Week 6 of MLS action happened this weekend with 18 teams playing this round of fixtures. We see the top 2 in the Eastern Conference clash as leaders DC United host New York Red Bulls whilst Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps travel to California to face San Jose Earthquakes. There was a bonus mid-week match with Vancouver drawing 2-2 at home to Columbus (Octavio Rivero and Darren Mattocks for the home side after Kei Kamara twice gave Columbus the lead).
Back to the weekend’s action now where winless Colorado travelled to FC Dallas on Friday night. Colorado had not scored in 600 minutes, 18 winless streak and 14 away games since a win (the same week of last year) so it was a massive surprise to see them take the lead inside 2 minutes through Dominique Badji. They extended the lead just before half time with Dillon Powers before second half goals from Gabriel Torres and sub Dillon Serna condemned FCD to back-to-back defeats and gave Rapids keeper Clint Irwin his 4th clean sheet of the season.
On to the game with DC United hosting New York Red Bulls. DC took the lead as a Taylor Kemp corner was prodded home by Perry Kitchen from 6 yards out. Defensive midfielder Kitchen doubled his and DCU’s tally with a placed finish from the edge of the area. Red Bulls hit back within a minute of the second with Damien Perrinelle heading home a corner before Lloyd Sam’s third goal of the season gave NYRB a 90th minute equaliser.
Champions League finalists Montreal Impact travelled to Houston to play the Dynamo. Giles Barnes opened the scoring for Dynamo as the former Derby County attacker glanced in a free kick from captain Brad Davis into the far post. They extended the lead 20 minutes from the end when sub Rob Lovejoy got in behind the defence on the Houston left crossed in for Ricardo Clark to score from close range. They also added a third in the 80th minute as Lovejoy came in off the left before finishing past Evan Bush as Montreal’s game next week against Chicago Fire has been rearranged to September 23rd to give them more preparation time for their CL 1st leg against Club America a week on Wednesday.
Round-Up:
The round-up starts with New York City’s trip to Philadelphia with Zach Pfeffer and David Villa scoring for Union and City respectively before a late Vincent Nogueira goal gave the Union the win. Cyle Larin and a Kaka penalty gave Orlando a win in Portland against the Timbers.
Alan Gordon scored the only goal of the game as LA Galaxy beat Seattle at home whilst Sanna Nyassi scored the only goal of the game between San Jose and league leaders Vancouver despite red cards to Pedro Morales and Adam Jahn leaving both sides with 10 men at the end of the game.
There were also 2 0-0 games this week as New England Revolution drew at home to Columbus whilst Sporting Kansas City drew at home to Real Salt Lake.
Results:
Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):
20:30 Wed 15th – USA vs Mexico (Friendly)
19:00 Thu 16th – New York City vs Philadelphia
19:00 Fri 17th – New York RB vs San Jose
19:00 Sat 18th – DC United vs Houston
19:30 Sat 18th – Columbus vs Orlando
20:30 Sat 18th – Dallas vs Toronto
21:00 Sat 18th – Colorado vs Seattle
21:30 Sat 18th – Real Salt Lake vs Vancouver
22:30 Sat 18th – LA Galaxy vs Kansas City
17:00 Sun 19th – Philadelphia vs New England
19:00 Sun 19th – New York City vs Portland
Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):
Eastern Conference:
DC United 10 pts (5/4/+1) 5 played
New York RB 8 pts (7/4/+3) 4 played
Orlando City 8 pts (6/5/+1) 6 played
New England 8 pts (4/6/-2) 6 played
Chicago 6 pts (5/7/-2) 5 played
Columbus 5 pts (5/5/0) 5 played
New York City 5 pts (4/4/0) 5 played
Philadelphia 5 pts (7/10/-3) 6 played
Toronto 3 pts (6/8/-2) 4 played
Montreal 2 pts (2/6/-4) 4 played
Western Conference:
Vancouver 13 pts (9/7/+2) 7 played
FC Dallas 10 pts (7/8/-1) 6 played
San Jose 9 pts (7/7/0) 6 played
Real Salt Lake 9 pts (6/4/+2) 5 played
Sporting KC 9 pts (6/6/0) 6 played
Houston 8 pts (5/3/+2) 6 played
LA Galaxy 8 pts (6/6/0) 6 played
Seattle 7 pts (6/4/+2) 5 played
Colorado 6 pts (4/2/+2) 5 played
Portland 6 pts (6/7/-1) 6 played
Top Scorers:
1 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 5
=2 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 3
=2 Fernando Ariesteguieta (Philadelphia) 3
=2 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 3
=2 Kaka (Orlando) 3
=2 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 3
=2 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 3
=2 Blas Perez (FC Dallas) 3
=2 Lloyd Sam (Red Bulls) 3
=2 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 3
The Footy Diary 