A terrific weekend of MLS action ended yesterday with a thrilling 3-3 draw between the Portland TImber and New York Red Bulls.
New York jumped out to a first half lead courtesy of two errors from Timber defender Mikaël Silvestre, who handed Fabián Espíndola his first goals for New York.
But unlike last season, Portland have a little more fight about them this season and fought back to grab a point, thanks to an inspired display from new Argentine DP Diego Valeri. In the end the Red Bulls were lucky to escape Portland with a point.
No Beckham or Donovan but it did not make a difference to the LA Galaxy as the MLS Cup winners thrashed the Chicago Fire 4-0 as Mike Magee scored his first-ever hat trick and Robbie Keane finished the rout acrobatically. Can anyone stop the Galaxy this season?
One team that is trying to is the Seattle Sounders, who were stunningly beaten at home 1-0 by the Montreal Impact in front of 38,000 fans at at CenturyLink. Montreal Captain Davy Arnaud grabbing the winner with a sublime finish.
One team that does look ready to challenge the Galaxy is the new look RSL as they beat the defending Supporters’ Shield champs San Jose 2-0 defeat. San Jose were wasteful in front of goal as Chris Wondolowski and Mike Fucito both spurned numerous chances. But Álvaro Saborío showed them what clinical finishing was all about to seal all three points for RSL.
Elsewhere, Sporting KC recovered from an early Sébastien Le Toux goal to dismantle the Union 3-1.
Graham Zusi was again the catalyst for Sporting, with a goal and an assist, as Philadelphia head coach John Hackworth branded his teams display as “unacceptable.”
In Vancouver, the Whitecaps won the battle between the two Canadian sides at BC Place, in a narrow 1-0 victory over Toronto FC.
It was a case of déjà vu for D.C. United as they lost to Houston at BBVA, just like they did during the 2012 Eastern Conference Championship first leg. Two late goals from the Dynamo did the damage, with an own-goal and a Ricardo Clark strike enough to extend Houston’s unbeaten run at home to 26 games, just three off RSL’s MLS record of 29.
Houston’s Texas rivals FC Dallas got off to a winning start, as the Colorado Rapids handed them all three-points after Rapids backup ‘keeper Steward Ceus howler cost Colorado the game in a 1-0 defeat.
Finally in front of less than 8,000 fans in LA, the Columbus Crew beat Chivas USA 3-0. The low attendance and Chivas’s performance has to have the MLS commissioner ringing the panic buttons in the league office.
