Roundup: Stars come out in Week 20
There was a nine-goal extravaganza in New York as the Red Bulls scored a late 5-4 victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy in front of a massive crowd at the Meadowland, with Angel among the three players to score a pair of goals and Beckham setting up a pair himself. In Salt Lake City, Blanco scored a true golazo to lead the Chicago Fire to a 2-0 victory against Real Salt Lake.
There were also key results as the chase for the MLS Cup Playoffs begins to heat up. The New England Revolution maintained their advantage atop the Eastern Conference with a 1-0 victory against the Kansas City Wizards on Sunday, still six points ahead of New York and D.C. United, who defeated the Columbus Crew 2-0 the night before. Houston Dynamo reclaimed the top spot in the West with their 1-0 win against FC Dallas in Sunday's top-of-the-table clash, while Chivas USA stayed firmly in the postseason hunt with a 2-0 win at Toronto FC.
At Giants Stadium, the Galaxy were heading back on the road after a quick trip home to win their SuperLiga semifinal against D.C. United, though they were winless in four games and held without a goal in their last three. The Red Bulls were coming off their first game in nearly three weeks, a 3-0 rout of Toronto FC.
Before a crowd of 66,237, the eighth-largest crowd in MLS annals, the game got off to an amazing start, with three goals in the opening eight minutes. Juan Pablo Angel opened the scoring for the Red Bulls after just four minutes, sending a free kick from just outside the box under the wall as it jumped into the air in unison, Galaxy 'keeper Joe Cannon just unable to keep it out at his right-hand post.
But two set-piece services from David Beckham within three minutes put the Galaxy in front. In the sixth minute, he drove in a corner from the left and Carlos Pavon got up at the near post to send home a snap header for his first MLS goal. Then in the eighth minute, the pair teamed up again. Beckham whipped in a free kick from the right side and Pavon laid out for a diving header beyond the far post.
The Red Bulls leveled the game in first-half stoppage time. Dane Richards got around the corner on the left and sent in a cross that was deflected, falling in the center of the area. Clint Mathis came on and sent a piledriver of a volley into the back of the net.
Mathis then took his turn on center stage four minutes after the restart. From a perfect ball he sent over the Galaxy back line, Jozy Altidore raced onto it and lashed a low shot past Cannon to give New York the lead. Then, the 17-year-old sensation played his part, doubling the Red Bulls lead when he skipped around a pair of LA defenders in the area and pulled back a low shot across his body that nestled inside the left-hand post.
Yet the Galaxy weren't done, and there was still time for more stars to shine. Almost straight from the kickoff, Landon Donovan took the ball, skated through nearly the entire Red Bulls defense and ripped a low shot from the right side of the area inside the far post. And in the 82nd minute they pulled level. Beckham hooked in another corner, Kyle Veris saw his header crash off the face of the crossbar, but Edson Buddle was there to poke home the rebound from inside the six.
There was one final coda, and it came from Mathis, Angel and the Red Bulls. Mathis hammered a drive from outside the area that Cannon did well to stop with a dive to his left. But he couldn't hold the rebound, and Angel followed up, hooking home the rebound from a near impossible angle on the right for his 12th goal on the year and the late winner.
At Rice-Eccles Stadium, both teams came into the game desperately needing a win if they were to stay in contention for a playoff spot, both off two-week layoffs. Real Salt Lake had ended a four-game losing streak with their second win of the season last time out, while the Fire had just one win in their last eight games.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco sent the Fire on their way with a world-class strike two minutes before the halftime interval. Taking a pass from the left, the Mexican international took a quick touch before blasting an rising angled shot from all of 25 yards away from goal inside the far post for his first league goal.
The Fire's newest addition, Costa Rican international Paulo Wanchope teamed with Blanco to salt the game away 12 minutes from the end. Blanco sent in a corner from the left and Wanchope was able to hang in the air before nodding home a header at the back stick for his first MLS goal and secure an important three points.
At Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards were returning to action after a 17-day layoff, their last match a 2-0 loss to the Revolution in New England. Since that match, the Revs had played three games, a win against the Galaxy sandwiched by a pair of 3-0 losses.
The home side was showing the effects of their break, but the Revolution didn't break through until the 72nd minute. Shalrie Joseph won the ball in midfield and sprung Khano Smith on the left on a quick counter. Smith carried into the box until rolling a cross to the far post for a perfectly timed run from Taylor Twellman, who came sliding in and tapped it into the empty goal for his 10th goal on the campaign.
At Crew Stadium, United were trying to shake off the disappointment of their SuperLiga defeat at midweek, though they had recorded shutout wins in back-to-back league games, while the Crew were trying to shed memories of their second loss in 10 games, a 3-2 loss to 10-man FC Dallas where they twice held leads.
The Crew had the better of the play in a hard-fought conference battle, but United struck twice in an 11-minute span in the second half for the win. In the 52nd minute, Clyde Simms sent his header from a cross from the right off the base of the post. The rebound came back to him, but his second try was blocked. But it then rolled just to the edge of the box where Fred came steaming in and pounded home a wicked first-time blast.
Then in the 63rd, Fred tried to filter through a pass for Luciano Emilio, but Crew defender Ezra Hendrickson was quickest to it. Yet as he dribbled toward his own goal, he turned in his own area -- right into the path of the chasing Emilio, and the Brazilian drove home a quick shot through the legs of Crew 'keeper Will Hesmer for his league-leading 14th goal of the season.
At Robertson Stadium, back-to-back 1-0 losses to Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids had dropped Houston Dynamo into second place in the Western Conference, behind FC Dallas, which had a six-game unbeaten streak in league play.
Yet the Orange maintained their home dominance over their in-state rivals. The game's lone goal came in the 42nd minute when Dwayne De Rosario sprung Brian Mullan with a ball down the right side, and he sent a low cross into the center of the goal area where Brian Ching ran on and sent a diving header past Ray Burse.
FC Dallas has still never won in Houston in five matches in all competitions. With the win, Dynamo ensured "El Capitan", the Civil War-era cannon awarded to the winner of the season series, would remain in the Bayou City.
At BMO Field, Chivas USA were coming off a three-week break, still playing their five away game in their last six. Toronto FC were riding a six-game winless streak and hadn't scored a goal in more than 6-1/2 hours, reaching near-record proportions.
TFC came close on a couple of occasions to ending their goal drought, but it was Chivas who took the lead in the 56th minute. An inch-perfect ball from behind the center line by Jesse Marsch found Maykel Galindo in stride behind the Toronto defense, and from the left side of the area he ripped home a rising blast inside the near post for his eighth goal.
Two minutes from the end, another tremendous long pass sealed TFC's fate. This time it was the newly acquired Ramon Nunez who unlocked the Reds with his long ball, finding Paulo Nagamura on the left flank. Nagamura controlled and rolled a perfect pass to Sacha Kljestan, who strolled in to side-foot home from close range.
Toronto has now gone 552 minutes without a goal, and are on the verge of breaking the MLS record for scoring futility set by Real Salt Lake (557 minutes) in 2005. For Chivas USA, it was their second road win in their last three games away from home, after just one in their first eight this year, and their third overall this season after recording just four in their first two years.
