Former Sounder Fails to Rescue Houston

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Columbus Cruising to the Shield after Late Penalty Drama

Two intriguing clashes took place today both with direct effect on the MLS issues that matter. Former Sounders favourite Cam Weaver scored an 81st minute equaliser for Houston Dynamo in a top of the table clash with Sigi Schmid’s old club Columbus Crew. Three minutes earlier Brian Ching had missed a gilt edged opportunity provided to him by Cam Weaver, and then the roles were reversed and this time the Houston striker made no mistake.

Crew defender Frankie Hejduk had earlier given Columbus a lead, scoring his first goal of the season. But it was not enough. Minutes after Weaver’s equaliser, Adam Moffat (Columbus) and midweek American hero Ricardo Clark (Houston) were sent off for an incident involving Brian Mullan. Eddie Gaven then converted an injury time penalty kick for the Crew to leave them top of the American league, and on course to finish the regular season with the best record. Geoff Cameron was the player penalised for a foul on Alejandro Moreno. Robert Warzycha’s (pictured above with MLS trophy) side now lead the Eastern Conference by three points from Chicago Fire who drew with RSL on Saturday. Below them, six points separate nine sides.

In the battle of the sides with most games left, Chivas reversed a run of three consecutive defeats by beating Steve Nicol’s New England Revs 2-0 with an injury time Sacha Kljestan penalty adding to Maicon Santos’ 10th minute opener. Edgaras Jankauskas (New England) and Carey Talley (Chivas) were sent off after an altercation in the 70th minute. Talley has played more minutes in the MLS than any other Chivas player but will now miss the crunch tie in Seattle.

Is the Western Conference Wide Open Again?

Houston’s defeat coupled with Los Angeles Galaxy’s surprise thumping at home to Dallas and Colorado’s 2-3 reverse in Canada, has opened the Western Conference up a little. The failure of the leading two was fully taken advantage of by both Seattle Sounders and Chivas USA who move to within one and two points of the Galaxy respectively. Chivas also have two games in hand over their local rivals. Next weekend’s big games are Sounders v Chivas USA, Houston v Salt Lake and LA v Toronto. Should RSL beat a Houston side now missing Ricardo Clark, they can actually overhaul the Texas side by winning their match in hand.

In the East, there is only one big game next weekend, Chicago Fire hosting the Columbus Crew.

USA League Table

		P	W	D	L	PTS	GD
1	Columbus Crew (E1)	24	11	9	4	42	10
2	Houston Dynamo (W1)	26	11	7	8	40	8
3	Chicago Fire (E2)	25	10	9	6	39	5
4	LA Galaxy (W2)	25	9	11	5	38	2
5	Seattle Sounders	25	9	10	6	37	7
6	Colorado Rapids	24	10	6	8	36	8
7	DC United	26	8	12	6	36	1
8	Chivas USA	23	11	3	9	36	1
9	Toronto FC	25	9	7	9	34	-3
10	Real Salt Lake	25	9	7	9	34	8
11	New England Revs	23	9	6	8	33	-4
12	FC Dallas	24	7	6	11	27	-1
13	Kansas City Wizards	24	7	6	11	27	-7
14	San Jose Earthquakes	22	5	5	12	20	-13
15	New York	25	4	4	17	16	-22