Five games were on the midweek MLS schedule, with a recovering Colorado taking advantage over New York at home and the bottom club in the East winning away.
DC 0 – New England 1
The Revolution can chalk up their first road win this season, with Stephen McCarthy scoring in the 73rd minute at RFK Stadium. DC forward Charlie Davies missed a penalty just before halftime, and New England goalkeeper Matt Reis earned his shutout with multiple saves. The three points moves New England from worst in the East to 7th, with an extra game played in 8th-place Chicago and 9th-place Toronto.
You have to try to keep it at zero for as long as you can, and that’s what we did tonight as a team,” Reis said. “As the game goes on more and more that it’s zero-zero, it’s only going to frustrate the home team and help out the visitors and that’s kind of what happened today.”
Toronto 0 – Dallas 1
With Toronto working to integrate new players after revamping their squad leading into this game, it was Dallas getting the goal at BMO Field. Brek Shea reminded everyone why he’s considered a future star in MLS with his 48th minute goal. Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman picked up the shutout with six saves.
“We had two games without goals,” Shea said. “We had a lot of chances in the first half and I thought we should have gone in with a lead at the half, but we didn’t. Once we got that goal, I think it helped the team a lot with motivation for the rest of the game.”
Colorado 4 – NY 1
Blame the defense, Red Bulls coach Hans Backe certainly did. "I would say a nightmare defending, probably, in the middle of the park,” he said. “A nightmare for our two center backs and the center midfield, which is very important, to block in the middle of the park. If you leave that much space for guys like Cummings and Nyassi, then you will be in trouble, definitely.
The Rapids were four goals up before New York scored, starting with Omar Cummings’s goal in the 2nd minute. Wells Thompson followed in the 26th, and Sanna Nyassi was on the board four minutes later. Nyassi would score again in the 61st minute. Thierry Henry got a goal back for the Red Bulls, scoring in the 67th minute.
LA 1 – Columbus 0
The Crew’s reversal of fortune near the top of the Eastern Conference took a hit at the Home Depot Center. LA’s Sean Franklin had the only goal of the game in the 70th minute in front of 24,709 fans. Josh Saunders picked up the shutout for the Galaxy, who had 16 corners.
“I’m excited. I think it might have been deflected,” Franklin said. “They might call it an own goal, but I’m going to try and claim it as my first goal. I’m happy that I got it, but more happy that the team played well tonight. We created numerous chances - corners, shots - the whole team’s effort was great tonight.”
San Jose 2 – Vancouver 2
Chris Wondolowski had the Earthquakes in the lead by the 2nd minute at Buck Shaw Stadium. It would take Vancouver until the 42nd to pull level when Eric Hassli scored. Wondolowski would score again in the 54th, and again it was Hassli with the 61st minute equalizer.
“I think, tonight, it’s one of those games where there were some positives, but it wasn’t good enough to get a win, which is what we always want, especially at home,” Wondolowski said. “I thought we played well at times, but didn’t put together a complete 90 minutes to get that win. So I think that we are building and going in the right direction, but we still need to make it better all the way around.”
In friendly action, Sporting Kansas City drew 0-0 with Newcastle United, Philadelphia beat Everton 1-0 with academy player Christian Hernandez scoring, and Seattle lost to Manchester United 7-0.
