Week 15 saw just five MLS fixtures but both expansion sides
made the most of their chance to make ground on their rivals.
Meanwhile the US Open Cup fourth round sprung an upset and
sent Seattle Sounders into the pits this time around.
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| Villa is City's top scorer in MLS with four |
Flying High...
1) New York, New York
New York City were enduring a tough introduction to MLS but
have now won back-to-back games for the first time and suddenly sit just three
points off the play-off spots.
David Villa, the side’s top scorer with four goals, inspired
the 3-1 victory against Montreal Impact that drew Jason Kreis’ team level with
Chicago Fire and Montreal.
The expansion side can now put their 11-match winless streak
behind them and focus on moving up the Eastern Conference – finishing in the
top 15 overall is now achievable.
2) Orlando magic
Another expansion side beginning to find their best form in
MLS, Orlando City find themselves third in the Eastern Conference following
their 1-0 win over first place DC United.
Adrian Heath’s men are unbeaten in four games and could
extend that run with favourable fixtures against Montreal and Colorado Rapids
coming up next.
Kaka is living up to his billing as the team’s orchestrator
while Cyle Larin is showing why he was the No.1 SuperDraft pick; making the
play-offs in their first season would be a great achievement.
3) Canada rising
The Canucks cruised into the third round of World Cup
qualifying by beating Dominica 6-0 on aggregate this week and have their
strongest team for years.
Back-to-back victories over Dominica took them to four
straight wins for the first time since 2009 and in Tesho Akindele and Larin they have a wildly exciting front two.
There are tougher tests to come in this summer’s CONCACAF
Gold Cup, while they could meet Patrick Kluivert’s Curacao in the World Cup
third qualifying round.
In the pits...
1) Seven in Seattle
Seattle’s hopes of securing a historic treble in 2015 are
over after they crashed out of the US Open Cup with only seven men against
Portland Timbers.
The Sounders reached extra-time with nine men but after
Portland opened up a 3-1 lead Micheal Azira and Clint Dempsey joined Brad Evans
in being shown red.
More worryingly for Seattle, Obafemi Martins was stretchered
off minutes after making the score 1-1 in the 79th minute – they will
hope to have the Nigerian back as soon as possible.
2) Dallas’ downer
FC Dallas led the Supporters’ Shield standings in the early
weeks of the season but since then an indifferent period of form has seen them
slip to fifth in the Western Conference.
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| Kamara's Crew are on the slide |
The Texans have gone five games since their last victory, a
2-1 win over LA Galaxy; in that period Dallas have scored once and conceded
nine times.
Their early season form means they are still in touch with
the leaders but Oscar Pareja’s team need to find form soon if they are to be in
contention going into the final weeks of the regular season.
3) Crew cooling off
Kei Kamara’s goals have dried up in recent weeks, he has
failed to score in his last three appearances and Columbus have failed to win a
game in that time.
In fact Crew’s winless streak stretches back six matches in
which time Gregg Berhalter’s side have conceded an average of two goals per
game.
They are holding on to the final play-off spot in the
Eastern Conference but face tough games against New England Revolution and New
York Red Bulls in the coming weeks – the slide may continue.
Images courtesy of Elsa and Jamie Sabau, with thanks.
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