Toronto FC recorded a historic victory on Saturday afternoon, blanking Kansas City Wizards 2-0 on Amado Guevara’s brace to move above .500 for the first time in the club’s short history.

As the sun struggled to push past The result marked a third straight win for the Canadian side, another first, and ensured John Carver’s men are on maximum points so far into a five-game home stand. The young side had snared two straight wins at BMO Field early last season and repeated that feat in recent weeks, moving to .500 with two wins and two losses in the run-up to Saturday’s encounter.

Just as the summer sun was struggling to break through the overcast conditions, Toronto started the match on the offensive, propelled by the vocal BMO Field crowd.

Guevara nearly opened the scoring early on when his left-footed strike was pushed away by an alert Kevin Hartman. The Wizards keeper was hoping to build on the clean sheet league record he cemented a week before in a 1-0 win at Chicago, and through the first half he looked well on course to add to his 65 career shutouts.

With Rohan Ricketts terrorizing the Kansas City defence as he switched from left to right, it wasn’t long before the English winger found countryman Danny Dichio wide open in the area. Dichio slotted home but the striker’s cool finish was called back for offside. Replays appeared to justify the official’s decision, showing Dichio just a few steps ahead of the last defender.

Despite the relentless assault on their opponent’s goal, Toronto’s backline had to stay alert, with Marco Vélez in particular feeding off the enthusiasm of the south end crowd. Wizards attacker Claudio López was showing the kind of skill that made him a fan favourite at Lazio in Italy, controlling the ball well and looking for teammates.

TFC’s backline managed to shut out the Argentine forward through the first half, with their collective performance ensuring that the backline stayed intact at halftime despite the presence of new signing Olivier Tébily on the Toronto bench.

“I mean, look at López,” Carver told MLSNet after the game. “He’s a world class player, so that tells you something about our defense, our midfield players and our front end who defended and kept him quiet.”

Toronto again started the second half with an attacking verve, but it looked as though Kansas City had come to earn a point and were going to be difficult to break down. It needed a stroke of luck for Toronto, but their offensive spirit finally paid off at the hour mark.

Marvell Wynne made a typically marauding run down the right flank and his scuffed pass bounced off a Wizards defender and fell right at the feet of Guevara. The Honduran kept his concentration and buried the ball past Hartman, cueing raucous celebrations in the south end as the linesman’s flag stayed down.

Wizards coach Curt Onalfo immediately brought on more attacking talent, with ex-Middlesbrough ace Carlos Marinelli and Sasha Victorine joining the fray.

Buoyed by the goal, Toronto pushed for a second and nearly paid for it just minutes later, with López drawing Greg Sutton out before finding an unmarked Ivan Trujillo in front of the open goal. Trujillo steadied himself and fired a low shot, but the 6’6″ Sutton dove across the face of the goal and was able to make the save.

“You know my job is try and keep these games in our pockets,” Sutton told the club’s website after the final whistle. “Our guys did a great job today, defensively, again. I think we’ve grown [in] leaps and bounds from the first couple of games.”

If Sutton and Guevara were competing for man-of-the-match honours at that stage, Guevara was intent to upstage his teammate. The midfielder won a free-kick 20 yards from Hartman’s goal and stood over it with Laurent Robert, an increasingly deadly combination that may lack the precision of David Beckham but more than makes up for it in variety.

With Hartman and the Kansas City wall expecting a Robert piledriver, Guevara calmly stepped up and dispatched a curling shot off the near post and in. The strike marked Toronto’s first two-goal lead since last season’s 4-0 rout of FC Dallas and the first two-goal performance by a single player in club history.

“Laurent and I usually look at the ball and the position and who has the better shot at the net,” Guevara told MLSNet later. “Last week it was Laurent, and this week, he looked at me and told me I had a better shot. I took it and thankfully it went to the right place.”

With the local hockey team and MLSE affiliate Toronto Maple Leafs missing out on the NHL postseason and the basketball franchise the Toronto Raptors on the brink of a playoff elimination of their own, TFC’s recent momentum has taken the Queen City by storm.

Carver, Guevara and the rest of the side will hope to carry that momentum over to Thursday night, when Red Bull New York visit BMO Field for the third of five straight home games for Toronto. Guevara will be one day shy of his 33rd birthday but the only thing on the Honduran’s mind will be helping his new club gain maximum points from their home stand and keeping up the club’s 100% home record so far in 2008.

In a match that was delayed 53 minutes due to rain and lightning, the U.S. Women’s National Team earned its first domestic win of 2008 with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Australia on a stoppage time goal from midfielder Carli Lloyd.

The stadium was pounded by rain starting 40 minutes before the original kickoff of 7 p.m. and along with several bursts of lightning, caused almost an hour delay.

When the teams finally took the field, the fans were treated to a wonderfully exciting match that saw three goals in the final six minutes.

A goal from Natasha Kai in the 35th minute and another from Abby Wambach in the 49th had staked the USA to a 2-0 lead, which seemingly was to be the final score. Australia had other plans, though, scoring twice in three minutes in the 86th and 88th minutes to tie the game.

That set the stage for heroics from Lloyd after substitute Angela Hucles was fouled by Selin Kuralay on the left wing about 20 yards from the sideline. Halftime substitute Cat Whitehill sent an excellent service to the far post that drew Australia goalkeeper Lydia Williams off her line. In a tight pack of players, she tried to punch clear but hit the ball high in the air. It fell to Lloyd inside the six-yard box and she jumped over an Australia player to nod the ball into the open net with her head, setting off a wild celebration by the U.S. players and fans.

“You are 2-0 up, and then 2-1 and 2-2 and you can see in the body language that we still wanted to win,” said U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage. “When we got the free kick, you could feel it. That feeling is contagious. The goal is just huge, even though it’s just a friendly game, but still that goal is huge. Not only for Carli, but for the whole team including myself, because it gives you the feeling you can win no matter what.” [More quotes]

The win was the first for Sundhage inside the United States and moved the USA’s record in 2008 to 11-0-1. The two teams will meet again next Saturday, May 3, in Birmingham, Ala., at the famed Legion Field (tickets). Kickoff is 4 p.m. CT and the match will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel.

The heavy rains actually ceased six minutes into the game, but the field was still saturated, making for extremely slick conditions in some parts of the field and plodding puddles in others. Even though the heavy rains started about 55 minutes into the game, the field held up extremely well throughout the match.

The USA’s first goal came as Lloyd cleverly slipped through two defenders in the midfield and dribbled with pace toward goal. She then played a perfect diagonal pass into the penalty area to the cutting Wambach, but the U.S. forward unselfishly let the ball run through her legs and into the path of the streaking Kai. With her first touch, Kai almost let the ball skid too far in front of her, but recovered with speed to slide and knock her shot off the inside of right post and in from seven yards out. It was Kai’s 15th career goal and seventh of 2008.

Young forward Amy Rodriguez replaced Kai at halftime and immediately made an impact, creating the second goal almost on her own. She took a pass just over midfield and raced by Aussie defender Clare Polkinghorne into the box before sending a delicate short chip to top the six-yard box. Almost falling backwards, Wambach got a head on the cross and looped it into the side-netting of the left corner. The goal, her seventh of 2008, was the 93rd of Wambach’s career as she races toward the magical 100-goal mark.

The USA fired 22 shots (seven by Lloyd and five from Wambach) to Australia’s 13, but were almost made to pay for not being able to manufacture a third goal despite numerous chances over 90 minutes.

Australia pulled a goal back with four minutes left as Heather Garriock, playing her 100th match for the Matildas, sent a cross in from the right wing to the far post that was expertly headed by Kate Gill across the goal mouth and into the far post from an extremely tight angle.

One minute later, the crowd was stunned as Lori Chalupny was whistled for handling the ball in the penalty area as she slid to tackle the ball away. She won the tackle, but the ball rolled up and hit her on the arm with her whole body on the ground. The assistant referee waved her flag and referee Margaret Domka point to the spot.

Australia captain Cheryl Salisbury took the kick and drove it to the left corner where Solo made a spectacular save, but the ball bounced right back to the Aussie captain who headed it into the open net to tie the game.

Showing great fighting spirit, the Americans tallied 45 seconds in the first minute of stoppage time. Before Domka whistled the end of the game 75 seconds later, Rodriguez almost made it a two-goal victory when she missed wide right of the post on a golden chance from 15 yards.

“I have to say it’s a good start (to the run of three domestic games),” said Sundhage. “This game had so many things. Some parts were very good in the first half and the people coming off the bench did very well. I said to the players, the way we won the game, it’s a winning feeling and that is so important to have when we go into the Olympics. This is perfect training for us.”

Solo was excellent in the horrible conditions over 90 minutes, making at least three powerful punches in first half, coming out to the top of the box twice to corral dangerous through balls and tipped a dangerous 19-yard half-volley from Sarah Walsh over the cross bar in the 20th minute. She also held several skipping shots well, and made the initial stop on the PK.

Despite not being able to punch clear at the end of the match, Williams also had a solid game on the wet field for Australia, holding numerous hard crosses and shots on which rebounds would have been finished by crashing U.S. forwards. She made 10 saves in the match.

U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage made all six of her allowed substitutions during the match and also gave a start to defender Heather Mitts, who returned to the U.S. lineup with an excellent performance after missing the last year while recovering from an ACL injury. Mitts played 53 minutes before being replaced by Rachel Buehler.

The U.S. team will now head to Birmingham where they will train all week in preparation for the second leg against Australia. Tickets starting at $18 and can be purchased through ussoccer.com, by calling 205-715-6000, and at all Birmingham-area Ticketmaster ticket centers (including Publix and FYE stores).

From Birmingham, the USA will travel to Washington, D.C., to face Canada on May 10 at 7 p.m. ET at RFK Stadium in a re-match of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying championship game held earlier this month in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Match Report

USA vs. Australia
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: WakeMed Soccer Park; Cary, N.C.
Date: April 27, 2008; Kickoff – 7 p.m. ET
Attendance: 3,698
Weather: Heavy rain, thunderstorms – 67 degrees

Scoring Summary:

USA – Natasha Kai (Carli Lloyd) 35th minute.
USA – Abby Wambach (Amy Rodriguez) 49.
AUS – Kate Gill (Heather Garriock) 86.
AUS – Cheryl Salisbury (unassisted) 88.
USA – Carli Lloyd (unassited) 91+

Lineups:
USA: 18-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts (26-Rachel Buehler, 53), 3-Christie Rampone – Capt., 15-Kate Markgraf (4-Cat Whitehill, 46), 17-Lori Chalupny; 9-Heather O’Reilly (16-Angela Hucles, 67), 7-Shannon Boxx (5-Lindsay Tarpley, 68), 11-Carli Lloyd, 13-Tobin Heath (21-Kacey White, 46); 6-Natasha Kai (19-Amy Rodriguez, 46), 20-Abby Wambach
Subs not used: 1-Briana Scurry
Head Coach: Pia Sundhage

AUS: 18-Lydia Williams; 3-Karla Reuter (19-Kim Carroll, 76), 5-Cheryl Salisbury – Capt., 11-Clare Polkinghorne, 16-Lauren Colthorpe; 7-Heather Garriock (2-Kate McShea, 89), 13-Amy Chapman (12-Kate Gill, 58), 14-Collette McCallum, 15-Sally Shipard (6-Amber Neilson, 65); 9-Sarah Walsh (22-Selin Kuralay, 82), 17-Kyah Simon (20-Joanne Burgess, 59).
Subs not used: 1-Melissa Barbieri
Head Coach: Tom Sermanni

Statistical Summary:
USA / AUS
Shots: 22 / 13
Shots on Goal: 13 / 8
Saves: 5 / 10
Corner Kicks: 6 / 5
Fouls: 6 / 8
Offside: 1 / 2

Misconduct Summary:
AUS – Cheryl Salisbury (caution) 37th minute.

Officials
Referee: Margaret Domka (USA)
Asst. Referee: Sharon Wheeler (USA)
Asst. Referee: Kathleen Casto (USA)
4th Official: Chris Spivey (USA)

Sierra Mist Woman of the Match: Carli Lloyd

Judging solely from the score of 4 – 1, one might believe that DC United had returned to its old dominant form against Real Salt Lake at RFK in front of 23,269 fans last night. That was not really the way it went. Since the beginning of its history, United has begun its games with high pressure. That strategy is basic, but also predictable. That predictability was why the fans didn’t see very much high pressure early on.

It was clear from the start of the game that DC was not pressing the RSL defenders or midfield until near the halfway line and then only loosely. United’s characteristic tight doubling yielded to a more subtle shading of passing anes. The effect was to allow RSL to do its own pressing, also loosely, a bit further forward than DC.

As a consequence, the ball spent more time in United’s end of the field. The change was intentional. Clyde Simms explained, “I think us holding a bit more and making them play was the difference. The last time we played them there, we pressed the entire game and they were playing kickball and bypassing our whole midfield.

“With the big guy up top, he’s a handful. We tried to make them come out and play and then counterattack them a little bit and get a goal and get a hold of the game.” The idea was to create space for United’s attack by yielding a bit, but the plan had to be well executed.

Simms agreed that the team had played slightly looser pressure while maintaining good shape, “If you’re gonna pressure, you’ve got to all be in it together otherwise it all breaks down…..We feel that no team in the league can play through us if we’re compact and make the field as small as possible.”

The space created by the change in flow freed up United to vary its attack with more room and led to a threatening run and attempted cross that former United midfielder Dema Kovalenko swatted down to give Jaime Moreno a penalty kick in the 31st minute. The league’s all-time leading scorer, from both the penalty spot (now 35) and overall (now 115), cheekily chipped the shot over the space that his run up had led Nick Rimando to vacate.

Despite continuing to play with his back to the goal, not his best attacking style, Luciano Emilio, did increase his overall effectiveness, earning the second penalty of the night for DC in the 62nd minute by rounding his defender and forcing another former United midfielder, Carey Talley to swipe at him, only to take out his legs in the penalty area.

Moreno took the PK in a more orthodox manner the second time as his hard shot to the left side netting easily beat the diving Rimando and put United ahead by two. DC’s third goal came from the run of play in minute 67. Tino Quaranta struck a spectacular full volley goal taking Moreno’s cross before it could touch the ground and coolly driving it past Rimando into the side netting.

He seemed quite relieved to have scored so well, but later responded to a reporter’s observation that the final fourth DC United goal of the match, a stunning full volley of a high Marc Burch cross by Marcelo Gallardo in the 80th minute, had taken a goal of the week away from him, Quaranta said, “He can have it, believe me. To see that, it’s a pleasure to watch.”

He seems to have matured to a stage where he knows that a good performance only leads to the need for him to do more. Apprised that Coach Tom Soehn in praising his efforts had noted that he had more to work on, he replied, “I learn something new every day. Tommy did a great job this week in showing us our roles. Of course, I‘ve got stuff to learn in a 3-5-2 and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to learn.”

He emphasized the value of a total team effort, heaping high praise on Simms, the midfield’s dynamo, for his effect on the rest of the team, “Clyde (Simms) is the most underrated player in this league….his work rate and having five in the middle gave Marcelo (Gallardo) more freedom and Jaime (Moreno) played well tonight. When he plays like that everybody else follows.”

Soehn believes that the opportunity to run practices rather than playing a compressed schedule, which allowed no real training sessions to focus on adjustments, had indeed been beneficial but he looks for more improvement as the new players adapt and bad habits picked up under game pressure are corrected on the training field.

Given the difficulties that DC United has had the last two times that it played at altitude under pressure, we might expect that the same looser pressure tactics may be applied in Colorado next Sunday afternoon.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Jaime Moreno 2 (penalty kick) 31
DC — Jaime Moreno 3 (penalty kick) 52
DC — Santino Quaranta 2 (Jaime Moreno 2, Rod Dyachenko 1) 67
RSL — Carey Talley 1 (Tony Beltran 1, Javier Morales 2) 77
DC — Marcelo Gallardo 2 (Marc Burch 1, Jaime Moreno 3) 80

Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Ian Joy (Andy Williams 58), Dema Kovalenko, Javier Morales, Carey Talley, Kyle Beckerman (Tony Beltran 73), Kenny Deuchar, Robbie Findley (Yura Movsisyan 59),
Substitutes Not Used: Matias Cordoba, Matias Mantilla, Tino Nunez, Chris Seitz

D.C. United — Zach Wells, Bryan Namoff, Gonzalo Martinez, Gonzalo Peralta, Dan Stratford (Rod Dyachenko 41), Santino Quaranta, Marcelo Gallardo, Clyde Simms, Fred (Marc Burch 22), Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Quavas Kirk 82),
Substitutes Not Used: Jose Carvallo, Ryan Cordeiro, Franco Niell, Pat Carroll

Misconduct Summary:
RSL — Carey Talley (caution; Reckless Foul) 5
DC — Fred (caution; Reckless Foul) 9
DC — Rod Dyachenko (caution; Reckless Foul) 47
RSL — Dema Kovalenko (caution; Game Disrepute) 86
DC — Marcelo Gallardo (caution; Game Disrepute) 86
RSL — Jamison Olave (caution; Reckless Foul) 89

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: Rob Fereday; Craig Lowry
4th official: Jorge Gonzalez
Time of game: 1:53
Attendance: 23,269
Weather: Cloudy -and- 74 degrees

For some time we have been looking for a way to implement forum functionality into this site. It appears we finally have a winner. The brand new DCU.ASN forum does not require separate registration. If you have a Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or Yahoo! username (and seriously who doesn’t nowadays) you are IN and can start posting! This doesn’t mean the forum isn’t moderated however (spammers beware). Obviously hate speech and threats of violence or other intimidation are not tolerated either.

Judging solely from the score of 4 - 1, one might believe that DC United had returned to its old dominant form against Real Salt Lake at RFK in front of 23,269 fans last night. That was not really the way it went. Since the beginning of its history, United has begun its games with high pressure. That strategy is basic, but also predictable. That predictability was why the fans didn’t see very much high pressure early on.

It was clear from the start of the game that DC was not pressing the RSL defenders or midfield until near the halfway line and then only loosely. United’s characteristic tight doubling yielded to a more subtle shading of passing anes. The effect was to allow RSL to do its own pressing, also loosely, a bit further forward than DC.

As a consequence, the ball spent more time in United’s end of the field. The change was intentional. Clyde Simms explained, “I think us holding a bit more and making them play was the difference. The last time we played them there, we pressed the entire game and they were playing kickball and bypassing our whole midfield.

“With the big guy up top, he’s a handful. We tried to make them come out and play and then counterattack them a little bit and get a goal and get a hold of the game.” The idea was to create space for United’s attack by yielding a bit, but the plan had to be well executed.

Simms agreed that the team had played slightly looser pressure while maintaining good shape, “If you’re gonna pressure, you’ve got to all be in it together otherwise it all breaks down…..We feel that no team in the league can play through us if we’re compact and make the field as small as possible.”

The space created by the change in flow freed up United to vary its attack with more room and led to a threatening run and attempted cross that former United midfielder Dema Kovalenko swatted down to give Jaime Moreno a penalty kick in the 31st minute. The league’s all-time leading scorer, from both the penalty spot (now 35) and overall (now 115), cheekily chipped the shot over the space that his run up had led Nick Rimando to vacate.

Despite continuing to play with his back to the goal, not his best attacking style, Luciano Emilio, did increase his overall effectiveness, earning the second penalty of the night for DC in the 62nd minute by rounding his defender and forcing another former United midfielder, Carey Talley to swipe at him, only to take out his legs in the penalty area.

Moreno took the PK in a more orthodox manner the second time as his hard shot to the left side netting easily beat the diving Rimando and put United ahead by two. DC’s third goal came from the run of play in minute 67. Tino Quaranta struck a spectacular full volley goal taking Moreno’s cross before it could touch the ground and coolly driving it past Rimando into the side netting.

He seemed quite relieved to have scored so well, but later responded to a reporter’s observation that the final fourth DC United goal of the match, a stunning full volley of a high Marc Burch cross by Marcelo Gallardo in the 80th minute, had taken a goal of the week away from him, Quaranta said, “He can have it, believe me. To see that, it’s a pleasure to watch.”

He seems to have matured to a stage where he knows that a good performance only leads to the need for him to do more. Apprised that Coach Tom Soehn in praising his efforts had noted that he had more to work on, he replied, “I learn something new every day. Tommy did a great job this week in showing us our roles. Of course, I‘ve got stuff to learn in a 3-5-2 and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to learn.”

He emphasized the value of a total team effort, heaping high praise on Simms, the midfield’s dynamo, for his effect on the rest of the team, “Clyde (Simms) is the most underrated player in this league….his work rate and having five in the middle gave Marcelo (Gallardo) more freedom and Jaime (Moreno) played well tonight. When he plays like that everybody else follows.”

Soehn believes that the opportunity to run practices rather than playing a compressed schedule, which allowed no real training sessions to focus on adjustments, had indeed been beneficial but he looks for more improvement as the new players adapt and bad habits picked up under game pressure are corrected on the training field.

Given the difficulties that DC United has had the last two times that it played at altitude under pressure, we might expect that the same looser pressure tactics may be applied in Colorado next Sunday afternoon.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Jaime Moreno 2 (penalty kick) 31
DC — Jaime Moreno 3 (penalty kick) 52
DC — Santino Quaranta 2 (Jaime Moreno 2, Rod Dyachenko 1) 67
RSL — Carey Talley 1 (Tony Beltran 1, Javier Morales 2) 77
DC — Marcelo Gallardo 2 (Marc Burch 1, Jaime Moreno 3) 80

Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Ian Joy (Andy Williams 58), Dema Kovalenko, Javier Morales, Carey Talley, Kyle Beckerman (Tony Beltran 73), Kenny Deuchar, Robbie Findley (Yura Movsisyan 59),
Substitutes Not Used: Matias Cordoba, Matias Mantilla, Tino Nunez, Chris Seitz

D.C. United — Zach Wells, Bryan Namoff, Gonzalo Martinez, Gonzalo Peralta, Dan Stratford (Rod Dyachenko 41), Santino Quaranta, Marcelo Gallardo, Clyde Simms, Fred (Marc Burch 22), Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Quavas Kirk 82),
Substitutes Not Used: Jose Carvallo, Ryan Cordeiro, Franco Niell, Pat Carroll

Misconduct Summary:
RSL — Carey Talley (caution; Reckless Foul) 5
DC — Fred (caution; Reckless Foul) 9
DC — Rod Dyachenko (caution; Reckless Foul) 47
RSL — Dema Kovalenko (caution; Game Disrepute) 86
DC — Marcelo Gallardo (caution; Game Disrepute) 86
RSL — Jamison Olave (caution; Reckless Foul) 89

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: Rob Fereday; Craig Lowry
4th official: Jorge Gonzalez
Time of game: 1:53
Attendance: 23,269
Weather: Cloudy -and- 74 degrees

The New York Red Bulls beat the San Jose Earthquakes on a second half penalty conversion by Mike Magee. Jozy Altidore added a second in stoppage time to give the Red Bulls a 2-0 win over the expansion Quakes. It was the first win since opening day for Juan Carlos Osorio’s team, who were playing without Juan Pablo Angel.

For most of the game, the Earthquakes were able to stifle New York’s attack. Nick Garcia and Ryan Cochrane were particularly effective in shutting down Altidore, who had few touches in the first 45 minutes. “It was a tough first half,” Altidore admitted after the game. “Something I haven’t faced really before. Nick Garcia and Cochrane; they’re pretty aggressive and it definitely disrupted me a bit and I let it get to me. It wasn’t something that I liked but it’s part of the game and I have to learn how to deal with it.”

A halftime pep talk with Osorio soothed Altidore’s nerves and helped him get back into the game. “I said a couple of things to him at the break and in the second half he dominated the game,” said Osorio. Asked what words of wisdom he imparted unto his teenage striker, Osorio answered “not to let the players get in his head and start personal battles and personal duels on the pitch. Just play football and use his strength and his pace to the benefit of the team and forget about personal issues on the ground.”

It finally paid dividends in the 79th minute when Altidore was brought down just inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Juan Pablo Angel, who is normally the team’s designated penalty taker, missed the game with a left hamstring strain leaving the question of who would take the spot kick. “Jozy looked like he wanted it,” said Magee. “But I put on my saddest face and asked him please and he let me.” Magee buried the PK, sending the ball narrowly out of reach of San Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon. “I knew where I was going the whole time,” he said of his penalty, which was deposited into the right corner of the San Jose goal. “Joe Cannon was actually kind of standing toward the side where I wanted to go. That threw me off a little bit, but I was like ‘man I gotta go there either way.’”

For Magee, a second half substitute who has played sparingly, if at all the past two years and hadn’t scored an MLS goal since 2006, the game was elusive. “It’s been a really long and tough road for me,” he said after the game. “There were a lot of ups and downs, injury problems. To finally get a goal after all the rehab and time spent on a bicycle, is kinda worth it.”

Chivas USA crashed to defeat as they failed to stop an in-form Landon Donovan from scoring a hat-trick in their 5-2 loss to the LA Galaxy in this years first Superclasico at the Home Depot Center in Carson. Donovan brought his goal tally for the season to eight and Alan Gordon added two to add to the misery of the Red-and-Whites.

The game started at a blistering pace and never let up for the first 45 minutes. Both teams threw caution to the wind and came out attacking. Donovan started the game creating problems for the Chivas defense. Running from a deeper position, just behind Edson Buddle, Chivas midfielders, Jesse Marsch and Paulo Nagamura never came to grips with who should pick him up.

Donovan had the ball in the net after eight minutes but he used his hand to beat Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan and got a yellow card from referee Jair Marrufo. The wide open play created a bunch of interesting one versus one battles all over the field. David Beckham versus Jonathon Bornstein, Abel Xavier against Maykel Galindo, Mike Randolph matching up against Lawson Vaughn and of course Donovan’s battle with the two Chivas defensive midfielders.

Beckham was getting the better of Bornstein sending several diagonal balls into the box that the Red-and-Whites defense struggled to handle. Galindo also was causing problems for the Galaxy rearguard getting past Xavier but shooting straight at Steve Cronin.

Donovan and Randolph combined down the left wing but the Chivas defense got back to snuff out the danger. Beckham then hit a free kick, that bounced around inside the penalty box .The Chivas defense had several opportunities to clear their lines but the ball broke to Donovan and he made no mistake drilling his shot past the helpless Guzan.

Galaxy continued to press. Donovan almost broke through after a clever combination with Buddle but the linesman’s flag went up for offside. Shavar Thomas then slipped letting in Donovan, who found a streaking Randolph cutting in from the left flank, Guzan came out well to parry his shot and clear the rebound.

Not to be outdone the Red-and-Whites continued to attack. Sacha Kljestan latched on to a loose ball, after a corner by Bornstein, and hit an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net tying the game 1-1.
The second half started much like the first with both teams committed to attack. Chivas drew first blood when Francisco Mendoza got in behind the Galaxy defense and hit a rocket that beat Cronin but crashed back off the post. Galindo then beat Xavier but Cronin did well to block his attempt on goal.

In a quick counter, Randolph got in behind the Chivas defense and found Donovan, who fought with Claudio Suarez for control of the ball. Suarez fell down and Donovan spinning around deposited the ball past Guzan to give Galaxy the advantage 2-1.

Less than two minutes later it was all tied up as Kljestan played the ball back to substitute Ante Razov, who is clinical from six yards out.

The game remained tied until the 76th minute when Donovan drove to the end line and sent in an inviting ball that was deflected up in the air by Vaughn. Gordon out jumped, a hesitant Guzan, heading the ball over his hands giving Galaxy the lead.

Chivas seemed to lose their concentration as Donovan picked up a ball from Gordon 20 yards from goal an nobody closed him down. The Galaxy talisman made them pay with a hard shot that eluded Guzan.
Galaxy finished the game in style with the arguably the best goal of the night. Again it was started by Donovan. He found an open Beckham on the right and Beckham played a neat one-two back to Donovan he sent the ball to the far post where Gordon was arriving just in time to record his second goal of the night and the fifth for the Galaxy.

A questionable goal from Toronto FC striker Amado Guevara proved to be the difference in a 2-0 loss Saturday at BMO Field. Wizards players thought that both Guevara and another TFC player were offside.

“From my perspective on the original play [before] the ball was knocked in, the guys were offside and they were gaining an advantage on the ball that we tried to clear by being offside,” said goalkeeper Kevin Hartman said. “I was expecting the flag to come up, and I guess there’s a different interpretation. I’d love to go back and look at it and I’ve love to have someone explain to me the rule, [but] at this point it’s a moot point — we lost 2-0.”

Team captain Jimmy Conrad was right in the midst of the play and was the most vocal of several Wizards who were questioning the lack of a call. Conrad’s protests earned him a yellow card from the official, but he said he felt the goal shouldn’t have counted since he felt Guevara began the play offside.

“With the new FIFA rule that every play is a new play, when it’s a deflection off of our own guy and it goes to [Guevara], it’s a new play and he was in the best spot,” Conrad said. “So that’s unlucky. My argument was that Amado was in the offside position first and [the referee] could’ve called it then, and he chose not to.”

Said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo, “I thought the first half was a very well fought evenly played game, second half we made a poor clearance and Toronto was able to capitalize on it. And then I kind of felt like momentum was shifting we were playing well, and then Amado had an absolute brilliant free kick to put the dagger in our hearts.”

Match Facts

Kansas City Wizards (3-2-1) vs. Toronto FC (3-2-0)
April 26, 2008 — BMO Field

Scoring Summary:
TOR — Amado Guevara 1 (unassisted) 56
TOR — Amado Guevara 2 (unassisted) 77

Kansas City Wizards — Kevin Hartman, Chance Myers, Jimmy Conrad, Tyson Wahl (Eloy Colombano 76), Michael Harrington, Jack Jewsbury, Kurt Morsink, Kerry Zavagnin (Carlos Marinelli 61), Roger Espinoza (Sasha Victorine 61), Ivan Trujillo, Claudio Lopez.

Substitutes Not Used: Aaron Hohlbein, Eric Kronberg, Jonathan Leathers, Scott Sealy

Toronto FC — Greg Sutton, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan, Rohan Ricketts (Todd Dunivant 78), Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Laurent Robert (Jarrod Smith 83), Danny Dichio (Jeff Cunningham 65), Amado Guevara,

Misconduct Summary:
KC — Jimmy Conrad (caution; Dissent) 56

Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee’s Assistants: Nate Clement; Joe Fletcher
4th official: Steven DePiero
time of game: 1:52
attendance: 20,045
weather: Cloudy -and- 57 degrees

Two goals by John Thorrington lifted the Fire past the Colorado Rapids by a score of 2-1 on a windy night in Bridgeview.

A crowd of 14,251 watched both teams struggle early on as Colorado started with a 4-5-1 with quick short passing while the Fire started in a 4-4-2 with the idea of playing the long ball out of the back. With the gust of winds swirling throughout Toyota Park, the Rapids had the better idea but neither team could claim control of the first half.

A fluke play nearly earned the Rapids a 1-0 start in the 4th minute when Tom McManus collected on the right sideline and raced pass Diego Gutierrez. His cross was cleared by Brandon Prideaux but right back to McManus whose body near deflected it in the near post.

For the Fire, Cuahtemoc Blanco suffered from a lack of passes supplied to his feet and when he did have the ball, he tended to find the opposition than his teammates. Justin Mapp, on the other hand, was active and put the first shot on goal in the 18th minute but it was directly at Bouna Condoul. Both players supplied several crosses into the Rapids box, but the defenders did well to clear every time.

It wasn’t until the 38th minute that the action started to pick up. The Rapids had a good chance on goal with McManus firing at Busch but it was saved without a rebound. His quick outlet led to Blanco passing to a wide-open Tomasz Frankowski who shot on goal only for Condoul to save comfortably.

Christian Gomez arrived a little late on his challenge on Gonzalo Segares at the 45th minute. Tempers flared, kicks were delivered and so were yellow cards to the ground and pound combatants. Because overall team play was not apparent for the first 45 minutes, both teams combined to get into spitting range to exchange pleasantries in approximately five different languages. The officials stepped in to quell the uprise of testosterone.

After the break, the Fire took control of play and in the 52nd minute, were rewarded for their aggressiveness. Blanco found himself some space at the half line and released Frankowski on the left side of the field with a deep pass. His cross to Chad Barrett in the box was deflected to back to the top of the box to an on-rushing Thorrington who poked it past a diving Condoul for a 1-0 lead. It was the midfielder’s first goal of the season.

“The first one I don’t exactly remember how the ball popped out to me and my thought was just to try to keep it down and hit the target. Thankfully I did,” said goal-scorer Thorrington after the match.

Just five minutes later, Frankowski had another opportunity to increase the lead after Blanco was tackled at the top of the box by Facundo Erpen. The ball squirted through to Frankowski who eluded his marker but Condoul did well to save a tough shot. The Polish striker then squandered two more clear chances in the 63rd and 64th minute. It simply was not his night.

In the 83rd minute, John Thorrington demonstrated once again how to finish with clinical precision in front of goal. The Rapids were pushing for the equalizer and were caught on the counter by the Fire attack.

Mapp said “I found myself free and It was only him and one defender in the box. I tried to pick him out and he did well. People miss wide open nets all the time. He took his time, squared himself and scored it.”

Coach Denis Hamlett added, “Tonight from the 1st to the 90th mnute, he was defending ,got forward, had two good chances and finished them.”

The Rapids were able to reduce the score in the 86th minute after a free kick by Christian Gomez found it’s way to McManus who slotted home. Substitute Calen Carr should have added a third goal as he was one on one with Condoul but missed the frame completely. However, his lack of precision did not haunt the Fire and they earned their third victory of the season while the Rapids face their third loss.

“It was a good game, except for ten minutes. They took advantage of our own mistakes and they were able to score. I’m a little upset because I thought we deserved better,” said Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo.

The Fire visit resurgent New England Revolution while the Rapids welcome DC United to their turf next Sunday.

Colorado Rapids (2-3-0) vs. Chicago Fire (3-1-1)
April 26, 2008 — Toyota Park

Scoring Summary:
CHI — John Thorrington 1 (unassisted) 53
CHI — John Thorrington 2 (Justin Mapp 2, Tomasz Frankowski 1) 84
COL — Tom McManus 1 (Christian Gomez 1) 86

Colorado Rapids — Bouna Coundoul, Kelly Gray, Facundo Erpen, Stephen Keel, Jose Burciaga Jr. (Jacob Peterson 85), Terry Cooke (Herculez Gomez 59), Christian Gomez, Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni (Rafael Gomes 70), Colin Clark, Tom McManus,

Substitutes Not Used: Mehdi Ballouchy, Omar Cummings, Kosuke Kimura, Chris Sharpe

Chicago Fire — Jon Busch, Brandon Prideaux, Diego Gutierrez, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares, John Thorrington, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Logan Pause, Justin Mapp (Wilman Conde 89), Tomasz Frankowski (Calen Carr 85), Chad Barrett (Stephen King 79).

Substitutes Not Used: Andy Herron, Nick Noble, Dasan Robinson, Chris Rolfe

Misconduct Summary:
COL — Christian Gomez (caution; Reckless Foul) 45
CHI — Gonzalo Segares (caution; Game Disrepute) 45
COL — Herculez Gomez (caution; Persistent Infringement) 64
COL — Kelly Gray (caution; Dissent) 66
CHI — Diego Gutierrez (caution; Dissent) 88

referee: Tim Weyland
Referee’s Assistants: Corey Rockwell; Steven Taylor
4th official: Ricardo Salazar
time of game: 1:53
attendance: 14,251
weather: Sunny -and- 55 degrees

All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

A first-half goal by Alejandro Moreno sank his former club, the defending back-to-back MLS Champions Houston Dynamo, as Columbus grabbed a 1-0 win and first place in the Eastern Conference.

Moreno’s goal game in the 22^nd minute when a Guillermo Barros Schelotto corner kick connected with the head of Chad Marshall, rebounded off Houston defender Patrick Ianni to Moreno’s awaiting boot. Whiffing on his first attempted shot, Moreno steadied himself and buried the ball in net for the games lone goal, and his fourth of the season.

For Columbus the win marked their third straight victory and equaled their best start to a season since 1998. It also marked Crew coach Sigi Schmid’s 100^th MLS victory.

For Moreno the victory continued his hot goal scoring pace and was revenge against his former team, which traded him to Columbus in May of last year.

“It’s a good start for me, it’s a good start for the team. We’re all very confident and feeling good about ourselves,” said Moreno.

The loss sent the defending champion Dynamo home still looking for their first victory of the season and remaining at the bottom of the Western conference at 0-2-3.

The Dynamo had double the amount of shots on goal as Columbus but couldn’t find a way to finish.

“We played well tonight, we were very unlucky to come out losing this game 1-0,” said Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear.

“If you were to actually erase the goal and watch the video and say who won the game…I think you’d probably say Houston won that game,” said Kinnear.

The opportunities were there for the Dynamo as they almost took the early lead in the 12^th minute on a direct free kick by Brad Davis, which landed in the corner of the net, but was called back due to midfielder Dwayne De Rosario being ruled in an offside position that obstructed Crew goalie Will Hesmer’s view.

Dynamo forward Franco Caraccio had a chance to tie it in the 35^th minute after Hesmer deflected a shot and it rebounded to him. Caraccio fired the ball at goal but it was deflected and smothered at the end line by the Crew’s Brian Carroll, who preserved the goal in a rugby-like scrum pile until Hesmer could recover.