MLS Weekend Wrap-Up: “The Sounders put MLS on Notice” Edition

Philadelphia v Real Salt Lake 

Poor NBC Sports. This match was a stinker. Real Salt Lake was pretty tired from playing in the CONCACF Champions League earlier in the week and the Philadelphia Union are never a guarantee to play any form of attractive soccer. The match ended in a 0-0 draw. Man of the Match went to the MLS video crew who somehow were able to fill up a highlight video over 4 minutes long.

Montreal v DC United

The Montreal Impact continue to be one of the hottest teams in MLS right now after registering their 5th win in a row, defeating DC United 3-0. Troy Perkins registered his second shutout in his third game with the team and Marco Di Vaio gave the Impact the lead for good in the 24th minute, getting his 3rd goal of the season. Patrice Bernier continued his fantastic season scoring two second half goals to seal the victory. DC United coach Ben Olson received a bit of criticism after the match after deciding to sub out star players, Dwayne DeRosario and Chris Pontius in the first half. The Impact are now only 1 point out of the 5th Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Columbus v New England

This was an absolute goalfest with Columbus defeating New England 4-3. Read the entire match recap from GFT Columbus Crew blogger, Adam Uthe.

Houston v Toronto FC

Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear could not have been happy on Saturday night after seeing his team dominate a good portion of the match only to allow Toronto FC to equalize in the 85th minute. The Dynamo took the lead in the 21st minute when Will Bruin chipped the ball over a charging Freddy Hall. After a stellar first half, the Dynamo couldn’t maintain the same level of energy. Toronto finally took advantage of  some sluggish play from the Houston backline after Terry Dunfield made a run through box and connected with a Darren O’Dea cross to steal a point for his team.

San Jose v Colorado

The Earthquakes got two goals each from Simon Dawkins and Alan Gordon to demolish the Colorado Rapids 4-1 and extend their home winning streak to 14 games. Gordon continued his stellar play which resulted in a call up to the United States National Team earlier this month. He now has a career-high 11 goals. San Jose remains the top team in MLS with a 15-6-5 (50 points) record. For the Rapids, at least they were able to pad on more air miles to their account. It was a truly dismal effort, even with it being on the road, for the Rapids.

Vancouver v Portland

The Portland Timbers finally got their first win under Gavin Wilkinson (0-5-2 in the previous 7 matches) and also went to the top of the Cascadia Cup standings after beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 Saturday night. Darlington Nagbe became the first Timbers player to get a goal in three games in a row and Franck Songo’o scored his first career MLS goal off a free kick to lead the Timbers. The Vancouver Whitecaps continued their struggles on the road this season and are now in the midst of a six match winless streak on the road. Read more about this match on the GFT Portland Timbers blog.

Seattle v Chivas USA

The Seattle Sounders put on a goal-scoring clinic and thoroughly embarrassed Chivas USA in a 6-2 drubbing at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. Fredy Montero’s first MLS hat-trick propelled the Sounders to an easy victory and their fourth in five matches. The Sounders are now 2nd in the Western Conference standings and their recent form has put the rest of the league on notice as one of the teams to beat in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Despite some promising trades and signings this summer (Danny Califf, Juan Agudelo, Shalrie Joseph) and having one of the top goalkeepers in MLS, Chivas USA can’t seem to right the ship and there’s no doubt that Robin Fraser is on the hot seat.

FC Dallas v Los Angeles

Galaxy take sole possession of the Western Conference’s fourth position by punishing FC Dallas mistakes to win 2-0. Read more about this game from our LA Galaxy blogger, Vincent LaRosa.

Sporting KC v New York

As if Sporting KC’s 1-1 draw to the New York Red Bulls wasn’t disappointing enough, Coach Peter Vermes also had to deal with the news that Teal Bunbury would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL injury. Read more about this match from Sporting KC blogger, Brian Sanders.

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