MLS Weekly Recap, Week 20

Here's this week's recap:

Aaron Maund's 87th minute goal was the difference in the match as Real Salt Lake spoiled Steven Gerrard's official Galaxy debut knocking them out of the U.S. Open Cup, 1-0. Gerrard did not start the match but logged 45 minutes off the bench, while Real Salt Lake becomes the first team to clinch a berth in the Open Cup semis... The league's leading scorer (Kei Kamara) combined with the league's leading distributor (Ethan Finlay) for the only goal of the match as Columbus got a much needed win over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday... Quincy Amarikwa scored two quick goals, but the Galaxy countered with five unanswered as the tandem of Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard completely overwhelmed the Quakes' defense. Gerrard finished his MLS debut with a goal and an assist... Sebastian Giovinco notched a goal and an assist as Toronto knocked off Philadelphia 2-1. The news gets worse for Union fans as they lost both Richie Marquez and Andrew Wenger to injuries during the course of the match. Jozy Altidore returned to TFC and turned in an 85 minute shift up top... Lee Nguyen scored in the first half, and the Revs benefitted from a second half red card to Ned Grabavoy as New England snapped their 5-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over New York City FC... Cyle Larin was sent off in the first half and the Red Bulls capitalized riding the man-advantage to a 2-0 win over Orlando City. Bryan Róchez appeared in a match for Orlando for the first time in over two months when he came off the bench in the second half... Benny Feilhaber's career year continued as he notched a goal and an assist in Sporting's 2-1 win over Montreal. Dom Dwyer also scored as Sporting won their third straight and fifth in six matches... FC Dallas won their fourth in a row as they took advantage of Bill Hamid's injury and used a stoppage time winner from Fabián Castillo to defeat DC United 2-1... The Rapids used a late winner from Kevin Doyle to send them to a third straight win and knock off the struggling Sounders, 1-0. The win spoiled the return to Seattle of Swedish midfielder Erik Friberg and leaves the Sounders with five losses in their last six while being shutout four times during that stretch... Joao Plata scored for the first time since September and added an assist as Real Salt Lake picked up their second shutout of the week with a 2-0 win over the Giles Barnes-less Houston Dynamo... A pair of stoppage time red cards spoiled an otherwise exciting match between the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps that ended in a 1-1 draw. Vancouver's Christian Dean, formerly the third overall pick in the 2014 draft, made his first MLS appearance of 2015... Columbus made it a sweep of the Fire on Sunday behind goals from each of their big three, Federico Higuaín, Kei Kamara, and Ethan Finlay. Chicago's Jason Johnson earned a second yellow early in the second half for diving.

Here's a rundown of all the action:

RESULTS

MONDAY

Haiti 1 Honduras 0 - Gold Cup, Group A
USA 1 Panama 1 - Gold Cup, Group A

TUESDAY

Jamaica 1 El Salvador 0 - Gold Cup, Group B
Canada 0 Costa Rica 0 - Gold Cup, Group B
Real Salt Lake 1 LA Galaxy 0 - US Open Cup Quarterfinals

WEDNESDAY

Cuba 1 Guatemala 0 - Gold Cup, Group C
Trinidad and Tobago 4 Mexico 4 - Gold Cup, Group C
Columbus Crew 1 Chicago Fire 0

FRIDAY

LA Galaxy 5 San Jose Earthquakes 2

SATURDAY

USA 6 Cuba 0 - Gold Cup Quarterfinals
Jamaica 1 Haiti 0 - Gold Cup Quarterfinals
Toronto FC 2 Philadelphia Union 1
New England Revolution 1 New York City FC 0
New York Red Bulls 2 Orlando City SC 0
Sporting Kansas City 2 Montreal Impact 1
FC Dallas 2 DC United 1
Colorado Rapids 1 Seattle Sounders 0
Real Salt Lake 2 Houston Dynamo 0
Portland Timbers 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 1

SUNDAY

Panama 1 Trinidad and Tobago 1, Panama Wins 6-5 in Shootout - Gold Cup Quarterfinals
Mexico 1 Costa Rica 0 (a.e.t) - Gold Cup Quarterfinals
Columbus Crew 3 Chicago Fire 1

NOTABLE GOALS

Blas Pérez (Panama) - Pérez scored against the U.S. for the third time in his career, all three times in Gold Cup matches, and now has 38 goals in his international career. He is two goals behind teammate Luis Tejada for Panama's all-time scoring lead.

Michael Bradley (USA) - Not a bad week for the Bald Eagle as he scored his 14th international goal in the U.S.'s draw with Panama and added three assists in their 6-0 win over Cuba.

Clint Dempsey (USA) - After his hat trick against Cuba on Saturday, Dempsey is just ten goals away from tying Landon Donovan for the U.S.'s all-time scoring lead. This was Dempsey's first international hat trick and his six goals lead all players in this year's Gold Cup.

Omar Gonzalez (USA) - Gonzalez scored his first international goal in the U.S.'s rout of Cuba. He scored twice for the US U-18s back in 2007.

Gyasi Zardes (USA) - Zardes hit a nifty volley off of a Fabian Johnson cross to, for all intents and purposes, put the game out of reach against Cuba. Zardes, who scored against the Netherlands last month, has two goals for the U.S.

Giles Barnes (Jamaica) - Barnes, who only became eligible to play for Jamaica this year, scored his second international goal and punched Jamaica's ticket to the Gold Cup Semifinals.

Kei Kamara (Columbus) - Not slowed by his omission from the MLS Fan XI voting for this year's all-star game, Kamara scored in both of the Crew's matches with Chicago this week and now has a league-high 14 goals on the year and 66 goals in his MLS career.

Aaron Maund (Real Salt Lake) - Aaron Maund's first professional goal, an 87th minute header, has sent Real Salt Lake through to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals. Maund, in his fourth MLS season, has still yet to score his first MLS goal.

Quincy Amarikwa (San Jose) - In just his second match with San Jose, Amarikwa scored a pair of quick goals, but had his evening spoiled when LA rattled off five in a row unanswered.

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) - After a quiet start to the season, the 35 year-old Keane has back-to-back hat tricks, first last weekend against Toronto, and now this week against San Jose. Keane has nine goals on the season, and already has 62 goals in his MLS career.

Steven Gerrard (LA Galaxy) - Welcome to MLS, Steven Gerrard. The English star scored a goal and added an assist in his MLS debut as the Galaxy rallied from a 2-0 deficit to rout the Quakes 5-2.

Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy) - Lletget scored his fifth goal in six games and now has 5 goals in just 466 minutes of play since joining MLS. The Galaxy are 4-1-1 in that stretch.

Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC) - The Atomic Ant continues his stellar first season adding another goal and an assist in Toronto's win over Philadelphia. Giovinco now has 12 goals and nine assists, just over halfway through the 2015 campaign.

Conor Casey (Philadelphia) - Casey scored his first goal of 2015 in Saturday's loss to Toronto. He now has 69 goals in his MLS career (good for 22nd all time). He needs just one more to tie Cobi Jones for 21st.

Lee Nguyen (New England) - Nguyen's third goal of the season snapped a five game losing streak for the Revs. Nguyen led New England with 18 goals in 2014.

Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls) - Just watch the video.



Benny Feilhaber (Sporting KC) - Feilhaber's career year continues as he extended his career high with his sixth goal of the season and reached double-digit assists for the first time in his career in Sporting's 2-1 win over Montreal.

Dom Dwyer (Sporting KC) - Dwyer hasn't been the prolific scorer he was a year ago, but with his goal against Montreal on Saturday, he now has six goals on the season and 30 in his brief career.

Fabián Castillo (FC Dallas) - Castillo has scored or assisted in each of Dallas's last five matches during which Dallas is 4-0-1. With eight goals on the year, the young Colombian is just two shy of his career high set last season.

Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas) - Acosta doesn't turn 20 until next weekend, but now he has scored his first MLS goal.

Kevin Doyle (Colorado) - Doyle has started to find his scoring touch (two goals in the last three games), and not coincidentally it's aligned with Colorado's three game winning streak.

Joao Plata (Real Salt Lake) - Plata scored for the first time since mid September as his return to form appears to be complete. Plata, who scored 13 times for RSL last year, now has a goal and three assists in his last four matches.

Diego Valeri (Portland) - Valeri, who set the Timbers single season scoring and assist records last season, scored his second goal of 2015 in Portland's 1-1 draw with Vancouver.

Ethan Finlay (Columbus) - Finlay continued his recent strong form and now has a goal or an assist in six of Columbus's last seven games.

SHUTOUTS BY:

Jeff Attinella (Real Salt Lake) - Attinella helped Real Salt Lake to wins in both the U.S. Open Cup and in League play as he shutout the red hot LA Galaxy in the Open Cup Quarterfinals and the Houston Dynamo in action on Saturday. Saturday's shutout was Attinella's first of the season and the fifth of his MLS career. In 19 career starts backing up Nick Rimando, Attinella is 5-8-6.

Steve Clark (Columbus) - Clark beat the Fire twice this week, earning his fourth shutout of the year during Wednesday's 1-0 win.

Brad Knighton (New England) - Bobby Shuttleworth's back-up earned his first shutout since July of 2013 while making a rare start in place of the Revs' starting net-minder. Knighton has made just four starts in two seasons with New England, and now has eight shutouts in his eight-year career.

Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls) - The Red Bulls won their fourth in five tries behind four saves from Luis Robles. It was just Robles's fifth shutout of the season, but his next one will equal his season total from 2014 where he made all 34 regular season starts.

Clint Irwin (Colorado) - Irwin made three saves against the Sounders to help Colorado to their third straight win, more than their win total in their first 17 matches combined. Irwin now has 7 shutouts on the season, just three shy of his career high set during his rookie season (2013).