MLS 2015 – Week 23 Review

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 10^th goal of the season.

Saturday’s opening game saw Toronto host Kansas City. Benny Feilhaber gave the visitors the lead in the 22^nd 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 55^th 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 70^th 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 77^th minute goal.

Vancouver hosted Real Salt Lake in Saturday’s final game. The Canadian team took the lead in the 6^th 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 1^st 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 64^th 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 12^th 19:30 – Montreal vs Vancouver (Canadian Championship)

Wed 12^th 19:30 – Philadelphia vs Chicago

Wed 12^th 20:30 – Kansas City vs Real Salt Lake

Thurs 13^th 19:00 – NY City vs DC United

Fri 14^th 23:00 – San Jose vs Colorado

Sat 15^th 19:00 – NY Red Bulls vs Toronto

Sat 15^th 19:30 – New England vs Houston

Sat 15^th 21:00 – FC Dallas vs LA Galaxy

Sat 15^th 21:00 – Kansas City vs Vancouver

Sat 15^th 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Portland

Sun 16^th 17:00 – Seattle vs Orlando

Sun 16^th 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

MLS 2015 – Week 22 Review

Week 22 of the 2015 MLS season occurred this weekend with all 20 teams and goals, goals and even more goals were scored over the weekend. Last Wednesday saw the MLS All-Stars beat Tottenham 2-1 thanks to goals from Kaka and David Villa whilst the MLS lost on penalties to Club America’s Under-20 side.

The opening game of the weekend saw New York City host Montreal. Laurent Ciman, the scorer of last weekend’s only goal for Montreal in their win against Seattle, played a 60 yard long ball down the inside left channel for Dominic Oduro to get on the end of, rounding NYC keeper Josh Saunders to open the scoring in the 5^th minute before Andres Romero’s long diagonal ball through to find Ignacio Piatti who chipped Saunders from a tight angle. Into the second half where Thomas McNamara won a 68^th minute penalty after being fouled by Ambroise Oyongo, captain David Villa scored in the corner despite Evan Bush going the right way to halve the deficit. Saunders conceded a penalty of his own in the 84^th minute as he grabbed the ankle of Piatti with the Argentine sending the Puerto Rican keeper the wrong way before Angelino set up McNamara a minute later to set up a grandstand finish with the Impact holding on.

The next game saw DC United host Real Salt Lake with history being made in the game. In the 2^nd minute, RSL forward Sebastian Jaime set up Joao Plata for the opening goal of the game before Kyle Beckerman doubled the lead for Salt Lake with a 25 yard drive past Andrew Dykstra. Chris Rolfe reduced the deficit a couple of minutes before the break before converting a 53^rd minute penalty after Bobby Boswell was brought down by Devon Sandoval. Taylor Kemp would complete the DC turnaround with another 25 yard strike before Javier Morales’ 62^nd minute free kick was headed home by Aaron Maund. That equaliser would again be short lived as Fabian Espindola scored at the second attempt for DC before another RSL equaliser was scored by Abdoulie Manually from a really tight angle. The game’s winner would come in the 69^th minute as Espindola’s free kick was headed in by Perry Kitchen whilst Nick DeLeon scored in the final minute from 30 yards in a game that became the 5^th game in MLS history to see 10+ goals (the first since the Metrostars’ 5-5 draw with San Jose Earthquakes back in 2004).

Game 3 saw Philadelphia’s home game against New York Red Bulls. Red Bull substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips won a 66^th minute penalty after being fouled by fellow MLS debutant Tranquillo Barnetta, the Swiss international also coming off the bench, with Sacha Klejstan scoring it before Sebastian Le Toux equalised for the Union by getting on the end of a low cross from Cristian Maidana. A minute later, Shaun Wright-Phillips set up brother Bradley for his ninth goal of the season before Anatole Abang scored on the break in stoppage time as Union were pushing on for an equaliser.

The next game saw Toronto travel to New England to face the Revolution. Lee Nguyen’s 35^th minute free kick was passed by Kelyn Rowe into the path of Charlie Davies who opened the scoring before Toronto captain Jozy Altidore tangled with opposite number Jose Goncalves, kicking out at the defender and getting a straight red card. Things went from bad to worse in the 43^rd minute as Benoit Cheyrou brought down Rowe in the box with Nguyen scoring the spot kick. The lead was extended in the 62^nd minute as Chris Tierney’s free kick was turned in at the near post by Davies for his ninth of the season before Jonathan Osorio got a consolation, beating Bobby Shuttleworth at the near post.

Game 5 saw Orlando host Columbus Crew. Federico Higuain gave the visitors an early lead as he got on the end of a Justin Meram run and reverse pass as the Argentine striker was unmarked while Cyle Larin equalised for Orlando in the 18^th minute as he put the ball into the roof of the net from Corey Ashe’s low cross from the right. Kaka set up Darwin Ceren before Larin added his second of the game (again from Ashe’s right wing cross). Aurelien Collin, who added a late own goal too, and Cristian Higuita completed the scoring for City getting on the end of a Luke Boden corner and Kaka cross respectively.

The next game saw Sporting Kansas City host Houston Dynamo. Englishman Dom Dwyer opened the scoring for the hosts in the 6^th minute by heading home a Benny Feilhaber free kick. The equaliser came when Brad Davis’ 78^th minute free kick was headed in by Ricardo Clark (who out-jumped Dwyer) before an 86^th minute red card was shown to Dynamo midfielder Nathan Sturgis. Despite a volley by Kristzian Nemeth being ruled out and a potential penalty for a handball by Luis Garrido, both in stoppage time, the fierce rivals shared the points.

Weekend Results:

NY City 2-3 Montreal

DC United 6-4 Real Salt Lake

Philadelphia 1-3 NY Red Bulls

New England 3-1 Toronto

Orlando 5-2 Columbus

Kansas City 2-1 Houston

Colorado 1-3 LA Galaxy

Seattle 0-3 Vancouver

San Jose 0-0 Portland

Chicago 2-0 FC Dallas

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

Sun 2^nd 19:00 – Chicago vs FC Dallas

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
DC United	24	12	5	7	33	26	+7	41
New York Red Bulls	20	9	5	6	32	24	+8	32
Columbus Crew	23	8	7	8	36	38	-2	31
New England Revolution	24	8	7	9	32	36	-4	31
Toronto	20	8	4	8	32	34	-2	28
Montreal Impact	19	8	3	8	28	29	-1	27
Orlando City	22	7	6	9	31	33	-2	27
New York City	22	6	6	10	31	34	-3	24
Chicago Fire	21	6	4	11	24	30	-6	22
Philadelphia Union	23	6	4	13	29	40	-11	22

Western Conference:

Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
Vancouver Whitecaps	23	12	3	8	30	22	+8	39
FC Dallas	22	11	5	6	32	27	+5	38
LA Galaxy	24	10	7	7	39	29	+10	37
Sporting Kansas City	20	9	7	4	30	21	+9	34
Seattle Sounders	22	10	2	11	25	24	+1	32
Portland Timbers	23	9	6	8	24	28	-4	33
Real Salt Lake	23	7	8	8	27	33	-6	29
Houston Dynamo	22	7	7	8	28	27	+1	28
San Jose Earthquakes	21	7	5	9	22	27	-5	26
Colorado Rapids	21	5	9	7	19	22	-3	24

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 15

=2 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 13

=2 David Villa (New York City) 13

4 Cyle Larin (Orlando) 11

5 Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) 10

=6 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 9

=6 Will Bruin (Houston) 9

=6 Charlie Davies (New England Revolution) 9

=6 Kaka (Orlando) 9

=6 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9

=6 Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY Red Bulls) 9

MLS 2015 – Week 21 Review

Week 21 of the 2015 MLS season occurred this weekend with 18 teams taking part over the weekend and, once again, there were plenty of goals with 39 in total. Mexico won the Gold Cup over the weekend with a 3-1 victory against Jamaica whilst USA lost the 3^rd place play-off to Panama on penalties after the game finished 1-1 after extra time.

Sunday’s opening game saw New York City host Orlando. David Villa opened the scoring for the hosts in the 45^th minute as he got on the end of a long ball from Angelino, holding off Sean St. Ledger before finishing inside the near post before Cyle Larin equalised 5 minutes into the second half when he also took a long ball down and finished at the near post. Spanish right-back Andoni Iraola crossed in for Javier Calle to score his 1^st ever MLS goal before Larin scored his second of the game getting on the end of a Carlos Rivas pass. Villa and Thomas McNamara both scored for City before Larin completed his hat-trick and Mix Diskerud completed the scoring for NYC, giving Kwadwo Poku his third assist of the game.

One of Sunday’s games saw Philadelphia get off to a flyer at DC United. CJ Sarpong, after a 1-2 with Cristian Maidana, and Sebastian Le Toux, from Sarpong’s square pass, gave the visitors a 2 goal lead inside the opening 4 minutes before Alvaro Sabario scored on his DC United debut 8 minutes before the break giving the side from the capital a chance of getting something out of the game. Nick DeLeon’s opening goal of the season equalised midway through the second half before Fabian Espinoza’s 79^th minute goal gave DC the win, despite him missing a first half penalty.

That wasn’t the only game to involve a comeback as Columbus Crew hosted Toronto. Ethan Finlay’s cross was headed back across goal for Kei Kamara to head home another goal to open the scoring before Tony Tchani added a second for the Crew 10 minutes before the break whilst Finlay would add a third goal minutes after the break nutmegging TFC keeper Joe Bendik. Sebastian Giovinco would open the Toronto scoring with a first time effort which gave Steve Clark no chance before Collen hit a shot right into the corner to make the score 3-2 with half an hour to play. Jozy Altidore won an 88^th minute penalty, which surprisingly was taken by the USA international himself rather than Giovinco, but he made no mistake as the game ended 3-3.

Round-Up:

FC Dallas beat Portland 4-1 on Saturday thanks to a brace from Michael Barrios and second half goals from Kellyn Acosta and Mauro Diaz whilst Fanendo Ali scored a stoppage time penalty for Portland. Will Bruin, Brad Davis and Leonel Miranda gave Houston a 3-0 home win against LA Galaxy.

Goals from Mauro Rosales, Kendall Weston and Octavio Rivero saw Vancouver beat San Jose 3-1 with Quincy Amarikwa getting the San Jose goal. Real Salt Lake beat Kansas City 2-1 on Friday night thanks to Javier Morales and Joao Plata with Benny Feilhaber getting Kansas City’s consolation.

Chicago and New England drew 2-2 thanks to goals from a Shaun Maloney penalty and Fire captain Razvin Cocis in the middle of Lee Nguyen’s opener and Kelyn Rowe’s equaliser. Laurent Ciman’s 88^th minute header was enough for Montreal to beat Seattle on Saturday giving Seattle their 5^th straight defeat away from home.

Weekend Results:

Real Salt Lake 2–1 Kansas City

Columbus 3–3 Toronto

Montreal 1–0 Seattle

Chicago 2–2 New England

FC Dallas 4–1 Portland

Houston 3–0 LA Galaxy

New York City 5–3 Orlando

DC United 3–2 Philadelphia

Vancouver 3–1 San Jose

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

Sat 1^st 14:00 – NY City vs Montreal

Sat 1^st 19:00 – DC United vs Real Salt Lake

Sat 1^st 19:00 – Philadelphia vs NY Red Bulls

Sat 1^st 19:30 – New England vs Toronto

Sat 1^st 19:30 – Orlando vs Columbus

Sat 1^st 20:30 – Kansas City vs Houston

Sat 1^st 21:00 – Colorado vs LA Galaxy

Sat 1^st 22:00 – Seattle vs Vancouver

Sun 2^nd 17:00 – San Jose vs Portland

Sun 2^nd 19:00 – Chicago vs FC Dallas

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
DC United	23	11	5	7	27	22	+5	38
Columbus Crew	22	8	7	7	34	33	+1	31
New York Red Bulls	19	8	5	6	29	23	+6	29
Toronto	19	8	4	7	31	31	0	28
New England Revolution	23	7	7	9	29	35	-6	28
Montreal Impact	18	7	3	8	25	27	-2	24
New York City	21	6	6	9	29	31	-2	24
Orlando City	21	6	6	9	26	31	-5	24
Philadelphia Union	22	6	4	12	28	37	-9	22
Chicago Fire	20	5	4	11	22	30	-8	19

Western Conference:

Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
FC Dallas	21	11	5	5	32	25	+7	38
Vancouver Whitecaps	22	11	3	8	27	22	+5	36
LA Galaxy	23	9	7	7	36	28	+8	34
Sporting Kansas City	19	9	6	4	29	20	+9	33
Seattle Sounders	22	10	2	10	25	21	+4	32
Portland Timbers	22	9	5	8	24	28	-4	32
Real Salt Lake	22	7	8	7	23	27	-4	29
Houston Dynamo	21	7	6	8	27	26	+1	27
San Jose Earthquakes	20	7	4	9	22	27	-5	25
Colorado Rapids	20	5	9	6	18	19	-1	24

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 15

2 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 13

3 David Villa (New York City) 12

=4 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 9

=4 Will Bruin (Houston) 9

=4 Kaka (Orlando) 9

=4 Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) 9

=4 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9

=9 Fabian Castillo (FC Dallas) 8

=9 Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY Red Bulls) 8

MLS 2015 – Week 20 Review

Week 20 of 2015’s MLS action occurred this past weekend where all 20 teams were involved. In the Gold Cup, USA advanced into the semi-finals, where they will face Jamaica tonight, with a 6-0 demolition of Cuba including a Clint Dempsey hat-trick and goals for Gyasi Zardes, Aron Johannsson and Omar Gonzalez.

Into the MLS now where Friday night’s game saw LA Galaxy host San Jose. The visitors took the lead in the 22^nd minute when Marvel Wynne slotted a ball between 3 Galaxy players allowing Quincy Amarikwa the opportunity to beat keeper Brian Rowe before he doubled the lead minutes later as Matias Perez Garcia’s free kick was allowed to bounce with Amarikwa scoring from 12 yards. Those 2 goals were the kick-start that LA needed as they got back into the game when Tommy Thompson elbowed Steven Gerrard, making his MLS debut, inside the area with his captain and former Anfield teammate Robbie Keane scoring the spot-kick. Gerrard himself got on the scoresheet next getting on the end of a team move with a deflected effort before setting up what would end up the winner from a free kick that was headed in by Fatai Alashe before Robbie Keane completed a hat-trick for the second straight game, first turning in another Gerrard pass then a second penalty of the game.

Sunday’s only game saw Chicago travel to Columbus to face the Crew. It was the home side who flew out of the blocks as they won a penalty inside the first 15 seconds when Chicago’s goalkeeper Sean Johnson brought down Ethan Finlay with Federico Higuain levelling the club record with his 13^th career penalty. Chicago would respond almost instantly through David Accam’s deflected free kick from just outside the area althought they weren’t level for long as Weylon Francis’ right wing cross was allowed to be headed in by league top-scorer Kei Kamara past Johnson in the 17^th minute. Jason Johnson was shown a harsh second yellow card for simulation early in the second period whilst Crew sealed the victory as Chad Barson’s cross was flicked on by Kristinn Steindorsson into the path of Finlay who finished into an empty net.

The next match sees Real Salt Lake host Houston. Salt Lake’s captain Javier Morales scored the opening goal of the game as his long-distanced half-volley hit the inside of the post giving Houston keeper Tyler Deric no chance as RSL lead at the break. Kofi Sarkodie was shown a straight red card early in the second half for a late challenge on Abdoulie Mansally whilst the victory was sealed by Joao Plata who played a 1-2 with Morales.

New York Red Bulls travelled to Orlando on ‘Brazilian Night’ at the Citrus Bowl. Sacha Kljestan gave the visitors the lead half-way through the first half whilst the midfielder was the receiver of a Cyle Larin challenge which saw the Canadian striker harshly sent off. Mike Grella added a second for the Red Bulls late on as Orlando overcommitted looking for an equaliser.

Round-Up:

Toronto won another home game with a 2-1 win against Philadelphia thanks to Marky Delgado and Sebastian Giovinco despite Conor Casey’s late goal for the Union. Benny Feilhaber was the star of the show for Kansas City in their 2-1 home win against Montreal as he scored one and set up Dom Dwyer for the winner whilst Ignacio Piatti scored the Montreal goal.

Kevin Doyle’s 84^th minute goal was enough for Colorado Rapids to beat Seattle Sounders in Washington. Lee Nguyen’s 12^th minute goal was enough for New England in their home game against New York City, which was the first win for the Revs since beating Chicago last month, whilst the visitors were reduced to 10 men early in the second half following a straight red card for Ned Grabavoy for a studs-up challenge on Daigo Kobayashi.

Kellyn Acosta and Fabian Castillo gave FC Dallas the win at home to DC United with Jairo Arrieta scoring the consolation. The only draw of the weekend saw Portland and Vancouver share the points following goals from Diego Valeri and Matias Laba respectively whilst both teams would have players shown the red card as Jordan Harvey and Will Johnson.

Weekend Results:

LA Galaxy 5-2 San Jose

Toronto 2–1 Philadelphia

New England 1–0 New York City

Orlando 0–2 New York RB

Kansas City 2–1 Montreal

FC Dallas 2–1 DC United

Real Salt Lake 2–0 Houston

Seattle 0–1 Colorado

Portland 1–1 Vancouver

Columbus 3–1 Chicago

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

Fri 24^th 23:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Kansas City

Sat 25^th 19:30 – Columbus vs Toronto

Sat 25^th 20:00 – Montreal vs Seattle

Sat 25^th 20:30 – Chicago vs New England

Sat 25^th 21:00 – FC Dallas vs Portland

Sat 25^th 21:00 – Houston vs LA Galaxy

Sun 26^th 14:30 – New York City vs Orlando

Sun 26^th 17:00 – DC United vs Philadelphia

Sun 26^th 19:00 – Vancouver vs San Jose

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
DC United	22	10	5	7	24	20	+4	35
Columbus Crew	21	8	6	7	31	30	+1	30
New York Red Bulls	19	8	5	6	29	23	+6	29
Toronto	18	8	3	7	28	28	0	27
New England Revolution	22	7	6	9	27	33	-6	27
Orlando City	20	6	6	8	23	26	-3	24
Philadelphia Union	21	6	4	11	26	34	-8	22
Montreal Impact	17	6	3	8	24	27	-3	21
New York City	20	5	6	9	24	28	-4	21
Chicago Fire	19	5	3	11	20	28	-8	18

Western Conference:

Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
FC Dallas	20	10	5	5	28	24	+4	35
LA Galaxy	22	9	7	6	36	25	+11	34
Vancouver Whitecaps	21	10	3	8	24	21	+3	33
Sporting Kansas City	18	9	6	3	28	18	+10	33
Seattle Sounders	21	10	2	9	25	20	+5	32
Portland Timbers	21	9	5	7	23	24	-1	32
Real Salt Lake	21	6	8	7	21	26	-5	26
San Jose Earthquakes	19	7	4	8	21	24	-3	25
Houston Dynamo	20	6	6	8	24	26	-2	24
Colorado Rapids	20	5	9	6	18	19	-1	24

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 13

2 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 12

3 David Villa (New York City) 10

=4 Kaka (Orlando) 9

=4 Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) 9

=4 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9

=7 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 8

=7 Will Bruin (Houston) 8

=7 Fabian Castillo (FC Dallas) 8

=7 Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY Red Bulls) 8

MLS 2015 – Week 19 Review

Week 19 took place over last weekend and saw 18 teams in action but there was no shortage of goals as 29 hit the net across the weekend. In the Gold Cup, we’ve seen the US team advance to the knock-out stages whilst Canada are out after not scoring the group stage.

 

In the MLS, the game of the week from Sunday saw New York City host Toronto in a game that had everything. New York City took a 17th minute lead as David Villa scored from a free kick whilst they could have conceded an equaliser as referee Ted Unkel gave the first of 4 penalties, which was taken by Sebastian Giovinco against the foot of the post. New York added a second from a penalty of their own as Villa’s effort was saved by Chris Konopka but the rebound was turned in by Patrick Mullins via a Damien Perquis deflection before Giovinco turned the first half around. First, he converted a penalty given for a Kwame Watson-Siriboe foul on Daniel Lovitz, then he slotted the ball past NYC keeper Josh Saunders from Jackson’s backheel before chipping Saunders from a Robbie Findlay cross, all of which took place in the 10 minutes before half time.

New York City’s loan signing from parent club Manchester City, Angelino, came on for his debut at half time for the hapless Watson-Siriboe and the fun didn’t stop there as the game’s 3rd penalty was given in the 65th minute as Villa was brought down by Konopka. Giovinco turned provider as he allowed Marky Delgado an open goal before Mullins equalised from a Villa free kick from wide.

On Saturday we saw New York Red Bulls host New England, with the visitors having lost each of their last 4 games in the league, and the Red Bulls stormed into a 3 goal lead inside the opening quarter of an hour. Lloyd Sam crossed in for Bradley Wright-Phillips to open the scoring in the 4th minute, before Sam was played through by Mike Grella for the second goal and Wright-Phillips added the third in the 12th minute after Dax McCarty put him through. The Revs would get one goal before half time as Lee Nguyen’s shot-cum-cross was turned in at the back post by Andy Dorman whilst Red Bulls defender Anthony Wallace gave his team their 3 goal lead back again. Revs captain Jose Goncalves was sent off 10 minutes from time for a second yellow card in conceding a penalty on NYRB midfielder, whose spot-kick was saved by Bobby Shuttleworth.

Round-Up:

 

Goals from Ricardo Clark and Will Bruin gave Houston the win last Friday night away at San Jose Earthquakes whilst Saturday’s action saw home wins by 3 goals to 0 for both Philadelphia against Portland by 3 goals to 0 (goals from Andrew Wenger, his first in 9 months, and a brace from Vincent Nogueira) and Montreal who beat Columbus by the same score as Dominic Oduro and Marco Donadel both scored inside 8 minutes before Oduro scoring in the final 10.

2 more home wins as Chicago who saw off Seattle with substitute Jason Johnson scoring the only goal of the game in the 92nd minute and Colorado beat Real Salt Lake by 3 goals to 1 with Drew Moor, Jared Watts and Juan Ramirez all scoring late goals after Sebastian Jaime opened the scoring 10 minutes from time for the visitors.

There were 2 more away wins this weekend as FC Dallas won at Orlando (Mauro Diaz and Fabian Castillo) and, in the final game on Sunday, Vancouver lost at home to Kansas City thanks to Kevin Ellis’ second half header.

Weekend Results:

 

San Jose 0-2 Houston

Philadelphia 3-0 Portland

New York RB 4-1 New England

Orlando 0-2 FC Dallas

Montreal 3-0 Columbus

Chicago 1-0 Seattle

Colorado 3-1 Real Salt Lake

NY City 4-4 Toronto

Vancouver 0-1 Kansas City

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

 

Fri 17th 23:00 – LA Galaxy vs San Jose

Sat 18th 16:00 – Toronto vs Philadelphia

Sat 18th 17:00 – USA vs Cuba (Gold Cup)

Sat 18th 19:30 – New England vs New York City

Sat 18th 19:30 – Orlando vs New York Red Bulls

Sat 18th 20:30 – Kansas City vs Montreal

Sat 18th 21:00 – FC Dallas vs DC United

Sat 18th 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Houston

Sat 18th 22:00 – Seattle vs Colorado

Sat 18th 22:30 – Portland vs Vancouver

Sun 19th 17:00 – Columbus vs Chicago

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference – includes Wednesday night’s game between Chicago and Columbus:

DC United 35 pts (23/18/+5) 21 played

Columbus 27 pts (28/29/-1) 20 played

New York RB 26 pts (27/23/+4) 18 played

Toronto 24 pts (26/27/-1) 17 played

Orlando City 24 pts (23/24/-1) 19 played

New England 24 pts (26/33/-7) 21 played

Philadelphia 22 pts (25/32/-7) 20 played

Montreal 21 pts (23/25/-2) 16 played

New York City 21 pts (24/27/-3) 19 played

Chicago 18 pts (19/25/-6) 18 played

Western Conference:

Seattle 32 pts (25/19/+6) 20 played

Vancouver 32 pts (23/20/+3) 20 played

FC Dallas 32 pts (26/23/+3) 19 played

Portland 31 pts (22/23/-1) 20 played

LA Galaxy 31 pts (31/23/+8) 21 played

Sporting KC 30 pts (26/17/+9) 17 played

San Jose 25 pts (19/19/0) 18 played

Houston 24 pts (24/24/0) 19 played

Real Salt Lake 23 pts (19/26/-7) 20 played

Colorado 21 pts (17/19/-2) 19 played

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 13

2 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 11

3 David Villa (New York City) 10

=4 Kaka (Orlando) 9

=4 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9

=6 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 8

=6 Will Bruin (Houston) 8

=6 Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY Red Bulls)

 

MLS 2015 – Week 18 Review

Week 18 saw 18 teams take to the pitch whilst the Gold Cup started last night (delayed will be on twitter.com/thefootydiary the day after). On Friday, USA played a Gold Cup warm-up friendly against Guatemala and won 4-0 thanks to an OG, Tim Chandler, Clint Dempsey (penalty) and Chris Wondolowski whilst last night saw the US beat Honduras 2-1 thanks to Clint Dempsey’s brace and Carlos Discua scoring the consolation.

To the MLS action where LA Galaxy welcoming Toronto with Steven Gerrard introduced to the crowd at half time ahead of his transfer to the club becoming official today. His former Liverpool team-mate and current Galaxy captain Robbie Keane opened the scoring from the penalty spot following Warren Creaville’s foul on Sebastian Lletget from behind with Keane getting his second of the game just before half-time following good work from Stefan Ishizaki and Baggio Husidic with a tap-in at the far post. Keane completed his hat-trick on the hour mark getting on the end of Justin Morrow’s throw back to his keeper Chris Konopka which was short allowing the Irishman an opportunity to get his 3rd career MLS hat-trick with Lletget adding a forth in second half stoppage-time, scoring from an Ignacio Maganto pass.

It was the Mauro Diaz show as FC Dallas entertained New England Revolution on Saturday. The Argentine midfielder opened the scoring in the 8th minute via a free kick which was fired underneath the Revs wall past Bobby Shuttleworth whilst he won the ball back in a move that saw Fabian Castillo score at the second attempt. He assisted the third goal as well as his cross was turned in by Michael Barrios to score his 1st MLS goal as the game ended 3-0.

Also on Saturday we had New York City travelling to Montreal to face the Impact. David Villa opened the scoring for the visitors in the 34th minute after Patrick Mullins’ pass, took it past Ambroise Oyongo before firing past Montreal keeper Evan Bush into the far post before that was cancelled out by Ignacio Piatti’s penalty following a handball from New York defender Thomas McNamara. The winner, again, came from the feet of Villa as he was fouled just outside the box before his right footed free-kick crept in underneath Bush’s dive.

Round-Up:

 

Anatole Bertrand Abang opened the scoring for New York Red Bulls in their trip to Columbus to face the Crew but it wasn’t enough as an Ethan Finlay brace gave the hosts the victory. Goals from Vincente Sanchez and Kevin Doyle were enough to give Colorado a 2-1 home win against Vancouver either side of Kekuta Manneh’s equaliser.

The opening game of the weekend saw Houston host Chicago with the two teams sharing the points thanks to Alex scoring for the hosts and Patrick Nyarko scoring for Chicago. Kaka opened the scoring for Orlando before being sent off just before half time away at Real Salt Lake which cost them the win as Sebastian Jaime’s goal for RSL gave them a point.

Tyrone Mears scored the only goal of the game as Seattle beat DC United at home on Friday night with a couple of minutes from time whilst Fabian Espinoza was sent off for the visitors inside the first half hour. Sunday’s only game saw Jack Jewsbury’s second-half stoppage-time strike gave Portland a 1-0 home win against San Jose.

Weekend Results:

 

Houston 1-1 Chicago

Seattle 1-0 DC United

Columbus 2-1 NY Red Bulls

Montreal 1-2 NY City

Colorado 2-1 Vancouver

FC Dallas 3-0 New England

Real Salt Lake 1-1 Orlando

LA Galaxy 4-0 Toronto

Portland 1-0 San Jose

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

 

Wed 8th 22:30 – El Salvador vs Canada (Gold Cup)

Fri 10th 20:30 – USA vs Haiti (Gold Cup)

Fri 10th 23:00 – San Jose vs Houston

Sat 11th 18:30 – Jamaica vs Canada (Gold Cup)

Sat 11th 19:00 – NY Red Bulls vs New England

Sat 11th 19:00 – Philadelphia vs Portland

Sat 11th 19:30 – Orlando vs FC Dallas

Sat 11th 20:00 – Montreal vs Columbus

Sat 11th 20:30 – Chicago vs Seattle

Sat 11th 21:00 – Colorado vs Real Salt Lake

Sun 12th 15:00 – NY City vs Toronto

Sun12th 21:00 – Vancouver vs Kansas City

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

DC United 35 pts (23/18/+5) 21 played

Columbus 24 pts (27/26/+1) 18 played

Orlando City 24 pts (23/22/+1) 18 played

New England 24 pts (25/29/-4) 20 played

Toronto 23 pts (22/23/-1) 16 played

New York RB 23 pts (23/22/+1) 17 played

New York City 20 pts (20/23/-3) 18 played

Philadelphia 19 pts (22/32/-10) 19 played

Montreal 18 pts (20/25/-5) 15 played

Chicago 15 pts (18/24/-6) 16 played

Western Conference:

Seattle 32 pts (25/17/+8) 19 played

Vancouver 32 pts (23/19/+4) 19 played

Portland 31 pts (22/20/+2) 19 played

LA Galaxy 31 pts (31/23/+8) 21 played

FC Dallas 29 pts (24/22/+2) 18 played

Sporting KC 27 pts (25/17/+8) 16 played

San Jose 25 pts (19/17/+2) 17 played

Real Salt Lake 23 pts (18/23/-5) 19 played

Houston 21 pts (22/24/-2) 18 played

Colorado 18 pts (14/18/-4) 18 played

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 12

=2 Kaka (Orlando) 9

=2 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9

=4 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 8

=4 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 8

=4 David Villa (New York City) 8

=7 Will Bruin (Houston) 7

=7 Fabian Castillo (Dallas) 7

=7 Charlie Davies (New England) 7

=7 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 7

=7 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 7

=7 Kristzian Nemeth (Kansas City) 7

=7 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 7

 

MLS 2015 – Week 17 Review

Week 17 saw the most games of MLS action so far this season. With several games happening during the last mid-week period, i’ll round-up that action first before starting on the weekend’s games.

CJ Sarpong scored the only goal of the game for Philadelphia Union as they beat Seattle Sounders at home while Kei Kamara’s 4th brace of the season gave Columbus Crew a 2-1 home win against New England Revolution despite Lee Nguyen’s 1st minute opener. Goals from Cyle Larin and Kaka in the second half were enough for Orlando at home to Colorado whilst Mike Grella’s goal was enough for New York Red Bulls for them to end their month-long winless streak against Real Salt Lake.

Also last Wednesday, Toronto beat Montreal 3-1 thanks to goals from all 3 of their DPs Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and a Sebastian Giovinco penalty after Ambroise Oyongo opened the scoring for the visitors whilst Chicago lost 1-0 at home to DC United thanks to Conor Doyle’s goal. But the best performance came as LA Galaxy thrashed Portland 5-0 thanks to goals from Sebastian Lletget, Robbie Rogers, Robbie Keane (penalty), Juninho and Jose Villarreal.

 

Now onto the weekend’s action where we had the New York derby on Sunday afternoon. Thomas McNamara opened the scoring for City as he half-volleyed a right-wing cross from Mix Diskerud after it was flicked on at the near post by Andrew Jacobsen. The Red Bulls turned the game around in the first 10 minutes of the second half as Bradley Wright-Phillips turned in Sacha Kljestan cross before Chris Duvall hammered home a Mike Grella cross that was flicked on by Anatole Abang. They added a 3rd in the 73rd minute as Mike Miazga headed home a Kljestan free-kick.

Saturday’s final game saw San Jose host LA Galaxy as the visitors come into the game on the back of scoring so many goals over the past few weeks. Juninho opened the scoring for the Galaxy early in the first half as his 35 yard strike which San Jose keeper David Bingham could only help it into the side-netting before Chris Wondolowski played a 1-2 with Matias Perez Garcia before volleying inside the near post. Quakes completed the turn-around as Clarence Goodison headed home his first MLS goal for around 8 years from Perez Garcia’s corner to equalise in the 53rd minute with Cordell Cato adding a 3rd for San Jose slotting past Galaxy keeper Jaime Penedo.

The final game of the weekend saw Portland Timbers host Seattle Sounders, who were still missing their key forwards Clint Dempsey (suspended) and Obafemi Martins (injured). Darlington Nagbe gave Portland the lead from 25 yards in the 12th minute after good build-up gave Nagbe the space to unleash his shot past Stefan Frei before Lamar Neagle equalised for Seattle just before half time as he volleyed in a Tyrone Mears free-kick at the back post. Nagbe set up Fanendo Adi to score from just inside the area before he added his 2nd a couple of minutes later as he turned in a cross from sub Rodney Wallace before Wallace added a 4th for the Timbers after being set up by fellow sub Maxi Urruti.

Round-Up:

 

Philadelphia drew 2-2 at home to Montreal with Eric Ayuk Mbu and Maurice Edu scoring for the Union whilst Ignacio Piatti and Jack McInerney gave the Impact the lead (Mbu and Montreal captain Patrice Berner were both sent off for 2 yellows each). Real Salt Lake and Columbus also achieved the same scoreline with Olmes Garcia and Sebastian Jaime giving RSL the lead twice with Tony Tchani and Ethan Finlay pulling the Crew level whilst Jordan Allen was sent off with 13 minutes to go for a dreadful challenge.

Houston travelled to FC Dallas on Friday night but came out on the losing end thanks to a Jermaine Taylor own goal and Fabian Castillo scoring in the first half for FCD. Kansas City also won 2-0 at home, Colorado being the visitors, thanks to goals from Krisztian Nemeth and a Sam Cronin own goal.

Vancouver travelled to New England and came back with a 2-1 win thanks to Cristian Techera and an Octavio Rivero penalty (defender Andrew Farrell sent off for a 2nd yellow for his part in the penalty) whilst Teal Bunbury scoring for New England. In the final match, Toronto drew at home to DC United which ended goalless.

Weekend Results:

FC Dallas 2-0 Houston

Toronto 0-0 DC United

Philadelphia 2-2 Montreal

New England 1-2 Vancouver

Kansas City 2-0 Colorado

Real Salt Lake 2-2 Columbus

San Jose 3-1 LA Galaxy

New York City 1-3 New York Red Bulls

Portland 4-1 Seattle

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

Fri 3rd 18:30 – USA vs Guatemala (International Friendly)

Fri 3rd 21:00 – Houston vs Chicago

Fri 3rd 23:00 – Seattle vs DC United

Sat 4th 19:30 – Columbus vs NY Red Buls

Sat 4th 20:00 – Montreal vs NY City

Sat 4th 21:00 – Colorado vs Vancouver

Sat 4th 21:00 – FC Dallas vs New England

Sat 4th 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Orlando

Sat 4th 22:30 – LA Galaxy vs Toronto

Sun 5th 17:00 – Portland vs San Jose

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

DC United 35 pts (23/17/+6) 20 played

New England 24 pts (25/26/-1) 19 played

Toronto 23 pts (22/19/+3) 15 played

New York RB 23 pts (22/20/+2) 16 played

Orlando City 23 pts (22/21/+1) 17 played

Columbus 21 pts (25/25/0) 17 played

Philadelphia 19 pts (22/32/-10) 19 played

Montreal 18 pts (19/23/-4) 14 played

New York City 17 pts (18/22/-4) 17 played

Chicago 14 pts (17/23/-6) 15 played

Western Conference:

Vancouver 32 pts (22/17/+5) 18 played

Seattle 29 pts (24/17/+7) 18 played

Portland 28 pts (21/20/+1) 18 played

LA Galaxy 28 pts (27/23/+4) 20 played

Sporting KC 27 pts (25/17/+8) 16 played

FC Dallas 26 pts (21/22/-1) 17 played

San Jose 25 pts (19/16/+3) 16 played

Real Salt Lake 22 pts (17/22/-5) 18 played

Houston 20 pts (21/23/-2) 17 played

Colorado 15 pts (12/17/-5) 17 played

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 12

2 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 9

=3 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 8

=3 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 8

=3 Kaka (Orlando) 8

=6 Will Bruin (Houston) 7

=6 Charlie Davies (New England) 7

=6 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 7

=6 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 7

=6 Kristzian Nemeth (Kansas City) 7

=6 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 7

 

MLS 2015 – Week 16 Review

Week 16 sees a return to action of 18 teams after a mid-week of US Open Cup games.

In the opening game of the weekend’s action, LA Galaxy hosted Philadelphia on Saturday. Baggio Husidic opened the scoring for the Galaxy in the 23rd minute as Gyasi Zardes’ shot was saved and followed up by Husidic before Zardes set up Juninho with a pull-back to the edge of the area. Into the second half, Zardes scored his 4th goal of the season following a 1-2 with captain Robbie Keane before Stefan Ishizaki volleyed past Union keeper Bryan Sylvestre, those goals coming either side of CJ Sarpong’s consolation. Sebastian Lletget added his 3rd goal in as many games in all competitions on a night days after hitting amateur side PSA Elite in the Open Cup.

Also on Saturday was Vancouver travelling to New York Red Bulls. In the first 5th minutes, Sal Zizzo was brought down by Steven Beitashour allowing Bradley Wright-Phillips the chance to score from the penalty spot but his penalty was saved by David Ousted diving to his right. A few minutes later, Sacha Kljestan tussled with Vancouver’s Kendall Waston, first elbowing the Whitecaps centre back before kicking out at him, receiving a red card. It didn’t take the Canadian team long to take advantage of having the extra man Beitashour’s right-wing ball was turned in by Kekuta Manneh in the 15th minute. Wright-Phillips missed a 2nd penalty after the break when sub Anatole Abang was held down with Ousted outfoxing the Englishman who went for power straight down the middle. Vancouver doubled their lead in the 77th minute as sub Kianz Froese beat a couple of defenders then keeper Luis Robles before Abang’s volley finally beat Ousted. It was the first time a player had missed 2 penalties in the same game in MLS history whilst Ousted became the 3rd keeper to save 2 penalties in the same game.

On Friday night we saw Colorado Rapids host FC Dallas. Dallas midfielder Fabian Castillo opened the scoring with 20 minutes remaining from the edge of the area as his curling effort beat Colorado keeper Clint Irwin with the Rapids equalising in second half stoppage-time as Dillon Serna turned in Colorado left back Drew Moor’s cross.

Round-Up:

 

The round-up starts with DC United’s 2-1 home win against New England Revolution on Sunday thanks to 2 second half goals from Chris Rolfe (the second a penalty) which cancelled out Charlie Davies’ opener for the Revs whilst Dom Dwyer’s 2 goals were enough as Real Salt Lake beat Sporting Kansas City by the same score despite Sebastian Jaime’s 1st ever MLS goal.

San Jose Earthquakes completed their double over Seattle Sounders after a 2-0 away win after goals from Sanna Nyassi and Matias Perez Garcia whilst David Villa’s 2 goals gave New York City a win by the same scoreline in Toronto.

The final 2 games saw Donny Toia’s 1st MLS goal and Dominic Oduro’s stoppage-time effort gave Montreal a 2-0 home victory against Orlando City whilst Portland beat Houston, also 2-0 at home, thanks to goals by Argentine pair Max Urruti and Gaston Fernandez.

Weekend Results:

Colorado 1-1 FC Dallas

Seattle 0-2 San Jose

NY Red Bulls 1-2 Vancouver

Toronto 0-2 NY City

Montreal 2-0 Orlando

Portland 2-0 Houston

LA Galaxy 5-1 Philadelphia

DC United 2-1 New England

Real Salt Lake 2-1 Kansas City

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

 

Wed 24th 19:00 – Philadelphia vs Seattle

Wed 24th 19:30 – Columbus vs New England

Wed 24th 19:30 – NY Red Bulls vs Real Salt Lake

Wed 24th 19:30 – Orlando vs Colorado

Wed 24th 20:00 – Toronto vs Montreal

Wed 24th 20:30 – Chicago vs DC United

Wed 24th 23:00 – LA Galaxy vs Portland

Fri 26th 21:00 – FC Dallas vs Houston

Sat 27th 17:00 – Toronto vs DC United

Sat 27th 19:00 – Philadelphia vs Montreal

Sat 27th 19:30 – New England vs Vancouver

Sat 27th 20:30 – Kansas City vs Colorado

Sat 27th 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Columbus

Sat 27th 22:30 – San Jose vs LA Galaxy

Sun 28th 16:30 – NY City vs NY Red Bulls

Sun 28th 19:00 – Portland vs Seattle

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

DC United 31 pts (22/17/+3) 18 played

New England 24 pts (23/22/+1) 17 played

Orlando City 20 pts (20/21/-1) 16 played

Toronto 19 pts (19/18/+1) 13 played

Montreal 17 pts (16/18/-2) 12 played

Columbus 17 pts (21/22/-1) 15 played

New York RB 17 pts (18/19/-1) 14 played

New York City 17 pts (17/19/-2) 16 played

Philadelphia 15 pts (19/30/-11) 17 played

Chicago 14 pts (17/22/-5) 14 played

Western Conference:

Seattle 29 pts (23/13/+10) 16 played

Vancouver 29 pts (20/16/+4) 17 played

Portland 25 pts (17/14/+3) 16 played

LA Galaxy 25 pts (21/20/+1) 18 played

Sporting KC 24 pts (23/17/+6) 15 played

FC Dallas 23 pts (19/22/-3) 16 played

San Jose 22 pts (16/15/+1) 15 played

Real Salt Lake 21 pts (15/19/-4) 16 played

Houston 20 pts (21/21/0) 16 played

Colorado 15 pts (12/13/-1) 15 played

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 10

2 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 8

=3 Will Bruin (Houston) 7

=3 Charlie Davies (New England) 7

=3 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 7

=3 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 7

=3 Kaka (Orlando) 7

=3 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 7

=9 Fanendo Adi (Portland) 6

=9 Giles Barnes (Houston) 6

=9 Kristzian Nemeth (Kansas City) 6

=9 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 6

=9 David Villa (New York City) 6

 

MLS 2015 – Week 15 Review

Week 15 took place over the past weekend with only 10 teams taking part during the international games taking place (Canada’s World Cup qualifiers against Dominica are reviewed at the end of the round-up). Also taking place over this mid-week is the MLS Open Cup with our round-up coming tomorrow night.

 

In Saturday’s first game, New York City hosted Montreal Impact. David Villa opened the scoring for New York City in the 31st minute whilst they added a second via sub Mix Diskerud as he got on the end of a Kwadwo Poku pass to score from just inside the area. Montreal made it a nervy finish for the home side with an 88th minute consolation as Wandrille Lefevre headed home a cross from Belgian full-back Laurent Ciman before Poku scored his 1st ever MLS goal from a Villa pass.

3 second half goals saw Seattle Sounders beat FC Dallas 3-0 at home on Saturday night. They took the lead as half-time substitute Brad Evans fed Lamar Neagle, whose 25 yard shot beat keeper Dan Kennedy. Their second goal came from Obafemi Martins (his 7th of the season) as he out-muscled Kyle Bekker from an Andy Rose pass whilst their 3rd was finished by Leo Gonzalez from a Neagle cross.

Round-Up:

 

Columbus Crew and LA Galaxy shared the points after a 1-1 draw in Ohio that was delayed by over 2 hours because of a weather delay. It was the visitors who started the best as former West Ham midfielder Sebastian Lletget scored in the opening few minutes as Galaxy dominated the first half before Federico Higuain scored 10 minutes into the 2nd half, which was dominated by Crew.

2 goals in 3 second-half minutes were enough for New England Revolution to defeat Chicago 2-0 on Saturday. Andy Dorman headed on a Lee Nguyen corner with Diego Fagundez volleying home just after half time before Teal Bunbury’s cross-shot was turned in by Charlie Davies.

In Sunday’s only game, Orlando beat DC United 1-0. After a foul by Taylor Kemp on Orlando striker Pedro Ribiero in the 28th minute, captain Kaka scored at the 2nd attempt following Bill Hamid’s save, with the Brazilian scoring his 7th of the season.

Canada also played in 2 World Cup qualifiers against Dominica during this week. On Thursday night, they travelled away and won 2-0 thanks to goals from Orlando striker Cyle Larin and Vancouver’s Russell Teibert whilst they won the home leg 4-0 last night thanks to goals from Tesho Akindele, Larin and a second half brace from Tosaint Ricketts (David Edgar also missed a penalty during the 2nd half) as they move to the 3rd qualifying round of World Cup qualifying in September and prepare for next month’s Gold Cup.

Weekend Results:

NY City 3-1 Montreal

Columbus 1-1 LA Galaxy

New England 2-0 Chicago

Seattle 3-0 FC Dallas

Orlando 1-0 DC United

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

 

Fri 19th 21:00 – Colorado vs FC Dallas

Sat 20th 16:00 – Seattle vs San Jose

Sat 20th 19:00 – NY RB vs Vancouver

Sat 20th 19:00 – Toronto vs NY City

Sat 20th 20:00 – Montreal vs Orlando

Sat 20th 22:30 – LA Galaxy vs Philadelphia

Sat 20th 22:30 – Portland vs Houston

Sun 21st 17:00 – DC United vs New England

Sun 21st 22:00 – Real Salt Lake vs Kansas City

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

DC United 28 pts (20/16/+4) 17 played

New England 24 pts (22/20/+2) 16 played

Orlando City 20 pts (20/19/+1) 15 played

Toronto 19 pts (19/16/+3) 12 played

New York RB 17 pts (17/17/0) 13 played

Columbus 17 pts (21/22/-1) 15 played

Philadelphia 15 pts (18/25/-7) 16 played

Montreal 14 pts (14/18/-4) 11 played

Chicago 14 pts (17/22/-5) 14 played

New York City 14 pts (15/19/-4) 15 played

Western Conference:

Seattle 29 pts (23/11/+12) 15 played

Vancouver 26 pts (18/16/+3) 16 played

Sporting KC 24 pts (22/15/+6) 14 played

Portland 22 pts (15/14/+1) 15 played

FC Dallas 22 pts (18/21/-3) 15 played

LA Galaxy 22 pts (16/19/-3) 17 played

Houston 20 pts (21/19/+2) 15 played

San Jose 19 pts (14/15/-1) 14 played

Real Salt Lake 18 pts (13/18/-5) 15 played

Colorado 14 pts (11/12/-1) 14 played

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 10

2 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 8

=3 Will Bruin (Houston) 7

=3 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 7

=3 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 7

=3 Kaka (Orlando) 7

=3 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 7

=8 Giles Barnes (Houston) 6

=8 Charlie Davies (New England) 6

=8 Kristzian Nemeth (Kansas City) 6

=8 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 6

 

MLS 2015 – Week 14 Review

Week 14 of the MLS action of 2015 took place over the weekend with every team playing over the weekend. There were also 3 other matches that took place during the mid-week of last week with DC United beating Chicago 3-1 at home thanks to 2 goals from Jairo Arrieta and Conor Doyle despite Jeff Larentowicz opening the scoring for the Fire as the away side took a lead into half time. Also on Wednesday CJ Sarpong,Vincent Noguiera and Sebastien Le Toux all scored as Philadelphia beat Columbus Crew 3-0 at home and Montreal beat Vancouver 2-1 thanks to goals from Jack McInerney and Ignacio Piatti with Pedro Morales equalising for the visitors.

Now to the weekend action where Houston hosted New York Red Bulls on Friday night. Mike Grella gave the visitors the lead just before half time after creating a chance with nice footwork before Houston equalised as Boniek Garcia’s cross was deflected over Red Bull keeper Luis Robles by defender Karl Ouimette. Garcia’s 72nd minute corner was headed in by Ricardo Clark (who had a similar goal disallowed a few minutes earlier) before Will Bruin extended the lead with a deflected effort. Anatole Abang reduced the deficit with a close-range header before Bruin added his 2nd of the game, both of those goals in stoppage time.

Chicago hosted Orlando on Saturday evening with Kennedy Igboananike opening the scoring for the hosts after good work down the right side by Razvan Cocis before Adailton equalised scoring an own goal after Sean St. Ledger’s header was saved by Fire keeper Jon Busch with the defensive player turning the ball in under pressure. The Fire again took the lead as David Accam and Harry Shipp exchanged passes with Accam finishing to the keeper’s left before 2 late goals from sub Cyle Larin and another Adailton own goal (becoming the 1st ever player to score 2 own-goals in an MLS game) gave Orlando the win.

New York City travelled to Philadelphia to open Saturday’s action with the hosts taking the lead in the opening minute of the 2nd half as Sebastien Le Toux’s corner was controlled and finished by CJ Sarpong who scored his 3rd goal in 4 games before Thomas McNamara rifled a 25 yarder into the top corner of Josh Saunders’ goal before sub Patrick Mullins’ 87th minute goal ended NYC’s winless streak which had gone back to the opening 2 games.

DC United hosted Toronto on Saturday night with the hosts taking the lead as Fabian Espindola’s corner kick was turned in by defender Steve Birnbaum for his 1st ever MLS goal before Sebastian Giovinco scored the goals that would win the Canadian’s the game. His first came in the first half when he was allowed to twist right and left before firing past DC keeper Andew Dykstra before adding the winner 10 minutes from time from 25 yards which dipped past Dykstra who was at full stretch.

Round-Up:

 

Columbus Crew lost 2-1 at home to Montreal as Maxim Tissot and Andres Romero scored for the Impact who won despite Federico Higuain’s late goal for the Crew whilst Fanendo Adi’s 2 goals were enough as Portland beat New England 2-0 at home.

Elsewhere, Benny Feilhaber’s late penalty kick gave Kansas City a 1-0 home win against Seattle whilst Vancouver beat LA Galaxy by the same scoreline in California with Kekuta Manneh getting the only goal. There were also 2 0-0 games, both on Sunday, where Real Salt Lake hosted Colorado and San Jose hosted FC Dallas with that game seeing 3 red cards (both Mark Sherrod and JJ Koval for the hosts and Je-Vaughan Watson for Dallas).

Weekend Results:

Houston 4-2 NY Red Bulls

Philadelphia 1-2 NY City

DC United 1-2 Toronto

Columbus 1-2 Montreal

Sporting KC 1-0 Seattle

Chicago 2-3 Orlando

LA Galaxy 0-1 Vancouver

Portland 2-0 New England

Real Salt Lake 0-0 Colorado

San Jose 0-0 FC Dallas

Fixtures (Times in US ET with US PT +3, UK BST -5):

Wed 10th 14:45 – Germany vs USA (International Friendly)

Thurs 11th 19:00 – Dominica vs Canada (CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier)

Sat 13th 19:00 – NY City vs Montreal

Sat 13th 19:30 – Columbus vs LA Galaxy

Sat 13th 19:30 – New England vs Chicago

Sat 13th 22:00 – Seattle vs FC Dallas

Sun 14th 19:00 – Orlando vs DC United

 

Table (Goals For/Goals Against/GD):

Eastern Conference:

DC United 28 pts (20/15/+3) 16 played

New England 21 pts (20/20/0) 15 played

Toronto 19 pts (19/16/+3) 12 played

Orlando City 17 pts (19/19/0) 14 played

New York RB 17 pts (17/17/0) 13 played

Columbus 16 pts (20/21/-1) 14 played

Philadelphia 15 pts (18/25/-7) 16 played

Montreal 14 pts (13/15/-2) 10 played

Chicago 14 pts (17/20/-3) 13 played

New York City 11 pts (12/18/-6) 14 played

Western Conference:

Seattle 26 pts (20/11/+9) 14 played

Vancouver 26 pts (18/16/+3) 16 played

Sporting KC 24 pts (22/15/+6) 14 played

Portland 22 pts (15/14/+1) 15 played

FC Dallas 22 pts (18/19/-1) 14 played

LA Galaxy 21 pts (15/18/-3) 16 played

Houston 20 pts (21/19/0) 15 played

San Jose 19 pts (14/15/-1) 14 played

Real Salt Lake 18 pts (13/18/-5) 15 played

Colorado 14 pts (11/12/-1) 14 played

Top Scorers:

1 Kei Kamara (Columbus) 10

2 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) 8

=3 Clint Dempsey (Seattle) 7

=3 Will Bruin (Houston) 7

=3 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto) 7

=6 Giles Barnes (Houston) 6

=6 Kaka (Orlando) 6

=6 Obafemi Martins (Seattle) 6

=6 Kristzian Nemeth (Kansas City) 6

=6 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) 6