All the scores from around MLS on another busy weekend.
The rich became richer in a weekend that saw the gap between the top and bottom teams in MLS expand all around the league.
We start with the team with the early leaders in the race for the Supporters’ Shield hosting the winner of that trophy last year as FC Dallas hosted the San Jose Earthquakes. One week after allowing four goals in a loss to the Sounders, Dallas returned to their strong defensive form with a 1-0 shutout of San Jose, their sixth clean sheet of the season, to remain atop the Western Conference at 8-2-3. Fabian Castillo scored the lone goal in the match, his second of the year. San Jose, meanwhile, falls to 3-5-6 – suffering as many losses through their first 14 matches as they did in 22 matches last season.
At RFK Stadium, DC United continued to plunge in the East while the Timbers kept the flames alive on their hot start with a 2-0 victory. Rodney Wallace and Darlington Nagbe both scored their fourth goals of the year while Portland extended their unbeaten streak to 11 straight matches. They are 5-0-6 in that stretch and are now 6-1-7 for second in the West. DC continued their meteoric fall, going winless at 0-8-2 in their last 10 matches to slip to 1-9-2 on the season.
From last in the East to last in the West, Chivas USA continued their winless streak with a 2-0 defeat to the Colorado Rapids. Former Sounder Nathan Sturgis scored for the second straight week for Colorado – doubling his career total in his 84 previous MLS appearances. The Rapids maintain hold of the fifth spot in the Western Conference at 5-4-4 while Chivas USA is now winless in their last seven matches at 0-6-1 to drop to 3-7-2.
At Rio Tinto Stadium, Real Salt Lake and the Chicago Fire both got late goals from second-half subs to battle to a 1-1 draw. Alvaro Saborio scored his fourth goal of the year for Salt Lake in the 78th minute, but Quincy Amarikwa answered with an equalizer in the 84th minute to finish the match in the draw. Salt Lake is third in the West at 6-5-3 while Chicago is eighth in the East at 2-7-2.
It was a slugfest in Montreal as the Impact hosted the Philadelphia Union and traded blows from first kick to final whistle and the Impact left the field with a 5-3 win. Marco Di Vaio opened scoring in the second minute and finished with a hattrick to draw even with Jack McInerney, who scored one goal in the match himself, with nine goals on the year. Antoine Hoppenot and Sebastien Le Toux scored for the Union, but they could never bring the game level after falling behind 3-1 in the first half, as Montreal added goals from Andrew Wenger and Blake Smith to improve to 7-2-2. The loss drops Philadelphia to 5-5-3, though they remain fifth in the East.
Elsewhere in the East, the Red Bulls kept their hold of the top spot with a 2-2 draw with the Columbus Crew, getting a late equalizer from Jamison Olave for the draw, the fourth goal of the year for the former RSL defender. Kansas City and Houston also finished with a 1-1 draw as they both remain within striking distance in the East. And finally, Juan Agudelo scored his first goal for the New England Revolution as they moved to within two points of fifth in the East with a 2-0 win over Toronto FC.
