Red Bulls, Impact claim surprise wins in Week 10

New York Red Bulls got revenge for last year’s playoff defeat to LA Galaxy by beating them 1-0 in Los Angeles.

Joel Lindpere scored the only goal when he was played in by Solli and duly finished over Galaxy ‘keeper Gaudette. New York were clearly missing star striker Thierry Henry upfront as they only had one shot on target all game, but they held on to claim their second straight win.

New-boys Montreal Impact have suffered a torrid start to the season, but they won their second game in a row, just their third win all season, with a 2-0 win away to East leaders Sporting Kansas. Impact midfielder Felipe gave them the lead after half an hour when his thunderous, curling shot from 30-yards flew past Jimmy Nielsen in the Kansas goal. Nielsen got a hand to it, but could not stop it. Impact doubled their lead after an hour when a surging run from Lamar Neagle culminated in him being brought down in the area by Aurélien Collin. Bernier dutifully dispatched the resulting penalty into the top corner. This defeat was Sporting’s second in 2 games, after winning its first 7 games of the season.

In one of Wednesday’s 3 games, San Jose Earthquakes recorded a goal filled 5-3 win over D.C. United. DC talisman Dwayne De Rosario opened the scoring in the 8th minute with a 25-yard cracker after a long, jinking run from beyond the halfway line by Danny Cruz, but San Jose hit back almost immediately. A long ball towards Moreno in the box resulted in him having two shots blocked, but the second shot fell nicely to Lenhart who powered home for the equaliser on 18 minutes. 2 minutes later the Earthquakes had the lead when Dawkins poked the ball through to an offside-looking Wondolowski, who finished with ease from 6 yards out. After 30 minutes, a corner was headed out by the DC defence, only for it to fall to the feet of defender Justin Morrow who volleyed it past keeper Willis.

DC were nearly back in it when De Rosario had an overhead kick fantastically saved by Earthquakes ‘keeper Busch, but striker Chris Pontius inexplicably put the rebound wide from just three yards out. On 64 minutes, De Rosario found Najar on the right touchline, who whipped in a fantastic cross for left-back Woolard to superbly head home. Once again, San Jose hit back quickly, this time Wondolowski heading home for his 10th of the season after a good cross from Beitashour. They then made it 5 a few minutes later when a 30 yard left-footed drive from Chavez hit the bar, and Lenhart was there to chest in the rebound and make the game safe. DC grabbed a third with a couple of minutes left when De Rosario played an inch perfect ball into the box and Salihi was there to bundle it home. DC’s loss meant their unbeaten streak ended at 7 games and was just their second defeat of the season, whereas San Jose increased their own unbeaten streak to 7.

Galaxy also had a game on Wednesday before their loss to Red Bulls on Saturday. They also did not fare very well, losing 2-0 away to Seattle Sounders. David Beckham was rested for the reigning MLS champions, who slumped to a 4th loss in what is an awful season by their standards. Eddie Johnson headed home for Sounders in the 40th minute when Rosales provided a superb cross for him, and Johnson scored after some shocking keeping from Gaudette. The header was almost straight at him but somehow it bounced over him. Montero gave Sounders a 2-0 lead 3 minutes after half time when his 35-yard rocket flew past Gaudette for what must be a goal of the season candidate. The win kept Sounders just 3 points behind West leaders San Jose, whilst Galaxy remained third bottom of West

The remaining game on Wednesday was between New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids, in which Revs came out 2-1 winners. Castrillon opened the scoring for Rapids in the 20th minute when he expertly headed in Rivero’s in-swinging corner. The lead barely lasted 7 minutes though when a cross was headed down by McCarthy into the path of Revs striker Sene, who found himself 6 yards out with acres of room and buried his shot past the despairing Pickens. Cardenas scored the winner in the 38th minute of the game after he was given the ball on the edge of the area, and he brilliantly curled the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal with his weaker left foot. With that, Revs won their third game of the season and condemning Rapids to their fifth loss of the campaign.

Before the games on Saturday, there was a game on Friday as Chicago Fire and Chivas USA battled it out, resulting in a 2-1 away win for Chicago. However, it was Chivas who took a 20th minute lead when Moreno was hauled down in the penalty area chasing a cross, and the spot kick was side-footed beautifully into the bottom corner by former Aston Villa and Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel. That lead lasted just 4 minutes as Grazzini controlled the ball from a cleared corner and chipped the ball into the box. There, Fire centre back Austin Berry beat the offside trap to poke past Kennedy first time. Fire looked to be favourites as they were mustering more shots, and they finally made it count when Marco Pappa broke Chivas hearts in the 92nd minute with a left-footed laser into the bottom corner of the goal, leaving the keeper with no chance. This result left Chicago leading the Eastern chasing pack, and put Chivas just one point off the bottom spot of West.

Toronto FC lost their eighth straight game, a new MLS record, and are still yet to record a single point all season after they lost 2-0 at home to DC United. Toronto had some good chances to take the lead in this game, most notably De Guzman having a curling volley from the edge of the area saved. DC made Toronto pay for these missed chances when Pontius blasted home from 25 yards out in the 55th minute. DC almost scored a minute earlier from a corner, but the shot was cleared off the line. DC retained possession from the clearance and played Pontius in, whose shot was never in danger of being saved. United made it 2-0 with 15 minutes left after a cleared corner was headed back in by McDonald, and flicked on by King and Hamdi Salihi timed his run to perfection to make no mistake from 6 yards out. FC continued to pressure and had a goal ruled out in the 88th minute when Joao Plato mistimed his run by a split second and was caught offside. Whilst Toronto remain rooted to the bottom of East, DC are just 3 points behind leaders Sporting Kansas.

Seattle Sounders beat Philadelphia Union to win their fourth in a row and consolidate their 3rd place in the West. A single goal from Mauro Rosales was enough to seal victory for the streaking Sounders. Freddy Montero received the ball about 30 yards out and played it beautifully across the pitch to the onrushing right midfielder Rosales, who made no mistake in slotting it past the ‘keeper. This was Union’s fifth loss of the season, and it keeps them i 9th place in the East, 7 points above Toronto.

San Jose Earthquakes could not make their unbeaten streak reach 8 as they fell 2-1 to the remarkable Vancouver Whitecaps. Chris Wondolowski (who else?) opened the scoring from 6 yards out, when he headed home a superb cross from Chavez. Take nothing away from the header and cross, but Whitecaps ‘keeper Joe Cannon will feel he should have done better as the header was saveable. Vancouver drew level in the 40th minute when a free kick by Camilo Sanvezzo was headed powerfully past Earthquakes stopper Jon Busch by centre midfielder Gershon Koffie. Both teams looked like they could have won it from here on out, but Eric Hassli waited until the very last kick of the game to win it. Davide Chiumiento played a good ball to Hassli, who timed his run to beat the offside trap, and even though the ball was slightly behind him, he still managed to finish via the goalkeeper and the post. Whitecaps extended their win streak to 3 with this win and left San Jose top of West only on goal difference.

New England Revolution lost for the fourth time in 5 games after a 2-1 loss at the hands of Real Salt Lake. Revs took a surprise lead in the 20th minute when Blake Brettschneider cut in from the left wing to rifle past Rimando in the Salt Lake goal. 12 minutes later Real were level when a Kyle Beckerman cross caused all kinds of havoc in the box, before Alvaro Saborio poked home the equaliser from 10 yards out. Saborio grabbed his second of the game when a free kick from Javier Morales was pumped into the box, and Saborio rose above everyone to head in what would turn out to be the winner. Revs were given hope a couple of minutes later when Will Johnson was rightly sent off for a late challenge on midfielder Clyde Simms. However Revs could not capitalise and were soon reduced to 10 men themselves after Fernando Cardenas was harshly sent off for a late tackle on Jamison Olave. Saborio had a hat trick chance but his shot was saved by Reis in the Revs goal. Real Salt Lake climbed level with Earthquakes atop the West after this win leaving New England in mid-table in the East.

Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew battled out a 0-0 draw that did nothing to help either team. One of the better chances came in th 25th minute when Crew midfielder Milovan Mirosevic had his shot cleared well off the line by Timbers defender Mike Chabala. Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd had a chance to win it in injury time, but his header went just wide. The result meant that both teams are still languishing near the bottom of their respective conferences.

In the final game of the weekend, Colorado Rapids bounced back from Wednesday’s defeat with a 2-0 win in Dallas. Things started off badly for FC Dallas when Daniel Hernandez was booked twice in 10 minutes to reduce Dallas to 10 men. His first yellow was for dissent. After Dallas kicked the ball out so that an injured Rapids player could receive treatment, Hernandez said one too many things to the referee and was ultimately booked. He then clattered late into Rapids’ Martin Rivero, who appeared to overreact, and the ref had no choice but to give him an early bath in the 33rd minute. Just when FC Dallas thought things could not get any worse, forward Blas Perez was sent for a high foot two minutes later. He tried to pull out, but ended up scissoring his opponent, and the ref adjudged, somewhat severely, his foul was worthy off a sending off.

It took Rapids a while, but they finally managed to break the deadlock on the hour after a series of crosses resulted in Jaime Castrillon heading past Dallas shot stopper Hartman. Rapids made it 2-0 on 13 minutes when Rivero was given far too much time in the box and he slotted past Hartman with ease to ensure the points were heading back to Colorado. The win gave Rapids clear daylight over Dallas, as they only had goal difference on their side before the match, and left Dallas leading the chasing pack.