Week 23 of the 2015 MLS season occurred this weekend with 18 teams and it seems that all of the goals from the last couple of weeks have dried up.
Friday’s game of the weekend saw Portland hosting Chicago. The only goal of the game came 3 minutes into the second half when Diego Valeri’s cross deflected off goalkeeper Sean Johnson allowing Fanendo Adi to score his 10th goal of the season.
Saturday’s opening game saw Toronto host Kansas City. Benny Feilhaber gave the visitors the lead in the 22nd minute after a foul by Ahmed Kantari on Kevin Ellis whilst Michael Bradley equalised a minute later following a nice 1 touch move from 4 TFC players. SKC took the lead again as Feilhaber’s free kick was looped over Chris Konkopa whilst they Akubo slid in Jacob Peterson for their third as the former Toronto forward scored across the keeper.
The next game saw Orlando City host Philadelphia Union. In a goalless affair, Sebastian Le Toux was the closest to breaking the deadlock after hitting the post whilst Orlando’s best effort came from Cyle Larin’s header from a second half free kick.
Game 4 saw DC United travel to Montreal. Chris Rolfe scored the only goal of the game after 13 minutes sliding the ball in at the near post past Montreal keeper Evan Bush, becoming the first team in history to win with their only shot in the whole game.
The next game saw Colorado Rapids host Columbus Crew. The hosts took the lead a few minutes before half time when Bobby Burling headed home a free kick from Vicente Sanchez before the Crew through top scorer Kei Kamara inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half getting on the end of a Tony Tchani cross. Crew took the lead 10 minutes later as the same combination combined for Kamara to take the lead of the scoring chart before Axel Sjoberg was sent off for Colorado for 2 yellow cards.
Saturday’s penultimate game saw Houston host San Jose. DaMarcus Beasley opened the scoring for the hosts in the 55th minute following Giles Barnes’ ball to switch play, beating 2 defenders before they also had the numerical advantage as Fatai Alashe was shown a second yellow card 5 minutes later. In the 70th minute, the 10 men got an equaliser as Shaun Francis’ looping header was chested over the line by Quincy Amarikwa before Alex won the match for the Dynamo with a 77th minute goal.
Vancouver hosted Real Salt Lake in Saturday’s final game. The Canadian team took the lead in the 6th minute from the penalty spot as Octavio Rivero was involved in a tangle of legs with a defender before the Uruguayan striker slotted the penalty away for his ninth of the season. Their second came 5 minutes before half time when Kekuta Manneh played the ball across goal for Pa Modou Kah to score before 2 second half goals from Cristian Techera enhanced the result for the Whitecaps. First, he finished with the outside of his foot from Jordan Harvey’s low cross before he drilled home from the edge of the area midway through the second half. Abdoulie Mansally was sent off for the visitors for a straight red 2 minutes from time.
The opening game of Sunday’s action saw LA Galaxy host Seattle. Chad Barrett opened the scoring inside the 1st minute getting on the end of a #28 right wing cross with the striker getting injured running off as part of his celebration with the equaliser coming from a Juninho right wing cross for Zardes to volley across the keeper from inside the 6-yard box. 2 minutes after the break, a #20 right wing cross for the Galaxy is touched on and Robbie Keane scores on the turn from 6 yards out whilst Giovani dos Santos added a third goal for Galaxy in 64th minute as Keane played him through to fire past the keeper at the near post on his MLS debut.
The final game saw the New York derby with the Red Bulls hosting City. The Red Bulls took the lead in the 21st minute when Bradley Wright-Phillips tapped in a #92 left-wing cross at the back post whilst they wrapped up the game 5 minutes from time as Felipe got on the end of Mike Grella’s 40 yard run.
Weekend Results:
Portland 1-0 Chicago
Toronto 1-3 Kansas City
Orlando 0-0 Philadelphia
Montreal 0-1 DC United
Houston 2-1 San Jose
Colorado 1-2 Columbus
Vancouver 4-0 Real Salt Lake
LA Galaxy 3-1 Seattle
NY Red Bulls 2-0 NY City
Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):
Wed 12th 19:30 – Montreal vs Vancouver (Canadian Championship)
Wed 12th 19:30 – Philadelphia vs Chicago
Wed 12th 20:30 – Kansas City vs Real Salt Lake
Thurs 13th 19:00 – NY City vs DC United
Fri 14th 23:00 – San Jose vs Colorado
Sat 15th 19:00 – NY Red Bulls vs Toronto
Sat 15th 19:30 – New England vs Houston
Sat 15th 21:00 – FC Dallas vs LA Galaxy
Sat 15th 21:00 – Kansas City vs Vancouver
Sat 15th 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Portland
Sun 16th 17:00 – Seattle vs Orlando
Sun 16th 19:00 – Philadelphia vs Chicago
Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):
Eastern Conference (GF/GA/GD all need updating):
Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points |
DC United | 25 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 34 | 26 | +8 | 44 |
New York Red Bulls | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 36 |
Columbus Crew | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 38 | 39 | -1 | 34 |
Toronto | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 37 | 38 | -1 | 31 |
New England Revolution | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 32 | 36 | -4 | 31 |
Montreal Impact | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 29 | 31 | -2 | 28 |
Orlando City | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 32 | 37 | -5 | 28 |
New York City | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 31 | 36 | -5 | 24 |
Philadelphia Union | 24 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 29 | 40 | -11 | 23 |
Chicago Fire | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 24 | 31 | -7 | 22 |
Western Conference:
Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points |
Vancouver Whitecaps | 24 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 34 | 22 | +12 | 42 |
LA Galaxy | 25 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 42 | 30 | +12 | 40 |
FC Dallas | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 32 | 27 | +5 | 38 |
Sporting Kansas City | 21 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 33 | 22 | +11 | 37 |
Portland Timbers | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 36 |
Seattle Sounders | 24 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 26 | 27 | -1 | 32 |
Houston Dynamo | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 31 |
Real Salt Lake | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 27 | 37 | -10 | 29 |
San Jose Earthquakes | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 29 | -6 | 26 |
Colorado Rapids | 22 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 20 | 24 | -4 | 24 |
Top Scorers:
1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 17
2 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 16
3 David Villa (New York City) 13
=4 Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) 11
=4 Cyle Larin (Orlando) 11
=6 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 10
=6 Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY Red Bulls) 10
=8 Will Bruin (Houston) 9
=8 Charlie Davies (New England) 9
=8 Kaka (Orlando) 9
=8 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 9
=8 Chris Rolfe (DC United) 9
=8 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9