Week 14 Recap

By: travis | June 30th, 2008

It was a low-scoring weekend – not including the Galaxy-United game – around the league. New England continued to solidify their position at the top, meaning that Steve Nicol will coach the All Stars against West Ham in a few weeks time. Road teams continued to struggle, with the most positive results were draws for two away sides, and all the other visitors lost. Along with that, the Easts were beasts (ha!) again, winning almost every inter-conference match up. Let’s take a look:

Columbus 2-1 Colorado
Scintillating stuff from Emmanual Ekpo. The Nigerian midfield strutted his stuff against the Rapids, taking the ball 50 yards from his own has, beating six defenders and ripping a shot past Bouna Coundoul. I think that it’s safe to stop placing a “pretender” tag on the Crew, who had struggled after their hot start. My premonition that they were just a flash in the pan is looking to be wrong. They’ve bounced back nicely, and have a firm grasp on second. The Rapids on the other hand are now mired in a slump of their own as they haven’t won in four games. Ever since they were in first they’ve yet to do much about it – a shame really. Christian Gomez was forced to sit out with a leg injury; they’ll need him back to put a stop to this skid ASAP.

New England 2-1 Toronto
No shutout for Matt Reis (he’s fallen off the league lead) but three points nonetheless. It was a fairly entertaining battle between Toronto who, like just about every team in the MLS, can’t win away from home. A brace from Steve Ralston was enough to carry NE, with a late Maurice Edu goal making things interesting. Toronto’s poor road record (1-5) may end up being their undoing in their search for a postseason berth.

Chivas USA 1-1 New York
Should have been three points for the Red Bulls. Jon Conway played brilliantly, saving twice from point blank range, and a tricky free kick by Dave van den Bergh giving them a 1-0. However, right before halftime, a mix up between defenders Kevin Goldthwaite and Jeff Parke ended up sending Ante Razov on net, and he beat Conway to the ball and scored to give the Goats a tie. A shame really; I’ve been impressed with the play of the Red Bull despite their injury problems. Three points would have been huge, but they just missed out.

Chicago 0-0 San Jose
Blah. I don’t have much to say about this game. The Fire are impressing no one right now. Props to the Quakes, but one shot on goal isn’t going to cut it. Chicago needs Brian McBride. Or someone to cure them of their scoring woes.

Kansas City 1-0 Real Salt Lake
Speaking of scoring woes, the Wizards “broke” their scoreless streak thanks to an own goal from RSL defender Tony Beltran. A sad turn of events for Real, as they were just a few minutes away from securing a rare point on the road. While three points is a step in the right direction for Kansas City, they still have a lot of problems in front of goal. Their buildup and passing was much better, as they got into dangerous positions time and time again. But their finishing was non-existent, as indicated by recording 21 shots, with only three of them being on goal. Real lost no ground in the West, and still sits in second place, while the Wizards are still stuck in the East basement, and will trouble no one is their finishing woes continue.

DC United 4-1 LA Galaxy
The much-hyped matchup between the league’s two hottest teams turned into a rout, as Luciano Emilio shredded through the struggling Galaxy defense. Emilio was unlucky not to have another hat trick, and his recent form has helped to vault United into third place. On top of that, Emilio is now one goal off pace behind Donovan for the Golden Boot. In all reality this game wasn’t all that close. Zach Wells, a player who I never go easy on around these parts made two or three quality saves, and could have had a clean sheet if not for a bit of slack defense combined with a tenacious Edson Buddle. LA can only wish that they could play San Jose every week, that way they’d have a weekly shutout. Their defense will determine how far they can go this season.

Goal of the week
There isn’t a whole lot to choose from (as opposed to previous week), but I will give this prestigious award to Emmanuel Ekpo of the Columbus Crew for his waltz through the Colorado Rapids defense. Well played, young man.