MLS Weekend Review

by Andrew Wiebe - May 26, 2008

 
▪ MLS News Briefs - Week 9

New England wrested the Eastern perch from Columbus on Saturday, and then saw Chicago surpass them on Sunday, while the Galaxy used a second half turbo boost to rocket to the top of the West.

▪ Crew, Fire In for McBride
▪ Just a Little Respect
 

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REVS SQUEAK LATE WINNER
No Taylor Twellman? No Problem. Rookie forward Kheli Dube scored for the second consecutive game, bundling home Shalrie Joseph's penalty miss with one minute remaining to vault the Revolution into a points tie atop the Eastern Conference with Chicago and Columbus.

Neither team got off to a particularly strong start, with offensive chances at a premium.

Columbus registered the first real scoring chance in the 26th minute when Alejandro Moreno muscled his way into the path of veteran defender Frankie Hejduk low ball across the face of goal. The Venezuelan managed to get a shot on frame, but Matt Reis was there to deny him his fifth goal of the campaign.

Both teams traded blows with an eye towards opening the scoring, but neither could find the final breakthrough, though recent Gambia national team call-up Kenny Mansally came close in the 63rd minute. Mansally beat the Columbus defense to Joseph's pass over the top and nearly beat Will Hesmer to the ball, but could only poke it into the goalkeeper's arms.

The match looked to be headed towards a draw but New England caught a break when Crew defender Ezra Henderson took down Steve Ralston in the penalty area with a clumsy tackle.

Joseph stepped to the spot to put the game away, but Hesmer came up big parrying his attempt wide. It wasn't to be for Columbus, however, as Dube drove the rebound home to claim all three points.

Scoring
NE - Kheli Dube 2 89'

Line-ups
NE - Matt Reis; Chris Albright, Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps, Wells Thompson (Sainey Nyassi 46'), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston, Mauricio Castro (Khano Smith 79'), Kheli Dube (Amaechi Igwe 92'), Kenny Mansally

CLB - William Hesmer; Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke, Ezra Hendrickson, Eddie Gaven (Emmanuel Ekpo 83'), Brian Carroll, Brad Evans, Robbie Rogers, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Alejandro Moreno

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UNITED COMES BACK TO BEST TFC
DC United rode second half goals from Jamie Moreno and Luciano Emilio in a two-minute span to overcome a Danny Dichio brace at RFK Stadium.

Dichio opened the scoring after 13 minutes when he rose above the DC defense to head home a Jim Brennan cross as Zach Wells failed to clear the ball after coming off his line.

DC pushed forward, but couldn't covert until Gonzalo Peralta latched onto Devon McTavish's flick of Moreno's corner kick at the back post. The Argentine, returning to action after missing time because of his wife's illness, evened the scoreline, but Dichio put TFC back in the lead only five minutes later.

The hulking forward side-footed the ball with precision past Wells from just outside the penalty area and into the bottom corner to stake TFC to a halftime lead.

But DC came back in the second half determined to prevent yet another loss in their thus far lackluster season. Toronto gave up a needless penalty in the 70th minute when Marvell Wynne shoved Santino Quaranta from behind. Moreno stepped up and converted the spot kick, the 20th time he had done so in his last 21 chances.

Two minutes later, slumping forward Emilio gave United the victory when his predatory instincts took over. The Brazilian was first to the ball after Greg Sutton could only parry Quaranta's shot and poked the ball past the TFC keeper.   

Scoring
TFC - Danny Dichio 3 (Jim Brennan, Laurent Robert) 13'
DCU - Gonzalo Peralta 1 (Devon McTavish, Jaime Moreno) 41'
TFC - Danny Dichio 4 (Amado Guevara) 46'
DCU - Jaime Moreno 4 (PK) 70'
DCU - Luciano Emilio 2 72'

Line-ups
TFC - Greg Sutton; Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall (Olivier Tebily 51), Marco Velez, Jim Brennan, Rohan Ricketts (Jarrod Smith 74), Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Laurent Robert, Danny Dichio (Jeff Cunningham 75), Amado Guevara

DCU - Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Gonzalo Peralta, Gonzalo Martinez, Santino Quaranta (Domenic Mediate 88'), Marcelo Gallardo, Clyde Simms, Fred, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Marc Burch 85')

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LATE ODURO BRACE LIFTS DALLAS
Only five days after FC Dallas coach Steve Morrow's dismissal, Ghanaian Dominic Oduro scored twice in the span of eight minutes late in the second half to cancel out Fabian Espindola's goal for RSL in a 2-1 win.

Both sides ended the match with 10 men after Ian Joy and Bobby Rhine were ejected, Joy for two early cautions and Rhine for striking at the face of an opponent.

Neither side could break the goalless deadlock for the first 69 minutes, but Jason Kreis was rewarded when substitute Espindola broke down the Dallas defense. The Argentine scored his third goal of the season when he found his way onto a Javier Morales through ball and drove a low shot past Dario Sala.

RSL was forced to weather pressure from the Hoops as they pushed forward in search of an equalizer, but in the end couldn't salvage any points. Oduro's first goal came in the 83rd when he skyed above the RSL defense to head Drew Moor's superb cross past Nick Rimando.

Oduro struck yet again in stoppage time as Brazilian Andre Rocha found the lanky African in the middle of the field facing goal. Oduro cut the ball past one defender and calmly curled the ball around Sala to give FCD a much-needed victory after last weeks shellacking at the hands of the LA Galaxy. 

Scoring
RSL - Fabian Espindola 3 (Javier Morales) 69'
DAL - Dominic Oduro 2 (Drew Moor) 83'
DAL - Dominic Oduro 3 (Andre Rocha) 91'

Line-ups
RSL - Nick Rimando; Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave (Matias Mantilla 77'), Ian Joy, Dema Kovalenko, Kyle Beckerman, Andy Williams, Javier Morales, Kenny Deuchar (Fabian Espindola 54'), Robbie Findley (Kenny Cutler 46')

FCD - Dario Sala; Drew Moor, Duilio Davino, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine, Andre Rocha, Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa, Anthony Wallace (Arturo Alvarez 69'), Abe Thompson (Dominic Oduro 65'), Kenny Cooper

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CHIVAS USA TAKES FULL POINTS
Sueno MLS glory continued for Chivas USA as the Goats held off the Colorado Rapids 2-1 by virtue of strikes from MLS original Jesse Marsch and contest prince Jorge Flores.

Rapid's forward Tom McManus scored a sensational long range goal in the 80th minute, but Colorado couldn't take advantage of eight shots on goal compared to Chivas' three.

Colorado got the better of the game's early chances, but Marsch opened Chivas' account just before halftime. The veteran midfielder received a pass from Justin Braun in the box, cut back past his defender and curled a shot inside Bouna Coundoul's far post.

Sueno winner and recent Unites States National Team Under-20 call-up, scored his second goal in two games in the 79th minute when Carey Talley picked the young midfielder out with a long diagonal ball into the box. Flores took the chance brilliantly, heading powerfully past a hopeless Coundoul.

The two-goal cushion was short-lived as McManus scored what may be the goal of the season thus far. After receiving the ball nearly 30 yards from goal, the former Dunfermline man turned and struck a magnificent shot that swerved past the diving Brad Guzan.

Scoring
CHV - Jesse Marsch 3 (Justin Braun) 45'
CHV - Jorge Flores 2 (Carey Talley) 79'
COL - Tom McManus 2 80'

Line-ups
CHV - Brad Guzan; Paulo Nagamura, Bobby Burling, Jim Curtin, Carey Talley, Sacha Kljestan, Jorge Flores, Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza, Justin Braun (Eric Ebert 88'), Atiba Harris (Ante Razov 70')

COL - Bouna Coundoul; Kosuke Kimura, Ugo Ihemelu, Facundo Erpen, Jacob Peterson (Tom McManus 58'), Christian Gomez (Conor Casey 84'), Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni (Rafael Gomes 53'), Colin Clark, Omar Cummings, Herculez Gomez

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SECOND HALF EXPLOSION PROPELS LA
Second half goals from Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and David Beckham canceled out Claudio Lopez's first half strike to send the Los Angeles Galaxy to the top of the Western Conference on 14 points.

Kansas City bossed the match in the first half and was unlucky to only enter halftime with a one-goal advantage. Donovan and Wizard's forward Scott Sealy missed chances before 'El Piojo' sent Kansas City ahead.

Lopez opened the scoring in the 40th minute when the former Club America man took possession 10 yards outside the penalty area and finished off a magnificent run by driving a shot past Steve Cronin.

Despite the 1-nil halftime advantage for the second straight game, the Wizards couldn't hold on for the three points once again. Donovan evened the score from the penalty spot in the 54th after Tyson Wahl took him down in the box.

Twenty minutes later the red-hot Edson Buddle sent the home team ahead after Donovan slotted him through on goal. Buddle beat the onrushing Kevin Hartman to send LA ahead for good.

Hartman was beaten one final time in stoppage time when 'El Gato' came forward for a late corner kick, leading to a spectacular goal from Beckham. After the corner was cleared, Beckham found himself alone facing an open goal. He made no mistake, sending a 70-yard shot bouncing into Hartman's open net.

Scoring
KC - Claudio Lopez 3 40'
LA - Landon Donovan 9 (PK) 54'
LA - Edson Buddle 4 (Landon Donovan 6, Alan Gordon 4) 74'
LA - David Beckham 4 94'

Line-ups
KC - Kevin Hartman; Chance Myers (Ivan Trujillo 83'), Jimmy Conrad, Tyson Wahl, Michael Harrington, Davy Arnaud (Eloy Colombano 75'), Jack Jewsbury, Carlos Marinelli, Sasha Victorine (Kurt Morsink 75'), Claudio Lopez, Scott Sealy

LA - Steve Cronin; Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Abel Xavier, Greg Vanney, David Beckham, Alvaro Pires, Brandon McDonald (Alan Gordon 55'), Joe Franchino (Ely Allen 41'), Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan (Carlos Ruiz 84')

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FIRE EXACT NYRB REVENGE
Fire fans still bitter about Juan Carlos Osorio's exit to New York got something to be happy about as Osorio's former charges destroyed his new team 5-1.

Cuauhtémoc Blanco scored and notched three assists as Chad Barrett registered a brace, and Chris Rolfe and Gonzalo Segares scored a goal each. Jozy Altidore was curiously left on the bench by Osorio and came on to score a late consolation goal, but it couldn't prevent the embarrassment of the previous 75 minutes.

Barrett's first came in the eighth minute when Blanco found him with a perfectly-weighted ball over the top of New York's back line. The young American made no mistake, staking the Fire to an early advantage that would grow as time went on.

Neither side managed a goal until after halftime when Chicago's offensive barrage began in earnest. The Fire scored four goals in the matter of 14 minutes with the first coming from a Rolfe header off another Blanco cross.

Blanco made it 3-0 from the penalty spot after Justin Mapp was taken down in the box in the 55th minute.

Mapp and Blanco then helped feed Barrett for his second. Mapp's low cross was weakly headed past Jon Conway who should have done better on the play.

Left back Gonzalo Segares finished the onslaught after Wilman Conde's header off Blanco's corner rebounded off the crossbar and into the path of Segares, who put the ball in the back of the net.

Things got chippy in the 67th when Bakary Soumare, Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel got in a shoving match near the top of the Fire penalty area.

The mood calmed, and Altidore brought one back in the 74th when he scored from Hunter Freeman's corner kick.

The victory sent Chicago into a three-way tie atop the Eastern Conference with the Columbus Crew and New England Revolution while New York sits on 12 points from eight games.

Scoring
CHI - Chad Barrett 3 (Cuauhtémoc Blanco) 8'
CHI - Chris Rolfe 2 (Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Bakary Soumare) 48'
CHI - Cuauhtémoc Blanco 4 (PK) 55'
CHI - Chad Barrett 4 (Justin Mapp, Cuauhtémoc Blanco) 60'
CHI - Gonzalo Segares 1 62'
NYRB - Jozy Altidore 3 (Hunter Freeman) 74'

Line-ups
CHI - Jon Busch; Brandon Prideaux, Diego Gutierrez, Gonzalo Segares, Bakary Soumare, Chris Rolfe (Stephen King 66'), Wilman Conde, Logan Pause, Justin Mapp (Tomasz Frankowski 71'), Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chad Barrett (Daniel Woolard 78')

NYRB - Jon Conway; Hunter Freeman, Andrew Boyens, Jeff Parke, Kevin Goldthwaite, Dane Richards (Jozy Altidore 55'), Carlos Mendes (Mike Magee 55'), Claudio Reyna (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 79'), Luke Sassano, Danleigh Borman, Juan Pablo Angel

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