Write On Sports LLC - "Week 5’s Dirty-Faced Favorites + Summaries" by Jeff Bull

Week 5’s Dirty-Faced Favorites + Summaries

2007-05-08 15:46:38 | By: Jeff Bull

Perhaps it was fitting that Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Week 5 fell on the same weekend that Street Sense, the bettors’ favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, made the successful “Run for the Roses.” This year’s Giacomo’s (2005 long-shot Derby winner) - teams like Red Bull New York and the Colorado Rapids - slipped while teams more accustomed to riding high pulled together results good, important, and valuable to their success in 2007.

No favorite came good this weekend like the reigning MLS Cup holders, the Houston Dynamo. Satisfying as their 3-1 win over the dark-horse Colorado Rapids may have been, the player-of-the-week performance of midfielder Dwayne DeRosario sweetened the occasion that little bit more. In the East, preseason favorites DC United picked up their first points of the 2007 season, the first a draw against the New England Revolution, the second a much-welcomed home win against Chivas USA.

As much as both teams helped themselves, game officials provided assists of their own to the preseason favorites. In Houston’s win, referee Andrew Chapin not only let a series of momentum-choking fouls by Dynamo defender Ryan Cochrane go unpunished, but he somehow contrived to issue a yellow card to Colorado captain Pablo Mastroeni for pointing out the near-decapitation of Rapids forward Roberto Brown at the hands of Eddie Robinson; the latter would have picked up his second yellow of the game, and therefore an ejection, had the referee noticed. Contrast what happened with Cochrane to what happened to Mastroeni and Colorado’s uncertain play looks a little different.

DC United received even more help in their Thursday night draw with New England. Minutes after referee Terry Vaughn awarded DC forward Jaime Moreno one of the softest penalty calls of the year, he issued a straight red card (ejection) to Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph, forcing New England to play with ten men to DC’s eleven for over 30 minutes. The twin gifts didn’t so much hand DC the win as it all but blunted the Revolution attack.

Now, I don’t go in for conspiracy theories...actually, that’s not true. What I mean to say is I love conspiracy theories, but also accept that, tidy, logical, and oh-so-satisfying as they often are, they’re also universally bunk. But with both preseason favorites benefiting from dubious decisions on the same weekend it’s tempting (and fun) to look for binding threads of logic between the games. One could point out, for instance, that both the Houston and DC markets enjoy strong fan support; as such, MLS has an interest in successful franchises in each venue. If nothing else, sour grapes taste about right on such occasions.

Sadly, such theories unravel under the briefest of scrutiny. Sloppy as DC was in front of New England’s goal, the Revolution attack looked pretty neutered well before Joseph’s ejection; DC picked up a “real” win four days later against Chivas USA with no apparent help from the refs. For their part, Houston dominated the game from Colorado’s early goal to the final whistle and richly deserved no less than all three points. While referees unquestionably shape a game, and even ruin a few, it’s up to the team they unwittingly favor to make good on such lucky breaks. And there’s no question that both Houston and DC came up lucky with the officiating. But Week 5 also provided some signs that both teams have started the process of righting their teetering ships.

Game summaries follow, with games viewed first-hand marked with an asterisk.

DC United 1 - 1 New England Revolution*
Goals: Andy Dorman (NE, 46); Jaime Moreno (DC, 50-PK)

With the dubious refereeing noted above, the only question in this game comes with whether DC seized the upper hand or New England ceded it to them. DC held most of the possession and certainly looked sharper, but New England might have stolen the points had the penalty call and ejection not gone against them. A flurry in front of the New England goal at the end of the match nearly saw DC reverse the equation, but Revolution ‘keeper Matt Reis made the crucial save to see the teams share one point for the draw; the record should note that the goalpost bailed out Reis as well.

Notable: This draw saved DC from making their worst start since the inaugural 1996 season; Sunday's win clinched it.

Kansas City Wizards 1 - 0 Columbus Crew*
Goals: Jose Burciaga Jr. (KC, 90+)

Where Columbus offered grit and fouls, Kansas City countered with patience and, eventually, a late, late winner from left-back Jose Burciaga Jr. The mazy run that saw him pick through the middle of the Crew defense to score the winner highlighted a steely encounter pitting one disciplined team against another. The Crew rarely threatened, however, and racked up fouls and cards while waiting for the final whistle to blow. The win takes the Wizard to the top of MLS with 12 points from 5 games. Columbus, on the other hand, looks ahead to a long season in which goals seem hard to come by.

Notable: With Houston banging in three goals this weekend, Columbus has now scored fewer goals this season (3) than every team but new club Toronto FC.

Real Salt Lake 3 - 3 Red Bull New York
Goals: Dane Richards (RBNY, 12); Clint Mathis (RBNY, 28); Chris Klein (RSL, 61); Clint Mathis (RBNY, 83); Jeff Cunningham (RSL, 90-PK); Chris Brown (RSL, 90+)

The shock result of the week featured another probable officiating snafu: RSL midfielder Carey Talley intercepted a Red Bull pass in second-half injury time, but it’s unclear that he was legitimately in play - the Red Bull players certainly thought he was still off receiving treatment for an earlier injury. Pointing that out, however, gets in the way of a great comeback story and another loss would have made official RSL’s “death-spiral.” Instead, a team desperately in need of happy news gets some.

Notable: It’s fitting that RSL ended New York’s “clean-sheet” streak; after all, it was Real Salt Lake who ended DC United’s 14-game unbeaten streak in 2006. Still, Red Bull holds the league record for minutes played from the start of the season without allowing a goal: 421 minutes (assuming my math is correct).

Colorado Rapids 1 - 3 Houston Dynamo*
Goals: Roberto Brown (Rapids, 5); Brian Ching (Dynamo, 55); Dwayne DeRosario (Dynamo, 63); Dwayne DeRosario (Dynamo, 68)

To say Houston “dominated” this game doesn’t paint the appropriate picture: after allowing the early goal, they steadily squeezed Colorado’s attack to utter ineffectuality (if not always fairly); they then clinically probed the Colorado defense till players like Brad Davis and Dwayne DeRosario split it wide open. Those with the time and inclination could do worse than type “MLS Week 5 goals” into a Youtube search to see the screamer DeRosario launched into the back of the Rapids net. This was the game of the week, hands down featuring quality soccer and a great narrative to boot.

Notable: This loss was the first ever in the Rapids’ newly-opened Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (affectionately called “The Richard” in some quarters to honor the request of the Colorado front office, which objects to “The Dick.”) Thankfully, it was memorable.

DC United 2 - 1 Chivas USA
Goals: Christian Gomez (DC, 48); Jaime Moreno (DC, 65-PK); Maykel Galindo (Chivas, 73)

A livelier second half followed a reportedly dull first and DC finally took all three points for the first time in 2007; Christian Gomez’ 48th-minute goal also marked the first occasion when DC held a lead this year. Reports offer few positives on Chivas’ performance on either end of the field and, nice as a win must feel for DC, their players still dubbed this an “ugly win.” Even so, these teams seem to be moving in different directions, especially Chivas who have lost two straight by a combined score of 5-2.

Notable: DC Coach Tom Soehn continues to tinker with his starting line-up: for instance, this game saw a cooled-off Luciano Emilio benched in favor of Guy-Roland Kpene. The key question is whether these benching are punitive or in service of player-rotation to keep personnel fresh for a long regular season.

New England Revolution 3 - 1 Chicago Fire*
Goals: Jeff Larentowicz (NE, 16); Chris Rolfe (Fire, 45); Steve Ralston (NE, 68); Wells Thompson (NE, 81)

Whether one chalks this result up to a New England side playing to erase a poor Thursday from their collective memory or a Chicago side that came out flat, the Revolution won this one comfortably. With all the meaningful traffic running toward the Chicago goal, only a few errant passes on counters spared the Fire from a rout. Chicago continues to have problems with generating clear chances and their one goal came from a sloppy series in the New England area; given that, the Revolution stretching their defense so badly should cause coach Dave Sarachan a few sleepless hours. For the Revolution, though, this stands as the result of the season.

Notable: The Revs’ Taylor Twellman still leads the 2007 goal-scoring race with four goals scored in spite of a two-game drought - doubt that will hold for much longer if he doesn’t find the net again soon.

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