Major League Soccer may have officially returned on Friday night, but Saturday’s six-match slate marked the true end to the league’s World Cup break. Unfortunately for those in attendance in Columbus, weather and near-tragedy reduced the number of five, but amongst those matches was a battle between teams at the top of the league’s conferences.
That game kicked off the day’s action in Washington, D.C., where the Sounders beat Ben Olsen’s team at its own game. Elsewhere, Philadelphia made its new coach’s debut a winning one, Carl Robinson’s lineup games cost him in Colorado, while Erick Torres’s Goal of the Year candidate sunk visiting RSL.
Capping off the night, the California Clasico went to the LA Galaxy, but with over 50,000 people showing up at Stanford Stadium, Earthquakes management was still given reason to smile.
Here’s what happened on Saturday night in Major League Soccer:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYBvuX6penk]
D.C. United 0-1 Seattle Sounders
The MLS break did nothing to slow down the league-leading Sounders, who put D.C. United’s formula for success to work for themselves at RFK Stadium. With a first half goal from Chad Barrett and a defense that held the Eastern Conference co-leaders to two shots on target all night, Seattle rendered large deficits in possession (66-34, D.C.) and shots (14-5) meaningless. Unable to break the Sounders down, D.C. was handed their second home loss of the season.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTWm4o-9tdM]
New England Revolution 1-3 Philadelphia Union
That Revolution team that looked like the league’s best earlier this spring? It may be gone, even if New England still appeared dangerous at times going forward against Philadelphia. But that couldn’t prevent a major José Gonçalves error just before half time from gifting Philly the lead. With second half goals from Danny Cruz and Sebastien Le Toux (his second of the night) the Union were able to exact revenge for the 5-3 defeat they suffered to New England six weeks ago, using a lineup that featured Maurice Edu in central defense, Amobi Okugo in midfield, and Brian Carroll on the bench, to give interim boss Jim Curtin his first win as an MLS head coach.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el6d7RKQmYE]
Colorado Rapids 2-0 Vancouver Whitecaps
When Dillon Powers is on and getting help from Vicente Sanchez and Deshorn Brown, the Rapids’ attack goes from pedestrian to potent. In the first half against visiting Vancouver, that potency emerged, with Powers hitting the woodwork three minutes before giving the Rapids a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute. In the 35th minute, after Brown drew a penalty, Sánchez converted his fifth of the season from the spot, finishing the day’s scoring before Carl Robinson could get Gershon Koffie, Darren Mattocks, or Kekuta Manneh on the field. (Manneh, curiously, never got off the bench.)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjx848dyR-k]
Chivas USA 1-0 Real Salt Lake
A match of two moments was defined by 10 minutes before halftime when a wonder strike from Erick Torres* left the visiting Western Conference champions down a goal and a man, with a ninth minute, studs-up tackle from Luke Mulholland reducing RSL to 10 in the ninth minute. Though Jeff Cassar’s team would hold a huge possession edge throughout the match (57 pct.), they only put two shots on Dan Kennedy, with Jeff Attinella needing seven saves (and some help from Chris Schuler) to keep RSL within one.
* – With the goal, Torres passed Cuauhtémoc Blanco to become MLS’s all-time leader in goals by a Mexican-born player (17).
San Jose Earthquakes 0-1 LA Galaxy
From our snapshot:
In front of 50,006 at Stanford Stadium, San Jose’s attempts to leverage Steven Lenhart fail to pay off, with a series of chances in the air against an Omar Gonzalez-less defense allowing the Galaxy’s single goal to stand up. Finishing into the top of Jon Busch’s net in the 62nd minute, Gyasi Zardes delivered full points for the Earthquakes’ visiting rivals, giving LA a 1-0, California Cup victory in Palo Alto.
