The San Jose Earthquakes took sole possession of the lead in the Western Conference - and of the overall table in Major League Soccer - as the stretch drive toward the MLS Cup Playoffs began as Week 19 came to a close over the weekend.
The Earthquakes defeated the Columbus Crew 2-1 at Spartan Stadium to move ahead of FC Dallas, who inaugurated Pizza Hut Park with a 2-2 draw with the MetroStars - after holding a two-goal lead at halftime. The Eastern Conference co-leaders - tied at the top of the MLS table - both lost at home: the New England Revolution falling 2-1 to a late goal by the Kansas City Wizards, and the Chicago Fire seeing their comeback fall just short in a 3-2 loss to D.C. United.
The Colorado Rapids tightened up the race in the Western Conference by continuing the road miseries of the Los Angeles Galaxy with a 2-0 victory in Denver, while Real Salt Lake came back to knock off Chivas USA in the final expansion battle of the league campaign 2-1 in a game that also saw the 5,000th goal scored in MLS history.
In San Jose, the Earthquakes won their third consecutive match and remained unbeaten at home on the campaign as they moved to 37 points on the year, one ahead of Chicago and New England and two ahead of FC Dallas.
The Quakes went ahead in the 13th minute as Dwayne De Rosario finished off a nice combination from San Jose's attacking trio. Ronald Cerritos set the Canadian international free with a long pass from the center stripe, and De Rosario held off Chris Henderson before slotting home on the run.
Brad Davis, making his first appearance for the Earthquakes since June after missing six matches on national team duty, doubled the lead with a masterful free kick in the 54th minute. Henderson pulled a goal back 12 minutes from the end, taking a long pass from Kyle Martino as the Crew sped from end to end before sending a low drive home from just outside the area. But Columbus couldn't hammer home a second to avoid Robert Warzycha's first loss since taking over as head coach.
At Pizza Hut Park, a sellout crowd of 15,000 saw the new ground opened in style by - who else? - Carlos Ruiz. Just as he had in opening The Home Depot Center when he hit for the only goal in that stadium's first game, the Guatemalan international scored the first goal in Pizza Hut Park history in the 31st minute when his glancing header off a Ronnie O'Brien cross from the right flank settled neatly inside the far post.
Ruiz then doubled the FC Dallas lead three minutes later with O'Brien again playing provider, rolling a square pass into the area that Ruiz neatly flicked home with the inside of his right heel.
But Youri Djorkaeff lifted the MetroStars on his world champion back and hit for two goals in seven minutes just after the break. First, FCD 'keeper Jeff Cassar saved an Sergio Galvan Rey shot but Djorkaeff got in ahead of a defender to stab the rebound under Cassar (47), then in the 53rd minute he saw the 'keeper off his line and let fly with an audacious chip from outside the area that sailed over Cassar's head.
Both teams had their chances over the final half hour, but in the end it was FC Dallas again left to rue a lead lost, as their winless run extended to five games, four in which they've held the lead.
At Gillette Stadium, a tight match burst into life just after the halftime break as the Revolution and Wizards traded goals within a minute. Josh Wolff played a lovely ball over the New England defense for Chris Klein to run on to and he sent a composed finish home (47). But barely a minute later Taylor Twellman curled in a cross from the right side of the area and Shalrie Joseph ran past the static defense to head home from close range.
But 17 minutes from time the visitors hit for the go-ahead goal, Jose Burciaga finding Wolff who again played provider, this time splitting a pair of Revolution defenders to find the on-rushing Scott Sealy who made no mistake from inside the area.
At Soldier Field, D.C. United lost Freddy Adu to injury early in the contest, but were able to break open a taut contest with the first goal just before the break. Brian Carroll hit for his first MLS goal after a lovely buildup, Jaime Moreno playing the ball into the heart of the box where Christian Gomez knocked it down for Carroll to side-foot home (40).
United then grabbed command of the match with two goals in seven minutes. Santino Quaranta found Dema Kovalenko steaming forward on the left and he burst into the area before ripping home a low drive (72), then Moreno converted from the penalty spot after Gomez was hauled down from behing by substitute Thiago (78).
Yet the Fire were given a glimmer of hope five minutes later when Lubos Reiter stabbed home from close range after a loose ball fell from a corner kick, then five minutes after that Ivan Guerrero whipped in a pinpoint cross from the left that found Chris Rolfe alone at the back post and he headed home Chicago's second.
But while Rolfe had another clear header from a Guerrero cross in stoppage time, he couldn't beat Nick Rimando and United escaped with the three points in another wild encounter between the Eastern Conference rivals this season.
In Denver, the Rapids maintained their grip on fourth place in the West while closing the gap with third-place Los Angeles in handing the Galaxy yet another defeat on the road.
Jeff Cunningham got the Rapids off to a dream start, finding a seam in the Galaxy back four and turning to flick home a shot inside the far post after just seven minutes. Jean Philippe Peguero then doubled the Colorado lead on the half hour as he juked his way through the Galaxy defense to race in alone on goal before beating Kevin Hartman with a perfectly placed angled shot.
The Galaxy couldn't find their way back as they again failed to win away from The Home Depot Center on the season, having not won away from Southern California since last June 27.
At Rice-Eccles Stadium, tempers flared between the expansion teams early on, a full-field fracas seeing Real's Clint Mathis and Esteban Arias of Chivas USA both sent off as a result after just 18 minutes.
Then seven minutes later Ramon Ramirez found Arturo Torres behind the Real defense with a long pass from the center circle, and he slid the ball under the sliding D.J. Countess to give Chivas the first-half lead.
But after the break, Andy Williams started to put his stamp on the game, and four minutes after the restart hit for the landmark goal in MLS history. The league's all-time leading goal scorer, Jason Kreis, latched onto a loose ball and slid a pass to Williams, who blistered a low drive from the edge of the area that left Brad Guzan no chance.
Then 15 minutes from time Kreis gave RSL the winner from the penalty spot as Chris Brown was bundled over by a retreating defender as he raced into the box on the end of a long run.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
