Major League Soccer Week 14: 10-Man New York Red Bulls Earn Wild Point In Portland

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the wonderful gif of the incident:

Notice how the dive starts before there’s any actual contact. Well, notice how there’s never any actual contact. The only thing he could have done to make it any better was to actually put his hands over his head in an exaggerated diving pose. We know he still would have gotten the call because, well, Terry Vaughn is clueless enough to offer this pithy response to a reporter’s question after the match: “In the 83rd minute, a tripping foul was committed by Real Salt Lake within their own penalty area, resulting in a penalty kick.”

Although a two-goal lead seemed reasonably safe, it proved anything but. Henry scored his league-leading eighth goal of the season in the 73rd minute, which actually led to Rodney Wallace picking up a yellow card for delaying the restart. Just three minutes later, it looked as if the Timbers would regain their two-goal advantage, but Jewsbury’s penalty was stopped by Sutton.

I don’t want to get all sanctimonious up in here, but come on Charlie, you’re better than this. You’ve made some huge strides toward getting back to the point where you are at least in the conversation for national team duty, but no one wants to see this. You’re not getting back to the biggest stage by proving you can draw penalties, although you seem to have developed quite a knack for it. You’re going to get there by blowing past defenders and finishing chances, something you’ve already shown an ability to do.

It’s plays like this that just call for official review of diving incidents, something that is almost as important as handing out retroactive cards for dangerous challenges.

The win continues a run that has seen the Toros drop just one of their past 11 matches. During that run they have won seven.

Columbus defender better, passed better and finished their chances better and any other result would have been unfair to the Crew. It’s a dream result for Columbus and allows them to take a firm hold on third place in the Eastern Conference. Considering the tough results in their past couple matches and the apparent strife between players and coaches, the Crew are no doubt feeling good about themselves tonight.

Beating the Earthquakes was no small feat, either. San Jose entered the match on a six-match unbeaten run in which they had won four times. On Friday, they looked plenty dangerous, but were never able to notch a goal.

More impressive than the offense, though, was Sporting’s suddenly stout defense. After allowing 18 goals in their first eight matches, they have now allowed just two in their past five. Jimmy Nielson made five saves to notch his second shutout in his past three matches.

Don’t look now, but the hottest team in MLS might just be the Earthquakes. They have won two straight by a collective score of 6-2 and haven’t lost in six straight, a stretch of matches in which they’ve claimed 14 of a possible 18 points and posted a +8 goal difference. That comes on the heels of a start that saw them win just one of their first eight and claim just five points. The biggest change has been the return to health of Steven Lenhart, who has started the Quakes’ past seven and has scored four goals in his past two games. To a much lesser degree, Sporting is also recovering from a horrid start. SKC is coming off their second win of the season and are now riding a four-match unbeaten streak. They’ll also be looking for their first win at Livestrong Sporting Park. Pick: SKC 1-0.

What happened to the Toros last week? After going nine matches without a loss and looking very much like one of the best teams in the league, they inexplicably lost at home to a Sporting KC team that had gone 10 straight without a victory. Let’s assume that was not indicative of their season suddenly crumbling around them. Chivas USA has so far exceeded many prognosticators’ expectations, but they are still very much a work in progress and have not been particularly good at home (2-3-2). Pick: Dallas 2-1.