Week Seven Recap: The Woeful West

By: travis | May 13th, 2008

Emergent trends are continuing. The Crew keep winning. DC keeps losing. United were the only team from this weekend’s games to not find the net. They seem to have problems. The Galaxy couldn’t outscore New York. However, some trends are changing - San Jose scored two goals, the same total for their whole season before this game. Houston got their first win against the Rapids, who continue to be inconsistent. The MLS is also doing its best impression of the NBA except with the Eastern Conference emerging as the stronger side - at least according to the standings. Stay tuned for this and more on this week’s recap.

DC United 0-2 Chicago
United’s struggles continue. The new sponsor couldn’t change anything this week, as they lost their second straight match 2-0. Goals from Justin Mapp and Cuauhtemoc Blanco made sure DC stayed quiet. The Fire keep right on pace with the Crew, only one point back from the top. United on the other hand can’t seem to solve any of their problems. Marcelo Gallardo was out and Luciano Emilio seems to have forgotten how to play resulting with DC having just 6 points after 7 games. They really miss Ben Olsen.

Houston 2-1 Colorado
The Dynamo won. Finally - with their big stars Dewayne De Rosorio and Brian Ching finding the net for the first time this season. Can Houston turn things around after this? I think they’ll start to claw their way back into things, and with the Western Conference struggling, they could very well be in the thick of things come playoff time. The Rapids on the other hand continue to have a good result one week and come back the next and struggle. What was Bouna Coundul doing on Ching’s goal? However, they still are on top of the West, because no one else is any good.

Real Salt Lake 2-1 Dallas
Real continues to play well at home - they’ve yet to lose at Rice-Eccles. Their 2-0-2 record their has seen 9 goals scored while just 4 yielded. In terms of the match, Kenny Cooper had a brilliant strike to tie things up, but a fluke goal from Kyle Beckerman (he barely touched it by Sala) gave RSL the victory this week. Cooper’s goal brings his tally to five for the season so far, and he could be in the hunt to earn a trip to Beijing. Dallas blew a chance to take first place in the West.

San Jose 2-3 Columbus
A high-scoring affair out at Buck Shaw Stadium saw the Crew continue their dominance. The Quakes took the lead off of a brave header from Romiro Corrales. However, Robbie Rogers couldn’t be stopped, as he proceeded to equalize the match, then give the Crew the lead. Brad Evans then put a third one in to give the Crew a lead that they would need. Columbus form is impressive. It will be interesting to see how long they can keep it up.

Los Angeles 1-2 New York Red Bull
Angel to the rescue. Angel saves Revolution. The Angel headlines were out in full force after Juan Pablo scored the winner against the Galaxy. It was quite the goal, as a 30-yard run from Dane Richards along with an enticing through ball set things up. On the Galaxy side, a loss and poor play from Beckham leads to an article from ESPN. Funny how one poor performance leads to an article. I can understand some criticism, but a feature? Come on.

Chivas 1-2 New England
It was the return of Taylor Twellman to the Revolution against the decimated defense of Chivas USA. And the resulting battle yielded an away victory for New England. Aside from two thumpings at the hands of the Fire, the Revoultion have been consistent all season. Their away record of 3-1-1 isn’t too bad either. They’ll only get better as more players return from injury.

Goal of the Week
Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s strike against United. But it was real close, as the best goals of the week were outstanding. Cooper hit a screamer against RSL, and the buildup on both Angel’s and Rogers’ goal were sublime. Check it out below, and go cast your vote: