then held on to one of their own -- in a 3-2 victory at home on Saturday, and the Colorado Rapids won for the first time this season in a 2-0 victory against the Columbus Crew in Denver.
At the Cotton Bowl, FC Dallas struck early and never looked back in remaining unbeaten through four matches on the season. Richard Mulrooney opened the FCD account after just four minutes when he whipped in a free kick from just outside the area, the second time this season he's scored within four minutes of the start of a match.
Then after Eddie Johnson hit the woodwork for the first of two times on the night, he doubled the Dallas lead on a quick break, running down a long ball played over the top before cutting inside and lashing a low shot inside D.J. Countess's near post from the right side of the are (35).
Carlos Ruiz finished off the scoring from the penalty spot (63), taking his own spot kick after he was tripped up running at goal. Real defender Eddie Pope was sent off 18 minutes from the end, just the second time in his 10-year MLS career he was shown a red card.
At The Home Depot Center, the first Los Angeles derby lived up to many expectations with a vibrant, intense match both on and off the field. But it was the MLS original Galaxy that owned the contest, scoring three goals in the first 32 minutes to run out easy winners.
Cobi Jones gave the Galaxy a 14th-minute lead when Chris Albright turned a corner kick on goal, only to see Chivas USA's Hector Cuadros clear it off the line. But Jones swooped in at the top of the area to blaze a first-time shot back under the crossbar.
Then 10 minutes later the 'home' side struck again, a long ball from Jones out of midfield headed down by Landon Donovan into the path of Peter Vagenas steaming up the center-forward channel, and he skipped through a tackle before lashing a low shot past Chivas 'keeper Brad Guzan.
And then after Donovan was hacked down on the edge of the area, Jovan Kirovski hooked a free kick over the wall and inside Guzan's right-hand post to put the Galaxy up 3-0 (32).
Just after the break Chivas USA pulled a goal back, credited to Isaac Romo when his slightest of touches slipped a deflection of a Ramon Ramirez free kick from the right flank past Galaxy 'keeper Kevin Hartman (49). But six minutes later Aaron Lopez was sent off for a second bookable offense and that sealed Chivas USA's fate.
At RFK Stadium, United and the Revolution met for the first time since their epic Eastern Conference Final of a year ago -- and this meeting nearly rivaled it.
The visitors scored three times in a six-minute burst midway through the first half. Taylor Twellman escaped his marker in the heart of the area to turn home a rolling cross from Clint Dempsey (26), then after Twellman was adjudged to have pulled down by Bobby Boswell while challenging for a high ball, Shalrie Joseph converted a highly contested penalty (28). The Revs added another three minutes later on a cool angled strike from Marshall Leonard after a rampaging run through the United team from the opposite wingback, James Riley.
But United pulled a goal back just before the end of the half, Jaime Moreno converting from the spot after Riley was adjudged to have bundled over substitute Santino Quaranta. After the break, the home side pulled back to within one, Quaranta turning home a Steve Guppy cross at the near post (57).
Yet Dempsey again nosed the Revs two in front through a diving header off a freekick swung in from the right -- which he then celebrated by running to the location of home plate for the Washington Nationals and mimicked hitting one out of the park. Moreno converted his second penalty of the game and the third on the night eight minutes from the end when Leonard was ruled to have handled the ball, but that was all the response United could muster.
At Giants Stadium, the Fire defeated the MetroStars for the fifth time in nine league matches since Bob Bradley moved from Chicago to the Big Apple club.
Nate Jaqua scored the game's only goal when he stripped the MetroStars Jeff Parke in midfield and raced in on goal, holding off the defender before hitting a low shot that took a deflection before skipping past Metro 'keeper Zach Wells.
Amado Guevara had a glorious opportunity to pull the home side level shortly after the break when Kelly Gray pulled down John Wolyniec from behind, but the Honduran international pounded his penalty off the base of the post -- his first miss from the spot in MLS after going 6-for-6 a year ago.
At Spartan Stadium, the Earthquakes twice overcame leads before holding one, something they hadn't been able to do in their first three games this season.
Rookie Scott Sealy put the Wizards head on five minutes when he banged home a close-range rebound of a Jimmy Conrad shot that the Earthquakes defense failed to clear. But it took San Jose just nine minutes to respond, Ronald Cerritos running onto a long ball from Craig Waibel, holding off a defender and firing a shot past Bo Oshoniyi inside the near post.
The Wizards again took the lead in the 34th minute when Chris Klein was sent in alone on goal on the left side by Kerry Zavagnin and cleanly beat Quakes 'keeper Pat Onstad, but again the home side quickly responded, Brian Ching diving to head home another free kick service from Brad Davis (40).
Dwayne De Rosario then gave his side their first lead in the 55th minute with a spectacular long-range effort from 25 yards as he moved to his right across the field. The Quakes bugaboo this season then seemed ready to come back and haunt them after Eddie Robinson was adjudged to have fouled Conrad in the area just five minutes later, but this time Onstad saved the day, deflecting the resulting Josh Wolff penalty off the face of the crossbar.
In Denver, the Rapids scored early in each half to claim a first three-pointer of the campaign. They opened their account after just two minutes, a long cross from Luchi Gonzalez finding Chris Henderson on the left of the area, and he headed back for Pablo Mastroeni who hammered a low first-time volley home inside the far post.
Then just before the hour, Henderson was again involved as he wriggled free on the left flank and whipped in a cross from the corner that found an unmarked Gonzalez, who headed home for his first MLS goal. The Crew were reduced to 10 men for the final 13 minutes after wingback Mario Rodriguez was sent off with a straight red card in his MLS debut.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
