MLS round-up, April 6-7
Columbus Crew also had a chance to go top when they faced DC United at Lower.com Field but fell behind just past the hour as Christian Benteke escaped his marker and scored from close range after an even first sixty minutes. Crew's efforts to get back on level terms were dealt a huge blow when Cucho Hernandez was red-carded on 75 minutes for kicking out following a foul, taking the chance to have several commiserating chats with teammates and opponents as he slowly left the field. There were few chances after that but when the ball fell to Aidan Morris outside the area he unleashed a thwack of a shot that flew past Alex Bono in the United goal. DC pushed for a winner after that but ultimately had to settle for a share of the points. Honours were also even down in Fort Lauderdale where Lionel Messi returned to the subs bench for Inter Miami's home clash with the unpredictable of late Colorado Rapids. The Herons had chances to take the lead in the first half through Julian Gressel, Leo Alfonso, and Tomas Aviles, but it was Rapids who took a lead into the break through a Rafael Navarro penalty, given for a Ryan Sailor foul on Kevin Cabral. Cue Messi's arrival for the second-half and cue a Miami equaliser, the little wizard finishing off a smart move on 57 minutes to give his side hope and heart. Alfonso added a second three minutes later and it looked like Miami might pick up their fourth win of the season but for Chris Armas's side's sheer chaos factor, Cole Bassett finding the net two minutes from time for a 2-2 final score.
New England Revolution were yet to win a single game in the league this season and faced Charlotte FC on Saturday on the back of a devastating 4-0 home defeat to Club America in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Charlotte new boy Liel Abada went close in the opening minutes and both sides had good chances in the first-half but it was Carles Gil's stoppage time strike that separated the teams at half-time. Despite heavy pressure from the visitors in the second-half, the Revs managed to see out the second-half without any more notches in the goal tally for either side, a welcome win that nevertheless still sees them bottom of the Eastern Conference. The final 0.30am kick-off came from out west where Vancouver Whitecaps took on FC Toronto in the season's first Canadian derby. A crowd of almost 25,000 saw Brian White - fresh out of concussion protocol - put Caps ahead in the sixth minute, a lead doubled by Fafa Picault with a header on the half-hour. The second-half began more evenly but a fast break saw Ryan Gauld further increase Vancouver's lead nine minutes from time, the job completed with a minute on the clock when Ranko Veselinovic made it 4-0 and a day to forget for Toronto coach John Herdman.
Saturday's TV game - all the other games are shown live on MLS Season Pass - was the first El Trafico of the season, with visitors Los Angeles Galaxy for once the favourites as they faced Los Angeles FC in a 0.45am kick-off at BMO Stadium. It's not that LAFC have been bad this season, they just haven't fully gotten it together, but any early signs that this would be another of those days for the Black & Gold were dispelled by Timothy Tillman's fourth minute tap-in from a cross by Mateusz Bogusz. Galaxy went in search of an equaliser and sustained pressure brought one, courtesy of Julian Aude's left-footed strike on 29 minutes, an advantage that lasted all of a few minutes before VAR confirmed a very suspect foul on Denis Bouanga for an LAFC penalty, which Bouanga duly converted in the 35th minute. Both sides had chances in the second-half but it stayed 2-1 and Kei Kamara got to turn out for his eleventh MLS club when he was late substitute for LAFC.
There was also a clutch of games at 1.30am, the least of which was an exciting 0-0 draw between St Louis City and visitors FC Dallas. Despite a lack of net-rippling, there were eleven shots on target between the sides, the best chances falling to a lively Joao Klauss for the home team. Three-hundred miles north of St Louis in Chicago, Houston Dynamo were the visitors to Soldier Field, where Chicago Fire were hoping for only their second win of the season. The home side were quicker off the mark, Rafael Czichos drawing a penalty in the ninth minute, duly converted by Xherdan Shaqiri, and Hugo Cuypers had a great chance to put Fire 2-0 up just before the half-time whistle but his shot was saved by Steve Clark. Ibrahim Aliyu went close for Dynamo after the break and then found the net just past the hour mark with a smart strike into the top corner, drawing a response from Fire coach Frank Klopas in the form of livewire young sub Brian Gutierrez. That paid off in spades on 78 minutes when Gutierrez chased a speculative long pass from Shaqiri, reaching it just before Clark and lifting it into an empty net to give Fire a 2-1 win and ruin Houston's chance of going joint top of the Western Conference with Vancouver.
Dynamo's Texas rivals Austin FC finally won their first game of the season at home to FC Dallaslast week and were hoping that the visit of San Jose Earthquakes - who had lost five out of six games so far this season - would give them a chance to make it two out of two. That plan was undermined after twenty minutes when Paul Marie scored with the Quakes' first chance of the game, and Los Verde were fortunate not to be further behind when some profligate striking and VAR - which ruled out a second for Marie through offiside - reduced the visitors to just that one goal in the first-half. Austin had a goal of their own cancelled by VAR - the second time in two weeks that fate befell Jader Obrian - and this looked costly when Quakes did get a second goal, courtesy of Jeremy Ebobisse. This sparked Austin into action, with Diego Rubio earning a penalty two minutes later - converted by Sebastian Driussi - and Obrian finally getting his goal on 63 minutes to draw the sides level. Better still, Guilherme Biro put Austin into a deserved lead four minutes later, but nothing is ever simple at Q2 Stadium and the visitors equalised seven minutes later, a right-footed shot from Amahl Pellgrino evading Brad Stuver and silencing the home crowd. San Jose even had chances to win it in normal time before the fourth official signalled ten minutes of added-on time and it was in the eleventh of those that Driussi scored his second - and the winner - to give Austin a win they probably deserved but had to earn the hard way.
The defeats for Columbus Crew and LA Galaxy left Philadelphia Union hanging onto their status as the only undefeated side as they went into the second-half of their clash at Nashville SC a goal down, thanks to Sam Surridge's header just before the break. After drawing their first three games (and being eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup), Union have pieced themselves back together and had won two straight before this week. That form told in the second-half, as Quinn Sullivan had a shot saved and Daniel Gazdag went close with a header before Julian Carranza scored his fourth of the season to level things just past the hour, setting the stage for a breathtaking finish that saw Gazdag head home on ninety minutes, maintaining that unbeaten record and taking Union second in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, up in St Paul, Minnesota United were facing Real Salt Lake in a battle of two sides doing quite well without being in great form, and the 1-1 draw that resulted was probably a fair result. Cristian Arango had put the visitors ahead with a rare headed goal after 24 minutes and they then had to withstand some sustained pressure from the Loons before Tani Oluwaseyi managed to fire home an equaliser with just four minutes to go. There was still time for United's Joseph Rosales to get a second yellow and for both sides to have chances to win the game but 1-1 it finished to leave both sides doing quite well without being in great form.
Saturday's final match came from Lumen Field, where Seattle Sounders were looking to shake off injury woes and poor early-season form against CF Montreal. If the final score of 5-0 makes the game appear one-sided it's because it was, with Sounders having eleven shots on target to the Candiens' two. Montreal's chances weren't helped by a red card for Nathan Saliba eight minutes into the second-half but by that time they were already 3-0 down thanks to two goals from Raul Rui Diaz (the second a penalty) and a first of the season for Jordan Morris. Sounders added two more through Alex Roldan and Dylan Teves and will hope they've now turned a corner. Their Cascadia rivals Portland Timbers were the away side in Sunday's TV game at Sporting Kansas City, a game that looked every bit one for the purists beforehand. The two teams had similar points totals before the match but the home side blew that out of the water in the first-half, racing into a 3-0 lead thanks to two goals from William Agada and a powerful headed effort from centre-back Daniel Rosero. Timbers managed to withstand further damage up to the hour mark when Erik Thommy was fouled by Claudio Bravo in the box and Agada stepped up, eager to complete his hattrick. Instead he put it wide and Portland raced up the other end and won a penalty of their own when Tim Leibold fouled Feliope Mora. Evander converted the spot kick and Timbers hit back again just two minutes later through Mora. That set the stage for an exciting finish and it was all Portland, ending with an equaliser from Eric Miller nine minutes from time, although there was still time for Rosero and Timbers' Jonathan Rodriguez to go close in what was the proverbial game of two halves.
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