3 Good, 3 Bad - Week Four

Debut strikes, historic goals, red cards and the curse of a former England international, find out who were the real winners and losers this weekend.

Flying high:

1) Robbie Earnshaw’s back with a bang

He is the only man to have scored a hat-trick internationally, in the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and in all three tiers of the Football League – and he’s at it again.

Jumping for joy after opening his Vancouver account

The diminutive Welshman was only on the field for five minutes but in that time he still managed to bag the winner for his new side the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Having only signed for fellow Welshman Carl Robinsion on the Wednesday, the former Cardiff City striker took very little time to repay that faith.

This isn’t a new phenomenon for the 33-year-old however, having also netted on his debut for Chicago Fire and twice on his home bow for Toronto FC.

2) Orlando’s deadly duo

While Kaka’s reputation precedes him, his midfield partner in crime Pedro Ribeiro is a somewhat lesser known talent but not after this weekend’s display.

The two combined with devastating effect, turning round a two-goal deficit in the space of just one minute and 22 seconds to rescue a point for Orlando.

Ribeiro was fed by the former AC Milan superstar before returning the favour, as City maintain their unbeaten start and both make our All-Stars team of the week.

Red Bulls hit their 1,000 goal

3) Red Bulls join 1,000 club

New York Red Bulls became just the fifth franchise to score 1,000 MLS goals after Mike Grella’s historic contribution in their weekend win over Columbus Crew.

Venezuelan international Giovanni Savarese got the Red Bulls going on April 13 1996, scoring for MetroStars as they were then known.

And Grella has ensured his name will go down in folklore, with his side joining LA Galaxy (1,222), D.C. United (1,182), FC Dallas (1,040) and Columbus (1,010) in an illustrious club.

In the pits:

1) Seattle flounders

Seattle have taken one point from their past two games – worrying when you consider they have played the majority of these with a man advantage.

Last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners played 38minutes a man up in their 3-2 defeat to San Jose and a massive 72minutes this weekend against a ten-man FC Dallas.

However, they scored just once during this period and failed to register a single shot on target against Dallas in the absence of Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins.

New York fell to their 1st defeat as Lampard watched on

2) Frank’s bad omen

Expansion franchise New York City FC were unbeaten in their first three MLS games, until Frank Lampard came to town.

New York’s incoming star flew out to watch his teammates in action against Sporting Kansas City during the Premier League’s international break.

In an ominous sign for NYCFC fans the Man City midfielder’s arrival coincided with his new side’s first defeat – is this a sign of things to come...

3) Hot head Fred

Philadelphia Union coach Jim Curtin turned to Fred in the 67^th minute of their 1-0 defeat to Chicago, 5 minutes later he was taking an early bath.

The attacking midfielder was brought on to inspire a Union comeback but his mindless swipe at Harry Shipp in the 72^nd minute only served to curtail a Philadelphia fightback.

As it is Union remain winless but at least Fred maintained MLS’s crazy record of three red cards a week in 2015.

Images courtesy of Rich Lam, Jeff Zelevansky and The Sport Review, with thanks