QUARTERFINALS, first leg
CHICAGO 0 DC UNITED 0
Oct. 21 in Chicago
Yellow cards: Chicago – Brown 24; D.C. United – Kovalenko 26, Quaranta 31,
Carroll 47.
Referee: Brian Hall.
Att.: 11,493
The Fire's apparent winning goal in the 90th minute was disallowed for a mysterious pushing foul and a slide tackle by Jim Curtin in the penalty area tripped Jaime Moreno but no PK was called. D.C., forced to juggle its lineup when Ben Olsen was a late scratch because of a strained calf, survived several scares caused by Nick Rimando bobbles and clever interplay between Chris Rolfe and Thiago.
REPORT CARD
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
CHICAGO
Starters
5 Thornton
5 Brown
6 Curtin
5 Segares
5 Guerrero
4 Pause
5 Armas
6 Marsch
5 Mapp
6 Thiago
6 Rolfe
Subs:
5 Barrett
NR Jaqua
D.C. UNITED
Starters:
4 Rimando
6 Erpen
4 Prideaux
5 Wilson
5 Kovalenko
5 Namoff
5 Carroll
3 Gomez
4 Gros
4 Quaranta
4 Moreno
Sub:
NR Walker
METROSTARS 1 NEW ENGLAND 0.
Oct. 22 in East Rutherford, N.J.
Goal: Guevara (Djorkaeff, Stammler) 34.
Yellow cards: MetroStars – Stammler 41, Djorkaeff 74; New England – Joseph 43.
Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela
Att.: 10,003.
The MetroStars, which snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season, controlled most of the play against the Western Conference winner. In a relatively uneventful game, sparks were provided Youri Djorkaeff and Amado Guevara, who hit the winner on a low, 26-yard drive.
REPORT CARD
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
METROSTARS
Starters:
5 Meola
5 J.Hernandez
6 Mendes
6 Agoos
5 Gaven
5 Lisi
8 Guevara
5 Bradley
6 Stammler
7 Djorkaeff
6 Galvan Rey
NEW ENGLAND
Starters
5 Reis
5 Heaps
5 Parkhurst
5 Franchino
4 Ralston
4 Dempsey
4 D.Hernandez
5 Joseph
4 Leonard
5 Twellman
4 Noonan
Subs:
nr Smith
COLORADO 0 DALLAS 0
Oct. 22 in Denver
Yellow cards: Colorado — Beckerman 29; Dallas — Jolley 65, O'Brien 74.
Referee: Michael Kennedy.
Att.: 9,625
Dallas and the Rapids served up a snoozer for the sparse Mile High crowd. Six shots hit the frame in a game that saw each team leave its leading scorer – Colorado's Jeff Cunningham and Dallas' Carlos Ruiz – on the bench until the second half.
REPORT CARD
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
COLORADO
Starters
5 Cannon
5 Cullen
5 Petke
4 Denton
4 Cooke
4 Beckerman
5 Mastroeni
5 Nkong
5 Ben Dayan
5 Kirovski
5 Peguero
Subs:
nr Cunningham
DALLAS
Starters:
6 Garlick
5 Goodson
5 Jolley
5 Vanney
5 Gbandi
4 Rhine
4 Valakari
4 Wilson
5 O'Brien
6 Mina
5 Nunez
Subs:
5 Carlos Ruiz
4 Carey Talleyá
nr Drew Moorá
LOS ANGELES 3 SAN JOSE 1
Oct. 23 in Carson, Calif.
Goals: Gomez 13, Donovan 39, Donovan (Jones, Albright) 87; Clark 68.
Yellow cards: Los Angeles – Nagamura 33, Dunivant 68, Albright 71, Gomez 79; San Jose – Barrett 12, Clark 26, Robinson 63.
Referee: Abiodun Okulaja.
Att.: 17,466
The Quakes came out flat on both sides of the ball, and gave up first-half goals on a Herculez Gomez free kick through the defensive wall and a scuffed clearance that bounced off a defender right to Landon Donovan. Briefly in the second half San Jose regained its rhythm but then surrendered a crushing third goal late when Donovan ran onto a long ball.
REPORT CARD
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
LOS ANGELES
Starters:
5 Hartman
6 Albright
5 Chinchilla
6 Ihemelu
6 Dunivant
5 Jones
nr Saragosa
6 Vagenas
6 Grabavoy
8 Donovan
7 Gomez
Subs:
6 Nagamura
nr Naldo
SAN JOSE
Starters
5 Onstad
5 Gray
4 Califf
3 Robinson
4 Barrett
4 Mullan
5 Clark
4 De Rosario
5 Chung
3 Cerritos
4 Ching
Subs:
nr O'Rourke
4 Moreno