By Ridge Mahoney

Teenager Freddy Adu gets the attention but veteran Jaime Moreno leads D.C. past the defending champs, 2-1; Andreas Herzog and Jovan Kirovski score in their Galaxy debuts as they beat the Revs, 3-2; Metros rally on the road to thump the Crew, 3-1; the Fire and Wizards finish goalless; and the Rapids and Burn net one apiece.

BEST GOALS: A thunderous strike by Kirovski from the edge of the box turned out to be the gamewinner for the Galaxy, but when degree-of-difficulty are factored in, two other goals also stand out.

Jay Heaps equalized for New England at 1-1 with a nearly impossible shot from just inside the corner of the goal area. On a feed from Jose Cancela, Heaps pivoted inside Danny Califf and crashed a shot into the far top corner.

John Wolyniec grabbed the Metros' second goal by reaching back with his left foot to convert a low Mark Lisi cross after starting the sequence by knocking a ball to Eddie Gaven while being dumped on the ground.

BEST ASSIST: Arturo Torres set up the Galaxy's first goal by taking a pass from Herzog, slipping past Joey Franchino and gliding down the left flank before crossing a ball Carlos Ruiz chested into the net.

STAT: Ruiz's goal was his 40th in 53 regular-season games.

DAY OF THE DEBUTS: Freddy Adu came on as a sub for Eskandarian in the 61st minute and neither did he dazzle nor disappoint. At 14 years of age he shatters the mark of youngest MLS player set by teammate Santino Quaranta at 16 years and 207 days three seasons ago.

Moreno, back in D.C. after an injury-plagued 2003 season with the MetroStars, scored and assisted on Eskandarian's gamewinner.

Also making his first appearance for D.C. in a league match was Brian Carroll. He went the full 90 as a holding midfielder alongside Dema Kovalenko.

Herzog played a lively, skillful game as the Galaxy's conductor. His long-distance serving is impressive, he covers a lot of ground, and he can tackle. He also scored a goal with a left-footed, low shot that snuck past keeper Adin Brown.

Kirovski's game was rather quiet. Torres, Herzog, Ruiz and Sasha Victorine carried most of the attacks, but when Victorine skated into the middle and found Kirovski wide-open just outside the box, he stepped up to smash a right-footed blast that Brown — screened by defender Daouda Kante — flailed at too late.

Colorado's Haitian striker Jean-Philipe Peguero got an assist by heading down a Mark Chung cross for John Spencer to score the Rapids' goal. Peguero also took two shots, both of which were on target.

Finnish midfielder Simo Valakari, whose visa was approved just last week, got to know his teammates by playing the entire game.

GOALIE WARS: Scott Garlick of Dallas and Joe Cannon of Colorado came out even with a 1-1 tie in their first league meeting since Garlick was traded to make room for Cannon in the offseason. Cannon had six saves as Dallas outshot the Rapids, 20-5.

STAT: The tie in Dallas extends the Rapids' record of never having won an opening game. They are 0-7-2.

MLS: Week 1 Game Summaries

April 3 in Washington D.C.
DC UNITED (1-0-0, 3 pts) 2 SAN JOSE (0-1-0, 0 pts) 1.
Goals: Moreno (Stewart) 12, Eskandarian (Moreno) 39; Ekelund pen. 19.
Att.: 24,603.

April 3 in Columbus
COLUMBUS (0-1-0, 0 pts) 1 METROSTARS (1-0-0, 3 pts) 3.
Goals: Hejduk 30; Magee (Lisi) 40, Wolyniec (Lisi, Gaven) 52, Guevara 88.
Att.: 20,356.

April 3 in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY (0-0-1, 1 pt) 0 CHICAGO (0-0-1, 1 pt) 0.
Att.: 20,229.

April 3 in Dallas
DALLAS 1 (0-0-1, 1 pt) COLORADO (0-0-1, 1 pt) 1.
Goals: Rhine pen. 75; Spencer (Peguero, Chung) 36.
Att.: 7,359.

April 3 in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (1-0-0, 3 pts) 3 NEW ENGLAND (0-1-0, 0 pts) 2.
Goals: Ruiz (Torres) 30, Herzog (Ruiz) 59, Kirovski (Victorine) 69; Heaps (Cancela) 48, Noonan 68.
Att.: 25,152.