Major League Soccer, Week 3: Colorado Rapids Face D.C. United In Freezing Conditions

Three matches, nine points. Things are going about as well as the defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids could hope as they dominated DC United in a 4-1 victory to pick up their third win in as many matches this season. Caleb Folan scored his first MLS goal and then added another one later in for a brace, Jamie Smith scored one and Omar Cummings added one late for good measure to cancel out Santino Quaranta’s goal for DC as the Rapids continued their run of impressive play.

Colorado dominated the first half and had 59% of the possession, but almost didn’t see that rewarded on the scoreboard. Six minutes from halftime though, Jeff Larentowicz spotted Folan making a run and chipped the ball into his path. Folan gathered in the box and eventually went to his left foot, curling in the match’s opening tally.

The match wasn’t really in doubt anymore. The Colorado Rapids had a 3-1 lead in their back pocket and were the better side just knocking the ball around in the 90th minute. Just because the match was no longer in doubt and they could knock the ball around though doesn’t mean they were content to wait out the waning minutes. No, the Rapids decided to put the screws to DC United and added one more goal, this one by Omar Cummings, to give them a deserved 4-1 lead.

Quincy Amerikwa was at the center of the Rapids’ move, playing a beautiful little flick on to keep the team going forward instead of the back pass that would have only served the purpose of running on the clock. With Amerikwa’s flick though, Colorado was off and Pablo Mastroeni got the ball wide, searching for a cross. Mastroeni played that cross in, but it took a deflection. That deflection turned out to be a blessing though because it deflected right onto the head of Cummings who was only a few yards from goal with no one around him. The simple finish was all it took and Colorado had their 4-1 advantage.

If one is good, two is better. Caleb Folan had the opening goal of the match between the Colorado Rapids and DC United, but decided to add a second. Folan’s opening mark was the first goal of his MLS career, but he wasn’t content and made it a brace that all but seals the match for Colorado. With a 3-1 lead now, possession and having been the undoubtedly better side, the Rapids are on the verge of making it nine points from their first three matches.

When Colorado regained the lead on Jamie Smith’s goal, it was a good cross with a simple headed finish that did the job and they decided to follow that script with Folan’s second goal as well. It was Sanna Nyassi who played the cross in this time, whipping one in right onto Folan’s forehead and the Irishman just nodded it past Pat Onstad for the goal that should put this one out of reach for United.

Not even two minutes after surrendering an equalizer, the Colorado Rapids grabbed their lead back thanks to a simple finish by Jamie Smith, who got on the end of an Anthony Wallace cross. Colorado had been the better side all match, but in the 70th minute they allowed Santino Quaranta to get an equalizer thanks to some poor marking. In the 71st minute though, the Rapids took advantage of some poor DC United marking to snatch their lead back.

Wallace found room on the left and delivered a beautiful cross to the top of the six yard box. Pat Onstad hesitated for half of a second and that is all that mattered. The hesitation left him no chance to come off his line and punch the ball so when Kurt Morsink completely lost track of Smith, the Colorado midfielder was able to come right on in and finish for the go-ahead goal.

Casey came up lame in the 50th minute, although there was no apparent instance in which he suffered the injury. One minute Casey was running, the next he was limping and grabbing his hamstring. The striker called over to the bench for a substitution, quickly aware that he would not be able to carry on and Colorado manager sent Cummings on in his place.

It was 30 degrees at kick off at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, CO and the rounds crew spent the afternoon clearing snow from the field, but aside from the long sleeves, speckles of snow and empty seats, there isn’t much of an indicator of the cold and snow. The field has help up remarkably well and both teams have had the opportunity to play well, although the opportunity to play well doesn’t mean they are playing well.

The final MLS match of the weekend is about ready to get underway and the story is cold...or snow. They’re kind of the same thing. Well, anyone who wants to see MLS go to an international calendar and play through the winer might change their mind after tonight’s match between DC United and the Colorado Rapids. Temperatures in Denver are below freezing and they spent the afternoon clearing the snow off of the pitch. Perfect soccer weather, no?

The defending MLS Cup champion Rapids have picked up six points from their first two matches and while they have not been dominating, they have done enough to win. Nobody will complain about the results thus far and they’ve looked very solid. With Jeff Larentowicz and Pablo Mastroeni controlling the center of the pitch they’re always going to be tough to break down and tonight should be no different.

You know how your brain felt as you read that headline? That’s how my brain felt for the entirety of the match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Philadelphia Union. I can feel my brain melting inside of my skull as I type this. This post is basically a race against the clock. Hopefully, I can finish it before I run out of time. Basically, the game between the Galaxy and Union was hardly a game at all. The only time it resembled what we know as football (or soccer) was the goal, when David Beckham hit a great free kick into the penalty area that was headed in by Leonardo in the 35th minute. Before that point, the game was just kind of boring. The last 10 minutes were boring too. No big, right? Games are boring all the time.

Then, the proverbial s--- hit the fan. Referee Paul Ward showed Chris Birchall a red card for...well...nobody knows. The incident wasn’t caught on camera, and no one that was at the game has explained it to the public yet. Birchall was certainly in an argument with Carlos Ruiz, but no one knows what he did.

No shots on goal, no corner kicks, 41% possession. Those are the key early statistics for the Philadelphia Union, who have looked absolutely anemic in the first half of their game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Leonardo has the game’s only goal, heading in a David Beckham dead ball, but the game has been seriously lacking in action outside of that. While Philadelphia have done very little going forward, LA haven’t done a whole lot more. Hopefully the second half is much different.

Philadelphia have a good forward group up top in Sebastian Le Toux, Carlos Ruiz, and Danny Mwanga, but they’ve done next to nothing in the first half. Honestly, most of this is because they don’t have anyone to get them the ball. The Union’s midfield has simply not been very good, and it’s not like they look any better on paper than they do in practice. Peter Nowak will probably have to make some serious changes to get his team playing well.

The Los Angeles Galaxy and the Philadelphia Union have played an even game to this point, but the teams have been separated by the quality of a David Beckham free kick. In the 34th minute, from about 35 yards out, Beckham swung one of his trademark balls into the box, which the Galaxy had loaded up with all of their big boys. Philly’s marking was poor, and central defender Leonardo was able to get onto the ball without a whole lot of opposition. Leonardo hit a powerful, but easy header into the back of the net, and the Galaxy took a 1-0 lead.

Los Angeles have been boosted quite a bit by the returns of Donovan Ricketts, Omar Gonzalez, and Landon Donovan, but they still haven’t been fantastic. The Galaxy still need some time to gel as a team, and they probably aren’t an elite team with the personnel that they have anyway. Still, this early lead will be encouraging, and it will be interesting to see how Philly pick themselves up.

Galaxy lineup (4-4-2): Ricketts; Franklin, Gonzalez, Leonardo, Dunivant; Beckham, Birchall, Juninho, Donovan; Angel, Lopez

Union lineup (4-4-2): Mondragón; Williams, Califf, Valdés, Harvey; Nakazawa, Miglioranzi, Carroll, Le Toux; Mwanga, Ruiz

That goal seems to have breathed some life back into the Whitecaps, who were looking pretty down after falling behind 3-0. Since Harris’ goal, though, the Whitecaps have dominated possession and have created several more quality chances.

That goal gave SKC a 2-0 lead, which grew to 3-0 just a few minutes later. On that one, CJ Sapong tracked down a ball near the touchline and found Kei Kamara all alone about 10 yards out. Kamara easily beat the goalkeeper far post.

The Timbers have so far played relatively even with the Revolution, who started the season undefeated through two matches for just the fourth time in franchise history. They have done it mostly with defense, but have played far more wide open during the first half of Saturday’s game than they have in their previous contests.

Sporting Kansas City put out a lineup on the field that made little to no sense. Despite the absence of Stephane Auvray, Peter Vermes opted to stay with the same formation he’s gone with for over a year. He didn’t put in a reserve central midfielder, though. Instead, he chose Birahim Diop to play a defensive midfield role. He has the physical profile of a player who can play that position, but Diop is obviously a forward who can play as a wide player if he has to. He was downright terrible in the first half, and it’s hard to tell what Vermes and his assistants are thinking. Despite this unbelievably poor selection, KC are somehow up 1-0 on the Vancouver Whitecaps at halftime, thanks to a wonder strike by Teal Bunbury. It’s a funny old game, isn’t it?

Not to take anything away from Bunbury, because his curling shot from the outside of the penalty area was amazing, but as a neutral I feel like some serious injustice has happened. I’m happy for Bunbury and the KC fans, but Peter Vermes and his staff do not deserve to lead this game. Birahim Diop does not deserve to be leading this game. He’s so lost in the center of midfield that, despite KC having a numbers advantage in midfield AND the two best passers on the field, they’re playing long ball. How can anyone who isn’t a Sporting KC fan want them to win this game?

In front of him will be four players with a total of 47 MLS appearances between them. Only Rodney Wallace has appeared in as many as 10 MLS games. Midfielder James Marcelin will also receive his first MLS start.

Revolution lineup: GK Reis, D Domi, D Soares, D Cochrane, D Alston, M Myassi, M Boggs, M Joseph, M Phelan, F Schilawski, F McCarthy

Red Bulls lineup: Coundoul, Solli, Marquez, Ream, Miller, Richards, Tainio, Ballouchy, Lindpere, Agudelo, Henry.

Dynamo lineup: Hall, Freeman, Boswell, Hainault, Ashe, Cruz, Palmer, Cameron, Davis, Ching, Bruin.

Both Vancouver Whitecaps and Sporting Kansas City have thrown out some weird looking lineups, thanks to injuries and suspensions. MLSSoccer.com lists Vancouver’s lineup as a 5-3-2 and KC’s as 4-2-4, both of which seem highly unlikely. Vancouver is missing Eric Hassli due to suspension and Davide Chiumiento due to injury, among other players, while Stephane Auvray is the most glaring omission from the Sporting Kansas City lineup. We’ll update if the lineups look unorthodox, but for now, let’s call both of the 4-4-2.

Vancovuer Whitecaps lineup (projected 4-4-2): Nolly; Rochat, Janicki, Boxall, Weathers; Wagner, Dunfield, Knight, Koffie; Harris, Sanvezzo

Alejandro Moreno scored a 2nd minute goal, but Chivas USA was unable to build on that lead, eventually ceded the equalizer and were forced to settle for a 1-1 tie with Toronto FC on Saturday. The tie marked the first point of the season for the Goats, who opened with a pair of losses at home.

Toronto FC was playing their first match without former captain Dwayne De Rosario, who was traded to the New York Red Bulls on Friday in exchange for Danleigh Borman, Toni Tchani and a first-round pick. Both Borman and Tchani started on Saturday and, perhaps unsurprisingly, TFC looked disjointed in the early going.