MLS Round-up: Week 8

New England Revolution 3-4 Kansas City Wizards

If any questions were still being asked about Eddie Johnson’s return to form, they were definitively answered on Saturday night in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Florida native exploded onto the US soccer scene in 2004, hitting seven goals in his first six competitive matches for the national team. A couple of moves to Europe fell through at the last minute and his play took a drastic turn for the worse, highlighted by rumors of “EJ” being a difficult and uncoachable player. He was traded to Kansas City before the 2006 season and continued to struggle but has turned his career around in 2007. He now has six goals and three assists from the Wizards’ first eight games and is evolving into the centerpiece of the team.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first twenty-five minutes (goals from Steve Ralston and league-leading scorer Taylor Twellman), the Wizards came alive with a bang, netting two goals in three minutes. Davy Arnaud chested down a long pass from Sasha Victorine and poked the ball by Revolution keeper Matt Reis. Moments later Eddie Johnson received the ball at the top of the box, forced his way past Jay Heaps and fired a shot into the far corner. Ten minutes later Johnson was at it again, receiving the ball at the corner of the box, holding off a couple of defenders as he dribbled to the center before hitting a shot against the grain into the near corner of the net. Out of nowhere the Wizards had conjured up a 3-2 lead.

In the 70th minute the Revolution were offered a lifeline when Jack Jewsbury was whistled for a seemingly inadvertent handball in the box. Shalrie Joseph made no mistake from the spot and the match was level. But Johnson completed the scoring and his hat trick in the 82nd, receiving a long through ball from Carlos Marinelli before dribbling Matt Reis and finishing from a tight angle. Despite a flurry of late attempts by the home side, the Wizards held on for the victory and capped a memorable night for Johnson.

Other Results

5-24
New York Red Bulls 3-0 Chicago Fire

5-26
DC United 2-1 Houston Dynamo
Columbus Crew 2-2 Toronto FC
Colorado Rapids 1-0 LA Galaxy
Chivas USA 2-0 FC Dallas

5-27
Chicago Fire 0-0 Real Salt Lake

Notes:

DC United will compete in the 2007 Copa Sudamericana and have been drawn against Chivas Guadalajara in the first round. Matches will be played the weeks of September 11 and October 4. The Copa Sudamericana is roughly equivalent to a South American UEFA Cup.....The US national team roster for next month’s Gold Cup was announced this week. The full lineup is here. In addition to the Gold Cup this summer’s agenda includes a June 2nd friendly with China and are the Copa America in Venezuela......Just days after scoring his first goal of the season for Toronto FC Alecko Eskandarian has again been traded, this time to Real Salt Lake in exchange for Jeff Cunningham and a 2008 draft pick. While he’s surely disappointed to be leaving so quickly, he will be reunited with former DC United teammate Freddy Adu, a potentially fruitful combination.

Club Focus:

I will start a weekly addition focusing on one league club a week, which will hopefully give you a little more background and flavor of the game in the States. We begin with the newest members of the league.

Toronto FC

Full Name: Toronto Football Club
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Founded: 2007
Stadium: BMO Field (20,000)
Nickname: TFC
Colors: Red, Gray, White
Official Website:http://www.torontofc.ca

Details: 2007 will be the debut season for Toronto FC, an expansion side in the previously all-American MLS. A number of Canadian clubs compete in lower level leagues but Toronto FC will clearly be the country's flagship team. The club's red and white colors are those of the Canadian flag. The club's emblem incorporates the Maple Leaf, the symbol of Canada.The stadium is named for its sponsor, a Canadian financial group.