Credit: Bill Barrett - ISIPhotos.com
MLS Week 31: Chicago beats New England and Houston draws with Galaxy
Saturday had three games on the abbreviated Major League Soccer schedule due to the international break, starting with Chicago beating New England 3-2 at home. Jonathan Bamba opened the scoring for the Fire in the 2nd, Philip Zinckernagel doubled the lead in the 10th, and Hugo Cuypers made it 3-0 in the 68th. Peyton Miller pulled a goal back for the Revolution in the 78th and Carles Gil converted a penalty four minutes into stoppage time.
We talked about it being a must-win game for us, not exactly must must-win,” Chicago coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We went through that in the press conference, but an important game for us to leapfrog Red Bull and keep moving up in the standings. And we did that, and that’s the most important thing. Are there moments that we’d like to change and be a little bit better, and absolutely, but overall, really good performance. I think our XG was 3.7 or something crazy like that. So offensively, we were on it tonight.”
Houston drew 1-1 at home with the LA Galaxy, taking the lead from an Ezequiel Ponce goal in the 35th. Lucas Sanabria leveled the score nine minutes into stoppage time.
St Louis drew 1-1 with FC Dallas at Energizer Park. Dallas played a man down from the 16th when Michael Collodi saw red. Celio Pompeu put St Louis up in the 32nd and Petar Musa equalized for Dallas in the 34th minute.
“It’s a tie that feels like a win,” FC Dallas coach Eric Quill said. “In a place like this, with the amount of time we were down a man, against a technical team like St. Louis, even though they’re not where they want to be in the playoff mix, that’s a good side with their technique and profiles. They had chances but the defensive effort, the grind, the organization, the mentality to stay engaged and contest shots, to slide and to do all these things, this team is fighting.”
Week 31 ended on Sunday, with Austin coming back to beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 on the road. Dejan Jovelic converted a Sporting KC penalty in the 16th. Austin’s Owen Wolff equalized in the 37th and CJ Fodrey scored in the 82nd minute.
In the USMNT players abroad roundup, Jonathan Gomez subbed out in the 64th for Albacete’s 4-1 home loss to Mirandes in the Segunda Division. Albacete fell behind 3-0 to goals in the 7th, 60th, and 68th. Dani Escriche pulled a goal back for Albacete in the 72nd. Albacete played a man down from the 80th when Jon Herrero saw red.
Ventura Alvarado’s Irapuato won 1-0 at Dorados in the Liga de Expansion. Benjamin Sanchez scored for Prapuato two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Alvarado saw yellow in the 84th minute.
Did Not Play: Lynden Gooch (Huddersfield Town 3 – Peterborough United 2), Konrad De La Fuente (Ceuta 2 – Huesca 1)
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by Bill Barrett – ISIPhotos.com
