Week 8 of MLS action happened this weekend with 18 teams playing this round of fixtures with Montreal Impact once again not playing due to preparing for their home leg of the CONACAF Champions League after drawing 1-1 in the Azteca Stadium last Wednesday night.
The game of the week saw Houston Dynamo at home against Sporting Kansas City. Krisztian Nemeth opened the scoring for Kansas City in the 3rd before Englishman Giles Barnes scored past SKC keeper Luis Marin on the half-volley. Dynamo took and extended the lead either side of half time with Will Bruin giving them the lead before Barnes added a 3rd just after the break to give them a good grip of the game. Dom Dwyer reduced the deficit before Benny Feihaber scored from the spot after a handball from Nemeth’s shot by Jermaine Taylor, the latter being sent off in the process. That wasn’t the end of the drama as Houston took the lead again as defender Raul Rodriguez headed home a free kick from skipper Brad Davis before Feihaber again equalised in stoppage time to share the points.
The next match saw Columbus Crew host Philadephia Union. Kei Kamara, on his 200th MLS appearance, opened the scoring for the home team from Ethan Finlay’s cross before Finlay himself opening his account for the season by getting on the end of cross from Waylon Francis. The game would be all over as a contest as Justin Meram waive between defenders and put the ball past John McCarthy in the Union goal. 18 year old Eric Ayuk did get the Union on the score-sheet with a header (his 1st career goal) before a 2nd Finlay goal from Kamara’s run and pass.
Also on Saturday, we saw Real Salt Lake travel to New England to play the Revolution but it was a nightmare from minute 1. The hosts dominated the game and it was a surprise that it took until 5 minutes from the break to open the scoring through a Chris Tierney curling effort from the edge of the area. It was 2-0 before the break as Charlie Davies’ shot was palmed by Jeff Attinella straight into the path of Juan Agudelo before Davies added the 3rd just after the break heading home a Scott Caldwell cross. Caldwell added a 4th 6 minutes from time from the edge of the area after Attinella kept out Steve Neumann. This result extended the Revs unbeaten streak to 6 whilst extending RSL’s goalless streak to 3 games.
Round-Up:
The round-up starts with Friday night’s action with Chicago hosting New York City and FC Dallas travelling to Colorado Rapids. David Accam scored the only goal for Chicago in their game in the 20th minute before New York midfielder Andrew Jacobson was sent off for bringing down Accam a few minutes later. In Colorado, Mauro Diaz gave the visitors the lead but it was a red card for Blas Perez on the hour mark that cost them the game as Nick LaBrocca equalised late for the Rapids.
Sunday’s opening game saw the Red Bulls host LA Galaxy. Bradford Jamieson opened the scoring for the Galaxy in the first half with his 1st MLS goal after beating 2 players, firing the ball past home keeper Luis Robles before a scrappy equaliser saw Bradley Wright-Phillips’ shot rebound of the head of Felipe with the Brazilian knowing little about his first goal for the Red Bulls. We also saw Orlando host Toronto at the Rose Bowl with the away side coming away with the win after 2 goals from Jozy Altidore.
The final 2 games saw Portland travel to Seattle and overall leaders Vancouver host DC United. Clint Dempsey scored the only goal of the game as Seattle beat Portland with, in the other game, Pedro Morales opening the scoring for Vancouver before goals from Bobby Boswell and Chris Rolfe gave DC the win.
Weekend Results:
Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):
Wed 29th 19:30 – New York RB vs Colorado
Wed 29th 20:00 – Montreal Impact (1) vs Club America (1) CONACAF Champions League
Fri 1st 20:00 – Houston vs FC Dallas
Fri 1st 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs San Jose
Sat 2nd 16:00 – Philadelphia vs Toronto
Sat 2nd 19:00 – DC United vs Columbus
Sat 2nd 19:30 – New England vs New York RB
Sat 2nd 22:30 – LA Galaxy vs Colorado
Sat 2nd 22:30 – Portland vs Vancouver
Sun 3rd 17:00 – Sporting KC vs Chicago
Sun 3rd 19:00 – New York City vs Seattle
Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):
Eastern Conference:
New England 14 pts (10/7/+3) 8 played
DC United 14 pts (8/6/+2) 7 played
New York RB 12 pts (10/5/+5) 6 played
Columbus 11 pts (12/6/0) 7 played
Chicago 9 pts (6/7/-1) 6 played
Orlando City 8 pts (6/10/-4) 8 played
Toronto 6 pts (10/11/-1) 6 played
New York City 6 pts (5/7/-2) 8 played
Philadelphia 6 pts (10/17/-7) 9 played
Montreal 2 pts (2/6/-4) 4 played
Western Conference:
Vancouver 16 pts (11/9/+2) 9 played
FC Dallas 14 pts (11/11/0) 8 played
Seattle 13 pts (10/5/+5) 7 played
LA Galaxy 12 pts (9/8/+1) 8 played
Houston 10 pts (10/8/+2) 8 played
Sporting KC 10 pts (11/12/-1) 8 played
San Jose 9 pts (7/9/-2) 7 played
Portland 9 pts (7/8/-1) 8 played
Real Salt Lake 9 pts (6/9/-3) 7 played
Colorado 7 pts (6/6/0) 7 played
Top Scorers:
=1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 5
=1 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 5
=3 Giles Barnes (Houston) 4
=3 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 4
=3 Blas Perez (FC Dallas) 4
=6 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 3
=6 Fernando Ariesteguieta (Philadelphia) 3
=6 Fabian Castillo (FC Dallas) 3
=6 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 3
=6 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 3
=6 Kaka (Orlando) 3
=6 Justin Meram (Columbus) 3
=6 Krisztian Nemeth (Kansas City) 3
=6 Lloyd Sam (Red Bulls) 3
=6 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 3
The Footy Diary 