Another weekend of Major League Soccer action will come to a close following two matches on Sunday: Seattle Sounders vs. the New York Red Bulls and New England Revolution vs. the LA Galaxy.
As far as the meetings on Saturday, a couple of them were notable for late goals that altered the results.
Below is a roundup of the individual contests.
Toronto FC 3-1 San Jose Earthquakes: No Jozy Altidore for the Reds? No problem. The striker is set to miss four-five weeks with a hamstring injury as of May 19, and in this match, Toronto saw Sebastian Giovinco contribute significantly to ease the former Sunderland forward’s absence. Snapshot here.
Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 Real Salt Lake: This time around, the Vancouver Whitecaps showed their playoff-worthiness after losing two-straight matches, and Real Salt Lake wasn’t able to regain form following a mid-week loss at the hands of the LA Galaxy. Vancouver still has some sorting out to do in midfield, but the goals arrived when needed. In the 36th minute, Gershon Koffie, scoring in this 100th MLS game, struck a deep winding shot that soared into the back of the net past goalkeeper Nick Rimando--a magnificent conversion. Seven minutes later, RSL’s Javier Morales nailed a beautiful free kick that squeezed into the corner of the net. Cristian Techera’s determined follow-up on Octavio Rivero’s header in the 79th minute handed the Caps a win.
New York City FC 1-1 Houston Dynamo: NYCFC got behind their raucous home crowd and pressed forward for the late winner. But the Dynamo’s back line held firm and goalkeeper Tyler Deric provided the heroics to grab a point on road. Snapshot here.
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D.C. United 2-1 Philadelphia Union: United was directing its sights on three points due to a difficult three-game away stretch without a win, and came out triumphant against the Union, victorious in their previous two bouts. D.C. extended their home unbeaten steak to 19, while Chris Rolfe and Davy Arnaud were two of several key men for the Black and Reds. Andrew Wenger fed Sebastian Le Toux for the close-range opening goal in the fifth minute, but D.C. stormed back, Chris Pontius and Chris Rolfe (on an 85th-minute PK from a Zach Pfeffer handball) burying the next two. D.C.'s dominant spell of possession (85 percent at one point) in the final ten minutes put an end to the Union’s aspirations for a draw.
Orlando City SC 2-2 Columbus Crew: Crew clearly got the better of Orlando City SC in 3-0 victory back in April. This tilt saw a reverse of what transpired then, as Crew went down 10 men on Michael Parkhurst’s first red card of his MLS career in the 16th minute. Kaka buried the penalty kick off the American’s handball, and the score was tied at 1-1 since Tony Tchani guided home a header early on in the 6th minute. Crew target man Kei Kamara did what he does best, rising above the rest to bang his header past goalie Tally Hall for the 2-1 lead sixteen minutes into the second half. But Orlando wouldn’t completely relinquish the golden opportunity afforded by the red, with Pedro Ribeiro zooming a long-distance effort late.
Chicago Fire 3-0 Montreal Impact: The Impact had their short run of favorable play and were not ready to compete with the Fire in this competition, who were winless in their past four games and hungry for three points. The red card to Montreal midfielder Marco Donadel (his second yellow) in the 37th minute didn’t help their cause. Chicago had already netted the first goal of the match in the 13th minute off Harry Shipp’s upper-90 finish; Jeff Larentowicz added a second on a penalty kick from Bakary Soumare’s hauling down of Fire midfielder David Accam in the box. Kennedy Igboananike, all alone against goalie Evan Busch in the 72nd minute, then tallied the third for his very first MLS goal.
Colorado Rapids 1-2 Portland Timbers: Talk about a wild ending. This game remained fairly steady throughout, and just before the 90 minute mark, the Rapids, unable to get many threatening attacks, drew the match level at 1-1. Then, Portland goes for gold and nabs the stoppage-time winner. Snapshot here.
