October 27, 2012
MLS ROUNDUP
Seedings sorted out in East

Kenny Cooper (right) scored two goals to lead the New York Red Bulls past the Philadelphia Union 3-0 on Saturday, and into third place in the MLS East. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images

NEW YORK RED BULLS 3, PHILADELPHIA UNION 0
CHESTER, Pa.—Kenny Cooper scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season as the New York Red Bulls lifted themselves out of the Eastern Conference wild card bracket with a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Union Saturday at PPL Park.

Cooper finishes second to San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski in the MLS Golden Boot race, and the Red Bulls close out the regular season third in the East at 16-9-9 and 57 points. The Union’s disappointing season ends at 10-18-6 (36).

New York took the lead in the 12th minute, after Tim Cahill dribbled into the area with the ball, and was fouled by Carlos Valdes. Cooper coolly slotted the penalty kick.

The Red Bulls’ second goal came on a defensive mistake, when Michael Lahoud turned the ball over in the final third of the field. Thierry Henry controlled the ball, went between two Union defenders and slipped the ball under Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Cooper scored his second goal of the game in the 67th minute to make it 3-0. After getting the ball from Dax McCarty, Cooper found the net with a right footed shot from the right side of the penalty area.

Union leading goal scorer Jack McInerney, who had his four-game scoring streak snapped on Wednesday in Kansas City, had the best chance of the first half. McInerney broke free and managed to get into the penalty area, but the youngster took too many touches and had his angle cut down by a Red Bulls defender, before his shot was easily handled by Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles.
Full story from Big Apple Soccer
Fulll story from Philly Soccer News

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1, MONTREAL IMPACT 0
MONTREAL--A late A.J. Soares goal gave the New England Revolution a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Impact and sent the Revolution into the winter on a season-ending two-game winning streak.

Soares headed a short 88th minute Chris Tierney free kick past Troy Perkins just two minutes after Blair Gavin had saved Davy Arnaud’s shot off the line to preserve Bobby Shuttleworth’s third shut-out.

It was the first all-time win for the Revolution (9-17-8, 35 points) in Canada and only their second road win of the 2012 season. It also marked their first success against the expansion Impact (12-16-6, 42 points) after Montreal had triumphed in both previous encounters.
Fulll story from New England Soccer News


DC UNITED 1, CHICAGO FIRE 1
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill.—Lionard Pajoy scored in the 51st minute to give DC United a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire Saturday at Toyota Park, and second place in the MLS East heading into the MLS Cup playoffs.

United (17-10-7) finish the regular season with 58 points. The Fire (17-11-6, 57) are only a point behind, but finish fourth in the standings, with New York taking the third seed on the total goals tiebreaker.

Chicago got on the board first, in the 16th minute. Sherjill MacDonald made a run toward gosl with the ball, then backheeled a pass to Patrick Nyarko, who dodged a defender and rocketed a blast into the upper right corner past diving goalkeeper Bill Hamid.

Pajoy, who accounted for three of DC’s five shots on goal, got his head on a cross from Branko Boskovic in the 51st minute to level the score for United. The ball bounced off goalkeeper Sean Johnson and into the net, evening the score at 1-1.

The Fire put nine shots on goal, but could not get another ball past Hamid, who made eight saves.
Full story from ChicagoLand Soccer News

PORTLAND TIMBERS FC 1, SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 1
PORTLAND, Ore.—Chris Wondolowski tied Roy Lassiter’s single-season goal scoring record of 27 as the league-leading San Jose Earthquakes closed out their regular season with a 1-1 draw against the Portland Timbers Saturday at Jeld-Wen Field.

Wondolowski gave the Supporters’ Shield winners a 1-0 lead with a 24th minute penalty kick, after goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts failed Steven Lenhart in the box. But Bright Dike equalized for Portland in the 67th, snagging his own rebound after his initial shot was blocked by goalkeeper Jon Busch.

Wondoloski finished with four shots – two of them on goal – and came within inches of breaking Lassiter’s record, but a second-half header slipped just wide of the post, and Ricketts dove to stop another attempt.

The Earthquakes close out the season at 19-6-9 and 66 points. Portland finish eighth of nine teams in the MLS West, with 34 points (8-16-10).

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS 0, REAL SALT LAKE 0
SANDY, Utah—Real Salt Lake took a tenuous hold on second place in the MLS West on Saturday, with a scoreless draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Rio Tinto Stadium.

RSL finish the regular season at 17-11-6 and 57 points, still within reach of the third-place Seattle Sounders, who play on Sunday. The Whitecaps (11-13-10) are fifth in the conference with 43 points, and will face the LA Galaxy in Thursday’s wild card match.

As befits two teams with playoff dates looming, neither side produced many highlights. Vancouver’s Darren Mattocks had an apparent goal off Alain Rochat’s free kick called back for offside in the 56th minute, and RSL scoring leader Alvaro Saborio challenged netminder Brad Knighton with a rising shot in the 38th.

COLORADO RAPIDS 2, HOUSTON DYNAMO 0
COMMERCE CITY, Colo.—It turns out the Houston Dynamo didn’t have anything to gain from Saturday’s match against the Colorado Rapids after all.

By the time the other teams in the MLS East had closed out their seasons earlier Saturday, the Dynamo (14-9-11, 53 pts) were left with no way to work their way out of fifth place in the conference and avoid a wild card playoff game on the road against Chicago to open the postseason.

The Rapids, meanwhile, ended a disappointing season on a positive note, getting goals from Kamani Hill in the ninth minute and Andres Akpan in the 76th to improve to 11-19-4 and 37 points. Hill opened the scoring with a 25-yard blast, and Akpan got his head on the rebound after Dynamo backup ‘keeper Tyler Deric turned away a shot by Martin Rivero.

With nothing to gain from Saturday’s match and the wild card game on Wednesday, Houston coach Dominic Kinnear rested his regulars. Houston’s back-benchers managed only five shots to the Rapids’ 21.