A first for Arena
NEW YORK 0 D.C. UNITED 0. A 0-0 tie and each team gets one point. That never happened during Bruce Arena‘s first stint as an MLS coach, when he headed D.C. United in 1996-98. Back then, there were no ties. Games like Arena’s first with the Red Bulls against his old team would have ended with a shootout. Arena, before his eight-year stint as U.S. coach, compiled a 61-35 win-loss record while winning two MLS Cups with D.C. United and setting it up for a third in 1999. On Wednesday, he notched his first MLS tie in front of an announced crowd 11,230 in Giants Stadium against a D.C. United team that sits alone at the top of the East standings, 21 points ahead of fourth-place New York.
Columbus remains worst of show
COLUMBUS 1 REAL SALT LAKE 2. Sebastian Rozental put Columbus ahead with a first-half penalty kick but second-half goals Chris Klein and Carey Talley earned Real Salt Lake a 2-1 win and its longest win streak (three games) in franchise history. The win also moves Salt Lake out of the West cellar, now occupied by defending champ Los Angeles. Columbus’ winless streak is now at 13 games and it has a league low 20 points. An announced a crowd 14,618 showed up for the Crew’s Buck-A-Brat Night.
Fire moves up again
CHICAGO 3 KANSAS CITY 0. The Chicago Fire ended a five-game winless streak and celebrated its biggest win in Toyota Park since moving into the new stadium in June. The win, in front of 14,239, also put Coach Dave Sarachan‘s team back in the playoff zone. Nate Jaqua, Chad Barrett and Justin Mapp scored for the Fire, which got two of its goals after the ejection of Kansas City’s Ryan Raybould, who received two yellow cards with in three minutes for the same offense (shirt-pulling).