Z/Web

Good game. Columbus had never won in regulation at Dallas and it didn’t look like this would be the day. Graziani poached a goal early for the Burn, but a wide open Mike Lapper put in a header off a corner kick that tied the score. Then Columbus as dealt a harsh blow as Cunningham was ejected for stepping on an opponent — it looked to me like he was just stumbling for a place to put his foot. Playing a man down, Columbus was surely out of it: but then Brian West finished one of the best goals I’ve seen this year. He caught a long ball from the back, trapped it beautifully with one touch, and slotted it past the keeper so smoothly it was almost unfair. You have no idea how difficult that was! Terrific goal, which also won the game for the Crew. Final: 2-1 Columbus.

Wonderful game. K.C. showed very little offense and it was all San Jose. Canadian DeRosario got some luck when the defender’s clear ricochetted off his body and into the goal, giving the Quakes the early lead. In the second half, defender Nick Garcia (rookie of the year last year) took down DeRosario when he was on a breakaway, and Garcia was justly given the red card as he was the last man. That really opened things up for San Jose, who poured on the offense, but somehow K.C. kept the ball out of the net for a good while. It was injury time when things finally broke down and Junior Agogo’s run down the right left Ronald Cerritos open on the left, and Ronald didn’t miss finishing Agogo’s cross. Final: 2-0 Quakes, who are unbeaten in 11 straight games!

A rather dull game, which stayed nil-nil until three minutes to go. Then suddenly Cobi Jones put together a great run down the left side, dribbled past several defenders, and then crossing to a wide open Hernandez who finished it expertly. One minute later, Hernandez caught a long through ball and put that away as well: just like that, L.A. had won. Final: 2-0 L.A.