FC Dallas gain some independence on July 4th by moving clear in the West with a win over Chivas USA, while Collin Samuel's first MLS strike gave Toronto FC its first ever league road win.

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UNITED LEAPS TO EAST SUMMIT
Kansas City swarmed the DC United net for much of the match, but Troy Perkins' eight saves allowed Luciano Emilio's first half strike to boost the visitors to the Eastern perch as an Independence Day winner.

The Wizards squeezed off 21 shots, but came up empty on the scoreboard for the second time in three games. United, meanwhile, have now won seven of nine.

Davy Arnaud rocked the away woodwork with a free kick after eight minutes, then tested Perkins again on the run 10 minutes later. The United keeper then foiled Ryan Pore on back-to-back advances near the half hour.

Seven minutes before the interval, Christian Gomez forced a top notch save from KC netminder Kevin Hartman. The match appeared headed into the locker room scoreless, but Emilio had time to grab his eighth of the season.

Clyde Simms flicked a right-side header for Fred, who slipped his countryman into the area for a left riser past Hartman.

Five minutes out of the break, Yura Movsisyan put a scare into DC, but his effort only found the post. Perkins then performed stops on Carlos Marinello and Scott Sealy past the hour.

In what was a very physical game, FC Dallas defeated visiting Chivas USA by a score of 2-0 thanks to goals from substitutes Ramon Núñez and Dominic Oduro.

Early on, Chivas looked the side more likely to score. In the 20th minute, Laurent Merlin was one-on-one with Dario Sala, but his shot went straight at the FC Dallas keeper.

One minute later, John Cunliffe received a ball from the dangerous Merlin inside the box, but his shot to the near post hit the woodwork and went out for a goal kick.

The scoring was opened in the 41st minute by Ramon Núñez, who had come on for the injured Marcelo Saragosa 12 minutes in. On the top of the box, Núñez received an Arturo Alvarez ball, which he curled into the upper left corner.

In the first five minutes of the second half, Carlos Ruiz and Núñez each had chances to extend the lead, but they both fired over.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, John Cunliffe nearly tied the game by chipping Sala from distance. Unfortunately for Chivas, the shot landed on top of the goal instead of inside it.

Dominic Oduro then sealed the game for FC Dallas in the 86th minute. The rookie striker took a pass from Pablo Ricchetti and slotted it inside the near post from the top of the eighteen.

Dallas, now Western leaders by six, are idle this weekend, while Preki's men look to rebound at New England on Saturday.

Scoring
FCD - Ramón Núñez 3 (Arturo Alvarez) 41'
FCD - Dominic Oduro 3 (Pablo Ricchetti) 86'

Line-ups
CHV - Preston Burpo; Lawson Vaughn (Rodrigo Lopez 62'), Jason Hernandez, Shavar Thomas, Orlando Perez; Alex Zotinca, Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza, John Cunliffe (Ante Razov 62'), Maykel Galindo, Laurent Merlin (Anthony Hamilton 79')

FCD - Dario Sala; Bobby Rhine, Clarence Goodson, Aaron Pitchkolan, David Wagenfuhr; Arturo Alvarez (Chris Gbandi 80'), Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa (Ramon Núñez 12'), Juan Carlos Toja, Abe Thompson (Dominic Oduro 62'), Carlos Ruiz

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RAPIDS HALT CREW WIN STREAK
There were no fireworks on the field at Dick's Sporting Goods Park as the Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew played to a goalless draw on Independence Day.

The first chance of the game came to Colorado in the fourth minute when Jovan Kirovski crossed from the endline, and a sliding Nicolas Hernandez barely missed putting the ball into an open net.

Twenty minutes from the half, Alejandro Moreno had the first chance for Columbus, but his shot from inside the box went straight at Bouna Coundoul.

Two minutes later, Coundoul misread a cross and Moreno was able to direct the ball towards the open net, but Colin Clarke kept his position on the post to clear.

Four minutes after the break, Colin Clark had an open shot from the top of the box which sailed over the crossbar.

In the 84th minute, Jacob Thomas looked set to score as he broke in on goal from the right, but Coundoul was up to the task again as he stopped the point blank shot.

Colorado's winless streak extended to seven games, while Columbus saw their three-game win streak come to an end.

Both teams will look to get back on the score sheet this weekend. Columbus hosts Real Salt Lake on Saturday and Colorado is home on Sunday against New York.

Line-ups
CLB - Will Hesmer; Frankie Hejduk, Marcos Gonzalez, Rusty Pierce, Chad Marshall; Danny O'Rourke, Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Andy Herron 76), Ned Grabavoy, Ezra Hendrickson (Stefani Miglioranzi 68); Kei Kamara (Jacob Thomas 59), Alejandro Moreno

COL - Bouna Coundoul; Dan Gargan, Facundo Erpen, Ugo Ihemelu, Brandon Prideaux; Terry Cooke (Nico Colaluca 73), Jovan Kirovski, Daniel Wasson, Colin Clark (Omar Cummings 81), Nicolas Hernandez; Jacob Peterson

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TORONTO FC BREAK ROAD DUCK
Jeff Cunningham helped lead Toronto FC to a 2-1 win over former club Real Salt Lake on July 4th.

Robbie Findley almost put Salt Lake on top in the sixth minute, but his shot deflected off the post.

Cunningham gave Toronto the lead when he fired a flicked header from Danny Dichio off both the right and left posts into the back of the net.

Real Salt Lake tied up the score in the 45th minute off a goal from Alecko Eskandarian. The former Toronto FC striker won a penalty when he was taken down in the box, and then proceeded to hammer the spot kick into the bottom right corner.

Eskandarian almost bagged his second when he was in on keeper Scott Reynolds, but the rookie smothered the attempt.

Toronto regained the lead for good in the 79th minute.

Trinidad & Tobago international Collin Samuel was taken down in the box by Jean-Martial Kipre. Like Eskandarian, Samuel took the penalty that he earned and powered it into the right corner.

With four minutes left, Jamie Watson nearly tied the game when he chipped substitute goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic, but the attempt hit the cross bar and went out of bounds.

The game was a very heated affair which saw six yellow cards handed out and a near-fight between former teammates Andy Williams and Cunningham at halftime.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday with RSL away to Columbus and Toronto traveling to Chicago.

Scoring
TFC - Jeff Cunningham 6 (Danny Dichio) 19'
RSL - Alecko Eskandarian 2 (PK) 45'
TFC - Collin Samuel 1 (PK) 79'

Line-ups
TFC - Sam Reynolds (Srdjan Djekanovic 85'); Chris Pozniak, Jim Brennan, Tyrone Marshall, Todd Dunivant, Ronnie O'Brien, Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Collin Samuel, Jeff Cunningham (Andy Welsh 49'), Danny Dichio

RSL - Nick Rimando; Jean-Martial Kipre, Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart, Ritchie Kotschau, Carey Talley, Atiba Harris, Andy Williams (Jamie Watson 73'), Mehdi Ballouchy, Robbie Findley (Kyle Brown 70'), Alecko Eskandarian

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DONOVAN ON THE SPOT FOR LA
Returning US international Landon Donovan continued his Gold Cup penalty mastery with a spot double to defeat Chicago 2-0 at the Home Depot Center on Independence Day.

The 25-year old Galaxy star was given free license to undergo his obsessive routine of taps, touches and kisses of every knuckle and arm-partition bestowed upon him by nature after Chris Armas sloppily brought down midfielder Kyle Martino in the box. With the ref pointing to the spot 16 minutes into the game, Donovan slotted away coolly.

Chicago struggled in attack amidst the absence of creative trio Justin Mapp, Chris Rolfe and Mexico cult hero Cuauhtémoc Blanco, as the side mustered a paltry two shots over the full 90 minutes, neither of which was on target.

They were made to pay the price for a lack of attacking prowess and sentenced to a loss after Martino was brought down box-side once more, this time rather theatrically, with Donovan composing himself at the spot for a second strike in the 87th minute.

While both penalty decisions carried an air of controversy, the lop-sidedness of the attacking play gave Joe Cannon a deserved third clean sheet of the season.

The loss shackles Denis Hamlett's men below Toronto FC into last place of the Eastern Conference, with little respite in sight. Meanwhile, three-points in the bag for David Beckham's soon-to-be team adds some distance as the LA clubs continues to inch its way out of the bottom basement of the West, leaving Real Salt Lake in its wake.

Donovan and his movie-star pals host a newly impotent Kansas City Wizards on Saturday, while the Windy City's finest get a shot at redemption against Canadian new-boys Toronto FCthe same day.

Scoring
LA - Landon Donovan 3 (PK) 16'
LA - Landon Donovan 4 (PK) 87'

CHI - Jon Busch; Dasan Robinson (Bruno Menezes 46'), C.J. Brown, Diego Gutierrez, Gonzalo Segares, Calen Carr (Thiago 70'), Chris Armas, Logan Pause, Ivan Guerrero, Chad Barrett (Willian Oliveira 80'), Floyd Franks

LA - Joe Cannon; Chris Klein, Ty Harden, Abel Xavier, Ante Jazic, Cobi Jones (Carlos Pavon 56'), Kelly Gray, Peter Vagenas, Kyle Martino (Quavas Kirk 90'), Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle (Gavin Glinton 73')