MLS, Week 15: Quakes Edge Galaxy In Wild California Clasico

ANIMATED: David Beckham Is Really Good, And A Jerk

VIDEO: Chris Wondolowski Scores Back-Heeled Goal

San Jose Earthquakes Vs. LA Galaxy, 2012 MLS: 7-Goal California Clasico Ends In Fight

The San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy didn't play anywhere near the highest quality game of the year on Saturday night, but they certainly managed to play the most fun game of the year. Both teams defended very poorly in the goal-fest, which ended with San Jose coming from two down to win 4-3. Unhappy with the result, the officiating and the conduct of San Jose's players, David Beckham attempted to fight everyone after the final whistle.

Things got off to an eventful start with a goal by Steven Lenhart just seven minutes into the game. Marvin Chavez, who had an excellent game, set up the chance with a swerving long shot that Josh Saunders couldn't handle. He made a save, but tipped the ball right to Lenhart, who poked home for the Quakes' opener.

Beckham equalized in the 31st minute with an absolutely brilliant free kick, scored in classic Beckham fashion. Mike Magee set up the opportunity by drawing a foul on the edge of the penalty area, and Beckham made the most of that chance with a perfectly curled free kick that got over the wall, then dipped down and beat Jon Busch at the near post.

This was the point at which things got completely out of hand. Over the next five minutes, Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez had possibly the worst five minute period that a central defender has ever had. He added to LA's lead in the 36th minute with a bad own goal, turning a Hector Jimenez cross into his own net. Five minutes later, he gave the ball away with a terrible pass in his own penalty area, which led to a goal by Landon Donovan to make it 3-1 in favor of the Galazy.

Just before first half stoppage time, Victor Bernardez got his team back into the game and completely altered the contest's momentum with a brilliant goal on a free kick, his first in MLS. Assisted by Marvin Chavez, he showed some surprising skill with his feet by placing a great half-volley shot into the back of the net at the far post to cut the Galaxy's lead to one.

At one point during the first have, Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch took a shot to the eye. As the half wore on, the area around his left eye began to look darker and darker, to go along with some swelling that looked like it caused his eye to shut completely. He was substituted at halftime and sat on the sidelines in street clothes with his eye covered in the second half.

Instantly, right out of the locker room, the Quakes found a shocking equalizer. The Galaxy defense completely fell apart on a long ball by Steven Beitashour, while Juninho failed to track Sam Cronin's run from midfield. Cronin was left with a surprisingly easy finish on the edge of the penalty area to tie the match up at 3-3.

Former MLS Golden Boot winner and current scoring leader Chris Wondolowski netted his 14th goal of the year in impressive fashion, turning a cross into the back of the net with a stellar backheel to restore his team's lead and complete a two-goal comeback. Despite the wide-open nature of the game and the terrible play of both defenses, this somehow ended up as the final goal of the game and the eventual match-winner.

The closing minutes were absolutely bonkers, with LA creating a number of chances but never finding an equalizer. They managed to hit the crossbar on one occasion, with Chad Barrett miraculously failing to turn in the rebound when he looked certain to score. Eventually, frustrations got the better of Beckham, who was booked for kicking a ball at the referee and Sam Cronin, who was down on the ground and, in the eyes of Beckham, time wasting.

After the final whistle blew, signalling San Jose's 4-3 victory, Beckham confronted various San Jose players and refused to be restrained by his teammates. He didn't throw any punches or kicks, but his actions were unprofessional enough that he could face a suspension from the league office. Additionally, the yellow card he was shown triggered an automatic selection, and he will be unavailable for next week's game against the Chicago Fire.

Houston Dynamo Vs. Philadelphia Union, 2012 MLS: Brian Ching Wins It From The Spot

The Philadelphia Union had begun to turn things around, but Brian Ching sent them a strong message on Saturday night at BBVA Compass Stadium. The veteran drew a penalty then converted it in the 83rd minute to lead the Houston Dynamo to a 2-1 win and tell the Union, "slow your roll".

Boniek Garcia, Houston's new Designated Player, made his debut count when he helped create the Dynamo's first goal. The Honduran got free down the wing and fed Macoumba Kandji, who found Brad Davis for the finish. 20 minutes in and Houston were 1-0 up, a lead they deserved with a strong first half.

That first half lead only lasted 36 seconds into the second half, though. Keon Daniel ripped a shot from 20 yards that stunned Tally Hall. The Houston goalkeeper hardly moved until the ball was by him and in the goal for the equalizer.

It looked like that equalizer would hold up and force the teams to split the points, but then Ching came off of the bench and made his impact. He got into the box, where Gabriel Farfan pushed him a bit, but it was enough to knock Ching over and give Houston a penalty. Ching stepped to the spot and knocked it home, delivering the Dynamo a key win and slowing the formerly hot Union.

Columbus Crew Vs. Real Salt Lake, 2012 MLS: RSL Look Horrible In 2-0 Loss

Before we get any further let's say this -- congratulations to the Columbus Crew. They played well and certainly deserved to get three points. Well done.

With that out of the way, let's get to what really stood out on Saturday night -- Real Salt Lake are in a free fall. What not long ago was considered by just about everyone to be the best team in MLS looked dreadful in a 2-0 loss to the Crew at Crew Stadium.

Tony Tchani scored the opener for the Crew when Emilio Renteria torched RSL down the wing and crossed for an unmarked Tchani in the middle. Columbus then doubled their lead when a corner kick was allowed to fall in the box before Josh Williams gathered and crossed for Eddie Gaven to double the Crew's lead.

It was a lot of basic things for Salt Lake, who weren't marking Crew players, weren't clearing balls in their own box, forgot to track runners on the wings and then struggled to complete simple passes going forward. The Crew did well and got their points, but the real question now is what is going on with RSL.

With the loss, Salt Lake has now lost three straight. It started with them going 2-0 up on the Galaxy, but they blew that lead, then the Earthquakes beat them last week. Now the Crew have topped them and RSL needs to take a look in the mirror and figure some things out.

Colorado Rapids Vs. Portland Timbers, 2012 MLS: Timbers Road Woes Continue

The Portland Timbers are winless away from JELD-WEN Field this season and a trip to Dicks Sporting Goods Park on Saturday sure wasn't going to cure their road ills. The Colorado Rapids absolutely destroyed the Timbers, getting goals from Jaime Castrillon, Conor Casey and Jamie Smith to lead them to a comfortable 3-0 win on Saturday evening.

Hunter Freeman did much of the work on the first goal, getting up the right and creating space to cross. He found Castrillon in the center, who needed just one touch to redirect the ball on goal for the opening tally. A mere five minutes later, the lead was doubled by Casey, who somehow managed to get away from two defenders to give the home side a 2-0 lead going into halftime.

The Timbers didn't manage much of anything all match. At no point was Colorado in trouble, while Portland were fending off Rapids attacks all match. Finally in the 90th minute, Smith, who was making his return from a torn ACL, got free for a simple tap in to cap a commanding performance by the Rapids as the Timbers' road woes continued.

New England Revolution Vs. Seattle Sounders, 2012 MLS: Diego Fagundez Salves Point At Death

Diego Fagundez was able to get open for a free header at the game's dying moments as the New England Revolution pulled out a 2-2 tie with the Seattle Sounders on Saturday. It was the second straight game in which the Revolution pulled out a point with a stoppage-time goal and the eighth straight game the Sounders have failed to win.

Up until Fagundez's goal, the Sounders seemed poised to finally end their franchise-record winless streak. Eddie Johnson scored a pair of first-half goals -- giving him seven for the season -- and the Sounders appeared to have the break they needed when Alvaro Fernandez seemed to get fouled deep in Revolution territory with just seconds left to play. But the referee's call went the other direction, giving the Revolution one last gasp to get the ball up the field.

Fernando Cardenas was able to send in a cross that found Fagundez in the middle of three Sounders defenders, but with a clean look on goal. Saer Sene had scored the Revolution's first goal off a Blake Brettschneider assist to give the Revolution an early lead. Sene appeared to be offside on the play.

D.C. United Vs. Montreal Impact, 2012 MLS: Black And Red Bounce Back With Win

The D.C. United defense struggled in a loss to their traditional and table-topping rivals New York Red Bulls, but they bounced back with a dominant performance this week in a 3-0 win over the Montreal Impact. Montreal only managed one shot on target and 39 percent possession in a very poor performance.

Montreal almost hung on to a scoreless draw heading into halftime after an uneventful first 45 minutes, but they were taken apart by a spectacular run by Chris Pontius. The D.C. winger put his team up heading into the break with a spectacular weaving dribbling run through multiple Impact defenders, followed by a simple finish past Evan Bush.

Robbie Russell doubled D.C.'s lead in the 50th minute with a diving header on a free kick by Branko Boskovic. They were able to go into cruise control for the remainder of the match after that, but added another goal for good measure late in the game. Hamdi Salihi put an exclamation point on the win in stoppage time, cleaning up a rebound following a Bush save on a shot by Nick DeLeon.

Toronto FC Vs. New York Red Bulls, 2012 MLS: Reds Continue Turnaround With Draw

Uh oh, someone woke up Toronto FC. After doing their mightiest to come up with new and creative ways to embarrass themselves each and every week early in the season, the Reds have figured things out and are now not just picking up results, but doing so against very good teams. The latest team to meet the new and improved TFC was the New York Red Bulls and they couldn't top the Reds either, settling for a 1-1 draw at BMO Field.

The scoring came right at the beginning of the match with New York getting on the board just four minutes in. Brandon Barklage found Jan Gunnar Solli on the left and the lackadaisical Toronto defense gave the Norwegian too much space. Solli gladly took the space and beat Milos Kocic to put the visitors in front.

New York would only lead for two minutes, though. Danny Koevermans continued his hot streak when he was left in the middle of the box for a simple headed finish of a Torstein Frings cross. It leveled the match at 1-1 and gave Koevermans seven goals in his last seven matches.

The rest of the match went Toronto's way. They pressured and created chances, most notably when Wilman Conde was forced to clear a ball off the line after Ryan Meara was beat. New York only had one other great chance, when Kenny Cooper hit the post, and Toronto had several, especially late. But chances or not, no more goals came.

After starting the season with nine straight losses, Toronto has now taken at least a point from four of their past five matches. They are not anywhere near New York, who sit atop the Eastern Conference on 31 points, but it is a hell of a lot better than there they were not too long ago.

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Sporting Kansas City Vs. Chicago Fire, 2012 MLS: Marco Pappa, Sean Johnson Star in Fire Win

Marco Pappa's goal proved to be enough for the Chicago Fire on Friday night at Livestrong Sporting Park, but that was only because of Sean Johnson. The young Fire goalkeeper made a slew of tremendous saves to keep Sporting Kansas City off of the scoreboard and deliver the visiting Fire a valuable 1-0 win.

The Fire's game plan from the beginning was to defend in numbers and counterattack, and it worked perfectly, but only thanks to Johnson. The goalkeeper turned away Kei Kamara and Aurelien Collin in the first half to keep Sporting off of the board at halftime.

In the 56th minute, Chicago broke through. Their counterattack saw Pappa in the middle, where he pushed the Sporting defense back before feeding Chris Rolfe on the left. Rolfe then passed back to Pappa, who smartly finished, and the visitors were ahead.

Once down a goal, Kansas City turned the pressure on. They poured forward and created chance after chance. Johnson was forced into a fine save of Kamara 15 minutes from time and the last five minutes and stoppage time brought more chances. Some of those chances were wasted by Sporting, who missed the frame on a few occasions, but even when they were on target, Johnson was there. He made a good save on Soony Saad in stoppage time and then one more on Kamara just before the final whistle.

In the end, Sporting outshot the Fire 22-7, but it didn't matter. Pappa had the goal and Johnson was tremendous to lead Chicago to a win.

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