Portland Timbers 2-3 FC Cincinnati

I told you on Friday this was THE game to watch this weekend and man did it live up to every ounce of the hype.  From the build up to the game and through the opening whistle, you could feel the tension surrounding Providence Park on Saturday night.  That tension almost immediately turned to anxiety just 10 minutes after that opening whistle.  Pavel Bucha slipped a through ball towards Evander in the box, who cooly dummied it for his strike partner Kevin Denkey.  Denkey took one touch and proceeded to smash his 12th of the year past Timbers goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.  A dream start for FC Cincinnati would get even better a quarter of an hour later when Evander found Bucha this time, who muscled a shot past Crepeau at his near post.  2-0 after 25 minutes was more than FCC could have hoped for.

I said in the matchday preview that I’d be curious to see how the Portland crowd would receive Evander, and it didn’t take long to find out.  From the moment he entered the stadium, Evander heard boos.  Every time he touched the ball, the whole of Timber’s Army showered their former Designated Player with boos.  The loudest downpour of boos, however, came in the 37th minute.  Matt Miazga picked up an errant pass near midfield, found Evander just outside the box, and the Brazilian took care of the rest.

In the Pacific Northwest when it rains, it pours.  The man who was once looked at as a hero has now officially turned villain.  Celebrating in front of the Timber’s Army with a hand cupping his ear, inviting the anger, will forever be engrained in the lore of this story.  What a finish it was, as well.  Evander has been a stud since arriving in Southern Ohio, and none of his 15 league goals this season were sweeter for him than this one.  But this game was FAR from over.

Evander’s gloat wouldn’t last any longer than a minute, as our other revenge game character, Kevin Kelsy, dragged his side back into the game.  A lovely fake shot in the box sent two Cincy defenders towards the ad boards, and Kelsy smoothly slotted home just his fourth goal in 25 MLS matches this year.  Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano was called to action twice down the stretch in the first half, denying Antony of two goal scoring opportunities.  Half time came and went, and the action refused to slow down.  Crepeau made a fantastic save through some traffic at his near post to deny Denkey of his second just 60 seconds into the second half.  Lukas Engel sliced a shot just wide off of a Cincinnati corner kick 10 minutes later.  Ari Lassiter had Celentano at full stretch immediately after that on a shot that just missed the far post.  Lassiter forced Celentano into another tricky save just past the hour mark when the FCC goalkeeper smartly parried a deflected shot high into the air and out of danger.  Portland kept the pressure on and were rewarded for their efforts just two minutes later when David da Costa was fouled in the box by Stiven Jimenez.  Kelsy stepped up to the spot and scored his second of the game, narrowing the Timber’s deficit to just one.  Less than a minute after the ensuing kickoff, Evander found substitute Kei Kamara around the penalty spot, whose shot found the underside of the crossbar.  Crepeau came up big once again with just about 10 minutes to go, stoning Bucha at point blank range.  Portland’s final chance went begging deep into stoppage time as Antony put the final attempt of the game over the bar.  FC Cincinnati would hang on and take all three points back to Ohio in an instant classic.

FC Cincinnati grabbed the top spot in the East after Philadelphia lost on the road to New York Red Bulls and now sit behind San Diego on goal differential for the lead in the Supporter’s Shield race.  FCC will turn their attention to a huge three game home stand against NYCFC, Philadelphia, and Nashville.

Portland sit in sixth place in the West and will hit the road for the next two games to face the top two teams in their conference.  Heading down to San Diego and then across to Minnesota is a tall task for the reeling Timbers, who have only won twice since the beginning of July.

New York Red Bulls 1-0 Philadelphia Union

New York Red Bulls held on for a massive three points against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.  Bradley Carnell seemed to sit a few of his usual starters for the game, leaving Golden Boot hopeful Tai Baribo on the bench as well as Quinn Sullivan, Danley Jean Jaques, and Bruno Damiani.  Overall, it was a pretty tame game following the madness that happened in their Open Cup game on Wednesday.  Twenty minutes into the second half, Philadelphia were awarded a penalty kick and a chance for the all important first goal.  An inadvertent Tim Parker handball sent substitute Bruno Damiani to the spot only to have his penalty saved by Carlos Coronel.  Five minutes later, Dylan Nealis found himself on the end of an Eric Choupo-Moting through ball and slotted a shot past Union goalkeeper Andrew Rick just inside the far post.  That scoreline would hold until the final whistle to give Red Bulls their first win over Philadelphia in SIX YEARS.  The victory comes as a sigh of relief for Red Bulls fans as well as an important three points to keep pace with the playoff line.  All four of the 7-10 seeds in the East won over the weekend and while Red Bulls sit in 10th place, they stay on the heels of Chicago, NYCFC, and Charlotte.  Something to watch with Red Bulls: goalkeeper Carlos Coronel seemed to be overtaken by AJ Marcucci in recent weeks, but the 25 year old left the game on Wednesday with an unfortunate knee injury, forcing Coronel back into action.  Coronel has been such a big part of the organization for the past five seasons and it looks like he may be back between the sticks for the remainder of this campaign.  We’ll see if the Paraguayan can claw himself back into Sandro Schwarz’s favor.

Philadelphia dropped out of the top spot in the East with the loss, now one point behind FC Cincinnati.  Three time MLS goalkeeper of the year Andre Blake was forced out of the game with an injury Saturday night.  The 34 year old doesn’t have the cleanest bill of health over the last few season, and as a cornerstone of that organization, they’ll have to make sure he’s healthy down the stretch if they want a chance to make a run at any trophies.

It’s the time of the year when we get some inclement weather across the Midwest and Eastern part of the country that delays games, making for some really long nights.  Two games were effected on Saturday night, and after the long delays, we were treated to some great late night MLS drama.

Orlando City SC 3-1 Sporting Kansas City SC

The original 7:30 kickoff was delayed by over three hours while thunderstorms hung over central Florida on Saturday night.  After the delay was over and play was finally underway, Tyrese Spicer wasted absolutely no time opening his Orlando City account after his trade from Toronto FC a couple weeks ago.  The former Red found the back of the empty net after Martín Ojeda forced KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp off his line.  Kansas City found the equalizer through Dejan Jovelic,  but it was Mason Toye who rounded Gallese and set up the goal to bring the visitor’s level.  That score would hold well into the second half.  Ramiro Enrique subbed in for Luis Muriel in the 71st minute and five minutes later, he put the Lions ahead.  Ojeda picked up his ninth assist of the season as Enrique finished off his eighth goal.  Nicolas Rodriguez entered for Spicer in the 78th minute, and ironically five minutes later also found his goal off a fortunate ricochet in the box.

Orlando continued their strong run of form over their last ten games and are now unbeaten in their last seven.  The Lions have moved up to fourth place in the East now heading into their Leagues Cup quarterfinal matchup with Toluca on Wednesday.

Kansas City continue to struggle, dropping their fourth game in the last five.  Sitting thirteenth in the West, it’s far from over for KC, as they’re just 8 points off the final playoff spot with a game in hand on San Jose.  There’s work to be done, but far stranger things have happened.

Chicago Fire 3-2 St. Louis City SC

The other delay we saw wasn’t quite as bad, but Chicago had some midwestern thunderstorms disrupt their Saturday night as well.  An hour and a half after scheduled kickoff, St. Louis City and Chicago squared off in Bridgeview  (lots of East vs West games this weekend).  Those who stuck around through the delay were rewarded just a quarter of an hour in when Andrew Gutman crossed a fantastic ball behind St. Louis’ back line and Hugo Cuypers tapped home his 15th goal of the season.  He’s been a sneaky Golden Boot contender for quite a while now, and if Chicago can get hot down the stretch, look for Cuypers to really make a run at the top spot.  Cuypers’ goal would give the Fire the lead into the break, but it was St. Louis who were on the front foot to start the second half.  Tomas Ostrak was first to react on a sloppy bit of defending from Chicago and brought the visitors level with a clean left footed finish in the 47th.  St. Louis would take the lead in the 60th through Marcel Hartel, stunning the home side.  The German punished Chicago, who again were unable to clear their lines deep in their own box.  Chicago didn’t take long to dwell on their misfortunes.  Philip Zinckernagel has been a breath of fresh air in Chicago this season, and it was he who brought the Fire back even.  A wonderful solo run was completed beautifully with a shot that wrong footed Roman Bürki.  Just when the game looked destined for a draw, Brian Gutierrez ignited the Fire.  The 22 year old picked up the ball about 25 yards from goal and with one touch to set up his chance, the young American bent a stellar finish through traffic and out of the reach of a full stretch Bürki.

Simon Becher rattled the bar deep into stoppage time, but it would be the Fire who held on for a crucial three points in their playoff push.

The Fire clung to the final playoff spot in the East, but back to back away games against Philadelphia and Miami could see that momentarily slip away.

St. Louis have won just once on their travels this season, and that was against last place LA Galaxy.  They’ll travel to Vancouver next week.  Similarly to Kansas City, playoff chances aren’t completely off the table, but time is certainly running out.

Charlotte FC beat Real Salt Lake at home this weekend to extend their MLS win streak to six games.  If they’re to win next week at home against New York Red Bulls, they’d be just the fourth team since 2000 to have a winning streak of seven games or better.

Speaking of streaks, Minnesota United ended Seattle’s unbeaten run of 10 games with a 1-0 win at Allianz Field on Saturday.  Joaquin Pereyra scored the winner in the 73rd, and MNUFC held on for a massive win.  Seattle will feel like they deserved more, as they did have much better of the play and failed to capitalize on their momentum.  The Loons moved into second place in the West with the win, now five points behind San Diego.  Seattle will head home to face Puebla in the Leagues Cup quarterfinals.