WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 24, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- Matchday 21 for Major League Soccer puts Houston in a odd position relative to the Eastern Conference. Namely, an inability to beat a 5th-place team.
Columbus 3 - Salt Lake 0
The Crew made things worse for the New England Revolution, pulling level on games played and points in the Eastern Conference. Chad Marshall grabbed the first goal in the 15th, followed by a Guillermo Barros Schelotto penalty in the 25th. Brad Evans finished off the scoring in the 55th.
Real Salt Lake actually had the better stats, ten corners to four and taking a dozen shots. Unfortunately, they only put two of those twelve on frame.
"Obviously, we are happy we got the shutout," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "That was important to us. We scored two good goals on set pieces. The pieces were set up because we were able to get behind the defense, which is something we really tried to concentrate on last week. Getting behind the defense caused them to foul us. The fouls set up the set pieces."
Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis had to be relieved the score wasn't more lopsided.
"For a while, I was saying that our team was really figuring out how to play on the road, but after these last two road games, it is hard to feel that, just because of the number of chances we're giving away," Kreis said. "It's not even the number of goals we're allowing, though the game tonight probably could have been six or seven. It seems like we've got to take a few steps back here and figure things out quickly defensively."
Toronto 1 - New England 1
In a game where New England needed three points to stay top of the table, they got one. Taylor Twellman put the Revs up in the 35th, but a Chad Barrett equalizer in the 66th means the Revolution have company at the top of the Eastern Conference.
"Obviously, we’re a little disappointed not getting the victory," Twellman said. "We definitely had the better run of play early on but to get a result on the road in a hostile place like this is big."
Regular Revolution starting keeper Matt Reis remains unavailable as he recovers from an injury suffered last week against San Jose.
DC United 3 - Colorado 0
Colorado goes on he road the same week their coach quits for personal reasons and loses. No big surprise considering, even with DC coming off a loss and needing to test the depth of their squad.
Joe Vide got DC's opener in the 45th, with Santino Quaranta scoring in the 82nd and Quavas Kirk in the 87th.
Kansas City 1 - Dallas 1
Jimmy Conrad was the hero for Kansas City, scoring in the 92nd minute to salvage the point. Dallas had been riding Andre Rocha's opener since the 7th minute, playing a man down since the 62nd when Pablo Ricchetti was tossed for a second yellow card.
"Obviously when you give up a goal in extended time you feel like something got away," said Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman. "But it's also nice that we got a point on the road, and we played 30-plus minutes with a man down. It was also a pretty physical game. I'm glad to get a point."
With Kansas City taking 21 shots but only keeping six on frame, Dallas had a reason to think the 1-0 scoreline would last.
"It's really hard to break down 10 guys when they're all committed to doing the same thing," Conrad said. "They knew at that point they just needed to bunker down, and they did a pretty good job of that until we started pushing a lot of numbers forward and making it hard for them to mark everybody. We broke through, and I was on the end and just muscled it in from close range in front of The Cauldron, our great supporters group."
Chivas USA 0 - San Jose 0
In a game where neither team kept their shots on frame, the Earthquakes and Chivas USA had legit gripes for more than a point. Still, both team ended up needing all of three saves to keep the score the way it started.
"I don't really like making excuses but when every week we change four or five guys in the lineup it's difficult," Chivas USA coach Preki said. "But the commitment from the players is magnificent. I think they all work hard and they're committed. ... San Jose maybe has one good look at the end, and Zach makes a good save but we had 10. I don't know if that's not good playing but we had 10 good looks."
New York 3 - Houston 0
Though Red Bulls stay 5th in the East, they're now level with DC on points and pulled their goal differential even in as an unlikely way as possible. Juan Pablo Angel scored in the 8th minute, Dane Richards made it 2-0 in the 27th, and Mike Magee got the third in the 60th.
"I think today was the most solid performance we've had so far since I've been here," RBNY forward Juan Pablo Angel said. "Basically, we got the job done in a very good manner. We were solid in every line. It wasn't fancy football, it was just very effective football and we won against arguably the best team in the league with probably the strongest team that they could play. The only player that was missing was Brian Ching."
