WINNERS & LOSERS: Buddle hits double; low crowds for openers

Columbus forward EDSON BUDDLE scored twice in the Crew's 3-0 win over Los Angeles, redirecting crosses with his head and his foot past rooted keeper Kevin Hartman.

Four players notched goals for MLS clubs they joined for the 2005 season: RICHARD MULROONEY (Dallas), JEFF CUNNINGHAM (Colorado), ANTE RAZOV (Columbus) and RONALD CERRITOS (San Jose).

Chances that Fulham will still be an English Premier League team when it plays in the MLS All-Star Game this summer increased thanks to a 3-1 win over Portsmouth. American striker BRIAN McBRIDE notched Fulham's go-ahead goal, anticipating a defender's headed back pass and volleying home on the turn for his first league goal of the season. Fulham is six points above the relegation zone.

Losers:

An early kickoff, inclement weather and franchise insecurity contributed to low OPENING DAY CROWDS. Less than one tenth of the 12,657 ticket holders arrived for the MetroStars' game in a rainstorm with gusts up to 50 mph. About half the 14,358 ticket holders showed for Columbus' game in mid-30s temperature. Kansas City drew 13,484 after surpassing the 20,000 mark the past two seasons. And Chivas USA's announced crowd of 18,493 for its noon kickoff at the Home Depot Center was the lowest ever for an MLS expansion franchise's inaugural game.

The LOS ANGELES GALAXY, in the wake of trading Carlos Ruiz, its leading scorer of the past three seasons, fell meekly to the Columbus Crew, 3-0. Landon Donovan, the reason for Ruiz's move to Dallas, sat out with the flu.

Bad luck once again struck MLS ON TV when the death of Pope John Paul II moved Chivas USA's opening game (a 2-0 loss to D.C. United) from ABC to ESPN. Last season, the Chicago Fire's game against D.C. United was bumped off ESPN2 to make way for women's basketball, which was moved from ABC for coverage of Ronald Reagan's death. ABC's telecast of the 1999 MLS All-Star was preempted for coverage of the plane crash that took the life John F. Kennedy Jr.