MLS Saturday Round-up (Week 21)

August 16
FC Dallas 1-2 Columbus (Crew Stadium)
Toronto trade bait Jeff Cunningham scored for his new club in 35th minute, but two second half goals scored three minutes apart sealed the home win for the Crew. Guillermo Barros Schelotto knotched his 11th and 12th assists on the goals by Brian Carroll and Brad Evans, as Columbus keeps pace with New England in the East.

-------------------------------------------------------------
DC United 1-0 Chicago (Toyota Park)
The return of the native son ended up being a bit anti-climatic, as Brain McBride's Olympic fruitlessness continued in his first match back in MLS. DC, however, got a goal from their winger Fred and a clean sheet from a newcomer of their own, Liberian goalkeeper Louis Crayton. It was the first match since their US Open Cup encounter and Cuauhtemoc Blanco's notorious head-butt, but it was a surprisingly clean match, although DC accounted for seven of the eight yellow cards.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Real Salt Lake 3-4 Houston (Robertson Stadium)
There were six goals scored in a sloppy first half. Unfortunately for RSL fans, Houston scored four of them. After RSL's Yura Movsisyan and the Dynamo's Brian Mullan traded goals in the first 16 minutes, Salt Lake went ahead in the 25th thanks Javier Morales. Houston, however, would respond with three unanswered goals in 13 minutes from Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark and Nate Jaqua. RSL made the last 10 minutes of the match entertaining after substitute Kenny Deuchar scored his third of the season in the 80th minute. This match saw the return of Clint Mathis, who entered the match at the hour mark for Andy Williams, but like fellow American Brian McBride, he was unable to mark his return with a goal.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Kansas City 1-2 Colorado (DSG Park)
The Rapids were without head coach Fernando Clavijo, who reportedly left for Uruguay for family emergency this week, leaving assistant Gary Smith in charge and perhaps this was a good thing for Conor Casey who nearly had as much production in this match as he's had all season, scoring two goals and snapping the Rapids two-game losing streak.

-------------------------------------------------------------
New England 0-4 San Jose (BS Stadium)
Two beautiful goals by Ronnie O-Brien bookended this one-sided contest, as New England continued their SuperLiga championship hangover with a 4-0 loss to cellar-dwellers San Jose. In between O'Brien's goals, Ryan Johnson and Scott Sealy got in the act for the Quakes, who haven't lost since July 5th.