MLS (Mid)Week 9: LA And Philly Split Points, Dallas Wins, Whitecaps Find Late Equalizer

Davide Chiumiento's goal just as the match entered stoppage time allowed the Vancouver Whitecaps to salvage a 1-1 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday. Chiumiento's goal looked as if it was supposed to be a cross, but neither of his intended targets were able to get to it, which also seemed to fool Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch.

Prior to the goal, the Earthquakes had created most of the chances and outshot the Whitecaps 209. After creating several chances in the first half, they took the lead on Chris Wondolowski's fourth goal of the season. The goal finished off a lengthy sequence in which the Earthquakes created several chances and controlled the ball in the offensive third for over a minute. On the scoring play, Sam Cronin fired a shot from about 25 yards out, Ryan Johnson was able to track down the rebound and then passed it to Wondolowski, who redirected it into the goal.

The tie keeps the Whitecaps winless since Week 1. The Earthquakes have not won since Week 2.

The rain held off in Frisco but Toronto FC could not battle back from a late first half penalty. The game's only goal came at the end of the first half when FC Dallas' George John was brought down in the box during a free kick. Dallas captain Daniel Hernandez stepped up and scored his first MLS goal since 2002, when he was a member of the New England Revolution.

Dallas controlled a lot of the first half with Brek Shea on the wings with Marvin Chavez floating in the middle. Shea sent in a couple quality balls into the penalty box but no one was home for Dallas to finish them. Early on in the second half, FC Dallas shifted to a 4-4-2, with Chavez playing up top with Fabian Castillo (and later Ruben Luna). The offense seemingly went away though with that formation as there were only a few chances on goal. 

Toronto took over in the second half as Aron Winter made use of all of his substitutions. Bringing on Maicon Santos and Javier Martina opened up their offense in a big way. But it was the midfield play of Tony Tchani that kept Toronto in this game. He clearly was the best player on the field tonight for the Reds.

With the win Dallas moves ahead of Portland and Seattle in the standings to a tie with Colorado for third in the Western Conference. Dallas is also now unbeaten in their last four. 

A draw away from home is always a respectable result, but it is unlikely that the Los Angeles Galaxy will be happy with their 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday night. Despite playing without David Beckham and the Union being undefeated at home, the Galaxy went to PPL Park and looked on their way to a win. Landon Donovan's first half goal had them ahead and they have been very good at protecting one-goal leads under Bruce Arena. They remained compact and responsible, then in the 84th minute Sean Franklin gave the ball away on an attempted back pass and Danny Mwanga pounced for a late equalizer that ruined LA's dreams of three points.

The Galaxy started brightly and pressured the Union from the start. That pressure finally turned into a goal in the 24th minute as Donovan scored his fifth consecutive goal for LA. Juninho started the move from the center circle with a ball that opened up Franklin on the right. Franklin played the ball to the center, 30 yards from goal, where Donovan dummied to leave the ball for a streaking Juan Pablo Angel. Angel took the ball into the box, where he left it for Donovan to finish, albeit it slowly and awkwardly.

The rest of the half played out with LA getting a couple half-chances and Philadelphia teasing a PPL Park record crowd of 19,178 with tantalizing crosses that Donovan Ricketts was able to punch away. 

Twice Los Anheles looked as if they would put the match away just after an hour. Philadelphia has not scored more than one goal in a match all season so a second Galaxy goal would have likely sunk the Union and twice they were close. First, Chris Birchall was played in an all alone on Faryd Mondragon and he unleashed a good shot low at the far post, but Mondragon stretched to get a hand to it. Not long after Mondragon came bustling off his line to make a great save from close range on Angel.

Los Angeles got to the 84th minute without having been threatened too many times, but they finally were and it was their own doing. Mwanga did well to pressure Franklin, but the LA defender still had time and the ball calmly at his feet. He tried to play a back pass to Ricketts, but it was soft and really just a perfectly weighted through ball for Mwanga. Mwanga took it, rounded Ricketts and finished easily for the equalizer gifted to him by Franklin.

Both teams had chances late to get winners. Jack McInerney got a chance from the top of the box and tried to sidefoot it past Ricketts, but the Jamaican international was able to get down and make the save. Omar Gonzalez got up to a header on a LA corner kick, but the 6'4'' defender put the ball over the bar and the Galaxy were forced to settle for a draw in a match they surely must have felt they deserved three points from.

Talk about a weird finish to the first half. FC Dallas is given a free kick 35 yards from the Toronto FC goal. The ball came into the box and went wide of the goal, seemingly harmless for Toronto, but a foul on that brought George John lead to a penalty kick. Dallas captain Daniel Hernandez stepped up to take the shot and buried it past Stefan Frei. 

Shortly before the goal, one of the Toronto FC assistant coaches was tossed from the game by referee Yader Reyes. 

As far as the first half went before the goal, Dallas owned a lot of the possession and looked more dangerous in the attack once Marvin Chavez shifted into the middle of the field from the wings. Along with that shift, Brek Shea also was easily the best player for either side in the first half. He had numerous crosses into the box that would were extremely dangerous. Unfortunately for Dallas they had no one to finish them.

Toronto wasn't all that bad in the first half. Early on they dictated the pace of the game with the speed of rookie Joao Plata up top and with the midfield duo of Julian de Guzman and Tony Tchani handling the possession. 

On paper, the Los Angeles Galaxy have a fantastic back line. They don't always play so spectacularly though and inexplicable mistakes are hardly a rare occurrence. Well, that ugly Galaxy mistake has come back to haunt them again as Sean Franklin gifted the Philadelphia Union an equalizer in the 83rd minute to put this match between two of the league's best teams on track for a 1-1 draw.

Franklin tracked back and had the ball on his foot with Danny Mwanga chasing him down. Franklin played a pass back to goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, but the pass wasn't hard enough. Instead of a back ball, Franklin essentially played a perfectly weighted ball for Mwanga in on goal, who got around Ricketts and easily scored to level this match at one goal apiece.

With fewer than 10 minutes left to play the draw is most likely, but another goal could very well be in this match. Both teams have had chances and will likely have more chances. If either team can finish one of those chances this one could have a winner.

Without David Beckham the Los Angeles Galaxy needed other players to step up if they were to go to PPL Park and beat the Philadelphia Union. That could have meant that lesser-known players like Juninho or Michael Stephens stepped forward or even a big name player like Juan Pablo Angel, who has been struggling. Instead, the Galaxy got one of their stars to step up as Landon Donovan went from hot to hotter with a goal that has the visitors ahead 1-0 at halftime.

A good team goal that saw Juninho, Sean Franklin and Angel all play parts to set up Donovan finished with the American international scoring on an awkward, but still effective strike in the 24th minute. A goal, any goal, was a welcome sight for the Galaxy, whose only goals in their two previous matches came on Beckham set pieces.

The Union have struggled to generate much of an attack this season and down a goal, they still couldn't find a ton going forward. Last year's MVP candidate, Sebastien Le Toux, has just one goal and one assist on the season. He's gotten involved early in the match and has his share of touches, but a back heel that set up a half-chance is the closest he's come to orchestrating the Union attack the way he did a year ago.

Before long the Union will be forced to make a change for a more potent attack. That will likely be by bringing Danny Mwanga into the match, although that may not be enough. While LA is susceptible to mental mistakes at the back, they have defended one-goal leads well since Bruce Arena took over and will once again look to shut this match down in hopes of grabbing three road points.

It is a rainy night here in Frisco once again. FC Dallas will once again sport their 4-1-4-1 formation, this time with young Designated Player Fabian Castillo playing the lone strike role. They'll go against a 4-3-3 from Aron Winter's Toronto FC. 

After two straight games of starting in the David Ferreira role, Eric Avila finds himself on the bench for Dallas. In his place is Eric Alexander, who'll bring a different look to the Dallas attack. It is still possible that Dallas could go to a 4-4-2 with this lineup. We'll definitely know more once kickoff gets here.

Toronto's 4-3-3, which could be an unique challenge for the Dallas back line. Rookie Joao Plata is the reigning MLS Player of the Week, as he is coming off a one goal and one assist game last week against Houston. Shutting him down along with getting by the midfield duo of Designated Player Julian de Guzman and Tony Tchani will be keys for Dallas in this game. 

FC Dallas Starting XI: Kevin Hartman, Jackson Goncalves, George John, Ugo Ihemelu, Zach Loyd, Marvin Chavez, Eric Alexander, Daniel Hernandez, Andrew Jacobson, Brek Shea, Fabian Castillo

Toronto FC Starting XI: Stefan Frei, Richard Eckersley, Dicoy Williams, Adrian Cann, Danleigh Borman, Tony Tchani, Julian de Guzman, Jacob Peterson, Nick Soolsma, Alen Stevanovic, Joao Plata

Landon Donovan is hot and and only getting hotter. The Los Angeles Galaxy star was in the midst of a long goal scoring drought in MLS play just a few weeks ago, but that's not the case anymore. A 24th minute goal put the Galaxy up 1-0 on the Philadelphia Union and Donovan now has scored the Galaxy's last five goals.

Juninho opened the play up with a good ball from the center circle to a streaking Sean Franklin on the right. He ran with the ball before playing the ball centrally 30 yards from goal, which Donovan dummied to leave it for Juan Pablo Angel. Angel took the ball on the run into the box where he left it for Donovan while shielding off his man. Donovan's strike was awkward and slow, but it was an easy chance to finish with just the keeper between him and the goal.

With David Beckham left out of tonight's match, getting an early goal is huge for the Galaxy. LA has won their last two against the Union, but both were 1-0 wins with the goals coming off of Beckham free kicks so there was question of how LA would get a goal without him. Now it is up to the defense to hold on against a Union team that has been compact and conservative this season so playing from behind will be a challenge.

The Los Angeles Galaxy will face the toughest defense in MLS without one of their most effective offensive players. David Beckham, as expected, is not in the Galaxy's starting lineup for the match against the Philadelphia Union. He reportedly did not even make the trip Back East. In his place, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena has given Michael Stephens his third start of the season.

Union coach Petr Nowak counters with what has become a pretty standard lineup. The biggest change from recent weeks is Kyle Nakazawa getting the start as the more attack-minded central midfielder in front of Brian Carroll. Danny Mwanga, who had started the two most recent matches, has been put on the bench.

Union starters: Mondragon; Harvey, Califf, Valdes, Williams; Daniel, Carroll, Nakazawa, Mapp; Ruiz, Le Toux. Bench: MacMath, Torres, Mwanga, McInerney, Okugo, G. Farfan, M. Farfan

Galaxy starters: Ricketts; Dunivant, Gonzalez, Franklin, DeLaGarza, Birchall, Donovan, Juninho, Stephens, Angel, Lopez. Bench: Berhalter, Hejduk, Barrett, Saunders, Kirovski, Jimenez, Cardozo