Saturday, March 29, 2008

Blanco scores in injury time, rallies Chicago for MLS season-opening 1-1 draw

Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored in the second minute of stoppage time to give the Chicago Fire a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday in both teams' Major League Soccer season opener.

Bakary Soumare's own-goal in the 71st minute gave Real Salt Lake the 1-0 lead. Real Salt Lake's Dema Kovalenko whipped the ball into the penalty area and Soumare's attempted clearance went past goalkeeper Jon Busch into the net.

Real Salt Lake nearly scored again in the 82nd minute, but Busch saved Kovalenko's volley off a corner kick.

Crew 2, Toronto FC 0

In Columbus, Ohio, Adam Moffat scored the first goal of the Major League Soccer season and then saved another ball off the line to lead Columbus.

The Crew's Brian Carroll knocked a long, arcing pass from midfield to Moffat, who deflected the ball in front of him with his chest and sent a blistering shot from 24 meters past goalkeeper Brian Edwards and inside the left goal post in the 26th minute.

Alejandro Moreno doubled the Crew's lead when he outran Toronto defender Marco Velez and met a pass from Eddie Gaven that left Moreno alone against Edwards. Moreno slotted his shot beneath the left arm of Edwards and inside the right post in the 76th minute.

Revolution 3, Dynamo 0

At Foxborough, Massachusetts, Steve Ralston and Adam Cristman scored first-half goals in a rematch of the last two MLS Cup finals, both won by Houston.

Sainey Nyassi scored in stoppage time and Matt Reis earned the shutout as the Revolution extended their regular-season unbeaten streak over Houston to five matches (2-0-3). The Dynamo, though, beat New England 2-1 in last year's championship match and 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie in 2006.

Ralston tapped in the rebound of Kenny Mansally's shot in the 15th minute. Cristman headed in a rebound of Jeff Larentowicz's drive in the 32nd minute.

Wizards 2, D.C. United 0

At Kansas City, Kansas, Argentine World Cup veteran Claudio Lopez and Colombian forward Ivan Trujillo scored second-half goals in their Major League Soccer debuts.

Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made three saves and extended his league record with his 68th career shutout.

Trujillo, who spent his first three professional seasons in Colombia, took a feed from Jack Jewsbury and made a sliding shot past D.C. keeper Zach Wells in the 47th minute. Michael Harrington set up the play with a long cross to Jewsbury, whose pass inside found Trujillo just outside the 6-yard box.

In the 61st minute, Lopez took a long pass from Ryan Pore at the top of the penalty area and chipped the ball over Wells, who deflected the shot but could not keep it out of the goal.