who did what, what it means and what to look for next:
Chicago 3, Columbus 2
Man of the match: Plenty of decent Chicago Fire choices, including right back Dasan Robinson, who had a strong two-way match. But rookie Bakary Soumare deserves the honor because he stood tall in a defensive midfield role in his debut MLS start. In fact, the No. 2 overall pick from the 2007 SuperDraft had logged just 11 minutes prior to his busy Sunday evening at Toyota Park.
Bigger picture: U.S. youth international Robbie Rogers made a nice night out of his first MLS start, providing some nice crosses and fearlessly going at Chicago right back Robinson. Unfortunately for the Crew, it's the same old story: sufficient service with insufficient results.
Pressure point: Maybe these teams could get a group rate on a refresher session on set-piece defending. All five goals were scored on set-pieces - although one was scored going the other way when Chad Barrett broke away after his team busted up a Crew corner kick. Columbus had a couple of additional near-misses off dead balls.
Houston 2, FC Dallas 1
Man of the match: Ricardo Clark celebrated his call into international duty with the latest in a string of well-rounded performances. He kept Dallas midfielder Ramon Nunez in check and was probably Houston's most dangerous attacker as well. Clark's early ball released Joseph Ngwenya for Dynamo's game-winner.
Bigger picture: Some interesting options are suddenly appearing for Dynamo manager Dominic Kinnear. Richard Mulrooney played centrally alongside Clark, replacing Dwayne De Rosario in the lineup (although not in the same attacking role). And blazing fast rookie Corey Ashe was introduced for a third consecutive match. The last two have been as a replacement for Brad Davis.
Pressure point: FC Dallas has played 18 regular season matches since its last clean sheet. Steve Morrow won't be happy with his defense on either goal Sunday as a failure to clear one ball lead to trouble and a failed offside bid aided Houston's second strike. Things won't get any better without Clarence Goodson, who has put together a good season but left injured in the first half Sunday.
New England 0, Real Salt Lake 0
Man of the match: RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando stuffed New England with a 13-save night at Gillette Stadium. Only three times in MLS history has a goalkeeper made more saves in a match. Rimando's evening included a stoppage time beauty off Taylor Twellman's point blank effort.
Bigger picture: Take a close look at Jason Kreis' first month in charge and the results don't look too bad at all: a tie in Utah against the Red Bulls and three ties and a loss in four subsequent road matches. RSL allowed just three goals in that foursome away from home. Now Kreis' men get three of their next four matches at friendly Rice-Eccles.
Pressure point: Khano Smith's long legs and speed will always make him dangerous - although perhaps frustrating to divided Revs' fans. His quality of service and shooting is wildly inconsistent and his choices are frequently up for debate. And despite regularly working himself into good spots - as he did Saturday against young defender Nik Besagno - Smith hasn't been productive this season, with no goals and just one assist.
Kansas City 3, New York 1
Man of the match: Kind of a no-brainer: The first MLS striker to net hat tricks in consecutive matches certainly deserves MoM status. Just like last week, these weren't just far post tap-ins from Eddie Johnson. Once again, he worked for his trio against Bruce Arena's squad.
Bigger picture: Johnson's night was a sort of curtain call before a potentially extended absence. He reports for national team duty Monday, and who knows which players will be asked by U.S. boss Bob Bradley to pull double summer tourney duty. Either way, he has nine goals already. In all but one year so far, the Wizards' leading scorer had just 12 goals or fewer by season's end. Johnson is likely to pass that number.
Pressure point: Injury-wise, things are going from bad to near-comical along that patchwork Red Bulls back line. RBNY managed once again without starting right back Hunter Freeman, starting left back Todd Dunivant and first-choice goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus. Then, starting center back Jeff Parke left injured at halftime, replaced by Taylor Graham.
Los Angeles 0, D.C. United 0
Man of the match: Ty Harden started and finished the match at left back, but had to play on the right and in the center at various points as his back line mates went down to injury. That meant dealing with various attackers and the different looks each brought. Harden appeared comfortable against all, and he almost created a late goal with an enterprising dash up the left wing.
Bigger picture: Cobi Jones was flat-out getting it done early, although he wasn't as effective later. He was releasing Landon Donovan, shaping some nice crosses and chasing back on defense. Jones will be even more valuable as a spot-player once the Galaxy stocks a full roster again.
Pressure point: Credit to D.C. for scratching out a point without its best effort. But you have to wonder what Tom Soehn's men could do if they could muster some consistent wing play. The outside backs aren't getting forward, and midfielder Fred prefers to drift inside. When Christian Gomez provides his team's first good cross from the wing in the 60th minute, something is definitely missing.
Toronto FC 2, Colorado 1
Man of the match: Toronto rookie Maurice Edu had a monster influence as the Canadian side once again scored high marks at rocking BMO Field. He outplayed Kyle Beckerman in the middle, stepped in to win balls on defense and put teammate Jeff Cunningham through a couple of times with clever balls on the attack. His impact was even bigger considering the absence of valuable central midfield partner Carl Robinson.
Bigger picture: One defender provided a goal: Andrew Boyens off a corner kick. A fellow defender did the heavy lifting on yet another goal: Marvell Wynne's dynamic dribbling effort led to TFC's early strike. That kind of production from all over the park will go a long way, especially on a team that's missing eight of its 26 players to various national team commitments.
Pressure point: Colorado's defense can be maddeningly inconsistent. Some of that is due to injury - but not all of it. Ugo Ihemulu, playing at right back currently, showed some very bright defending at times. But his day also included a few curious and worrisome moments. And Toronto striker Jeff Cunningham found holes time and again in a four-man back line that wasn't always compact enough.
THIS AND THAT FROM WEEK 9
Technician's notebook:
• Not only was Steve Ralston the steadiest presence Saturday in the Revolution's up-and-down starting 11, he continues to show off his versatility. He was better on the right (where he started, as usual), but did move into the middle late for Andy Dorman. And Ralston helped neutralize Freddy Adu, who never got much going along that side.
• On the other hand, Ralston got almost 30 minutes at attacking midfielder Saturday - and wasn't as effective in extended minutes there. When manager Steve Nicol has called upon the veteran to move inside before, it's worked because it's a change of pace, a chance to ask different questions of the defenders. When he's in there too long, we all see what we knew all along: he's one of the league's premier wide men (and therefore not a central midfielder) for a reason.
• Real Salt Lake veteran Chris Klein took over at right back for Nik Besagno in the 59th minute after the young RSL defender left Saturday's match injured. Klein immediately made a huge play, sliding desperately to block a close-range effort and help preserve the tie. He continued to look comfortable at the spot, which has been held most of this year by Jack Stewart. But Stewart moved inside Saturday to partner with Eddie Pope, leaving Besagno to take his turn out there.
• The Galaxy are desperately missing an offensive conduit in midfield. Nathan Sturgis and Peter Vegenas are both adequate defensive midfielders. But neither is particularly comfortable with being that primary outlet for defenders. That player must locate the soft spots in the opponents' early pressure and must be adept at solving the little problems that present themselves. And they must make passes that put attackers (like Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan and Santino Quaranta, in this case) in spots where they can do their thing. Until the Galaxy finds this guy (it could be David Beckham), it's more Route 1 soccer at The Home Depot Center, apparently.
• Kyle Veris had a nice match along the previously unsettled Galaxy back line. And Nate Jaqua, for all his noted struggles near goal, won more than his share of balls in the final third. If he had finished just once chance, it would have been seen as a breakout night for the big attacker.
• Ronnie O'Brien was back on the outside for Toronto after manning a central role last week. Instead, Chris Pozniak lined up in the middle in his second TFC start, playing alongside the increasingly commanding Maurice Edu. O'Brien and Marvell Wynne made life difficult on their side against Colorado fill-in left back Chris Wingert.
Plenty of room: Surely the Galaxy deserve some kind of Red Cross award for Saturday as injury, suspension and international commitments took all but 13 field players. Things looked even more sketchy late as Cobi Jones, Tyrone Marshall and Ian Russell all confronted cramps or problems with minor muscle pulls.
Bouna time: Toronto FC may have won in a laugher if not for a big afternoon from Rapids' goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, who continues to make Rapids manager Fernando Clavijo look good for his willingness to part with battle-tested 'keeper Joe Cannon. Coundoul had an especially sharp first half, then robbed Ronnie O'Brien with his best effort after the break.
Odd doings at Toyota Park: Chicago's winning goal against the Crew is one of the real odd ones you'll see this year. The Fire partially cleared a Columbus corner kick, but the Crew appeared to be in good shape as Duncan Oughton lined up a shot from about 30 yards. Instead, he whiffed, which was a huge "ooopsie!" since Oughton was the last man back.
That allowed the Fire's Chad Barrett to swoop in and launch a killer 75-yard run, with Kei Kamara on his back the entire time. Somehow, Barrett was able to smartly position himself and keep the faster Kamara from getting in position for the tackle.
Adding to the oddity: Barrett was immediately substituted following the goal, then quickly interviewed by a sideline reporter, answering in somewhat comical breathless bursts.
Draft perspective: Now that Bakary Soumare has found his way into the Chicago Fire's starting lineup, the 2007 SuperDraft is starting to add up where the top selections are concerned. Maurice Edu, the top overall selection, is rounding into a nice midfielder for Mo Johnston at Toronto FC, following some early season injury struggles.
Soumary, the No. 2 pick, bounced nimbly around the field for Chicago, which snapped its five-match winless skid with an eventful victory over Columbus. And Kansas City's Michael Harrington, the No. 3 pick overall, has been starting and prospering all along at the left midfield spot.
The No. 4 pick (RSL goalkeeper Chris Seitz) and No. 5 pick (New England forward Wells Thompson) have been in and out of the lineup for their clubs.
RSL in perspective: Deposed RSL manager John Ellinger handed Mehdi Ballouchy the creator's role this year, and replacement manager Jason Kreis has kept the sophomore attacker there. But Ballouchy's form fell after a couple of impressive early performances and he has nothing on the stat sheets so far. No goals. No assists. That's not adequate for an attacking midfielder.
Freddy Adu wants that role, and Adu simply hasn't been much more productive along the flank, with just one goal and one assist in nine starts. With a few home matches coming, perhaps Kreis will tinker with the alignment a bit.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
