MLS Week 4 Recap or Sneaking one in late

Normally I try to do the recap on Monday, but life prevented such things, but my lateness kind of fits in with the play of games this week. Three of the four matches were decided by goals after the 80th minute with two of the being decided by late, late stoppage time strikes. All four outings saw goals scored after the 80th. All and all, a fine weekend of soccer.

DC United looked a little timid at first, but by the second half, they looked as good as they did last week. For the Red Bulls, well it must be hard to be a fan. Coach Mo Johnston got no help from his team as they looked weak and scared on the pitch. The big Friday trade for Jean Philippe Peguero did not help their offense, but then again, he wasn't given many chances. For United, having Alecko Eskandarian hot is good, but backing it up with the fire of Ben Olsen, Brian Carroll, Christian Gomez and Jaime Moreno is going to make this team hard to beat. Now they just need Freddy Adu to improve on his corner kicks and they will be a power house.

NY 1-4 DC
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Houston needed to recover after dropping their last two, but Real Salt Lake made it hard for them. Still, Real being Real, they found a way to get the loss. Jeff Cunningham made the Dynamo pay for a bad pass to Eddie Robinson, but that's were the luck stopped for Salt Lake. It only took Houston three minutes to get even thanks to a great corner from Brad Davis and header by Craig Waibel. Still, Real had a chance thanks to a Jason Kreis free kick, but it hit one post and then banged off the other post only to be cleared away by Dwayne De Rosario. It really was a great return for De Rosario as he found himself in the middle of play after play. It is only fitting that he was the one to turn on the speed and thanks to an assist from Brian Ching, beat Salt Lake's defense to give Houston the late winning goal.

Houston 2-1 Salt Lake
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How long till Alexi Lalas tosses Galaxy head coach Steve Sampson? Four games and the defending champs only have four points; something big is wrong. How else can you explain losing to the Columbus Crew? Sadly, this game was not televised in any way that I could watch it because I would love to know how such a defeat is possible. Interestingly enough, it is not the case that LA out played the Crew, but a few bounces went Columbus's way, no the two teams played an even match. LA had some offensive chances in the first half, but was lackluster in the second. For the Crew, they found a were able to hold off the few chances and then get their first win in the 96th minute. Eddie Gaven put a cross into the box that LA keeper Kevin Hartman saved but he could not hold it. Kyle Martino went after the rebound and sent it right into the net. Crew win. Let me repeat, Crew win. It must have felt great to be former LA and current Crew coach Sigi Schmid.

LA 0-1 Crew
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Kenny Cooper continued to make a name for himself in Dallas as he found some way to stay focused on the ball in the middle of crazy play in front of KC's goal. In just the fourth minute the youngster nabbed his third of the season to give FCD a 1-0 lead. Cooper had another chance in the 63rd, but his shot went just over net. The second goal of the game would not find the net till the 92nd, but the play between the two was equal, even though Dallas had to play the final 25-minutes a man down. When that second goal did arrive, it was thanks to some bad FCD defense that left Alex Zotinca unmarked after a corner kick. The kick bounced around in the box, hitting a few players, but no one controlled. Sure enough, it bounced right to Zotinca who hammered it home. But KC would make a defensive error of their own that allowed Dallas to win the match and take the number one spot in the west. Aaron Pitchkolan (pictured carrying two teammates) intercepted a bad pass by KC's Eddie Johnson and ran to goal. He took a hard shot and beat goaltender Bo Oshoniyi, giving Dallas the game in the 94th minute.

FCD 2-1 KC
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For the first time the wife has out guessed me for the week. We are now tied for the season. Here's the chart.

Match	Final	Me	Wife
NY-DC	1-4	0-2	1-2
Houston-RSL	2-1	3-1	1-0
LA-Crew	0-1	2-1	2-0
FCD-KC	2-1	1-2	3-1

Person	This Week	Season
Mike	2-2	11-11
Wife	3-1	11-11

Now it starts getting fun.