Sunday, August 3, 2014

Galaxy Surging, Revs Snap Skid - MLS Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap

WEDNESDAY

Joao Plata scored again for Real Salt Lake, but New York's triumverate of Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill and Bradley Wright-Phillips combined for a second half equalizer in what ended as a 1-1 draw. Phillips' assist was his first of the season while the 36 year old Henry's goal was his 5th this year, and his 46th in a Red Bulls uniform.

Chicago's Sean Johnson and Vancouver's David Ousted battled to a 0-0 draw on Wednesday night. The shutout was the 24th of Johnson's MLS career, and third this season. Ousted, from Denmark, has five shutouts in his second MLS season. The game also marked the MLS debut of Razvan Cocis who came on as a second half substitute for the Fire.

New England snapped an 8-game losing streak beating Colorado 3-0 behind a pair of goals and an assist from Lee Nguyen. Nguyen, in his third MLS season, has a career high 8 goals in just 20 games this year after scoring just 9 in 63 games over his first two seasons. Bobby Shuttleworth made three saves to earn the shutout and tied his career high with his 7th win of the year. Colorado's Austrian defender Thomas Piermayr was sent off in the second half after receiving a second yellow card with the score still 1-0.

Eddie Johnson and Chris Rolfe both scored for DC United as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Toronto FC. Johnson has just 4 goals, but has scored in three straight matches for United, all of them wins. Bill Hamid tied a career high with 8 saves on his way to earning his fifth shutout of the season.

FRIDAY

Graham Zusi's second goal in as many matches gave Sporting Kansas City an early 1-0 lead, but 21 year-old Jamaican striker Brian Brown's first MLS goal salvaged a 1-1 draw for the Union. Brown was playing in just his second match after being loaned to the Union from Harbour View F.C. of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) in Jamaica. Brown was the RSPL's Golden Boot winner last season with 18 goals.

SATURDAY

Gyasi Zardes scored for the 5th time in his last 5 matches, and Robbie Keane bagged a brace as L.A. rallied from an early deficit to throttle the Timbers 3-1. Keane has now scored as least 12 goals in each of the last three seasons. Landon Donovan picked up an assist giving him a goal and three assists in L.A.'s last two wins. They've outscored their opponents 6-1 during that stretch.

Montreal lost their sixth straight falling to Canadian rival Toronto FC 2-0. Gilberto and Luke Moore scored Toronto's goals as they won despite sitting star Jermain Defoe due to injury. Joe Bendik made four saves en route to his 3rd shutout of the season.

Bradley Wright-Phillips scored his league leading 18th goal as the Red Bulls stunned New England 2-1. Playing a man down the entire second half after 19 year-old defender Matt Miazga was sent off, New York equalized on a goal by Dax McCarty early in the second half. BWP then scored the game winner midway through the second half and now needs just one goal to tie Juan Pablo Angel's club scoring record set back in 2007. Charlie Davies scored New England's lone goal.

Mike Magee and Federico Higuain traded goals as the Fire drew with the Crew 1-1. Magee's goal came on a penalty while Higuain scored just 10 seconds into the second half. The Chicago Fire now have 13 ties on the season to lead the league.

Nick Rimando tied Kevin Hartman's MLS record with the 112th shutout of his career as Real Salt Lake held off Colorado 1-0 to win the 2014 Rocky Mountain Cup. Javier Morales scored the only goal of the match in the 14th minute and Real Salt Lake withstood a red card to Aaron Maund, playing virtually the entire second half with 10 men. Rimando finished with six saves.

Yannick Djaló's first half goal was all San Jose would need as they christened the new home of the San Francisco 49ers by holding off the Sounders 1-0. Chris Wondolowski picked up his second assist of the season and has 2 goals and 2 assists in four matches since returning from the World Cup.

SUNDAY

The Houston Dynamo, playing their first match with DaMarcus Beasley and Honduran World Cup veteran Luis Garrido, got a stoppage time winner from Will Bruin to defeat red hot DC United 1-0. Bruin now has 8 goals on the season. Beasley's appearance was his first in MLS since 2004 when he was with the Chicago Fire.

Rookie Tesho Akindele scored for the third time in four matches as FC Dallas held on for a 1-0 win over Chivas USA. The Canadian born striker played four years at the Colorado School of Mines before going 6th in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft. Peruvian keeper Raúl Fernández made 4 saves to earn his second shutout of 2014. Fernández has 28 CAPS for Peru's National Team last appearing in June.

UPCOMING

Montreal will be kicking off the next phase of Champions League Play this week when they host the Futbolistas Asociados Santanecos (FAS) from El Salvador on Tuesday. FAS won the 2014 Clausura in the El Salvadorian Premier League with a record of 11-3-4 behind 10 goals from Alexander Larín. However, Larín left the club in June signing on with Tigres UNAL of the Mexican Premier League.

No comments:

Post a Comment