MLS Weekly Review - Weekend Round 4

     Again, with midweek action in the Champions League stealing much of my attention and time there was no chance to put together a proper weekly review.

     Topics to be discussed would have included: Coming out parties for a pair of young stars in the making – Nick DeLeon and Darlington Nagbe – who each put in fine performances for their respective clubs this weekend; the Crisis in LA as the Galaxy fall unexpectedly to New England in a shocking first fifteen minutes; Kansas City, San Jose, and Colorado continuing their strong early season form; the match of the weekend in Portland where the Timbers went toe-to-toe with Real Salt Lake; and the uneventful scoreless draw in Philadelphia against the Whitecaps and the Union.

     Some points of interest that came up over the weekend: Mark Geiger – following his performance against Montreal in Columbus – was replaced at the last minute in Portland, catching out the commentators who were unaware of the change; the Timbers retro inspired kits; the Revolution's Cardenas trying to hand his substitution card to Kyle Martino in the NBC broadcast; and apparently each club has been given the right to appeal two refereeing decisions over the course of the season.

     The last point is particularly interesting as this is the first mention of such a change. Later in the week another story emerged as the league announced retrospective suspensions and fines for players making dangerous tackles and for bring the game into disrepute – ie. Diving, play acting, etc.

     A troublesome can of worms to open, but good on the league for attempting something different.

     POV-FS will be out on the road this weekend for the Montreal-Toronto match on Saturday, so next week's review may be affected as well.

DC v Dallas 4-1; Toronto v Columbus 0-1; New York v Montreal 5-2; Philadelphia v Vancouver 0-0; Portland v Salt Lake 2-3; Seattle v San Jose 0-1; Los Angeles v New England 1-3; Colorado v Chicago 2-0; Chivas v Kansas City 0-1.