MLS Matchday 2 Saturday Round Up
- Mar 12, 2017
- 4 min read
With New England Revolution v Orlando City postponed due to bad weather, there were only three games to be played on Saturday afternoon in the US. We take a look at the games that took place.
Chicago Fire 2-0 Real Salt Lake
Nikolic (11), Alvarez (15)
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois
Attendance: 13,024
Chicago claimed their first win of the 2017 season after a comfortable win over Real Salt Lake.
Chicago Fire came out quickly scoring in the 11th minute thanks to new signing Nemanja Nikolic scoring his first MLS goal in controversial fashion.
Nikolic’s goal had a suspicion of offside but the referee played on as the Salt Lake defence stopped appealing for offside as Nikolic slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
The referee seemed to make the right decision as the ball was played back by Real Salt Lake midfielder Sunny that meant Nikolic was onside.
Arturo Alvarez doubled Chicago’s lead in 15th minute, with his first goal of the season after a fine run from the right hand side to the centre of the box with a deflection strike that gave experienced MLS keeper Nick Rimando no chance.
Real Salt Lake was forced into an early substitute as midfielder Jordan Allen picked up an injury and was replaced by Ricardo Velazco.
Real Salt Lake had majority of the possession in the second half but no response and struggled to create chances on goal with only one shot out of 12 on target.
Real Salt Lake are thankful to Rimando who kept the score at 2-0 as he made some great saves to keep Chicago out but overall it was a comfortable game for Chicago who claim first win of the season.
New York Red Bulls 1-0 Colorado Rapids
Eric Miller OG (45)
Venue: Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
Attendance: 19,375
A dominant display from the New York Red Bulls saw them take maximum points for the second successive game and goalkeeper Luis Robles earn a clean sheet on his new MLS record of 142 consecutive games played in the league.
Colorado Rapids keeper Tim Howard made a fantastic save keeping Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips effort out in the 23rd minute. Howard made a string of saves in the first half to keep Colorado in the game.
The Red Bulls dominance finally paid off as Colorado defender Eric Miller scored an own goal in the 45th minute after a cross from right hand side of box by right back Sal Zizzo was turned into his own net.
As the second half began the Red Bulls momentum did not stop as they continued to attack with Howard making another save from Wright-Phillips to deny him a goal.
Record breaking Robles was called into action in the 72nd minute making a great save to his right hand side from Dominique Badji’s strike from the centre of the box.
Howard immediately responded saving another effort from Wright-Phillips in the 73rd minute from the Red Bulls forward as the battle between goalkeeper and striker continued.
Howard continued to make save after save keeping Colorado in the game with the keeper saving Red Bulls midfielder Felipe stinging strike to stop them doubling their lead in the 81st minute.
As the full time whistle came, Colorado had their first loss of the season even after an astonishing display from Howard. New York Red Bulls are now two wins from two and look to extend their unbeaten run next week.
Philadelphia Union 2-2 Toronto FC
Simpson (11) Altidore (45+2 Pen)
Sapong(73) Morrow (71)
Venue: Talen Energy Stadium, Chester, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 16,795
An entertaining game between these two sides saw them both pick up their second draw of the season.
Philadelphia started brightly when a cross field pass from midfielder Haris Medunjanin was headed down by Chris Pontius into the path of striker Jay Simpson to head home his first for the club giving them a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
Simpson soon had to leave the field of play in the 28th minute due to a rib injury that saw him replaced by C.J Sapong.
It got worse for Toronto as defender Nick Hagglund conceded a penalty in the 32nd minute after fouling Philadelphia’s Fabian Herbers in the penalty area.
Philadelphia captain Alejandro Bedoya missed the resulting penalty after smashing his effort onto the crossbar keeping the score at 1-0.
Ten minutes later Toronto lost star man Sebastian Giovinco to injury as Philadelphia defender Oguchi Onyewu fouled him.
Toronto were handed a lifeline in injury time of the first half after Toronto striker Jozy Altidore was fouled by Philadelphia midfielder Derrick Jones.
Altidore took the penalty kick sending goalkeeper Andre Blake the wrong way and scoring into the right hand side of the goal making it 1-1 going into half time.
Both teams came out fighting in the second half exchanging possession looking to put pressure on their opponent to score a vital second goal in the game.
Philadelphia goalkeeper Blake rushed out to make a great save with his left leg to keep Altidore from scoring his second of the game in the 56th minute.
Toronto goalkeeper Clint Irwin then saved Pontius’ right-footed shot in the 62nd minute to keep the score line at 1-1.
20 minutes remiained when Toronto found a breakthrough as a quick restart by captain Michael Bradley saw him play a long lofted pass to left midfielder Justin Morrow who was unmarked and slotted the ball underneath goalkeeper Blake to give Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Philadelphia replied instantly as Herbers played a beautiful reverse pass putting substitute Sapong through one-on-one who rounded Toronto goalkeeper Irwin to slot into an empty net making it 2-2 in the 73rd minute.
Toronto had a great chance to win it in the 93rd minute but Altidore sent his header over the bar meaning both sides picked up another point in the second game of the season.
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