MLS Thursday Review

by David Berger - April 4, 2008

 
▪ MLS News Briefs: From Net to Net

David Beckham celebrated his first MLS regular season goal in a winning cause, while Chicago took the Revs out to the Toyota Park woodshed.

▪ MLS News Briefs: From Net to Net
▪ MLS Weekend Review
 

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CHICAGO THWARTS NEW ENGLAND
The Chicago Fire defeated the New England Revolution at Toyota Park by a decisive 4-0 score line on Thursdsay night.

An early red card and four Fire goals in the first half gave the Revs no chance of making a come back.

In the fourth minute, Chicago midfielder Justin Mapp found Chad Barrett near the penalty spot and the forward beat New England keeper Matt Reis, who had no chance of stopping the left-footed shot.

New England did not recover well as Revs defender Jeff Larentowicz received a questionable red card in the seventh minute for a tackle on Brandon Prideaux.

In the 22nd minute, Mexico midfielder Cuauhtémoc Blanco centered for Barrett, who battled with Revs defender Michael Parkhurst before getting the ball into the six-yard box, where Tomasz Frankowski was able to knock it into the net for a 2-0 lead.

Chicago continued to dominate and went up three in the 37th minute. Mapp raced downfield and into the penalty box to be fouled from behind by New England's Sainey Nyassi. A penalty was awarded and Blanco converted it.

Only two minutes later, the Fire struck for the fourth time. Blanco's long ball found Barrett, who was alone outside the box. Barrett then passed it to Frankowski, who had no problem putting it into the net for his second goal of the night.

Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch did a good job to keep the clean sheet, but he was not challenged too many times.

The Fire are now 1-1-0 while New England is 1-0-1. New England visits Kansas City on Wednesday, while Chicago visits San Jose next Saturday.

Scoring
CHI - Chad Barrett 1 (Justin Mapp) 4'
CHI - Tomasz Frankowski 1 22'
CHI - Cuauhtémoc Blanco 2 (PK) 37'
CHI - Tomasz Frankowski 2 (Chad Barrett) 39'

Line-ups
CHI - Jon Busch; Brandon Prideaux, Gonzalo Segares, Diego Gutierrez, Justin Mapp, Logan Pause, Bakary Soumare, Tomasz Frankowski (Stephen King 46'), Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chad Barrett (Calen Carr 72'), Chris Rolfe (John Thorrington 86')

NE - Matt Reis; Chris Albright, Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Khano Smith (Gary Flood 12'), Sainey Nyassi, Abdoulie Mansally (Chase Hilgenbrinck 39'), Mauricio Castro, Adam Cristman (Kheli Dube 72')

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BECKHAM'S FIRST MLS GOAL LIFTS LA

The Los Angeles Galaxy welcomed the San Jose Earthquakes back to the MLS by defeating them 2-0 at The Home Depot Center.

It looks as though San Jose had taken the lead in the second minute when Ryan Cochrane scored off of Ronnie O'Brien's free kick but Cochrane was ruled offside.

David Beckham scored his first goal in a MLS match in the ninth minute to put LA ahead 1-0. US international Landon Donovan played in for Beckham, who was all alone. The #23 shirt fired under the onrushing Cannon to find the back of the net.

The Galaxy went ahead by two in the 37th minute, thanks to another Beckham-Donovan combination. The England international lobbed in a ball and Donovan beat the defenders to get to it before chipping over Cannon.

The hosts should have went ahead by three late in the half off of a beautiful Beckham free kick, but Álvaro Pires headed the ball wide.

Kei Kamara tried to get one back for the Earthquakes early in the second half, but his shot from about 16 yards out was well saved by Galaxy keeper Steve Cronin.

In the 64th minute, Donovan put a nice ball in for Alan Gordon, who was in a fantastic position to score, but shot directly at the keeper's feet. Gordon also had a one-on-one in the box later on, but lost his footing and fell down.

The Galaxy are now 1-0-1 and the Earthquakes are 0-0-1. San Jose hosts the Chicago Fire next Saturday, a day before the Galaxy hosts Toronto FC.

Scoring
LA - David Beckham 1 (Landon Donovan) 9'
LA - Landon Donovan 1 (David Beckham) 37'

Line-ups
LA - Steve Cronin; Greg Vanney, Mike Randolph (Michael Gavin 87'), David Beckham, Chris Klein, Álvaro Pires, Sean Franklin, Brandon McDonald, Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon, Ely Allen

SJ - Joe Cannon; Nick Garcia, Ryan Cochrane, Jason Hernandez, James Riley, Ramiro Corrales, Ronnie O'Brien, Ned Grabavoy (Ryan Johnson 85'), Ivan Guerrero (John Cunliffe 68'), Shea Salinas (Gavin Glinton 58'), Kei Kamara

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