact, his effort deflecting off Akindele to beat Raul Fernandez after getting hit into the ground initially.
It was a week of such proclamations in the West, as the top four sides opened up a hefty seven-point-plus gap on those pursuing the fifth playoff spot.
Having beaten Colorado midweek,
Marcelo Sarvas added a second for LA in the 32nd minute, again Keane inadvertently playing provider, as his miss-hit shot fell to Sarvas at the left-post for a left-footer under a moving David Ousted. Donovan had initiated the move, playing into Sarvas from the left; he back-heeled a pass to Keane and was perfectly placed to pounce on the whiffed effort.
Vancouver, who would watch their six-match unbeaten run crumble, had their night turn from bad to worse, when Johnny Leveron was sent off for an aggressive challenge on Alan Gordon in the final minutes of regulation. It probably did not warrant a red, but such is the discretion of the referee.
The six-point week shot LA within reach of first in the West, trailing Salt Lake and Dallas by two, but with games in hand.
Seattle, who would top the conference at the close of the round, responded to a disappointing month with a rousing effort in the latest Cascadian Derby, this one in Portland on Sunday.
The Sounders had won just once in their previous five-matches, their most recent result
But come Sunday, a different Seattle took the pitch, clinical in their finishing against their hated rivals. Martins in particular was lively, scoring the first in the eighteenth minute with his left-foot - touching in a Brad Evans goal-mouth cross from the right, before setting up the second on a lightning counter, playing Clint Dempsey in down the left-side of the box for a clipped finish over Donovan Ricketts in the 34th minute.
Barrett would score in a third-straight match, notching Seattle’s third in the 70th minute with a right-footed blast from the left-side of the area, after Dempsey found him in space, having received the ball from Martins on the right.
Timbers substitute, Fanendo Adi would draw one back three minutes later, moments after coming on, with a right-footed stab from a left-sided Rodney Wallace cross, having found space between the Sounders centre-backs. Three minutes after that however, Martins would reinstate Seattle’s three-goal advantage with a fine, largely solo effort, slashing through several Portland defenders before lifting a subtle finish over Ricketts.
Adi would find further consolation with his second of the match in the 91st minute, a fierce left-footed blast into the top left-corner of the goal after Steve Zakuani rolled the ball in to his teammate inside the area.
No doubt, an eventful week in MLS, but what will next round bring?
CanCon
The extended review of the Canadian performances will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday), featuring a strong outing from Jonathan Osorio, Wandrille Lefevre wrestling with an explosive New York attack, and Russell Teibert putting in a shift against Los Angeles, as well as some disconcerting words – for Canadian fans - from Tesho Akindele.
Overheard
Colorado’s Pablo Mastroeni, who has watched his side concede four goals in each of their last two matches and three or more in four of their last five, for a total of fifteen against in their last five, may be looking to bend the rules a little to cure what ails: “We need to play with two goalies. We need to make the goal smaller and play with two goalies. I’m going to write to FIFA and the commissioner and see if that’s available.” That could indeed work.
Chad Barrett on scoring the fiftieth goal of his MLS career: “I [was] so lost in the moment, I almost forgot to pick up the ball. It’s great to be in a class with certain people.”
Edson Buddle was silent on his 100th MLS goal, but Mastroeni heralded the moment: “For Edson, that 100th goal is a great stamp to put on the career he’s had. I think he’s been one of the true unrecognized pioneers in the modern game and it’s a great accolade to have in the old trophy case. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Robert Earnshaw ingratiated himself with the Chicago faithful, while delivering a most-unwanted ‘thank you’ to Toronto: “Maybe it’s just because it’s a familiar ground, a place that I’m very fond of, it’s a great place and obviously I’ve scored tonight, but I’d like to thank Toronto because I never got a chance to thank everybody here… The team here; Ryan Nelson; the whole organization; I just never got the chance to say thank you very much for having me, so that goal is kind of a ‘Welcome to Chicago, but it’s also very much a thank you to Toronto.” Rarely has a ‘thank you’ felt so much like it began with an ‘F’.
This is an exact replica of HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR’s post-match quote sheet responses: On his thoughts of his team’s performance: Elated. On what to work on prior to the match against Sporting Kansas City: Winning a road game. Blunt.
Robbie Keane on two unintended assists: "You’re always taught that as a kid, to hit it across the goal, and most of the time someone’s going to be there”. So he meant that one, but: “The second one, I did [miss-hit it], definitely. It was a complete miss-hit, but I’ll take the assist."
Best quote of the round goes to the Seattle fans who travelled to Portland and adroitly unleashed a classic chant of ‘It’s all gone quiet over there’ that was clearly audible on the broadcast when their Sounders pummeled the Timbers on Sunday/
See It Live
Portland’s best effort of that loss against Seattle was the prematch Tifo from their supporters (
Plenty of excellent saves this round: Clint Irwin on Omar Gonzalez; Jon Busch on Obafemi Martins; Evan Bush on Bradley Wright-Phillips; Steve Clark on Will Bruin; Luis Robles on Marco Di Vaio; Bobby Shuttleworth on both Felix Borja and Cubo Torres; Pedro Morales with a goal-line clearance on Baggio Husidic; and Busch again on Conor Casey.
Saves aside, more than a few must-see moments: Tommy Thompson’s shoulder roll; Zach Loyd’s alert tackle on Robbie Findlay; Jose Goncalves’ ring-around-the-keeper move; snake-bit Robbie Keane onto the bar; a livid Sigi Schmid after Norberto Paparotto catches Chad Marshall with an elbow, and
Controversy
Should Obafemi Martins have seen more than yellow for this challenge on Victor Bernardez midweek? Thus ruling him out against Portland?
Both of Blas Perez’ yellows were soft – the first and most controversially, the second.
Tony Lochhead’s challenge on Charlie Davies may have warranted more than a yellow.
While Jose Goncalves was lucky his late shove on Cubo Torres in the New England box was waived away.
Was
Did Johnny Leveron deserve a red for this challenge on Alan Gordon?
And there were two handballs from Seattle in Portland – from Clint Dempsey and Chad Marshall – neither was called.
Check out
Upcoming Fixtures
A single midweek league fixture on Wednesday before a full slate of nine matches next weekend; plus a CONCACAF Champions League match on Tuesday with New York hosting CD FAS.
Wednesday: Los Angeles-DC. Friday: Kansas City-Houston. Saturday: Seattle-Colorado; Toronto-New England; Montreal-Columbus; Chicago-Dallas; Vancouver-Portland; San Jose-Salt Lake. Sunday: DC-New York; Chivas-Los Angeles.
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