Week 16 Recap

By: travis | July 15th, 2008

Lots going on last week with four different kinds of games to report. First the hardly talked about Open Cup saw four teams make it to the semifinals on Tuesday, Thursday a couple of league games to get every prepared for the weekend’s SuperLiga action, with a few friendlies (ok, one friendly) also in the mix. The startling news from this weekend? How about Real Salt Lake landing on top of the West. That is not a typo, ladies and gentlemen. Quite impressive from a squad that had, well, very underwhelming expectations, at least in my humble opinion. However, thanks to some classy home form - read: undefeated - they now sit on top of the West, which I think makes them the fifth different team to be in first place so far this season (please correct me if I’m wrong - but I think I’m not).

MLS won 2 from 4 this weekend in the “nobody cares” Super Liga. The Revolution and Houston both came out victorious. Highlights and post game notes are available here. Not going to spend too much time on it, as two more games are scheduled for it today. Go MLS, I suppose. Now onto a quick look at what went down this weekend:

Kansas City 2-1 New York
I really like the stuff going up on the Red Bulls Offside page about a win equaling a new player. That seems to be the case with New York, as a 2-1 loss to the Wizards sees the arrival of another signing. Heck, there have been so many of them that I can’t even keep track. In all honesty, they can thank only Kevin Hartman for their loss, who made a couple of saves to preserve the win for the Wizards, who have been making a little bit of noise on their own in the transfer market. Josh Wolff will probably make his return this Thursday against the Crew. A good win for the Wizards, who needed it to remain within shouting distance of the playoffs. New York must be pressing hard to keep the wheels on this season’s ride. We’ll see what these new recruits can do soon - that is, if they are let in the country on time.

Chivas USA 1-1 Los Angeles
A blockbuster showdown? Not really, although it was a much more sedated match than the previous game. A gorgeous shot by Ante Razov gave Chivas a lead that they couldn’t hold onto for the remainder of the match, as the ever tenacious Edson Buddle equalized in the 72nd minute. It was a chance for the winner to take over first place, but neither team delivered. On another note, every can now bid farewell to Brad Guzan, who looks like he’s heading off to the EPL. Best of luck to him, and more importantly to Chivas in replacing him between the sticks.

Real Salt Lake 2-0 Columbus
Check out a few views from this match. Frankie Hejduk decided to do the twist right after Javier Morales’ free kick, opening up a path for the ball to elude Hesmer. To the credit of Morales it was a well struck ball, and it set the tone within the first five minutes of the match. The Crew were not without chances, but couldn’t get anything by Rimando, as there would be no Emmanuel Ekpo magic. That and they were playing against RSL’s 12th man - the turf. That aside, they’ve held their own at Rice Eccles and that reason is why they sit on top of the West. If they could get something, even anything going away from home they could steal the top seed. Not saying that will happen, I’m just saying it. Props must go to Jason Kreis for pulling the squad together and getting them to work hard, week in and week out.

Chicago 2-1 Toronto
Toronto with the almost-point on the road. They were literally minutes away from grabbing just their first point on the road since a 3-2 against the Galaxy on April 13. That’s a long time between away points if you ask me. They’ll still be searching next time on the road. A great goal by Chris Rolfe opened up the scoring, before 16 year old forward Abdus Ibrahim equalized off a brilliant through ball from Amado Guevara. Unfortunately for the Canadians, John Thorrington stole the three points for the Fire, knocking in the winner from close range. It was a relief for Chicago, who were in need of a win to bolster their position in the table. Meanwhile, Toronto must improve away from BMO to have a shot at the playoffs.

San Jose 1-1 Colorado
Yawn. This game bores me. The exciting thing about it was the fact that San Jose scored off a Ryan Johnson header. That makes it a whopping 11 goals from 16 games. They were denied a win thanks to Conor Casey, and some hard work in front of the net. Reinforcements are on the way for the Earthquakes, with Darren Huckerby and Scott Sealy moving out West. The Rapids hold on to fourth, which means very little considering they are only three games behind Real Salt Lake for first place. Interesting to see how things will shape up out there.

Goal of the week
Impressive entries for this week. For me, it’s neck and neck with Razov’s dazzler against the Galaxy, or Chris Rolfe’s laser - yes, I know those adjectives are cliche - against Toronto. I’m going to have to go with Razov, simply because it was a one-timed, beautifully-guided strike. There isn’t a goalie in the world who could have saved it. The highlights aren’t up on YouTube, but as soon as they are I’ll chuck it up. Of course, never forget to vote.