September 19, 2009 MLS ROUNDUP Status quo in the standings
Chivas USA ‘keeper Zach Thornton leads MLS with 10 shutouts after Saturday’s scoreless draw with Seattle. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
CHIVAS USA 0, SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC 0
SEATTLE—Goalkeeper Zach Thornton’s dominating performance in goal allowed shorthanded Chivas USA to escape with a scoreless draw against Seattle Sounders FC Saturday at Qwest Field.
Thornton finished with six saves, and his league-leading tenth shutout of the season.
The Chivas defense did a good job of taking Golden Boot candidate Fredy Montero out of the match. He attempted a crowd-pleasing but well off-target bicycle kick an hour into the match, and was whistled offside on another clear scoring chance. But he was at the center of what turned out to be the pivotal play of the game, taking the cleat in the jaw that earned a straight red card for Chivas midfielder Marcelo Saragosa, and opened the offensive floodgates for Seattle through the final 19 minutes of the game.
Thornton kept his cool, stopping Montero from point-blank range in the 83rd minute and picking off a wide-open 12-yarder from Gonzalez a minute later. In the second minute of stoppage time, he came off his line to punch Freddie Ljungberg’s floated cross out of the box and beat Nate Jaqua by a half-step to another Ljungberg service. In the fourth minute, he blocked Jaqua’s close-range shot and grabbed Steve Zakuani’s pop-up header from in front of the goal.
Although Chivas (11-9-4, 37 pt) continue to trail Seattle (9-6-11, 38) in the standings, their postseason prospects remain strong. The Goats have 1-2 games in hand on all of their potential rivals for a playoff berth, with four of their last six games at home, where they have been all but unbeatable (8-2-1).
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 3, FC DALLAS 2
KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Jimmy Conrad’s first goal of the season tilted a seesaw match in favor of the Kansas City Wizards (8-11-6, 30 pts), who came away with a 3-2 win over FC Dallas (7-12-6, 27) Saturday at Community America Ballpark.
The game-winner came as sweet redemption for the Wizards captain, whose miscues set the stage for both Dallas goals.
Santiago Hirsig’s header gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. In the 44th minute, however, Conrad coughed up the ball outside his own penalty area, and Dax McCarty turned the loose ball into the 1-1 equalizer with a low shot from 22 yards.
In the 54th minute, Dallas’s David Ferreira stripped Conrad of the ball and dished off to Jeff Cunningham, who beat defender Michael Harrington into the box and scored into the empty net to put the Hoops up 2-1.
Josh Wolff leveled the score off Hirsig’s corner kick in the 77th minute, and Conrad sealed the win with a nose-to-the-ground header in the 81st after Dallas netminder Dario Sala had to block an errant header from one of his own defenders out of the goalmouth and back into play.
HOUSTON DYNAMO 3, REAL SALT LAKE 2
HOUSTON—The Houston Dynamo scored twice in the first five minutes, but needed Brad Davis’s 81st-minute goal to edge Real Salt Lake 3-2 Saturday in front of a Robertson Stadium crowd of 18,133.
Davis also collected assists on Houston’s first two goals, with a free kick that found Brian Ching in the second minute and a corner kick to Geoff Cameron in the fifth. RSL managed to tie the score 2-2 despite being shorthanded after a red card to Jamison Olave in the 31st minute. Not surprisingly, Davis also factored into that turning point, as the recipient of Olave’s over-the-top tackle.
Kyle Beckerman started RSL’s comeback in the 27th minute, taking a backheel from Andy Williams and beating Houston ‘keeper Pat Onstad. Yura Movsisyan came off the bench to level the score in the 60th.
Davis clinched the win with a blast from 19 yards. The game finished 10-on-10 after Ching was ejected in the 82nd minute.
The Dynamo remain at the top of the Western Conference standings with a league-high 43 points (12-8-7). Real Salt Lake fall to 9-10-7 (34).
LOS ANGELES GALAXY 2, TORONTO FC 0
CARSON—After swallowing the bitter pill of last week’s lopsided loss to Dallas, Saturday’s workmanlike 2-0 victory over Toronto FC was just what the LA Galaxy needed to get them in the right frame of mind for an end-of-season playoff push.
David Beckham was the heart and soul of the Galaxy offense all night long, scoring the game-winner in the ninth minute, cracking what should have been his second tally off the left post in the 43rd, and setting the stage for Edson Buddle’s 83rd minute coup de grace.
The deciding goal came after Beckham took a short pass from Buddle and relayed it to Chris Birchall at the top right corner of the box. Birchall dished back to Beckham, who split two defenders, shifted the ball from his left to his right foot, and sent the deciding shot past TFC newcomer Julian De Guzman and into the net at the bottom left corner.
In the 83rd minute, Beckham picked off a Toronto throw-in deep on the right side and passed in to Landon Donovan, who unselfishly dished to Buddle for the finish. A minute after that, Buddle tried to return the favor, but netminder Stefan Frei blocked Donovan’s shot.
The win keeps the Galaxy (10-5-11, 41 pts) second in the MLS West behind Houston. Toronto, with 34 points (9-9-8) remains three points out of the postseason mix with only four games left to play.
