:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46996236/usa-today-8750867.0.jpg)
New York City FC 3, DC United 1
DC struck first in this game with a tap in from Alvaro Saborio in the 35th off of a cross from his teammate Chris Rolfe's drive on goal. NYCFC regrouped at halftime and took just 5 minutes to draw the score even. Kwadwo Poku received a long pass in open space, dribbled past the keeper and served up an easy slot-in for his teammate Tommy McNamara. In the 80th minute, real-life Most Interesting Man in the World Andrea Pirlo played a long lob downfield into traffic to David Villa, who beat two defender and the keeper for a strike that gave NYCFC the lead. Poku tacked on an insurance goal in the 88th to seal the win.
San Jose Earthquakes 1, Colorado Rapids 0
San Jose were unable to take advantage of a number of quality chances early in this game, but in the end, it only took one to secure the Quakes' first win in their last 6 tilts. In the 53rd minute, Quincy Amarikwa received the ball on the left side of goal and lofted in a cross that Clarence Goodson headed in. The Rapids had their best chance a minute earlier, when San Jose's keeper came too far off the line and Dillon Powers tried to take advantage with a header that bounced off the crossbar.
New York Red Bulls 3, Toronto FC 0
The Red Bulls continued to impress Friday with a dominating win over Toronto FC. Bradley Wright-Phillips was the first man on the board in the 27th, dribbling a ball through the defenders and bouncing it past the diving keeper from short range. In the 65th, Anthony Wallace decided that it was time for a long range far post golazo that keeper Joe Bendik just couldn't get to. Gonzalo Veron tacked in the third in garbage time for the Red Bulls, a short range rebound. Possible MVP Sebastian Giovinco was unable to get on the score sheet in this tilt after a hat trick last week.
New England Revolution 2, Houston Dynamo 0
The Dynamo were unable to gain any points Friday night after a tough loss in Foxboro. The game started well for Houston and they looked sharp, but two rain stoppages delayed the game for over 4 hours. A number of spectacular saves by Tyler Deric kept a clean sheet until the 69th minute, when Jose Goncalves struck a cross from Lee Nguyen past the Dynamo keeper. Nguyen and Agedelo scored again for the Revs in the 87th minute with a textbook drive up the left flank leading to a cross that Agedelo just tapped in for his first goal in a couple months.
The Galaxy took the number one spot in the West with a strong win over the armies of Satan. In the 33rd minute, Michael Barrios received a header and streaked down the sideline, juked it past a pair of defenders and buried it to put FC Frisco up 1-0. MVP Robbie Keane took over in the second half, and it took him only 5 minutes to tally a brace. In the 51st and 56th minutes, he finished crosses from Robbie Keane and Giovani dos Santos to bring his season total to 13 and put down FC Dallas. Hey, you want to hear a song I wrote for my MLS-themed pop punk band? "Dal-las sucks! Dal-las sucks! Dal-las sucks! Dallas sucks!!!"
Sporting Kansas City 4, Vancouver Whitecaps 3
Sporting Kansas City made two epic comebacks at home versus the Vancouver Whitecaps to extend their home unbeaten streak Saturday night. The Whitecaps built up a 2 goal lead in the first half, the first goal coming in the 9th minute courtesy of Kekuta Manneh, and the second minutes before halftime, again from Kekuta Manneh. 8 minutes after halftime, Sporting pulled back within 1. Soni Mustivar looped a corner from Benny Feilhaber toward the far post and Kevin Ellis knocked it in. Vancouver's lead returned to 2 in the 77th, when Pedro Morales converted a penalty after an SKC handball. Then, in the 81st, Kristen Nemeth sent a long cross in from the left wing that Dom Dwyer headed it in. 6 minutes after that, Paulo Nagamara, who had given up the handball in the 77th, made up for it with a low strike in the corner that tied it up. It would have been impressive given the circumstances if Sporting had merely gotten a draw out of this, but in the 4th minute of extra time, Nagamara made it a brace with a game winning header, that he celebrated with a Chastain-esque ripping off of the shirt.
Portland Timbers 1, Real Salt Lake 0
Real Salt Lake lost their third in a row Saturday night thanks to a clutch header by Nat Borchers that came off of a corner in stoppage time. Despite being blanked, RSL had their share of quality chances, as did Portland. Both teams finished the game with 5 shots on target, but just couldn't finish their chances. In stoppage time, Portland finally got on the board with a corner kick taken by Diego Valeri and headed in by former RSL player Nat Borchers.
Seattle Sounders 4, Orlando City SC 0
It wouldn't be a blowout without Orlando City, and this time they were on the bad side of it. The Sounders somehow found a way to break out of their slump and get their first win in months. Obafemi Martins tallied a brace in his first game back from injury, and his teammates Nelson Valdez and Thomas added goals of their own. To be fair, Orlando was playing down a man for over half of the match, but they still had no answers for a Seattle attack that has been completely lacking in direction for a while now.
Philadelphia Union 3, Chicago Fire 3
The two most hapless teams in the East traded goals all night, but neither side was able to walk away with the three points. Chicago got it started in the 9th, with a near post strike and some impressive front-flips by Kennedy Igboananike. It took Fernando Aristeguieta 12 minutes to even the score off of a corner, and 10 more minutes for the Union to take the lead with a long distance bouncing stroke by Fabinho. The game was tied by Patrick Nyarko in the 54th with a tap in of a cross from Igboananike. No one else would score until the 90th, largely due to Union keeper Sean Johnson absolutely standing on his head. Sebastien Le Toux, slotted it in far post and the crowd went wild, assuming that it was a game-winner. But at 90+2', Igboananike pounced on a deflected shot and buried it under the crossbar to break the Union fans' hearts.
What all of this means for the Dynamo
The Dynamo's loss to New England turned out to be more than just a missed opportunity. The lack of three point would have meant that they would just not jump over the Sounders into the playoffs, but the win by the Sounders now means that Houston needs 5 points to catch up.
Things get worse from there. Not only did Houston not pass up Seattle, San Jose's win pulled them ahead of the Dynamo by one point, so we need a win and a San Jose loss or draw next week just to get back to 7th.
The Galaxy/FC Dallas result doesn't affect the Dynamo much either way. The Galaxy are completely out of reach, and Houston will need to make up a lot of points before we start setting sights on Dallas. The same thing goes for Sporting KC and Portland, they're just too far ahead of Houston for it to matter at this point.