Seattle Sounders 1, Colorado
Rapids 0 | MLS Match Recap
SEATTLE – A 16th-minute golazo by Marco Pappa was all the Seattle Sounders needed Wednesday night, as Seattle struck early then comfortably managed their lead to a 1-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids at CenturyLink Field.
Pappa’s strike, a right-footed curler from just outside the Colorado penalty box, was his first goal of the season for the Sounders. He is also tied for the team lead in assists (5) with forwardClint Dempsey.
After dominating possession from the outset, Seattle struck first after Pappa received the ball from a cross by rookie midfielder Cristian Roldan that took a fortuitous deflection off of Colorado defender Jared Watts. The Guatemalan set himself up with a touch, then sliced the nifty right-footed attempt past Rapids ‘keeper Clint Irwin, staking the Sounders to the early 1-0 advantage.
The Sounders held the momentum throughout the opening 45 minutes, holding 76 percent of the possession and completing a whopping 426 passes compared to just 135 for Colorado. The 426 passes was the most for an MLS team in a half in five years.
Despite the statistically one-sided first half, the Rapids did have a good look at a first-half equalizer in the 43rd minute on a long distance shot off the boot of forward Kevin Doyle, who was making his first MLS start. Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei managed to block the shot and then snag the rebound before Colorado’s Luis Solignac could get to the loose ball.
Substitute winger Juan Ramirez livened the Rapids' attack to start the second half, which would be more evenly played. But the Sounders would also bring in fresh legs of their own and despite Colorado's 13 shots on the night, the visitors never managed to find an equalizer.
With the win, Seattle took over first place in the Western Conference and will roll into Sunday's nationally televised home matchup with the New York Red Bulls (5 pm ET on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes) at a tidy 7-3-2 (23pts).
Pappa’s strike, a right-footed curler from just outside the Colorado penalty box, was his first goal of the season for the Sounders. He is also tied for the team lead in assists (5) with forwardClint Dempsey.
After dominating possession from the outset, Seattle struck first after Pappa received the ball from a cross by rookie midfielder Cristian Roldan that took a fortuitous deflection off of Colorado defender Jared Watts. The Guatemalan set himself up with a touch, then sliced the nifty right-footed attempt past Rapids ‘keeper Clint Irwin, staking the Sounders to the early 1-0 advantage.
The Sounders held the momentum throughout the opening 45 minutes, holding 76 percent of the possession and completing a whopping 426 passes compared to just 135 for Colorado. The 426 passes was the most for an MLS team in a half in five years.
Despite the statistically one-sided first half, the Rapids did have a good look at a first-half equalizer in the 43rd minute on a long distance shot off the boot of forward Kevin Doyle, who was making his first MLS start. Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei managed to block the shot and then snag the rebound before Colorado’s Luis Solignac could get to the loose ball.
Substitute winger Juan Ramirez livened the Rapids' attack to start the second half, which would be more evenly played. But the Sounders would also bring in fresh legs of their own and despite Colorado's 13 shots on the night, the visitors never managed to find an equalizer.
With the win, Seattle took over first place in the Western Conference and will roll into Sunday's nationally televised home matchup with the New York Red Bulls (5 pm ET on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes) at a tidy 7-3-2 (23pts).
Colorado, on the other hand, became the last team to lose a game on the road this season as their record fell to 2-3-7 (13pts) and will remain in the Western Conference basement ahead of their matchup on Saturday: a home clash with the Portland Timbers (9 pm ET, MLS LIVE).
Portland Timbers 1, DC United
0 | MLS Match Recap
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers got their captain back and returned to the win column in the process with a 1-0 victory over league leaders D.C. United at Providence Park Wednesday night.
Led by midfielder Will Johnson, in the starting lineup for his first appearance back from a broken leg suffered in late September last year, the Timbers made a fifth-minute Maximiliano Urruti goal stand up against a shorthanded D.C. side.
The win for the Timbers, who came into the match with the league’s second-lowest points-per-game average and at the bottom of the Western Conference, was most welcome, ending their first two-game losing streak of the season and bumping them over the Colorado Rapids and into a tie with the Houston Dynamo for eighth place in the table with 16 points from 13 games.
Front-running United, meanwhile, find themselves in a bit of a swoon, now winless in their last three with two losses in that stretch. They still lead the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings with 22 points from 13 games.
Portland started the match like a side with something to prove, rotating reserve forwardsGaston Fernandez, Dairon Asprilla, Urruti and center back Norberto Paparatto into the lineup, with the game falling in the middle of a three-matches-in-a-week span – and it didn’t take long for it to pay off.
In the fifth minute, Fernandez ran onto a loose ball on the right flank and played a perfect low cross into the run of an onrushing Urruti for an easy finish at the far post.
And the Timbers probably counted themselves unlucky not to have found the net again with a number of good chances in the first half, the best when midfielder Diego Chara unlocked Urruti with a perfect through ball in the 10th minute. D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid, however, charged way off his line to break up the one-on-one chance just in time.
D.C. made the cross-country trip for their third game in 10 days, with Wednesday’s game sandwiched by East Coast matches at New England and at home to Philadelphia. Without a number of their first-choice players and just a 16-man gameday roster, they employed a sit-and-counter strategy in the first half.
Their best chance came on a corner kick in the 31st minute when Steve Birnbaum was left unmarked at the far post, but his header was directed into the side netting.
It was Portland’s first halftime lead since Week 2 against the LA Galaxy, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
D.C. applied more pressure to start the half, resulting in a Birnbaum shot that flew straight to Timbers ‘keeper Adam Kwarasey in the 47th minute and a Conor Doyle shot that was pushed just wide three minutes later.
But Portland tightened the screws soon thereafter, and nearly got a second on a number of chances.
In the 68th minute, Darlington Nagbe played Asprilla in on the right wing, but Hamid was there again. Two minutes later, Nagbe played in second-half substitute Rodney Wallace on the left, but his shot attempt was deflected just wide and out for a corner.
Asprilla found another shot in the 71st minute in the middle of the box, but Hamid cleaned it up with a diving save.
In the end, Portland’s defense was forced to grind out the victory, holding D.C. to 12 shots for the game.
The Timbers hit the road for their next match, Saturday against the Colorado Rapids. D.C. return home to play host to the Philadelphia Union on the same day.
LA Galaxy 1, Real Salt Lake 0 |
MLS Match Recap
CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, thankful to be healthier after injuries depleted their lineups the past month or so, brought on the big guns after halftime, but a spirited affair Wednesday night at StubHub Center was determined by a penalty kick in the opening minutes.
Juninho, whose stoppage-time spot kick was denied by RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando in a scoreless draw three weeks earlier in Sandy, Utah, converted from the spot in the seventh minute, and the Galaxy (5-4-5) claimed a 1-0 triumph to post successive shutouts for the first time this season.
RSL (4-4-5) trotted out a new formation and were the better side most of the last 75 minutes, but they put just one shot on frame -- a weak Olmes Garcia attempt that goalkeeper Jaime Penedo swallowed up in the 77th minute -- while limiting the Galaxy's opportunities in all but the early minutes in each half.
Robbie Keane came on for the Galaxy at halftime, and they created their two best chances from the run of play shortly afterward, and RSL was more dangerous after Javier Morales and Joao Plata came off the bench in the 54th minute.
Morales, just back from a concussion, and Plata, who missed the first 11 games with a broken foot, had seen limited minutes in last weekend's victory over New York City FC.
RSL needed about 15 minutes to figure out how best to employ a new 4-2-3-1 alignment, and the Galaxy had them on their heels the whole time. LA repeatedly worked into their box, but only Mika Väyrynen tested Rimando, who leapt to his left to knocked down a deflected shot from the top of the box at the right post.
On another quick attack moments later, Väyrynen fed a streaking Ignacio Maganto inside the box, and Jamison Olave hit the ball with his arm as he slid in to stop the rookie. Referee Baldomero Toledo pointed to the spot and Juninho converted, firing the left as Rimando went the other way.
RSL found their footing shortly afterward, and, although they struggled to create viable chances, the Galaxy scrambled much of the rest of the half. The Utahns had five set pieces -- four free kicks and a corner kick -- in an eight-minute span starting in the 20th minute, but they never challenged Penedo.
After the break, the Galaxy created their two best chances, the penalty kick aside, in the next two minutes. Maganto delivered a beautiful cross for Alan Gordon at the right post, but Rimando got to it first, and then Keane chipped to the near post from the left side of RSL's box, but Gyasi Zardes' point-blank header was well off-target.
RSL had two good late opportunities involving Plata, but the forwad was unable to handle Kyle Beckerman's chip over the LA defense in the 81st minute, getting a touch to the ball that Penedo handled adroitly, and his attempt to connect with Garcia in the goalmouth from a counter was stopped by Omar Gonzalez.
The Galaxy nearly added a second on a weird play in stoppage time. Substitute Edson Buddletried to play a ball from the right byline following a corner kick, and it went off Salt Lake defender Aaron Maund's foot and caromed off the right post.
RSL finished with 10 men after Olave was red-carded in the 91st minute for hitting Keane in the face.
RSL plays Saturday at Vancouver (6 pm ET, TSN1 in Canada, MLS Live in US), and the Galaxy visit New England on Sunday (7 pm ET, FOX Sports 1) in a rematch of December's MLS Cup title game.
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