Week Two Recap

By: travis | March 30th, 2009

The 1-1 result was plentiful over the weekend — three games ending with that score in tightly contested matches around the league. Don’t look now, but Seattle and Chivas are tops of the league. Sure, it’s only been two games but these two sides — Chivas especially by winning on the road — have gotten things off to a great start.

Looking at the dimmer side of things, attendance over the weekend was poor. Aside from Seattle, no host cracked the 16,000 mark, with a cringe-inducing 6,524 at Dallas on Sunday. Not to get on the case of any front office’s, but seeing close to half empty stadiums while watching these games on TV doesn’t exactly help stoke interest in MLS. Perhaps April will bring brighter days and more crowds out. On to the recaps:

Columbus 1-1 Toronto
Toronto gave Columbus all it could handle in Ohio, with 1,500 fans making the trek down in support of their club. Two away results for Toronto to start the season and they would take another giant step forward — and while a draw isn’t bad, they only managed to score on a fluke own goal from Gino Padula. Lacking Amado Guevara in the midfield, Toronto wasn’t as dangerous on the attack. Greg Sutton, came on in the second half to replace an injured Stefan Frei and made a couple of strong saves to keep Toronto in the game — setting up the fluke goal from Padula on a Dwayne De Rosario free kick. His header went off the bar and Will Hesmer’s back into the net. While Toronto has yet to beat Columbus in seven tries, they managed another point on the road — an impressive return for a side that has yet to play at BMO Field.

D.C. 1-1 Chicago
It was a wet and misty night out in D.C., one that didn’t pan out as well as it could have for United and its die hard supporters. The number of fans at Seattle is great, but I don’t think they can stake a claim for “best fans in the league” that the likes of the Screaming Eagles and Barra Brava can. They were loud and rambunctious through out the entire match, no matter what happened. United got off to a great start in the 7th minute when Luciano Emilio found the back of the net. The only negative aspect of their game was the inability to hang more than one goal on Chicago in the first half. The Fire came out rejuvenated in the second stanza, finding the equalizer when Patrick Nyarko got on the end of a Marco Pappa through ball — Josh Wicks came out, perhaps erroneously, and Nyarko slotted in to the empty net. Chicago, of the two sides, looked more likely to find a winner, but in the end another draw was on the cards for United. The Fire have to be pleased opening the season with four points from two road games — the home opener next weekend will be an important match to win as their home record wasn’t as strong last season.

New York 1-1 New England
The battle at the Meadowlands rounds out the slew of draws on the weekend. New York looked much better over the weekend — although after their display against Seattle, simply by showing up and keeping possession they were already miles ahead. Red Bulls took the lead when Jay Heaps bundled in a cross from Khano Smith that looked destined to end up in the net if it had gotten through to Juan Pablo Angel anyways. New York had the looks of a winner, with Cepero making a few nice saves and the backline holding up generally well. Add to that the Revolution only had 17 players in uniform, and you can expect a certain level of disappointment at conceding the equalizer to Kenny Mansally. A brilliant ball from Shalrie Joseph left the net gaping for Mansally whose header secured the draw in the 90th minute. A crushing blow for New York, while you have to admire Steve Nicol’s coaching ability.

Colorado 2-1 Kansas City
The Wizards opening struggles continue, with the Rapids taking all three points in Colorado. Matt Pickens came up huge for the Rapids, making a string of impressive saves on Claudio Lopez to keep the match scoreless. KC was lacking impact midfielders Davy Arnaud and Roger Espinoza, plus a few more through injury. Terry Cooke grabbed the lead for the Rapids with an impressive free kick that left Kevin Hartman no chance in net. Hartman had earlier passed Tony Meola to become the all time MLS leader in saves. The lead lasted no more than two minutes, with a Jonathan Leathers through ball picked up by the speedy sub Michael Kraus, who lobbed Pickens to net the equalizer. The Rapids picked up the win when Colin Clark player in an unmarked Omar Cummings on the counter attack, who found the back of the net, and the three points. I was pretty high on the Wizards before the season started but they’re already staring at a host of injuries and an 0-2 start. A quick turnaround would be beneficial to Curt Onalfo et al. It remains to be seen what Colorado can do to build off the momentum from their first victory of ‘09.

San Jose 3-2 Houston
This was a thriller out west, with all five goals tallied before the end of the second half. San Jose jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Ryan Johnson and Arturo Alvarez, taking advantage of some lackadaisical defending from Houston. That lead lasted about three minutes, as the Dynamo struck back quickly — first, it was a header from Chris Wondolowski, then a beautiful shot curled in by Brad Davis. Not to be outdone, Cam Weaver did well to stay onside and give the lead back to San Jose for good right before the half. Check out his goal — he was desperate to make sure the ball found the back of the net, although it was so close to hitting the post and bouncing out. From there, the Quakes walked a tight line, managing to keep the Dynamo from grabbing an equalizer through out the final 45, backed up by the usual solid play from Joe Cannon. Seems to me that San Jose found their finishing boots right in the nick of time. They’ll need more of that as the season progresses, especially from Weaver. The Dynamo were missing Brian Ching, although managing two goals could have been enough for a win; however, their defense played a uncharacteristically sloppy game. One point from two games isn’t the start they’ve envision, of that I am sure.

Seattle 2-0 Real Salt Lake
The dreaming in Seattle can only continue, as a packed (relatively speaking) house watched another solid victory from the ~~expansion~~ Sounders. Goals from Nate Jaqua and Fredy Montero saw the hosts nab the three points. The arrival of Freddie Ljungberg in MLS was nothing to note, aside from a harsh tackle from Kyle Beckerman, greeting Freddie to the league. Something that stuck out to me is that Kasey Keller is still a solid and sturdy goal keeper, a force to be reckoned with, and perhaps the most important player on the Sounders. I know, a bit blasphemous to those adoring Fredy, but when you have an accomplished keeper like Keller back there, that gives a defense worlds of confidence. That being said, Montero’s goals are providing the victory — but it’s worth pointing out that Seattle has yet to concede a single goal. As for RSL, they didn’t look particularly bad, although I’m not sure why the defense gave Montero acres of space on that second goal. At least make them work for it a bit.

Dallas 0-2 Chivas
There’s trouble brewing in Texas, and it’s not the good kind. If you’re Chivas, going on the road for a 2-0 will do wonders for your confidence. Goals from newcomers Eduardo Lillingston and Bojan Stepanovic were enough to get by a rather toothless Dallas side. Kenny Cooper lacked his usual goal scoring prowess, finding the back of the net only when he was offside, even fluffing a chance he had after being played in one on one against Zach Thornton, who had an impressive game in goal. Dallas could be in a world of hurt this season if they can’t turn it around. Two losses in two home games is not a good start.

Goal of the Week
My pick goes to Terry Cooke. His free kick against the Wizards was a thing of beauty — top corner, Kevin Hartman unable to do anything. Vote here.