MLS Week 10: FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake End Scoreless

The Timbers’ latest victory wasn’t exactly their most impressive, 1-0 over the Crew on which the lone goal probably should have been whistled dead for offsides. But credit them for continuing to find ways to get results at home. They’ve shown they can win shootouts -- their first two home games featured 11 goals -- and they’ve shown they can win low-scoring affairs -- each of their last three wins have been 1-0.

While it seems a little trite to suggest that the fans deserve much of the credit for this start, and coach John Spencer has made it clear that his players are the ones doing the real work, it does seem like the atmosphere has helped. The Timbers have yet to thoroughly dominate any of their home opponents, and have actually been out-possessed in all five of their home matches. Against the Crew, the Timbers were actually out shot (11-10), out possessed (53-47) and won only 47 percent of the aerial duels. None of those numbers mean the Timbers are actually being outplayed, but it does seem to suggest there’s some kind of unquantifiable element at play. That element might just be the people chanting, singing and waving flags.

Both teams struggled to really get anything going in both halves. It was possibly due to the muggy weather in the area or the lack of quality attacking midfielders for both clubs.

With the draw Dallas moves back into second place in the Western Conference with 18 points. RSL moves into a three-way tie for third place with Portland and Seattle with 17 points.

Of course, facing a Toronto FC team that has so far been one of the worst teams in MLS this season, you’d think the Rapids would be looking for more than a point. Yet it was TFC, which entered the match with just one road point, that had the better scoring chances.

Outside of that shot, there really haven’t been too many scoring opportunities for either side. Each goalkeeper has only had to make one save and both teams have only taken three shots.

Each side enter halftime with only one shot on goal a piece. Maybe the second half will open it up a little more for each side with some subs.

Schellas Hyndman puts out the same starting eleven as he did in last weeks 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. Hyndman is hoping his newly formed 4-4-2 will continue to see success.

But the game wasn’t all Portland. The Timbers lacked any real chances on goal in the first half and for the majority of the second half they held the possession but weren’t creating many chances on goal. Alhassan may have had the most chances in the second half for the Timbers but he could never seem to get a ball on frame as he sent a couple shots high and wide.

The Crew are now playing like a frustrated club giving up more dangerous spots for the Timbers. Giving up such an early goal in the half can’t be a good sign for the visitors who looked very dangerous in the first half.

The Crew also had another decent chance by Heinemann early on in the match when he made a quick turn around Mamadou “Futty” Danso. The move around Danso was good but shot by Heinemann was not. Perkins made an easy save on that one.

After seven games on the road and five straight losses, it’s safe to say Sporting would be happing with just a point and so far they have been playing that way. They’ve been effective at disrupting much of what the Sounders wanted to do in the midfield and in their defensive third, but have not showed a lot of ambition in the run of play.

That said, when they have gone on the attack, they have been more effective at getting shots on goal as they lead the Sounders 3-0 in that department. None of those shots really looked very dangerous though.

John Spencer and Robert Warzycha have their lineups set and really there aren’t any real shockers to discuss between either side tonight. Portland looks to be going with their big offensive guns with rookie Darlington Nagbe, Kenny Cooper and Jorge Perlaza out there. Columbus does mix things up with rookie Tom Heinemann getting a start.

WIth the draw the two teams stay where they are at in the standings. New York remains in first in the Eastern conference with 16 points, while the Dynamo move up with 14 points.

Ruiz started the goal-scoring sequence when his free kick from about 35 yards out hit the wall. The ball came back out to Ruiz, who fired his shot on a volley that hit the underside of the crossbar and into the goal. It was Ruiz’s third goal of the season, but his first since April 16.

The ended a three-match winless streak for the Union, who had lost 2-0 last week. It was the first time the Union had scored as many as two goals in a match since Oct. 16, 2010. Michael Farfan had scored his first career goal on a shot from about 25 yards out.

Based on their season scoring output, that seemed to be a huge blow to the Union, who have scored a league-low six goals through their first nine matches. But Ruiz had different thoughts. The much criticized forward scored his third goal of the season, but his first since April 16.

If this is indeed a sign of Marquez showing his age, this could be a bad sign for the Red Bulls. Marquez is likely to have a busy summer as he has already been named to Mexico’s Gold Cup squad.

It was Richards’ second goal of the season. Coincidentally, his only other goal also came against the Dyanmo during their April 2 encounter. In that match, the Red Bulls settled for a 1-1 tie.

Last week: 7 of 12 correct predictions

We’ll have a full preview in a separate article. Pick: Chivas 2-1.