MLS round-up – 15 May 2012

In the first of Wednesday’s games, New York Red Bulls won 1-0 for the third time in a row against Houston Dynamo, who made it 5 games in a row without a win.

Kenny Cooper bagged his 8th goal of the season after Dynamo defender Corey Ashe played a poor pass back to goalkeeper Tally Hall, who could only clear straight into the onrushing Cooper. The ball deflected off Cooper and into the empty net to give Red Bulls a 7th minute lead. New York managed to hold on to the lead for the rest of the game, despite constant pressure from Houston, who were playing in only their seventh game of the season (most other teams had played 9 or 10 by then). The win kept Red Bulls within touching distance of East leaders Sporting Kansas, who was just 2 points ahead after this game. Houston, meanwhile, was still in 7th, but only 4 points off of 4th position.

Seattle Sounders built on 2 victories last week with a comfortable 2-0 victory over a faltering FC Dallas, who fell to their second consecutive 2-0 loss. It was an eventful game, but Sounders finally broke the deadlock after 68 minutes when substitute Fredy Montero got a couple of lucky deflections in the box and hammered the ball past Hartman at his near post. Montero then made it 2-0 in a matter of minutes when he stooped to head home from a deflected cross by Alex Caskey. The closest Dallas got to scoring after that was when star player Brek Shea sent a 25-yard daisy cutter a couple of yards wide. It should be noted that Shea was not at 100% fitness and only came on after 68 minutes in retaliation to Sounders scoring. Sounders remained in 3rd in the West after this win, 5 points ahead of Vancouver, whilst Dallas was languishing in 6^th.

The final game in midweek, between Real Salt Lake and Chicago Fire, ended in a drab 0-0 draw, with just 4 shots on target in the whole game. The best chance of the game came just 3 minutes in when Fire striker Dominic Oduro headed against the bar from just 2 yards out when it seemed easier to score. Salt Lake ‘keeper Kyle Reynish misjudged a cross from Patrick Nyarko and all Oduro had to do was head in to an open net, but he inexplicably hit the crossbar. The draw took Real joint-top of the Western Conference with the free-scoring San Jose Earthquakes, whilst Chicago Fire remained in 4th place in the Eastern Conference.

Montreal Impact continued their impressive run of form with a respectable 1-1 draw at home to Los Angeles Galaxy, making it 4 games in a row without defeat. A mammoth 60,860 fans turned out to see Impact play against the likes of Beckham and Donovan, and they were rewarded when Davy Arnaud gave Impact an 8th minute lead after a hopeful punt forward by defender Nelson Rivas. Arnaud ran onto the ball and lifted it over Galaxy stopper Perk for the lead. Both teams had chances to get the second goal of the game, but both goalkeepers were on good form to deny any chances. However after an hour, Galaxy got a free kick about 25 yards out. David Beckham stepped up and curled his shot over the wall and into the top corner to make it 1-1. Whilst the 60,000+ fans will have wanted Montreal to walk away with victory, I’m sure they won’t have minded too much seeing one of the goals of the season. The draw meant Montreal were 4th in East, but have since gone down to 6th due to other results. Galaxy’s poor form meant they are still languishing in 7th position in West, having won just 3 of their last 10 games.

Before Saturday, Houston Dynamo had not played at home all season, with good reason; they were getting a new stadium built. Finally on Saturday, they could play in it. And they marked the occasion with a 1-0 triumph over D.C. United, thanks to a peach of a goal from Houston legend Brad Davis. Dynamo dominated the first half and missed 2 guilt-edge chances when defender Bobby Boswell put the ball wide from 6 yards away on a relatively tight angle, and midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson volleyed over from 12 yards away a bit later on. Davis then broke the deadlock from 25 yards out after he was given far too much time and space, and he curled the ball beautifully past ‘keeper Hamid into the top corner. Dynamo is in 7th at the moment, but will be looking to make up for their away results now that they are playing at home more. D.C. United slipped off the pace of New York Red Bulls and Sporting Kansas at the top of East with this loss.

Vancouver Whitecaps suffered a shock defeat away to New England Revolution, getting hammered 4-1 in their biggest loss of the season. This was also Revolution’s biggest win of 2012. Eric Hassli opened the scoring for Vancouver after 5 minutes when Sebastian Le Toux squared it to him in the box and he slipped it home under the ‘keeper’s legs. However Revs hit back almost immediately when Lee Nguyen fired home a minute later after a goalmouth scramble. Revs took the lead on 24 minutes when a good pass from Lee Nguyen sent striker Saer Sene through on goal, and he duly slotted it home past ‘keeper Joe Cannon. 10 minutes later, Revs had another when Shalrie Joseph had far too much space in the box and he rifled it into the bottom corner of the Whitecaps’ goal. The Revs rounded off a brilliant win with a brilliant goal in the 78th minute, the scorer being Lee Nguyen again. He received the ball from a throw-in, set himself, and volleyed home into the top corner from 30 yards out, past a stunned Joe Cannon in goal. With this loss, the Whitecaps lost touch with the top 3 in the West, whilst Revolution are still trying to get close to the East leaders.

FC Dallas, who had 2 men sent off on Wednesday, were once again reduced to 10 men as they lost 2-1 away to Columbus Crew. Dallas forward Fabian Castillo should have given the visitors a 1-0 lead early on, but he somehow managed to volley wide from 6 yards out. However he redeemed himself on 21 minutes by scoring the opening goal. Fit-again Brek Shea played the ball down the sideline, and Castillo latched on to the ball to dribble forward 40 yards before finishing past Andy Gruenebaum in goal. Both teams had chances, but Crew firmly had the upper hand when Zach Loyd was sent off after 62 minutes for his second bookable offence. The first, coming in the 41st minute, was a late challenge on midfielder Milovan Mirosevic as Crew were breaking. The second was undeniably a booking as he threw his arm across the facial area of second-half substitute Justin Meram. Crew took advantage of the extra man and were level just 4 minutes later when some scrappy midfield play was halted by Meram, who strode forward and lashed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. Their winner came just 4 minutes after that when a training-ground corner was lifted to defender Sebastian Miranda who, somewhat bizarrely, decided to try head the ball in from 20 yards out. But head the ball in he did to score the winner and give Columbus their third win of the season. Dallas meanwhile, lost their third in a row and has not won in 6.

Sporting Kansas lost their 3rd game in a row at the hands of Chicago Fire, who followed up a good result against Salt Lake in midweek with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory against the East leaders. Former Reading winger Bobby Convey gave Kansas the lead with his first goal for the club on 30 minutes. Roger Espinoza timed his run well down the right wing and he squared it to Convey, who finished well with his unflavoured right foot. The lead lasted half an hour, as Fire equalised when Oduro was rashly brought down the box by Aurelin Collin, whom he had just beaten down the left wing. Sebastian Grazzini stepped up to take the penalty and dispatched it expertly into the top right corner. Things went from bad to worse for Sporting under a minute later when Espinoza was harshly sent off for an elbow on Grazzini. He was jumped into as the Kansas player kicked the ball out, and goalscorer Grazzini went down rather theatrically. Fire didn’t care though, and pushed to find a winner. They eventually scored after 80 minutes when Kei Kamara tried to be fancy with his clearance, but just ended up being tackled 6 yards from his goal. A goalmouth scramble followed, and the ball was finally put in by Oduro to give Fire the win. The loss for Sporting means New York Red Bulls have the chance to go top if they could beat Philadelphia Union, whilst Fire are catching up on the trio of Eastern leaders, consisting of New York, Kansas and DC United.

Seattle Sounders’ five game winning streak came to an end on Saturday when they lost 1-0 at home to West leaders Real Salt Lake, who have put together a five game undefeated streak. Both teams exchanged chances, but Salt Lake got the winner on 50 minutes when Fabian Espindola was played through by Luis Gil, and he volleyed brilliantly past a gormless Bryan Meredith in goal. Real could have had another 25 minutes later when a punt forward was misjudged by the Sounders defence, but Saborio couldn’t convert his shot from the edge of the area. This win gave Salt Lake clear breathing space, 4 points, from Seattle and San Jose Earthquakes.

A fourth consecutive victory for New York Red Bulls, 3-2 over Philadelphia Union, put them top of the Eastern conference, whilst condemning Union to their third loss in a row. Joel Lindpere gave Red Bulls an early lead after some good hold-up play from Mehdi Ballouchy. Speed king Dane Richards was screaming for the ball in the box, but Ballouchy laid the ball back to Lindpere who took a touch and lashed it into the roof of the net. Philadelphia were level 15 minutes later when a good cross from Freddy Adu found the head of Lionard Pajoy, who skilfully directed his header into the roof of Meara’s net. However Adu was made to look like a fool just before half time when he was sent off for diving to try and win a penalty. He had already been booked after 5 minutes when he went in extremely late on Roy Miller. Philadelphia adjusted to the change quicker than visitors though, and scored just 20 seconds into the second half when Pajoy was played through, nutmegged Markus Holgersson, and smartly finished past Meara. Holgersson atoned for being beaten so easily when he levelled the game at 2-2 after 68 minutes. Barklage sent in a great corner, and Holgersson headed home a bullet past a stranded MacMath in net. Red Bulls weren’t quite finished yet though, and they found a winner in the 78th minute through second-highest top scorer, Kenny Cooper. Former Barcelona star Rafael Marquez lifted an inch-perfect ball over the top and Cooper chested it past the ‘keeper to score in an open goal. Union should have had an equaliser when a free kick fell into the path of right back Michael Farfan, who unbelievably missed from almost under the crossbar. Red Bulls managed to hold on though, and moved to the top of East with this win, whilst Union lost their 6th game of the season to stay in 9^th position of East, 7 points ahead of point-less Toronto FC.

The final game of the weekend saw Western top scorers San Jose Earthquakes try to stay within 1 point of the top spot of the West, with only lowly Chivas USA, currently 8th in West, standing in their way. What should have been a routine victory for league top scorer Chris Wondolowski and co. turned out to be much harder than they were expecting, as they could only draw 1-1. Chivas took an early lead in the 4th minute when right back James Riley produced a good cross on the break, which was turned in by Jose Correa, despite good pressure from the Earthquakes defence. San Jose tried relentlessly to get an equaliser, but Chivas held firm for 87 minutes of the game, until they finally succumbed to an Alan Gordon header. It was combination of the substitutes as Sam Garza, who came on in the 60th minute, provided an excellent cross for Gordon, a 57th minute change, to nod home. This result meant Salt Lake is 3 points clear at the top of the West, whilst Chivas are in 8th, 2 points off Dallas in 6th.