Four of the six games on Major League Soccer’s Saturday schedule ended tied, with three of those scoreless. For those preferring offense with their soccer, seven of the 10 Saturday goals came from one game.
Seattle 4 – Colorado 3
Wells Thompson gave an early indication of how this game was going to play out, scoring for the visiting Rapids in the first minute. Seattle had a quick response, equalizing through Alvaro Fernandez in the 7th minute. Colorado was back in the lead just before halftime when Jeff Larentowicz scored. Unfortunately for the Rapids, it was Seattle’s show in the second-half. Roger Levesque scored in the 48th minute. Fredy Montero put the Sounders up a goal in the 82nd and Mauro Rosales scored two minutes later. Colorado wasn’t done, with Caleb Foran finishing off the scoring in the 89th minute.
“I didn’t like the fact that we gave up three goals,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. “But I’m a coach, and… I’m paid to worry so I worry about those sort of things. I thought our effort was magnificent.”
Columbus 0 – San Jose 0
Our first scoreless draw came at Crew Stadium, with both goalkeepers called upon to keep their team in the game. Earthquakes’ keeper Jon Busch had six saves to Will Hesmer’s five.
“Goalkeepers get paid to make saves and catch crosses,” Busch said. “Some games you have a lot of work to do and some games you don’t have much work. Tonight was a game where I had to make some plays, but the defense played well in front of me also. It was a good result tonight.”
Chicago 0 – Portland 1
A Jack Jewsbury penalty kick was the difference at Toyota Park. Chicago Fire defender Gonzalo Segares was called for a foul on Jorge Perlaza, setting up Jewsbury’s 25th minute spot kick. The Fire would play a man down from the 63rd minute when Yamith Cuesta was shown his second yellow card just six minutes after seeing his first. With the win, the Timbers exit the group of teams with no road wins this season. Toronto, New England, and Vancouver have yet to win away.
Houston 1 – Kansas City 1
Playing with a two man advantage, Sporting almost left Robertson Stadium without a point on Saturday. Brad Davis had Houston in the lead eight minutes in, and they looked good to hold on for the three points even after losing Colin Clark to a red card in the 51st minute and Brian Ching to another red card in the 70th. Instead, it was Roger Espinoza setting up Aurelian Collin in stoppage time to split the points.
“I made a bad decision and we got punished for it,” Ching said of his red card. “I cost the team two points. They did extremely well to be men, stand up, and not give up and fight till the end.”
Dallas 0 – DC 0
No goals for the 10,802 fans that braved the heat in Frisco. For United, the weather was the story.
“It's like playing in a sauna,” DC forward Charlie Davies said. “It makes the game extremely difficult and unfortunately we didn't start playing until the 75th minute. If we were able to knock the ball around earlier it would have been a better outcome for us.”
Chivas USA 0 – NY 0
Saturday’s third scoreless draw played out in front of 14,383 at the Home Depot Center. With Chivas USA stalling on opportunities, new Red Bulls goalkeeper Frank Roast only needed to make one save to keep the game scoreless. Chivas USA thought they had a stoppage time penalty, but the referee reversed himself on what would’ve been the best opportunity of the night.
“That’s one thing we wanted to do after the game against DC, play as a team,” Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry said. “It’s not easy to play against Chivas, they keep the ball very well, and they have some good players. I thought overall, before or after the hour I would say the game was pretty even, but in the last thirty minutes we looked like the team to score the goal, and we had our chances, but we didn’t take them. I know we’re drawing a lot of games, but this one is a good one.”
Also on Saturday, the LA Galaxy lost 4-1 to Real Madrid in front of 56,211 fans at Los Angeles’s Memorial Coliseum. Adam Cristman scored LA’s goal.
