WASHINGTON, DC (May 11, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- Red Bull New York, New England, and Houston finally got help from the usual suspects. Juan Pablo Angel got his first goal of the season, Taylor Twellman made his 2008 debut for the Revs with a game winner against Chivas USA, and Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario got their first goals seven weeks in.
New York 2 - Los Angeles 1
Danleigh Borman got his first goal ever in the 21st and Juan Pablo Angel got his first of the season in the 78th, erasing LA's 77th minute equalizer from Alan Gordon. Even though LA dominated in corners 7 to 1 and led in shots 11 to 7, RBNY put five of their seven shots on frame to LA's four.
"It's the second time already that we started bad," said LA coach Ruud Gullit. "We talked about it a lot. I think it cost this team a lot of energy also to come back from a goal down. In the end, I think we battled well. We didn't play well because the opposition has the opportunity to sit back and that causes you to lose so much energy. You tell them on the sideline -- use your head. And then you give a goal away. That is frustrating."
Columbus 3 - San Jose 2
Embarrassing the Crew doesn't seem like much of a possibility this season, with San Jose riding a one goal lead late only to end up getting that reversed.
"We talked during half time on getting Robbie Rogers back into the game because the first 20 minutes we were very effective attacking on the left-hand side," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "I thought the substitution with Emmanuel Ekpo on the right side was good. We felt he could get some space to play in and he was able to make a difference for us tonight."
Unfortunately for San Jose, Rogers hit twice in the 73rd and 81st, with Brad Evans getting his first goal of the season in the 83rd. It was the Earthquakes who ended up with the consolation goal, With Ryan Johnson scoring in the 89th to add to Ramiro Corrales' 42nd minute opener.
"To be honest, we are doing fairly well overall, but we just have not gotten the results," said Earthquakes midfielder Ronnie O'Brien. "With a bit of luck and a couple of bounces we could be looking at some different results. We need to stay focused throughout the whole game and the results will come."
Dallas 1 - Salt Lake 2
In a game that looked like it was working towards a draw with both teams talking about wasted opportunities and work to be done, Real Salt Lake stepped up and punished FC Dallas.
"That's probably one of the worst games we've played this season, in my opinion," said RSL coach Jason Kreis. "And maybe that's a good thing because maybe we need to learn how to win ugly, and tonight was that case."
Fair enough in retrospect, but playing chase the misdirected pass isn't exactly a new phenomenon in Major League Soccer. It was the maligned Salt Lake that took the 28th minute lead, keeping it until the 56th when Kenny Cooper got on the board for the FC.
"Well, Andre Rocha put in a great ball through," Cooper said. "That's the second time he's done it this year. Against Houston he played me a great through ball; it was no surprise. He's been giving me great service, and Andre's obviously been a great addition to this squad."
Unfortunately, Dallas would end up gasping for another after Kyle Beckerman poked in an Andy Williams service in the 73rd to take the points.
"We still had our chances to tie the game up towards the end and didn't," said Dallas coach Steve Morrow. "It's a frustrating loss, it's a disappointing one, but the team will pick themselves up and get ready for the next one."
Colorado 1 - Houston 2
If the Western Conference couldn't get any more bizarre, The worst team going into the week seven knocked off the best team to leave the top of the table with nine whole points to the East's 18. Seriously, Houston actually winning a game moved them from last to 5th with Colorado first on differential and still worse off than five of the six Eastern Conference clubs.
As for the game itself, Colorado will have referee nightmares worthy of thousand dollar fines and single game suspensions. Well, until Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo decided to take the high road: "I'm not going to complain about the referees," he said. "But I thought there were two teams that fought extremely hard, and the outcome should be decided by the two teams and I don't believe that today was the case."
That would be the Dwayne De Rosario penalty conversion in the 87th minute, the result of an Ugo Ihemelu handball that was tough to consider intentional. De Rosario's first of the season doubled Brian Ching's first of the season, the 43rd minute opener.
"I'm happy for them," said Houston coach Dominic Kinnear. "They've been close a couple of other times this season. I think it's good for the overall attitude of the team. It's nice to wake up and have the frustration be away from you."
Colorado got the Ching goal back from Omar Cummings in the 68th setting up what looked like split points and a double digit total for the top of the West. Instead, it was more creative officiating with Rapids keeper Bouna Coundoul not bothered by the potential fallout.
"They were lucky enough to get the 'W,' he said. "But they didn't deserve it. In the second half, we were the better team on the field. But sometimes, it's out of our hands when it comes to the referee."
New England 2 - Chivas USA 1
Taylor Twellman got the game winner in the 59th, adding to Kenny Mansally's 18th minute opener, but Twellman's ankle remains the story for the Revolution attack.
"I went to show for the ball and thought I stepped on Shavar Thomas' ankle," Twellman said after he came on as a second half sub. "I don't know if I rolled it.... It's frustrating to work so hard to come back in four weeks and have a lot of energy the first 15 minutes and anytime Steve Ralston is behind me, he and I are going to play well together, but it's just kind of a bummer right now."
Chivas USA ruined Matt Reis' shutout in the 93rd minute with a consolation goal from Justin Braun, a 59th minute substitute.
