Tuesday, April 28, 2015

MLS Weekly Recap, Week 8

Ignacio Piatti and the Montreal Impact nearly stole a win in Mexico this week only to watch it slip away with an 89th minute equalizer against Club América in the first leg of the CCL Finals. After that it was goals galore as four different MLS clubs scored four goals highlighted by Houston and Sporting KC's 4-4 draw. In other action, the Red Bulls stayed unbeaten, Toronto snapped their four-game losing streak, and the Fire are back to .500 after starting the season 0-3. Here's a rundown of all the action:

RESULTS

WEDNESDAY

Montreal Impact 1 Club América 1

FRIDAY

Chicago Fire 1 New York City FC 0
FC Dallas 1 Colorado Rapids 1

SATURDAY

Columbus Crew 4 Philadelphia Union 1
New England Revolution 4 Real Salt Lake 0
Houston Dynamo 4 Sporting Kansas City 4
DC United 2 Vancouver Whitecaps 1

SUNDAY

New York Red Bulls 1 LA Galaxy 1
Toronto FC 2 Orlando City SC 0
Seattle Sounders 1 Portland Timbers 0

NOTABLE GOALS

Ignacio Piatti (Montreal) - Piatti nearly gave Montreal one of the biggest wins in MLS history as his opener against América in Leg 1 of the Champions League Finals almost held up. Instead the Impact settled for a 1-1 draw, but can hold their heads high as they return to Montreal for the second leg.

David Accam (Chicago) - Accam, who signed as a designated player in December, scored his first MLS goal in just his second start and helped the Fire to a third straight win over short-handed NYCFC. The 24 year old Ghanaian scored 17 goals for Helsingborgs of the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2014, tying him for the second most goals in the league.

Mauro Díaz (FC Dallas) - Dallas's #10 returned to the starting lineup after missing four straight matches and made an immediate impact, scoring the match's opening goal. A red card likely cost them a win, but even so, Dallas is 3-0-1 in games Díaz starts and just 1-2-1 when he sits, getting outscored 9-4 in those matches. 

Kei Kamara (Columbus) - Kamara tied Vancouver's Octavio Rivero with his 5th goal of the season and also added an assist in the Crew's 4-1 rout of Philadelphia. Kamara spent his first two MLS seasons with the Crew and scored just 5 goals in 36 matches. His career high high for scoring was 11 goals with Sporting KC back in 2012.

Ethan Finlay (Columbus) - Finlay, who scored 11 goals for Columbus a year ago, found the back of the net for the first time in 2015 when he scored twice against Philadelphia. It marked the first time in his four year career that he's scored twice in the same game. He also currently ranks second in the league this season with four assists.

Scott Caldwell (New England) - Caldwell beat Real Salt Lake's Jeff Attinella for the first goal of his MLS career. Caldwell is currently in his third MLS season, all of them with New England.

Charlie Davies (New England) - I've been saying all year long that New England is more dangerous with this guy on the field, and he showed why on Saturday scoring in his second straight appearance, both New England wins. The Revs are 4-0-1 in their last five matches after starting the season 0-2-1.

Juan Agudelo (New England) - The U.S. international followed up his goal against Mexico with his second goal of the 2015 season in New England's 4-0 rout of Real Salt Lake. The goal was the 20th of Agudelo's MLS career.

Giles Barnes (Houston) - Barnes picked up his first brace since last September against Montreal in a wild affair with Sporting KC. The Enligsh-born Jamaican international now has four goals on the season to lead the Dyanmo.

Dom Dwyer (Sporting KC) - Dwyer's slow start to 2015 continues, but he did score his second goal of the season against Houston on Saturday. Dwyer scored 22 goals in 33 appearances in 2014.

Benny Feilhaber (Sporting KC) - The league leader in assists got into the goal column for the first time in 2015 with a pair of goals against Houston.

Will Bruin (Houston) - Bruin averaged 10 goals a year over the past three seasons, but his goal on Saturday was his first of 2015.

Bradford Jamieson (LA Galaxy) - The 18 year old Jamieson who has been seeing time with the U.S. U-20s has found his way into the Galaxy starting lineup in Robbie Keane's absence and he made the opportunity count on Sunday night with a goal against the Red Bulls in the MLS Game of the Week. It's the first MLS goal of Jamieson's career.

Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC) - Altidore scored both goals in Toronto's 2-0 win over Orlando. Toronto is 2-0 when Altidore scores 2 goals, and 0-4 when he doesn't. Altidore's next goal with be the 20th of his MLS career.

Clint Dempsey (Seattle) - Dempsey scored for the first time since March 14th and made it count with the game winner against Portland on Sunday night. He has four goals on the year.

SHUTOUTS BY:

Sean Johnson (Chicago) - Johnson made four saves and picked up his second consecutive shutout as the Fire won a third straight, defeating NYCFC 1-0. Johnson's career high for shutouts in a season is 7, set back in 2011.

Bobby Shuttleworth (New England) - Shuttleworth picked up his fourth shutout of the season and the 25th of his career with a 3-save effort against Real Salt Lake. Shuttleworth and the Revs have four wins and a draw in their last five matches.

Joe Bendik (Toronto FC) - It's been a rough start to 2015 for Toronto and Joe Bendik, but the Reds finally turned in a complete effort on Sunday as Bendik earned his first shutout of the season while Toronto snapped a four-game skid. Bendik had just four shutouts in 27 starts in 2014.

Stefan Frei (Seattle) - Frei made just two saves, but it was enough as the Sounders defeated the Timbers 1-0 on Sunday night. Frei now has four shutouts on the season.

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