WASHINGTON, DC (Sept 29, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- FC Dallas made it two in a row on Sunday, knocking off DC 3-0 and pushing United out of the final wildcard slot. Real Salt Lake moved into the final playoff slot with a win over San Jose.
Toronto 1 - Houston 1
The FC scored both goals, with Hunter Freeman beating his own keeper to make it 1-0 Houston in the 23rd and Marvell Wynne bringing Toronto level in the 73rd. Houston put four shots on frame from 12 attempts and had nine corners to Toronto's five, but were unable to get a goal.
"We're trying to win, you can see with the lineups we're putting out," Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said. "We're trying to put a fresh team out there, or as fresh as possible every game. So, travelling and games definitely make you tired, but the guys have been good, we've had two tough games obviously this is a tough environment to play in -- we did some very good things, we're unbeaten we're not winning games, but we're not losing games we're very competitive so I'm pleased with that."
New York 4 - Colorado 5
In a game that will be remembered for the barrage of goals, Colorado sent a major statement to the rest of the Western Conference at the expense of a struggling Red Bull NY. Namely, the Rapids are back in the hunt for the playoffs.
The Rapids took an early lead in the third through Omar Cummings in the third that lasted for all of two minutes before Mike Magee equalized. Conor Casey put the Rapids up in the 11th, and RBNY came back again in the 34th when Juan Pablo Angel converted his 34th minute penalty. Dane Richards gave New York the lead in the 40th. Colorado responded through Mike Petke in the 43rd and then their own penalty, converted by Casey in the 45th. The 4-3 lead held until the 74th, when Matthew Mbuta equalized for Red Bulls. Conor Casey completed his hat trick in the 90th minute to give Colorado the win.
The result puts the Rapids third in the West on differential, with New York fourth in the East. In the race for the wildcards, RBNY's 35 points from 26 games would give them the nod, but Real Salt Lake would now take the final wildcard for the Western Conference.
"It's probably been a while since I scored a goal, so it feels really good," Casey said. "It gives me a lot of confidence, but the main thing is the way the team performed entirely and the result we showed. It was an up-and-back game and we just kept fighting and the last month or so, we really made some new strides. It feels really good where we are headed."
New England 0 - Columbus 1
The Crew got the only goal of the game when Chad Marshall scored in the 35th, only to spend the final 25 minutes playing a man down after Frankie Hejduk was sent off for a second caution. Both teams has a difficult time putting the ball on goal, with New England going two for nine and Columbus three for thirteen.
"In the first half, if not for most of the game, we were just dumb," New England coach Steve Nicol said. "If you look at how they played and how we played particularly first half, we tried to make passes in the middle of our own half and they just squeezed us. And that's OK. We know there are times when you have to play the game ugly. But today, there wasn't a need for playing pretty passes and getting through people, because we did that and we tried that and it didn't work but we weren't smart enough to change it. ... We lost because tonight we were dumb."
San Jose 2 - Salt Lake 3
Real Salt Lake made the point that the Eastern Conference isn't as strong as advertised, moving into second in the wildcard race ahead of DC United.
Yuri Movsisyan opened the scoring in the third, before Darren Huckerby equalized in the 23rd and put San Jose ahead in the 47th. Movsisyan responded for RSL, scoring two minutes later. Javier Morales gave Salt Lake the win in the 59th.
"It was great to get goals tonight, but they don't count for anything," Huckerby said. "We weren't good enough today. At 2-1 we've got to win the game. Then we got sloppy."
San Jose remain bottom in the West with 29 points, but a game less played than everyone but first-place Houston.
"We have been playing very well and getting results against good teams," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said. "A tie would have been fine with us, but they get three points up on us, which is difficult. We have a tough game coming up in Dallas and if we can go to their place and get a result then everything is wide open again."
Chivas USA 2 - Kansas City 1
With HBO's boxing card taking place across the concourse in the tennis stadium, Chivas USA rode two first half goals to take the three points and second place in the Western Conference. Alecko Eskandarian in the 26th and Sasha Victorine at the end of the half. Josh Wolff ruined Dan Kennedy's shutout attempt in the 70th.
Dallas 3 - DC 0
Andre Rocha put Dallas up in the 9th minute. Jeff Cunningham made it 2-0 in the 56th. DC lost Jaime Moreno to a straight red for violent conduct in the 84th. Kenny Cooper finished out the scoring in the 93rd.
"We played so well in Chicago and challenged the boys to produce back here at home for the fans," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said. "It was a great result because of the heat and a great result because we were going up against a great strike force. I thought in the first half we played very well. They sure did come at us for a while, which I think shows the strength of our defense.
The loss leaves DC fifth in the East but third in the wildcard race behind New York and Real Salt Lake.
"Obviously, everybody knows the importance of this game," DC coach Tom Soehn said. We talked all week and said the right things but that doesn't mean much when you don't execute. We came out flat. I don't think anybody worked. I adjusted things at halftime and it was better but you can't afford to waste a half. On hot days like this, the first goal usually dictates who wins the game."
