Tag: Colorado Rapids

MLS: Sporting Kansas City remain unbeaten, Colorado struggle and David Villa scores outrageous goal for NYCFC.

Published on by Liam_RichnerLeave a comment

With six matches now played, this season’s contenders are starting to emerge. 

When you reach six matches into the season, you can begin to make an indications on who will achieve what come the end of the campaign.

However this year’s MLS is proving to be the closest one yet, and a good run will see one team climb up either table frantically.

One team which has done just that is Sporting Kansas City, who rose to second in the Western Conference after beating Portland Timbers 1-0 at Providence Park.

Dom Dwyer headed in his second goal of the campaign as the away side remained unbeaten this season with three wins and three draws.

Tim Melia made some crucial saves to deny Portland. His best was stopping Nagbe’s 25-year goal bound effort by touching it onto the crossbar.

“We are playing well,” said Dwyer after the game.

“We are passing the ball around nicely and controlling games which is very positive. We remain undefeated and today was a real solid team performance from front to back.”

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes, who was taking charge of his 300th game, was also very happy with how his team played at a very difficult Portland side.

“We came to play and weren’t nervous. We didn’t let the emotion of the game rattle us,” he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, Colorado Rapids fell to the bottom of the Western Conference after a 2-1 home loss to a resurgent Real Salt Lake.

Defeat marked the end of Colorado’s two-year unbeaten home record in MLS, whilst RSL made it two wins out of two under Mike Petke.

Kevin Doyle headed the home side in front with a powerful header that Nick Rimando failed to keep out.

Yuri Movsisyan equalised from the penalty spot with seven minutes to go, before Brooks Lennon scored a winner for the visitors with a low strike from 18-yards.

“They sat back and we struggled to play our style,” Lennon said after the game.

“On and off the pitch, we have come together and are now benefiting from it. We are on a good run and hope to continue it.”

Another team struggling are Philadelphia Union, who lost to New York City 2-0 at Talen Energy Stadium.

Jack Harrison scored the first for the visitors with a first time left-footed strike, before veteran striker David Villa produced a moment of magic to seal the points.

The former World Cup winner and NYCFC captain lobbed Andre Blake from over 50 yards in stoppage time.

“I saw the keeper was off his line and thought to just try it,” Villa said after the game.

“I don’t know if I will score from that distance again, I tried it against Philadelphia last year and hit the crossbar so this one went better.”

Boos rung out for the home side at full-time, with Philadelphia bottom of the Eastern Conference and winless so far, adding pressure on manager Jim Curtin.

Elsewhere, Vancouver Whitecaps made it back-to back wins at home after defeating Seattle Sounders 2-1, Montreal Impact recorded their first win of the year against Atlanta United by the same scoreline, and Chicago Fire comfortably beat New England Revolution 3-0.

Also, New York Red Bulls beat DC United 2-0 at Red Bull Arena, and Columbus Crew returned to the top of the Eastern Conference thanks to a 2-1 win over Toronto FC.

Finally, Dallas and San Jose Earthquakes could only draw 1-1, and Minnesota United fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Arena.

MLS Daily: LA Galaxy finally get their first points of the season at Real Salt Lake.

Published on by Liam_RichnerLeave a comment

The five-time MLS Champions lost their first two matches of the 2017 campaign. 

Perhaps it’s best if LA Galaxy stayed away from the StubHub Centre.

Curt Onalfo’s side lost both their home matches to Dallas and Portland Timbers respectively in weeks 1 and 2 of the 2017 season.

It’s the first time since 2012 that the Galaxy have lost consecutive home matches in the regular season, making this weekend’s game even in Utah even more important.

Things started badly for the visitors as RSL’s Yura Movsisya headed in their first goal of the campaign at the Rio Tinto Stadium.

Kyle Beckermann was shown a second yellow card just before half-time in what was a game-changing moment, as the Galaxy made their one man advantage count.

Dave Romney cannoned in a thunderbolt of a volley into the top corner to equalise, before Emmanuel Boateng fired home a low cross with just over 15 minutes to go.

Real Salt Lake’s Chad Barrett will be kicking himself with what has to go down as miss of the season so far.

The unmarked substitute somehow managed to shoot wide with an open goal in front of him. But the Galaxy held on to claim all three points.

After the 2-1 victory, match-winner Boateng told LA Galaxy the side were relieved to finally win a game.

“This is a great win for us,” he said.

“I felt we were confident enough to beat RSL. The red card helped us a lot as we could then add some pressure on their defence.

“It was important to get this win before the international break.”

Head Coach Onalfo was delighted to get get his first win as boss.

“This win means a lot. I’ve worked my whole life for this job,” Onalfo said after the game.

“I want to win and be successful, and we’re going to be. It’s good to get the first win under my belt and the first of many, many more.

It was a busy Saturday in MLS, with 10 of the 11 matches this weekend now completed.

Portland Timbers came back from 2-1 down to win 4-2 at home to Houston Dynamo and keep their 100% start to the 2017 season in tact.

Columbus Crew won 2-0 in the capital to pile further misery on DC United, whilst Atlanta United continued to make huge strides with another emphatic win over Chicago Fire (4-0).

There were also wins for FC Dallas, Sporting KC, Orlando City and Toronto FC, with New York City FC and Montreal drawing their match 1-1 at Yankee Stadium.

Minnesota United also grabbed their first ever MLS point away at Colorado Rapids in an entertaining 2-2 draw.

 

MLS Daily: Late Will Bruin strike rescues Sounders in Montreal.

Published on by Liam_RichnerLeave a comment

The defending champions are still without a win this season. 

The ability to claw back results from the face of defeat is a trait of champions, and that’s exactly what Seattle Sounders did at Montreal Impact last night.

Will Bruin, one of the club’s newest signings, netted deep into stoppage time as the defending MLS Cup champions produced a fine comeback at the Olympic Stadium.

For the second consecutive week, Sounders started slowly, and found themselves 2-0 down thanks to goals from Matteo Mancosu and Ignacio Piatti.

Montreal were cruising at that point, before Nicolas Lodeiro converted a penalty on 83 minutes for the away side

Bruin, a late substitute, proved why he was a worthy acquisition as he was in the right place at the right time to slot home a 94th minute leveller.

The goalscorer told Sounders after the match: “It’s a monkey off my back to score my first goal.

“Hopefully the floodgates will open and I will get plenty more.

This was the second consecutive match that the ex-Houston forward came off the bench, but the striker isn’t too fussed about his position just yet.

“I don’t expect to be an instant starter,” he admitted.

“But I’m hoping to take every opportunity with both hands and give the coach a selection headache.”

But Seattle have now produced two poor performances. One could be excused had they thought Clint Dempsey  wasn’t playing. The American was hardly involved last night, and when he isn’t firing at full cylinders, the Sounders look less like the team that went on to win the MLS Cup last October.

Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer said after the match: “We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.

“We don’t want to chasing down one goal, two goals. We played the game we wanted too.

“Every team makes mistakes, we are going to make mistakes. We are trying to get the season up and running. We will get better. We will resolve the defensive issues.”

Elsewhere on Saturday, New York Red Bulls made it two wins out of two after defeating Colorado Rapids 2-0. It’s now 18 games unbeaten at the Red Bull Arena for Jesse Marsch’s side.

Sebastian Giovinco went off injured as Toronto drew 2-2 at Philadelphia Union, San Jose Earthquakes won 3-2 at home to ten-man Vancouver Whitecaps and Chicago Fire won 2-0 to end Real Salt Lake’s six match unbeaten record at Toyota Park.

Houston Dynamo won for the second week in a row. They beat Columbus Crew 3-1, whilst FC Dallas drew 0-0 at Sporting KC.

New England Revolution and Orlando City will play their match on September 2nd after their game was postponed due to the weather.