By Will Kuhns & Mike Woitalla

WELCOME BACK, LANDON: After being away more than a month on national team duty, Landon Donovan celebrated his return to the Quakes with the winning goal in San Jose's 1-0 victory of Kansas City. Keeper Tony Meola saved Donovan's first attempt before he knocked in the rebound.

WELCOME BACK, DIEGO: A day after Los Angeles announced its acquisition of Diego Serna, from New England for two draft choices, the Colombian drew a penalty kick and scored in a 3-1 win over Columbus.

The five-year MLS veteran, who scored 54 goals and 40 assists for for Miami Fusion, the MetroStars and New England Revolution before suffering a knee injury, had been playing for Independiente Medellin of the Colombian First Division before his deal with Los Angeles went through.

GOLAZO I. Carlos Ruiz, who earlier had scored from the penalty spot, gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead over Columbus on a spectacular bicycle kick. He connected with Cobi Jones' cross after Jones stole the ball in Columbus territory.

GOLAZO II. Chicago rookie Damani Ralph dribbled 50 yards down the sideline, juked MetroStars defender Steve Jolley and nailed a shot into the far corner of the goal from a seemingly impossible angle for Chicago's goal in a 1-1 tie with the MetroStars.

BEST MISS: Taylor Twellman went one-against-two in the 82nd minute against D.C. and powerfully shed Bryan Namoff and Brandon Prideaux before striking a shot that hit the right post, rolled along the goal line and hit the left post before United goalkeeper Nick Rimando smothered it.

(NOT) SEEING RED: New England defender Jay Heaps did not know that referee Kevin Stott had ejected him along with D.C.'s Bobby Convey in the 52nd minute of United's

''I never even saw him show me the red card,'' Heaps said. ''One of [United's] players told me I was out. … I did absolutely nothing.''

Video replays were inconclusive, but Revolution coach Steve Nicol backed up Heaps' claim of innocence by saying, ''It's just scandalous, absolutely scandalous that he got sent off. … He never did anything — we'll see what the referee puts down on his sheet.''

Stott's statement to the media said that Convey was ejected for kicking a player after the ball was out of play and Heaps for attempting to kick a player after the ball was out of play.

Convey had a third version of what happened:

''We were tussling for the ball, and Jay [Heaps] kicked me in the stomach,'' Convey told The Washington Times. ''I just retaliated and kicked back.''

New England is filing a protest not about Heaps' ejection, but about Stott's leniency in dealing with fouls by Galin Ivanov (who earned one yellow card) and goal scorer Dema Kovalenko.

ROMPIN RAPIDS: Colorado, which started the season in pathetic form, beat Dallas, 2-0, to extend its winning streak to five games. Only the MetroStars, in April-May, have won five straight in 2003. The win over Dallas extended the Rapids' home winning streak to a league-best seven.

CREW CRISES: Los Angeles' 3-1 win over the Columbus, a preseason favorite for the MLS title, gives the Crew a 0-3-2 win-loss-tie record in its last five games, during which it has mustered just three goals. The Crew is in last place of the Eastern Conference and only Western Conference cellar team Dallas (13 points) is worse off than the Crew (20 points).