The final week of Major League Soccer's 2011 regular season saw plenty of movement on the playoff table, as still-contending teams jostled for positioning and shuffled themselves around the ten available post-season spots.
It also saw the prolific Dwayne De Rosario become the first ever Canadian Golden Boot winner, although his late-season heroics weren't enough to salvage his team's playoff chances.
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Wednesday, October 19
DC United 1-1 Portland Timbers
The upstart Timbers traveled to the U.S. capital in search of a playoff berth in their inaugural MLS season. They traded goals with the hosts, although it seemed as though DC were snake-bitten as several late-game forays resulted in nothing more than heartbreaking near-goals.
Nothing but a win would keep DC's chances alive, and a DeRo penalty kick gave the four-time MLS Cup champs life. The Washington side could not convert on their many chances, and an agonizing Joseph Ngwenya goal-line miss in the dying moments summed up the match for the hosts, as Portland stole the draw and kept their slim post-season dreams alive (but only for about 24 hours).
Thursday, October 20
New York Red Bulls 1-0 Philadelphia Union
The two teams headed into this match with very different agendas. New York needed a result to cement their participation in the playoffs, while Philadelphia were looking to grab hold of the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Who would have predicted that storyline at the beginning of the season?
The Red Bulls were without the suspended Thierry Henry, and thus looked to the makeshift strike partnership of Luke Rodgers and Dane Richards to provide the needed offensive thrust.
Richards' insertion into the forward spot looked a genius move as the diminutive Jamaican put New York ahead just seven minutes into the match. From then on out, the Red Bulls' were the more dominant of the two sides, as Philly seemed listless and without answers up front.
Saturday, October 22
Toronto FC 2-2 New England Revolution
Two teams with absolutely nothing to play for, Toronto and New England put on an enteraining -- if error-prone -- season finale for the sparse BMO Field crowd.
Fresh off their huge Champions League win in the midweek, TFC looked listless and unmotivated in the early goings of the noon-hour fixture, but a good combination between Dutch attackers Danny Koevermans and Nick Soolsma saw the Reds go ahead. A New England goal in either half set the scene for a dramatic Koevermans equalizer reminiscent of TFC's inaugural season-ender.
Vancouver Whitecaps 2-3 Colorado Rapids
The Whitecaps needed a result to avoid "winning" the Wooden Spoon, and seemed to be in a good position to do so after going up in the 66th minute thanks to a well-placed Alain Rochat free kick (and a confused Matt Pickens, who allowed the ball to slip into the goal when he mistakenly thought it would skip harmlessly wide).
The 'Caps kept the pressure up through Camilo Sanvezzo, who came close to doubling the Vancouver lead an a couple of occasions.
Ultimately, defensive errors were again the Whitecaps' downfall, however. Jeff Larentowicz drove a 25-yard free kick through a poor Vancouver wall, then Wells Thompson's deflected shot secured Colorado's victory and ensured that Vancouver would finish in last place overall.
DC United 0-1 Sporting Kansas City
Kansas grabbed top spot in the East with a gritty win over a downtrodden DC side that hardly threatened their visitors until late in the first half.
Despite having most of the pressure, it took KC until the 54th minute to take the lead, courtesy of a Matt Besler blast past DC 'keeper Bill Hamid. United were no pushovers, though, and the KC crossbar was all that kept DC forward Josh Wolff from scoring an injury time equalizer.
Chicago Fire 3-2 Columbus Crew
Chicago played the role of spolier to a tee, keeping Columbus out of the top three in the East and forcing the Crew to enter the playoffs as one of four wild card teams.
In a wild, end-to-end match, the Fire built up a 2-0 lead thanks to defender Jalil Anibaba's first two MLS goals. The Crew clawed their way back into the match, scoring twice in a six minute span to pull level, but Chicago pulled out the dagger just a minute after Columbus had equalized, with Diego Chaves delivering the finishing blow in the 80th minute.
Real Salt Lake 1-1 Portland Timbers
A sell-out crowd at Rio Tinto Stadium bore witness to another average display from Real Salt Lake, who still haven't seemed to completely shake off the disappointment of losing the Champions League final in agonizing fashion back in April.
Salt Lake jumped out into the lead in first half stoppage time, although they hardly looked dominant over a plucky Portland side that had just been eliminated from the post-season day earlier. Not to be outdone by their hosts, the Timbers waited until second hald stoppage the nab the leveller through defender Mamadou "Futty" Danso.
Danso scored on a counterattack immediately after RSL had struck the Portland woodwork, providing a clear summation of Salt Lake's season thus far.
Chivas USA 1-3 Seattle Sounders FC
It seems so long ago that Chivas USA were considered the feel good story of 2011.
Since a bright early-season start that saw none other than Nick Labrocca earn himself an All-Star nod, the Goats have been nothing short of awful. Seattle, on the other hand, have been the shining example of depth and good coaching, balancing league, cup (a third consecutive US Open Cup championship), and Champions League (qualified for the knockout stage early) with relative ease.
It came as no surprise, then, that Seattle were far superior on this night. A laughable own goal by Andy Boyens, an Alvaro Fernandez golazo, and a Sammy Ochoa header all contributed to the bumper crop of offence for the men in rave green.
Unfortunately for Seattle, the win came with a price, as playmaker Mauro Rosales was felled with a knee injury. Rosales had only just recent returned from a substantial layoff due to an injury to the same knee.
For Chivas, a garbage time goal by on-loan Ecuadorean rookie Victor Estupinan -- who famously predicted that he would break the MLS single season scoring record this year en route to a 30-goal campaign -- gave the home fans their only real reason to cheer.
The goal was Estupinan's first of the season, by the way.
San Jose Earthquakes 4-2 FC Dallas
It was "get the ball to Chris Wondolowski" night in San Jose, as the Earthquakes -- already eliminated from playoff contention -- looked to help their talisman to a second successive Golden Boot award.
The 'Quakes jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead after just 38 minutes, as the hapless Texan side continued to look like a shell of the team that were considered favourites for the Supporter Shield just a few short months ago.
Dallas salvaged some semblance of consolation with a pair of second half goals, but the performance as a whole was unconvincing, and the loss forces FCD to play an extra playoff match in the wild card round.
As for Wondolowski, he did score, converting a penalty kick for San Jose's third of the game. But his inability to put away countless second-half chances kept him in a tie with De Rosario (at 16 goals each), with the Canadian getting the nod thanks to his much higher assist total.
Sunday, October 23
Houston Dynamo 3-1 Los Angeles Galaxy
A reserve-laden LA Galaxy fell to the Houston Dynamo in the final game of the MLS regular season.
LA boss Bruce Arena opted to sit out almost all of his regulars, apart from goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts (who needs playing time after missing much of the season with injuries), defenders Gregg Berhalter and AJ De La Garza, and forward Chad Barrett (who only played the final haslf hour).
With Houston still fighting for playoff positioning, the result was predictable. The Dynamo found themselves up by three without much effort, easily securing the win and -- more importantly -- leapfrogging into second in the tightly-packed East to avoid the extra wild card playoff game.
Los Angeles youngster Jack McBean, a highly-touted 16-year-old attacker from the Galaxy academy system, scored the visitors' only goal thanks to a nice run and pass by Barrett.
MLS Wrap appears every Monday during the Major League Soccer season.
Rudi Schuller contributes Toronto FC, MLS, and Canadian national team content to the 24th Minute. He is MLSsoccer.com's beat writer for all things concerning Canada's men's national teams, and has contributed to Goal.com and other soccer media. Follow Rudi on Twitter, @RudiSchuller.