Five candidates this week, beginning with
On to the results…
Midweek Result in a Sentence (or Two)
A dour evening looked destined for a scoreless draw until the Union’s Amobi Okugo pounced on a Danny Cruz cross from the right, left-footing his finish straight down the middle to give the hosts an 88th minute advantage. But an error from Algerian international Rais Mbolhi, under-hitting a clearance that fell to Robert Earnshaw in the 92nd minute, allowed the Welshman to equalize with a delicate left-footed chip.
Results in Brief
The weekend began with a mouth-watering encounter as two teams that had battled most of the season for Eastern supremacy took to the pitch at RFK Stadium in DC. United, who tallied just sixteen points last season, entered with a six-point advantage and unbeaten in two, while winning their last five at home.
Kansas City, on the other hand, have stumbled of late, dropping five of their previous six matches amd allowing New England to overtake them into second-spot in the conference.
Some score-less draws are a bore, while others are so good one barely notices the lack of goals; this was the latter, with both sides engaging in an attacking, physical battle – most exemplary of the fighting spirit was the play of central midfielders Davy Arnaud and Paulo Nagamura; a preview of the two months ahead, no doubt.
DC’s attacking brain-trust of Luis Silva and Fabian Espindola were in fine form, Silva setting up Espindola with a layoff to the top of the box – KC keeper Andy Gruenebaum was equal to the task. Sporting’s best chance would come late, when Dom Dwyer cushioned a header to CJ Sapong, but Bill Hamid was able to block and cover.
The draw was probably a fair result in the end
With the sharing of the points, DC clinched their place and can ease up ever-so-slightly should they choose, getting some rest to those in need – fatigue, after a difficult league and Champions League campaign has seen their form drop; they have won just one of their last five league matches. Similarly, KC have won just twice in their last ten matches, hardly the sort of form one expects from them, or would want to have heading into the playoffs.
Saturday began with another epic Eastern encounter with New York looking to rebound from that humiliating loss in Los Angeles last weekend and Houston fighting for their playoff lives, unbeaten in five, but still trailing the congested pack around the playoff spots.
The Dynamo were under-pressure from waves of Red Bull attacks from the off – Bradley Wright-Phillips would mercifully strike the bar in the 23rd minute after Thierry Henry put a ball into the area from the left for Lloyd Sam, who cut back onto his right-foot to test Tyler Deric. The Houston keeper parried the effort straight to the league’s top goal-scorer and was spared by the crossbar.
Henry himself would find the next good look, striking a right-footed free-kick from about 25 yards off the bar as well. Houston were desperately clinging to the point.
That all came crashing down as the second half began. Richard Eckersley, back from his near-year-long banishment to the depths of the squad, played a long ball down the right for Sam to chase. The speedy wide attacker curled his run towards goal before playing a pass to the near-post area for the streaking run of Wright-Phillips. Neither the Wright-Phillips, nor the defender tracking him would make contact, the service falling to Deric, who could only push it wide in surprise. Unfortunately for him, his touch put the ball towards the back-post, where Henry was ghosting in completely unmarked for a simple right-footed finish into the yawning goal.
Houston would look for the equalizer, though constantly under threat of New York counters; it would not be their night however, the Red Bull desires exemplified by an alert run to and block on his own goal-line from Henry – the sort of material from which captains earn their stripes.
The final minutes would be tense for New York, as Tim Cahill was harshly dismissed three minutes after entering the match for a rash challenge on Oscar Boniek Garcia – a tough end to a week that saw the Australian International take criticism for comments that riled up the age-old club-versus-country debate.
With the 1-0 win, New York would leap over Columbus into fourth-placed – the Crew set to play a match in New England later that night – while extending the unbeaten home run to an impressive nine matches. For Houston, the loss was their first in six games, denting their playoff hopes somewhat – they would remain viable in eighth-place come Monday, but fall a further two points off the pace, seven behind Columbus in fifth.
Action swapped over to the Western Conference for an early match, relatively speaking – time zones and all, between Vancouver and Dallas.
The Whitecaps entered in good form, having won their last two at home, including an impressive come-from-behind result over Salt Lake last weekend, and in possession of the final spot in the West, leapfrogging over Portland. But Dallas had had the better of them in recent meetings, unbeaten in their last seven encounters, though the last two in Vancouver had ended in draws.
Vancouver, who have struggled for goals of late, requiring a pair of penalty kicks and a late tally to defeat Salt Lake, wasted no time in taking the initiative with Sebastian Fernandez putting them ahead after fourteen minutes.
Pedro Morales picked out Mauro Rosales with a cross-field ball to the right, who tried to play inside to Erik Hurtado, before receiving the ball back wide to hit a cross towards the back-post. Fernandez rose up to meet it, soaring over Je-Vaughan Watson to guide his header on to the top left-corner of the goal, beating Raul Fernandez for the opener.
Four minutes later, he would add a second, beating the Dallas keeper with a left-footer low to the short-side, when he was found in space down the left by Rosales after Morales forced a turnover in midfield. The brace contained his first two goals from inside the area, his previous three having come from long-range strikes.
Dallas would look to find a way back into the match with Blas Perez appearing to spring the offside trap in the 33rd minute, latching on to a Michel through-ball and beating David Ousted, only for the assistant referee’s flag to be raised in protest. Replays suggest he was onside and the goal should have stood.
Perez was central to much of the visitor’s efforts to reply and his battle with Vancouver centre-back Kendall Waston was an entertaining one. But the most fight shown by Dallas came after the final whistle, when Coach Oscar Pareja needlessly gave Vancouver assistant coach, Martyn Pert, a shove, for which he will likely be disciplined.
The 2-0 win, their second-straight overall and third-straight at home, ensured Vancouver would stay ahead of Portland, opening the gap to four points, for the time being – Portland would play later that evening. Dallas meanwhile, lost a fourth-match in their last six, allowing Vancouver to close within five points of fourth in the conference.
Back in the East, two playoff contenders took to the pitch in a fiery match, as New England and Columbus dueled over vital points. Astute observers may recall that the two met in a home-and-away series in the final two weeks of last season that would determine who would sneak into the playoff – the Revolution did so at the Crew’s expense.
New England entered in superb form, having overtaken second in the East by winning six of their last seven matches, drawing level with Kansas City and trailing DC by six points when the round began. Columbus too were striving forward, unbeaten in four and winners of their last two to secure fourth-place, though New York’s earlier win would bump them down to fifth.
Marred by a bouncy, fake-pitch marked with gridiron lines, the visual aspect suffered, but the play was engaging with Columbus nearly taking the lead inside of thirty seconds when Tony Tchani threaded in Ethan Finlay for an early chance that whisked wide of the right-post.
Revolution keeper Bobby Shuttleworth would be called upon repeatedly, denying Aaron Schoenfeld in the eighteenth minute with a miraculous save, before New England snapped out of it and finished their first good look at goal in the 20th minute.
Jermaine Jones swung a pass wide to Teal Bunbury on the right, who crossed a ball into the middle. It was too high for Charlie Davies, but fell to Lee Nguyen at the back-post, who right-footed a calm, low effort into the Columbus net.
The Crew would respond in short order, five minutes after falling behind, when Tchani again threaded in Finlay as the wide attacker curled his run to get behind Jose Goncalves down the right-channel, before beating Shuttleworth with a low right-footer.
Jones would draw a fine save from the Columbus keeper, Steve Clark before half-time, with a long-range drive that the keeper saw late and Shuttleworth would be called upon again after the restart, when Tchani again picked out Finlay, tipping the effort over the bar.
Two more crucial saves from the Revolution keeper would keep the game level, allowing Jones to score the winner in the 67th minute when he found himself on the end of a bouncing left-sided Chris Tierney free-kick that bounded through a crowd to fall at the back-post, the German-American nodding a header down and in to seal the victory.
Waylon Francis would see red in the 70th minute, all but ending any chances of a comeback, when he received a second booking for preventing Davies from taking a quick throw-in.
With the 2-1 win, the Revolution retook second place from KC, extending a two-point gap and drawing within four of conference-leaders DC. The loss would see Columbus stay below New York in fifth, with Toronto hot on their heels.
The evening would close with a pair of late, West Coast matches, the first of which saw Toronto head to Los Angeles to take on the Galaxy.
Both sides entered on two-game winning streaks in the midst of unbeaten runs, but the comparison ended there, as LA were unbeaten in nine and competing for the top spot in the league, while TFC’s modest three-game unbeaten run had kept them in position to strike at fifth in the East.
Fresh off a 4-0 mauling of New York in which they scored after eight minutes, LA would have to wait 22 minutes to break the deadlock, Toronto having gone toe-to-toe for the opening twenty minutes of play. Michael Bradley bit hard on an unwinnable ball and was easily by-passed by a one-two between Marcelo Sarvas and Baggio Husidic that resulted in Sarvas threading in Robbie Keane down the left-side of the area, from whence he beat Joe Bendik low to the far-side of goal to open the scoring.
Three minutes later, the match was all but done when LA and Keane doubled their advantage. Landon Donovan found AJ DeLaGarza with a ball to the right and the full-back sent an inviting cross back to the huge gap of space near the penalty spot, where Keane met it with an almighty right-footed volley. A remarkable finish, made more so by dint of the Donovan assist that saw him surpass Steve Ralston into sole possession of the all-time MLS record with 136 in his career.
Toronto would steady themselves and find the odd chance, most notably when Luke Moore struck the base of the left-post with a low drive, but the highlight for the visitors was undoubtedly the return to the pitch of Jermain Defoe, who got a half-hour’s run out in preparation for the final four matches of the season.
LA would add a third in stoppage-time when former TFC striker, Alan Gordon, a man who loves to score against his former sides, beat Bendik with a right-footer to the bottom left-corner of the goal from distance, rounding out the 3-0 result.
The win, their third-straight, extended LA’s unbeaten run to ten matches and put them, for the time being – Seattle would not play until Sunday – into first in both the West and the league. Toronto, who saw their streaks end, remain on the outside looking in and must brace themselves for a tough week, with crucial matches at home to Houston and away to New York over the coming days.
Saturday’s final match saw two teams fighting for their playoff lives. San Jose, winless in ten matches were on the verge of elimination, while Portland, given Vancouver’s win earlier in the evening, needed a win to keep within range of that fifth spot in the West.
A tense first half that saw half-chances fall each way – Darlington Nagbe saw his effort pushed over the bar by Jon Busch, while Chris Wondolowski got on the end of a rebound after Donovan Ricketts parried a Sam Cronin drive, but could not keep his effort on target – gave way to a second half that contained the majority of the action.
The Earthquakes would find the breakthrough in the 56th minute when Shea Salinas, the catalyst for much of San Jose’s joy this season, cut inside on Alvas Powell to send a cross in from the left, picking out Wondolowski at the back-post. His initial attempt, a header, was saved by Ricketts, having fought in between a pair of defenders; this time when the rebound fell to Wondolowski, he made no mistake, putting a left-footed touch past Ricketts.
Foreshadow of San Jose’s bad luck came quickly on the heels of them taking the lead when Busch had to react quickly to prevent a Jason Hernandez clearance that caromed off Victor Bernardez from entering their own goal four minutes later and shortly after that another near-catastrophic bounce off a defender was prevented by the alert keeper.
But in the 71st minute there was no remedy for another stroke of misfortune. Nagbe held up play through the middle before playing out wide to Powell on the right. The right-back went down that side, working past Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi to send a ball to the near-post for Wallace. Shades of a possible handball helped control the service, allowing the Portland attacker to turn in the box and hit a hopeful left-footer towards goal, the drive kicked up off the back of the attempted block of Hernandez to sail awkwardly into the top left-corner of the goal.
Three minutes later another bizarre finish would give the visitors the lead. Liam Ridgewell met a Gaston Fernandez corner kick from the left high at the near-post. His header struck Wallace in the face, caroming off him to loop agonizingly beyond the grasp of Busch and over Cordell Cato, defending the back-post on the goal-line, to doom San Jose to another winless night.
Their night was made even worse, when recent-signing, right-back Pablo Pintos was shown a red card for a lunging challenge on Wallace, coming in with both feet high, catching the Timbers player on the follow-through of his clearance.
The 1-2 win for Portland was the first away win all-time in the series between the two clubs, allowing the Timbers to stay within a single point of Vancouver for that final spot in the West. With the loss, San Jose were officially eliminated for a second-straight season after having won the Supporters’ Shield in 2012.
Sunday began in the West, with another side scrapping to remain relevant.
Colorado too were on the verge of elimination, requiring a win to maintain a mathematical hope of qualification, though of course, such chances were slim, especially considering they were winless in ten matches, equaling a club record set back in 2007.
Seattle, their opponent, had rebounded from a pair of away losses with a good win over Chivas last weekend, but needed to take the three points in order to stay level with LA in the quest for the Supporters’ Shield and top spot in the West.
It took just eleven minutes for the match to crack open when Chad Marshall met a corner kick and his header struck the arm of Marvell Wynne, prompting the referee to point to the penalty spot. Clint Dempsey stepped to the task, eyeing Clint Irwin to his left before dinking a cheeky right-footer straight down the middle.
The Sounders would add a second in the 28th minute through Obafemi Martins, who got on the end of a Marco Pappa ball down the right-side of the box, out-waiting Irwin and making an angle for himself with a slight-shimmy, right-footing into the open net.
Five minutes later Seattle sealed the result and Colorado’s fate. Pappa collected a delicate back-heel from Dempsey to break in down the right-side of the box, put a devastating cut-back on a pair of defenders and the keeper, drawing them out of the frame, before lifting a deft little chip over the prone Rapids and into the Colorado net - a truly stunning passage of play.
Colorado would pull one back before half-time through Deshorn Brown, who found himself alone at the back-post when a Chris Klute ball from the right was collected by Dillon Powers who in turn helped it on to the far-side. His low right-footer would beat Stefan Frei to the short-side, possibly after a kind deflection off DeAndre Yedlin.
Martins would add a fourth – his second of the match and seventeenth of the season – with a simple right-footed finish at the back-post after Lamar Neagle broke in down the left, eluding Klute to send a slow-roller through the six-yard box that neither Irwin, nor Shane O’Neill could get a clearing touch upon.
Seattle would have continued the romp had they had their way – Osvaldo Alonso attempted to beat Irwin from long-range, nearly catching the keeper off his line, requiring a scrambled leaping save; Dempsey nearly completed a brace of his own in the 85th minute, hitting the post with an acrobatic effort after a one-two with Martins, Irwin would deny Andy Rose on the rebound.
The 1-4 loss would doom Colorado to a season without playoffs, their second in three years, having made three of the last four. The full-points, their second-consecutive win, was enough to put Seattle back into the top spot, level with LA on points, but in the lead with two more wins than the Galaxy.
Up next came the least promising match of the weekend, with Chicago, the draw-kings, looking to keep their expiring season alive against a Montreal side that was the first to be mathematically eliminated some weeks ago.
Chicago, who entered winless in five after Thursday’s draw, had made some history midweek with their seventeenth draw of the season, setting a new record for most draws in an MLS season. Montreal were hoping to avoid a historic mark of their own, winless in their travels this season with twelve losses and three draws; this match would be their third-to-last chance to avoid becoming the sixth MLS club to go an entire season without a win on the road.
As could be expected, Chicago came out the more interested of the sides, drawing an early save out of Evan Bush when Quincy Amarikwa got on the end of the Lovel Palmer cross – they would repeatedly test the Montreal keeper without causing undue concerns on the behalf of Impact fans.
The lifeless match did have one minor spark of controversy – were this a different time of the season or a match between teams with something to play for, no doubt more would be made of the offside call in the 38th minute.
Andres Romero clipped a ball into the box that was cushioned into the middle by a Justin Mapp header, falling to Jack McInerney who put it into the net, only for the raised flag to cancel out the potential winner. Replays appear to show that McInerney was not offside and the goal should have stood.
The only other noteworthy points were that Chicago was wearing some snazzy third kits and Mapp reaching the twenty-thousand minutes-played plateau, becoming the 54th player to do so in the league, an excellent testament to his longevity. Compared to DC-KC from Friday night, this scoreless draw was an entirely unappetizing spectacle.
Not only did Chicago improve their ‘record’ but they were officially eliminated, ten points back of fifth with three matches remaining. Montreal have two more chances to avoid yet another black mark on their forgettable season, with road trips to Toronto and New York still to come.
The round would conclude with a bizarre encounter between playoff candidates Salt Lake and the already-eliminated Chivas USA.
Expansion classmates from the 2005 season, the two clubs could not have taken more varied trajectories and yet on the pitch, the all-time series has been surprisingly even. Making matters all the more intriguing, both sides entered in a funk – Chivas had lost their last seven matches, stretching their current winless run to twelve matches. Salt Lake had lost two of their last three and were winless in their last four away matches, including losses in the last two.
Salt Lake bossed much of the early passages of play, but could not find a way through the sturdy Chivas defenses. The match would turn when Salt Lake defenders Chris Schuler and Nat Borchers bonked heads, causing a river of blood to pour from the nose of Schuler, and prompting his removal from the match – he was replaced by Rich Balchan.
It would be a tough day at the office for Balchan.
Two minutes after the half-time restart, an errant pass from the substitute would fall to Cubo Torres, who surged in on goal down the right-channel, sending a right-footed chip towards goal. His attempt would strike the top of the bar, falling to Felix Borja, who reacted quickest – once more taking advantage of Balchan who did well to recover, only to fall asleep on the descending ball – right-footing the rebound past Rimando for his first MLS goal.
Fifteen minutes later, Balchan would again be at the centre of disaster, called for a penalty kick when his legs got tangled with Torres – it appeared as though the contact was outside the area, but nevertheless, the penalty was awarded. Balchan’s despair would be lessened when Rimando would read Torres’ under-hit right-footed attempt, diving to his left to make the save.
The win would snap both the losing and winless runs for Chivas, but more remarkably, it was their second of the season over Salt Lake, collecting clean-sheets in each, preventing the visitors from getting a shot on goal until the 84th minute.
Salt Lake must wait another week at least before shoring up their playoff position and have Dallas breathing down their neck to avoid the play-in match, with a single point between them.
CanCon
The extended review of the Canadian performances will be posted as soon as possible – a short turnaround for Toronto has made this week a hectic one.
All told, it was a rather quiet week for the Canadians with only three starters and three substitute’s appearances throughout the round – but there was a particularly awesome video from Tesho Akindele.
Overheard
Plenty of soundbytes from the round:
Frank Yallop on Chicago’s disappointing season that will end with a historic mark: “All season, we’ve just been the tie kings, if you like. At this point, with our group, it’s growing and we’ve got to add quality to it next season. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve got a lot of points out of games that maybe we shouldn’t have. I still think in those 17 ties, there was six games that we should have gotten the three points. Not all of them, but some of them. And that makes a difference in the table. I’m not going to say I’m proud of that stat, but if you have 10 wins and 17 ties, you’re rolling. But it isn’t that way. We haven’t won enough games and it shows on the table.”
Philadelphia goalkeeper, Rais Mbolhi shrugs away his costly error: “What can I say? It was a difficult match for me tonight. But mistakes happen. It was not the first one. It’s not the last one, obviously. I know how to handle this kind of situation. It’s hard for me tonight but I’ll be fine.”
Chivas new-goat, Nigel Reo-Coker on the magic of football: “It was just great to get a win, it was just a relief, but we aren’t going to dwell on it. We know we have to continue. It’s the last month of the season. Football is such a fantastic and wonderful game. Why can’t we go on a run? Why can’t we win every remaining game from now to the end of the season? It’s a possibility, its football, that’s what makes it such a beautiful game. But like I said, we have to take the positives from today’s performance. To do that against one of the better teams in the league, to not give up any chances and to have the better chances, you know, if we watch that video back there’s a lot of positives we can take from today’s performance.”
DC’s Ben Olsen on the town’s playoff atmosphere: “There was a good vibe in the city, even driving here. I took the long way through the city, and I got a little bit of the Nats vibe. The city was vibrant. Take RFK out of it - you know it’s an old, beat up building, and I’ll be happy when it blows up – but there’s not a better show in town. When our fans show up and put on a performance like that, there’s nowhere else I want to play. It’s a great atmosphere, and I’m happy to reward them with getting into the playoffs. It means a lot to these guys and for those of us who have been around a while.”
Landon Donovan, spoke humbly about his assist record: “To be honest, it wasn’t on my radar until the last month or so. It wasn’t overly realistic in my mind, but when the team plays like this it was just natural, and it seems like every time we get a chance, guys are either close to scoring or they’re scoring, so for me it’s been easy. My job is just to put the ball in a good spot. And with players like we have, it makes it easy.” He has fifteen assists in his last thirteen appearances, woof!
And finally, Jon Busch on seeing out the rest of the season post-elimination: “There’s plenty of motivation. You’re playing for points, you’re playing for pride in the jersey, you playing for pride in your own play, you’re playing for contracts; the list goes on and on.”
See It Live
A selection of the best saves from the round: Andy Gruenebaum on Fabian Espindola; Bill Hamid on CJ Sapong; Bobby Shuttleworth on Aaron Schoenfeld; Joe Bendik on Robbie Keane; Jon Busch prevents near own-goal; Clint Irwin on Osvaldo Alonso from distance; Evan Bush on Quincy Amarikwa; and Nick Rimando’s penalty-kick save.
There was Oscar Pareja’s shove on Martyn Pert,
Controversy
The referees did their best to stay out of the limelight, but still, there were more than a few debatable calls:
Blas Perez was ruled offside, quashing a Dallas comeback before it had begun. So too was Montreal’s Jack McInerney, who appeared to find a breakthrough in Chicago.
Tim Cahill’s red card seemed a little harsh, while Pablo Pintos fully deserved his.
Should a
And was Rich Balchan’s foul that led to Chivas’ penalty kick actually outside the area?
Upcoming Fixtures
A pair of critical midweek matches as Toronto and Houston are desperate for the full points, while Portland will look to do a four-day double over San Jose to leap over Vancouver for the final spot in the West.
The weekend brings with it a full slate of nine matches, with a pair of Friday fixtures, five on Saturday, and two on Sunday. The latest installment of the Cascadia series between Seattle and Vancouver looks good, as does that New York-Toronto match; same goes for Dallas-LA on Sunday.
Wednesday: Toronto-Houston; Portland-San Jose. Friday: Kansas City-Chicago; Seattle-Vancouver. Saturday: Montreal-New England; Philadelphia-Columbus; New York-Toronto; Salt Lake-San Jose; Chivas-Colorado. Sunday: Houston-DC; Dallas-Los Angeles.
All video & quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
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