Weekly Recap

Pretty exciting final week of the season as we saw the Supporter's Shield decided not by American icons Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan, nor by MVP candidates Obafemi Martins or Robbie Keane. Instead Guatemalan International Marco Pappa came off the bench to score two goals and secure the double for the Sounders. We also saw Italian veteran Marco Di Vaio cap off his career with one final goal, Bradley Wright-Phillips tie the league's single season scoring record with 2 goals against Sporting KC, Lee Nguyen add to his MVP campaign with his 18th goal of the season and 9th game winner, and yet another Toronto FC campaign end in disappointment. But the week's biggest disappointment has to belong to the Portland Timbers. Not only were they eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League with a 3-1 loss to Olimpia, they also watched Vancouver get a late winner from Kendall "Elementary My Dear" Waston to clinch the final playoff spot for the Whitecaps leaving Portland on the outside looking in. For the rest of us though, there are playoffs to look forward to!


RESULTS

WEDNESDAY

Real Salt Lake 2 Chivas USA 0

FRIDAY

Chicago Fire 2 Houston Dynamo 1

SATURDAY

Seattle Sounders 2 LA Galaxy 0
Montreal Impact 1 DC United 1
New England Revolution 1 Toronto FC 0
Portland Timbers 2 FC Dallas 0
Vancouver Whitecaps 1 Colorado Rapids 0

SUNDAY

Columbus Crew 2 Philadelphia Union 1
Chivas USA 1 San Jose Earthquakes 0
New York Red Bulls 2 Sporting KC 0


Notable Goals Scored by:

Lee Nguyen (New England) - Nguyen made it goals in four straight matches finishing the season with 18, double what he scored in his first two MLS seasons, and leads the league with 9 game winners.

Marco Pappa (Seattle) - Pappa played just 17 minutes, but scored two goals late to secure the Supporter's Shield for the Sounders. Pappa finished the year with six goals.

Marco Di Vaio (Montreal) - The 38 year old Di Vaio went out on top scoring his 9th goal of the season capping a career where he scored over 250 goals for club and country, playing in top leagues in France, Spain and Italy before coming to MLS. Di Vaio helped the Impact reach the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals, but he won't be there going forward as he heads home to enjoy retirement with his family.

Darlington Nagbe (Portland) - A year after scoring 9 goals for the Timbers, Nagbe picked a good time  to score his first goal of the 2014 season netting the game winner in Portland's 2-0 win over FC Dallas. The win put Portland in a position to grab the final playoff spot, but Vancouver was less than accommodating.

Kendall Waston (Vancouver) - The 6'5" Waston scored a 70th minute winner, his second goal in 10 games with the Caps to leapfrog the Timbers and put Vancouver into the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Maximiliano Urruti (Portland) - Urruti reached 10 goals despite just 12 starts in his second MLS season. Four of his ten goals, including Saturday's, came off the bench.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Chicago) - Sinama-Pongolle played previously with Liverpool and Atletico Madrird, but the 30 year old was a hero in Chicago on Friday night when his stoppage time header gave the Fire a much needed win and helped them avoid what would have been their 19th tie of the season.

Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake) - Beckerman capped his 15th season in MLS with his 35th career goal. The World Cup veteran started his career in 2000 with the now defunct Miami Fusion, but has been a mainstay in Salt Lake since 2007.

Zach Pfeffer (Philadelphia) - The fourth youngest player to sign a contract in MLS history at the tender age of 15 back in December 2010 scored his first MLS goal against Columbus. Before today, Pfeffer hadn't appeared in a match since June.

Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York) - Wright-Phillips tied Roy Lassiter and Chris Wondolowski's single season scoring record with a pair of goals against Sporting KC. His bid for a record setting 28th goal came up short, but he'll try and stay hot as he leads the Red Bulls into the postseason.


Shutouts by:

Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) - Rimando didn't need to make a save against Chivas USA on Wednesday to make it back-to-back shutouts and increase his career record to 115. Rimando finishes the season with 7 shutouts, his lowest total since he had 7 back in 2007.

Donovan Ricketts (Portland) - Ricketts closed out the season with three straight shutouts, but it still wasn't enough to get the Timbers into the postseason. Ricketts finishes the year with 12 wins and 7 shutouts.

David Ousted (Vancouver) - Ousted put the Whitecaps on his back this month finishing October with 4 shutouts in 4 matches and behind his 5 saves on Saturday night, propelled the Whitecaps into the postseason. Ousted finished with a league high 13 shutouts on the year.

Bobby Shuttleworth (New England) - Shuttleworth earned his 8th shutout of the season and first since  late August stopping 4 shots in a 1-0 win versus Toronto FC. Shuttleworth is 9-1-2 in his last 12 matches as the red hot Revs finish the season in 2nd in the East.

Stefan Frei (Seattle) - After five seasons in Toronto where he won 20 games total, Frei capped off his first season in Seattle by reaching 20 wins. He also earned his 9th shutout with 3 saves against the Galaxy to clinch the Supporter's Shield.

Dan Kennedy (Chivas USA) - Kennedy set a career high with his 9th win and made three saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season. Kennedy has spent his entire MLS career with Chivas USA.

Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls) - Robles started every game for the Red Bulls for the second straight season and capped off his third MLS season with his sixth shutout against Sporting Kansas City.