It is a busier-than-usual Sunday night in Major League Soccer, where three matches are on tap, including a pair of key Eastern Conference showdowns.
D.C. United is looking to avoid a late-season slide like they suffered at the end of last season, and will need a victory against the Philadelphia Union today at RFK Stadium (5pm, NBC Sports) to move back ahead of the surging Montreal Impact for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
For Philadelphia, today's match is pretty much a must-win for a team still holding onto some faint hopes of a playoff run. Newly-acquired midfielder Danny Cruz will make the start in his debut, and will be facing the player he was traded for, Lionard Pajoy is starting for D.C. United.
In Houston, the Dynamo look to keep their unbeaten home record intact when they take on the Columbus Crew (9pm). The Crew are still recovering from the tragic loss of midfielder Kirk Urso and showed well in a mid-week draw against the LA Galaxy.
At Red Bull Arena, the New York Red Bulls take on struggling Portland (7pm, Telefutura) in a match the Red Bulls need to stay within striking distance of Sporting Kansas City for first place in the Eastern Conference. For the Timbers, Sunday's match is just another chance for players to audition for their jobs in 2013.
If you will be watching today's MLS action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action.
That’s pure bs. Dc had a goal taken away from them on a bogus foul.
You can argue the red to Dudar was the right call. Same for the encroachment on the pk, but Geiger took a goal away from dc. Also it looked like there were two offsides calls missed on the Union 1st goal. Also Lahoud should have been sent off. DC forward was pushed the back on a cross in the box and there was no call. The ref is not bigger than the game, but Geiger tried to make himself the center of attention all night. His officiating was also biased towards the Union.
Houston have the worst finishers in the league.
Wow, that was horrible. I’ve called games where I blew the whistle and immediately regretted it because I should have allowed advantage; however, it’s not an option to just pretend you didn’t or say “nevermind” – just not an option.
He blew the whistle and was running to the spot for the PK then turned around and allowed the goal.
This is all we have now – to get patient with him.
He’s not fitting in offensively yet but his work rate is fantastic and he is backtracking really well. He’s a talented guy and I think it’s only a matter of time before things begin to click. Let’s not go crazy and unload him the way they unloaded DeRo when he didn’t immediately fit in. Once his teammates are able to tell he and Cooper apart, that should help as well.
another MLS game, another ref issue, an unfortunate problem with the league disappointly
the game has been fun to watch, but Chara just got cleaned up from behind by Tainio, no whistle.
those are the calls that MLS officials allow too much, for example. pretty much right in front of the official too
I certainly wasn’t rooting against DCU. Yeah, that was one royal mess at the end. Funny, but I wonder if trading players this week, those players yapping in the dressing room, etc. might have contributed to the angry tone today.
This is the seventh game by Le Toux in Red Bulls uniform and the sixth that I say – his trade was a mistake. He is spectacular in spoiling opportunities, missing chances and clogging our attack.
@Eric
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_MLS_players#Colombia
I agree. Anything else is just rationalizing because the person prefers the outcome of the bad call.
How many colombians are in the MLS? Does anyone have an exact number?
A player inside the arc at the top of the 18 before the penalty is struck = encroachment. Educate yourself.
What are you talking about? He got nowhere near the ball.
Remind me of a call from RSL v dallas. Rimando catches the ball, relays it to a forward on a breakaway, but ref decides to stop game for a foul on dallas. How about some consistency right?
The moment the whistle blows the play is dead. By the laws of the game, that “goal” is no different than if a player ran onto the field with a throw in and threw the ball into the net with his hands. The referee has no power to award a goal for a dead ball going into the net.
If he was going to give the penalty, he should have given it. You can’t play advantage with a DEAD BALL.
changed the game when Miller went off and Cooper came on. Miller was struggling, his bad turnover leading to Portland’s second goal counter attack
fun game back and forth, lots of space for both teams
tough call. DCU player kicked keeper’s hand first. Still, i wouldn’t have complained had they allowed the goal.
Has MLS done away with second assist? Otherwise why wouldn’t Dax get one?
There was no encroachment. This ref sucked
and DC got hosed
Gotta love galavision. Controversial goal allowed, portland players screaming at & chasing the official and all we hear in the background for a minute straight is GGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL!
I definitely think he blew it. Even the NY players were like wtf how did that count.
Everyone stopped except the guy that hit it. You could see them screaming at him that he blew the whistle. It was very loud and right when the ball hit the guy’s hand.
I assumed it was a whistle from somewhere other than the referee, because I can’t believe the ref could allow the goal after blowing the play dead on his own.
To defend the goal, the time between the shot and the whistle was so quick that I don’t believe the Timbers players could have reacted to it.
But if the ref did blow that whistle, I don’t know how you allow the goal.
Roy Miller will probably end up taking most of the blame for the 2 goals, but there was plenty to go around. That said, I had no problem with taking Miller off so early.
The team was lethargical when it had possession, and was pushed up too high up the field to give the ball away so cheaply. They were in relatively good position to defend the counterattacks.
When Cooper came on everything seemed to click. Passing was crisper and quicker, there was better movement off the ball. Having Solli and Le Toux on the right instead of Barklage and Solli helped as much as getting Roy Miller off the field.
Yeah, you could read Pontious’ lips as he said “be smart man”.
All of this likely would be moot if DeRo hadn’t skied his first half chance. As a DCU supporter, definitely a tough one not to leave with the full 3 points.
Timbers coach just went onto the field to get at the official at half time. Pissed.
Commentators said it was Pontius. That angle was only shown once, so I don’t know for sure. Who it was is irrelevant anyway, homeboy.
Omg another ridiculous controversy.
Referee blows a play dead with his whistle (presumably to give a penalty for a handball). NY player then shoots the ball and scores after the whistle… referee allows it.
LOL MLS
Wrong.
If you watch that tackle without partisan blinders on and still think its not a red card I don’t know what to tell you other than you are just flat out wrong.
That wasn’t Pontius homeboy. That was Salihi. So you are blind. I get it now.
There was minimal contact. This whole studs up arguement doesn’t fly. There have been plenty of challenges studs up that weren’t reds. Go watch the damn tackle again.
He is so awful, you must be trolling with this post.
Another game where he’s invisible, stops play to try to go 1 v 1, gets snuffed like usual and stands around.
Geiger’s horrible performane aside, that was a clear and easy red card. Regardless of whether he ultimately got some ball or not, that was behind and studs up – he has to go.
Most of the rest of Geiger’s game was an absolute mystery though.
Wow RBNY down 2 goals to Timbers. Ouch.
Neutral fan and I saw two bad calls – the first disallowed goal and the Williams second yellow. There was nothing wrong with that first goal, and Williams’ only sin was making an incredible tackle that Geiger apparently refused to believe was possible. The encroachment call and the red on Duda were both good calls. And both were dumb decisions by DCU players.
As a neutral observer (SKC fan, so a mild interest in DC’s outcome):
Geiger was comically bad. Childishly inconsistent. My wife kept wondering why I was laughing. It was worse because I had just finished the DVR’d City vs. Southampton game, and the difference in officiating was… pretty freaking excruciating.
Geiger makes Ricardo Salazar look nuanced, decisive, and brilliantly accurate. I feel terrible for DC, but also for Philly. They both deserved much better than the finely aged sh!t cheese that Geiger served up.