WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Week number seven is in the books. I think this weekend will easily go down as a weekend of firsts for some players and clubs.

A couple guys got their first goal of the year, others got their first ever MLS goal of their careers. One club got it’s first win of the year while we saw one club do something that no one else has done so far this year.

In all seriousness, it truly was a weekend of first in Major League Soccer.

• First goals of the season for some heavyweight scorers: Bring Ching, Dwayne de Rosario, Taylor Twellman, and Juan Pablo Angel.
• First career goals for: Rookies Danleigh Boreman (NY) and Justin Braun (Chivas) and for second year player Brad Evans (Columbus)
• First goal of the season for RSL’s Javier Morales
• First goal since 2006 for Chicago’s Justin Mapp
• First time that Kenny Cooper scores for Dallas and they lose
• First Houston win of the year

But the biggest may be for the club that remains on top of the MLS standings. The Columbus Crew became the first club this season to come from behind and win a game. Seriously, it took seven weeks to produce a come from behind winner in MLS.

As short as the weekend was in the schedule (only five games instead of the usual six), it produced just as much excitement and almost as many goals as we are getting use to here this season.

Attendance was average, LA and Houston had good numbers; RSL drew their usual non-Beckham game number; San Jose nearly sold out its cozy little venue; and Chivas didn’t fill half of the HDC.

Houston Dynamo 2 – 1 Colorado Rapids:

• Houston finally wins one, but more importantly De Rosario and Ching get on the boards this season. You could tell this was going to be the game that the Dynamo would break free.
• Dicey call on the PK late for the handball on Ugo Ihemelu. It had to be called though, clearly it was a mental error.
• The mental error kind of tells me more about Fernando Clavijo’s group. They still aren’t ready to be placed near the top with the likes of some of the clubs in MLS. The go-to striker is still missing and the defensive mistakes are killer.
• Boy, Bouna Coundoul is either really good or really bad. There isn’t much in-between with him. He either makes great saves or costs his team dearly. The Ching goal is a prime example of how he costs them dearly.
• So does this win spell the start for the Dynamo here this season? I think we will see but clearly it was much needed.

Real Salt Lake 2 – 1 FC Dallas:

• Mark the first RSL goal up to be a blooper on the FCD 2008 season DVD. A total whiff at the ball by Dario Sala and Javier Morales made it count.
• I think Kyle Beckerman should get some serious consideration for MLS MVP this season. He has carried this club on his back thus far this season.
• Cooper scored but no love in the win department. That is a first. But seriously, the goal was something else. It may be my goal of the week too.
• Dallas had plenty of chances, so don’t let the scoreline fool you here either. They just struggled to find the back of the net, while RSL got two goals on two defensive mistakes from Dallas. Sometimes the ball bounces funny like that, and on that turf it really bounces.

Columbus Crew 3 – 2 San Jose Earthquakes:

• Don’t turn your back on this Crew team at all here this season. I was watching this game up until about the 65th minute; I then left to take a shower or something and come back to a 3-1 scoreline. Just like that, the Crew were well on their way to another win.
• I can’t begin to describe how big of a come from behind win is for any club. This seriously gives the Crew an edge over anyone right now in MLS.This club just has more fight in them than anyone else in the league, maybe with the exception of Chicago.
• Robbie Rogers is really starting to bud into the star that we had hoped for here last year when he came to MLS. Five goals on the year puts him just behind Landon Donovan’s eight for the league lead (he’s also tied with Cooper in that department).
• All three goals were pretty much the same. Long balls played through space, with a quick player running on to it to hammer it past a Joe Cannon who didn’t have his 10 minutes between the 73rd and 83rd minutes.
• Both San Jose goals were nice though. Both headers off corners. That is positive stuff to see if you are a Quakes fan.

New York 2 – 1 LA:

• Nice defensive game for the Red Bulls, the limited the Galaxy chances and found ways to frustrate David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
• Two games in a row now for Donovan to not score a goal. Maybe he’s cooled off.
• Jon Conway had a nice night in goal for New York, though I can’t say I am still not sold on him here.
• Big time goal for Angel on Saturday night. For his confidence and his club’s, that goal was bigger than some will think.
• I know we were hard on Alan Gordan at the beginning of this season but maybe he is settling in here. Third goal of the season, and it was a pretty nice one at that. That’s good because someone will need to carry the load when Donovan and Beckham are gone on National team duties.
• Galaxy defense is still troublesome but I really think the issue is more so in goal with Steve Cronin. While he made a couple nice saves, he still finds ways to prove to me that he isn’t a solid number one in MLS.

New England Revolution 2 – 1 Chivas USA:

• Another loss for the Goats, but another win for the Revs. Who out of these two do you think will end up better off this season? Obviously it has to be New England because Chivas has come undone in recent weeks.
• It was great to see Taylor Twellman out there yesterday for the Revs. Not only his first game of the year but he netted his first goal. That will help ease some worries for Revs fans.
• But what’s more important is Steve Ralston being healthy. Both goals were set up by him and I think with him back on the pitch we will now see a more consistent offense from New England.
• Chivas was really never in this game, only a couple of chances in the entire game on goal. Its almost like this club has come unglued from what we saw out of them last year. Its not health reasons or really any damage from suspensions, but they just don’t look comfortable out there right now together.
• I think Preki may need to change the formation or something to shake this club up here. Five game losing streak is never good to put yourself in, even at the early stages of the season. Its defensive and offense that needs work. Well they need confidence more than anything, especially on offense.

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