There were only two Wednesday MLS games this week and they seemingly had little in common.  The results, however, were all about streaks that were on the line in the games.  Both streaks are amazing in their own way and both are continuing at least through the weekend.

The early game saw the Montreal Impact earn their first MLS road point as they held DC United to a 1-1 draw at RFK.  While the point was a cause of celebration for Montreal, it was a source of discomfort for the home team.  DC United has now gone 87 games without back-to-back wins and in the past three years are 0-10-11 in the next game after a win.  After beating the Revolution on Saturday, many DCU faithful saw a visiting expansion team with a 1-5-1 record as their best chance at breaking the streak, but a strong defensive effort by Montreal and poor play by DCU prevented this.

The first half at RFK was an even match, as neither team registered a shot on goal. DC had the best chances of the half (all of them in the later minutes) and looked ready to break the scoreless tie in the 35th minute. Dwayne De Rosario showed off his footwork by dribbling through a few defenders outside the box to line up a shot that missed the net.  Both teams came out in the second half firing, and Donovan Ricketts had to keep his team in the match early as he denied De Rosario twice within a few minutes on one-on-one chances.  Bernardo Corradi broke through in the 69th minute as he beat Brandon McDonald to the DC back post and headed a cross from Lamar Neagle into the goal.  Four minutes later, Maicon Santos equalized with a low line drive from 30 yards out that beat Ricketts and the rest of the Montreal defense.  The Brazilian almost had the game winner as he seemingly converted a pass from De Rosario in the 90th minute for a goal, but he was correctly ruled offside.  As the final whistle blew, the home team still had their streak while the visitors could celebrate their MLS milestone.

“More than anything right now, it is good to get a point on the road,” said Montreal head coach Jesse Marsch after the match.  He also added, “maybe it could have been three tonight, but one’s ok.”

The other streak that was continued on Wednesday was the Kansas City winning streak.  Sporting Kansas City was coming off an impressive win over the weekend against Real Salt Lake and looked to be walking into a tricky road trip with Vancouver followed by a down Portland team. Vancouver had the previous week off to recover from its 3-1 loss to San Jose, a game that the ‘Caps felt could have been theirs, especially after Sebastien LeToux broke a scoreless tie early in the second half.  The visitors came out firing though and took control early with a goal from Aurelien Collin in the 24th minute.  Collin was the final header in a series of KC passes in front of goal and he earned a goal in a second straight game.  Vancouver hurt themselves early in the second half when Martin Bonjour, while under pressure from Collin, tried a backpass to Joe Cannon that was hit a little too hard and settled in the back of the ‘Caps net.

And while Kei Kamara finished off the KC scoring in the 65th minute, the home team battled in the second half.  Le Toux ended Kansas City’s no-goals allowed streak in the 79th minute and, if not for some good play by Jimmy Nielsen, the score could have been a lot closer.  Vancouver finished with seven shots on goal, which is not only the most allowed by KC this season but only two fewer than they had allowed all season!  Kansas City continues their road trip to Portland with their win streak intact, but Vancouver fans should feel confident that their team is improving and can hang with the best teams in MLS.

The game was called the biggest matchup of the early season by ESPN’s Adrian Healey in the pregame. While this may have been an overstatement, yesterday’s match featured two teams that during the preseason many had as the best in their respective conferences.  After 90 minutes, only one looked like an MLS Cup contender.

Sporting KC behind a raucous crowd of 19,000 plus rolled to a 1-0 victory over the LA Galaxy.  The Galaxy came into the game without designated player David Beckham but did return Landon Donovan to the line-up.  Beckham’s absence, however, was noticeable in a game where the home team had almost 60% of the possession and the Galaxy had no shots on traget (just three shots overall).

Sporting KC’s 4-3-3 possession style seemed to unsettle the Galaxy from the beginning with Roger Espinoza effectively thwarting the Galaxy in the midfield.  The game’s only goal came late in the first half when Bobby Convey worked some space on the right and sent in a cross towards goal.  Kei Kamara, who had drifted to the left of the goal, beat Sean Franklin and put a diving header past Josh Saunders to make it a 1-0 game.  The scoreline could have been even bigger except Saunders had a great diving save on a Chance Myers shot in the 23rd minute where the keeper had to dive and just palm the ball away from goal.

For the first time since 1998, an MLS team has started the season with 5 straight wins.  Any doubts about how good Sporting Kansas City can be in all aspects of the game should be settled.  On defense, Aurelien Collins had an excellent game on Edson Buddle while his partner (and the entire defense for that matter) bottled up Robbie Keane very well.  But the real key to the game was Roger Espinoza, who, rotating from a deep role to a charging forward play maker and back, settled the defense by exploiting a weaker LA midfield and constantly breaking up chances that Juninho and Michael Stephens tried to create.  Richard Farley uses OptaJack well to illustrate the gap in effective midfield presence between Juninho and Espinoza.

The defending champs came out punchless yesterday and I think for the first time we can be legitimately worried about this team.  They were out-muscled by a larger KC front line and as mentioned before their midfield was simply dominated throughout.  It was the stars of the team, however, that failed to shine for the Galaxy.  Landon Donovan still looked a bit slow coming off his quad injury while Edson Buddle was a non-factor while he was on the pitch.  Taylor Twellman hinted at a potential injury for the forward, which may have explained his poor play.  Keane simply didn’t get a chance to do much with the poor distribution but when he did he didn’t create any opportunities.  The best player on the pitch for LA may have been Mike Magee, who had the Galaxy’s two best chances and just missed the goal on both.  LA fans should be worried that this team looks lethargic already and it is only one month into the season.

Anyone who has been looking for a new home understands the feeling of displacement that comes with it: the yearning for something new and different which you can model after your vision, while still feeling unsettled because you haven’t found that perfect place yet.  In June, MLS fans looked at Kansas City and either pitied or ignored them.  For a team who should have had Ricky Nelson sing its theme song, the season looked like a lost one.  Despite the new name and new logo, it was the same ol’ Kansas City, going from road game to road game trying to hang on until they could move into a new home.

Yet after last night’s 2-1 victory over Columbus, Sporting Kansas City sits atop the Eastern Conference.  With the Eastern Conference margin so narrow, their position may be tenuous (especially with DC and Philly having games in hand) but they are the in-form team in the East right now.  How did a team that looked so beaten early in the season rally to become maybe the favorite to win the top seed in the East?

The first place to look is last night’s game.  A few things stand out that point to reasons for their success.  The first is their suffocating offense, something that has been there all season but is really beginning to click.  Kei Kamara is an absolute weapon, and playing next to Omar Bravo in a 4-3-3 type formation allows him space to find his shot.  Teal Bunbury, who has struggled all year and is seemingly on the “outs” for the U.S. national team, is beginning to contribute in little ways and refine his game; while the goals aren’t there yet the consistent play is.  Add in some quality play from midfielder Graham Zusi and the rotating cast of starters, and this team can score with anyone.  Even the threat of their offense is dangerous, as both goals last night came from Columbus defensive mistakes under pressure.  The first was a penalty after Robbie Rogers took down C.J. Sapong in the box, the second was a Julius James own-goal after a throw-in.

But the biggest key to the KC ascent has been their defensive improvement.  The team that went from allowing over two goals a game to running a streak of late blown leads has now settled into a pretty good team defensively.  They have allowed 11 goals in their last 10 games after giving up 28 in their first 21.  The starting back four last night had an average age of 24, which while not terribly young was still somewhat inexperienced.  However, two players that have really helped defensively are keeper Jimmy Nielsen and centerback/midfielder Julio Cesar.  Both are veterans with years of international experience who are providing veteran leadership to the club.  While their defense is still not up to par with some of the elite MLS teams, it has improved to their point where it is no longer an eye-closing liability.

Outside factors also have played into Kansas City’s rise, the biggest being their obvious home field advantage.  After playing the first ten games of the season on the road, Sporting KC has gone 8-2-6 at home.  Their field is beautiful and creates a definite home field advantage, which gives the team a boost.  They also are benefiting from an Eastern Conference with no dominant team which of course has both allowed them to overcome early season struggles and grab needed points (like they did last night).

Looking ahead, can Kansas City keep this up?  Their schedule sets up nicely to allow them to control their own destiny: they play an inconsistent San Jose team on the road this weekend, then host New York and travel to DC, both of whom are chasing them.  New York’s away record (2-4-9) and DC’s home record (4-3-7) bode well for them.  However, Kansas City may have set themselves up for a late stumble, scheduling a friendly against CD Guadalajara on October 12, three days before the Red Bulls match-up.  Regardless, Kansas City is hot right now and securing the Eastern Conference crown is not only a possibility, but maybe even likely.

It’s good to be home.

It seems like every week there is a new BEST GOAL EVER in MLS, and this Saturday a new choice has been added to an impressive list.  In Sporting Kansas City’s 4-2 romp over Toronto, Kei Kamara scored the first goal of the match off a Jéferson corner kick.  The kick deflected off a Toronto defender right to Kamara who did his best Wayne Rooney impersonation and unleashed an awesome scissor kick, which you can see here:

So what do you think?  Should this goal be in the goal of the year discussion?

More on this weekend’s action to follow later today on MLS Talk.

Former Dynamo Player Kei Kamara

Going into Sunday’s home match against the Kansas City Wizards, the Houston Dynamo knew the needed a result to secure their fourth straight playoff berth since moving to the Bayou City, but when forward Cam Weaver received a red card in the 17th minute hopes of an easy victory were quickly dashed. The crowd of 16,854 who braved the early rain that gave way to heat and humidity, were not disappointed because in the 26th minute, Luis Angel Landin scored his first MLS goal, giving the Dynamo a lead going into halftime.

Unfortunately, the Dynamo were unable to maintain their lead, with Zoltan Hercegfalvi scoring the equalizer for Kansas City in the 73rd minute. Former Dynamo player, Kei Kamara, who was warmly received by the Houston crowd, had some good looks at the goal but was unable to convert. Zoltan’s goal was the last of the match, and the one point was enough to secure the Dynamo’s spot in the 2009 MLS Playoffs, which the Dynamo have marked with the launch of their Dream. Scream. Believe. website.

This Sunday, the Dynamo will participate in the inaugural Charities Cup in which they will host Monterrey in a friendly at Robertson Stadium; however, the team will be missing Brian Ching, Stuart Holden, and Ricardo Clark who will be with the US National Team as it takes on Honduras on Saturday night in its penultimate World Cup Qualifier. The Dynamo only have two MLS regular season matches left, it will host Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday October 18th, in what might be David Beckham’s first appearance in Houston since joining MLS, then the Dynamo close their season at Chivas U.S.A. on Sunday October 25th.

Here’s some video that was shot by Erin Dutka following Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Kansas City Wizards (the angle isn’t always right, she’s learning how to use her new Nano still):

Coach Dominic Kinnear following Dynamo draw with Kansas City on October 4, 2009

Luis Angel Landin following Houston draw with Kansas City

Kei Kamara following 1-1 Draw Between Houston and Kansas City

Don’t forget the official MLS video too.