The New York Red Bulls, who have three games in hand on Eastern Conference leader D.C. United, can take over first place with a win at home over Chicago on Friday night. Saturday’s six-game slate ishighlighted by the San Jose-Seattle match with big playoff implications for both teams and Didier Drogba‘s first trip to StubHub Center with Montreal to face LAGalaxy, which can regain the Supporters’ Shield and Western Conference lead with a win.
FRIDAY. The Red Bulls’ only loss in their last eightgames was a 3-2 defeat at Chicago on. Aug. 26. Fire speedsters Kennedy Igboananike, Patrick Nyarko and
MLS Schedule, Week 28:
Friday, September 11
NY Red Bulls vs. Chicago,7 pm UniMas
Saturday, September 12
Philadelphia vs. Columbus, 7 pm
Houston vs. Real Salt Lake, 8:30 pm
FC Dallas vs. New York City, 8:30pm
Colorado vs. D.C. United, 9 pm
San Jose vs. Seattle, 10:30 pm
LA Galaxy vs. Montreal, 10:30 pm
Sunday, September 13
Toronto FCvs. New England, 5 pm ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
Orlando City vs. Sporting KC, 7 pm Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes
All times ET.
SEATTLE’S SCHMID RETURNS. The Sounders will again have assistant coach Brian Schmetzer incharge on Saturday in San Jose as head coach Sigi Schmid, back at practice for the first time on Thursday since being hospitalized, remains in Seattle.
“On Saturday early morning,” Schmid told reporters upon his return to practice on Thursday, “I had a health issue that required me to go to the hospital and they kept me in the hospital untilTuesday. The details of it are for me and my family. But I’ve gotten the okay to go from here.”
He said he should be back on the bench for the Sounders’ Sept. 19 game againstVancouver.
ORLANDO’S WALKING WOUNDED. Depending on Saturday’s results, Orlando City could be in a position to climb back into the Eastern Conferenceplayoff zone when it hosts Sporting Kansas City on Sunday. But international duty was not kind on OCSC. Kaka was listed as day-to-day with a muscle strainthat kept him out of Brazil’s 4-1 win over the USA. To make matters worse, midfield linchpin Darwin Ceren suffered a knee injury in El Salvador’s World Cupqualifier against Curacao and his condition was uncertain.
“He has played 25 games for us so far this season, over 2,100 minutes, without any major issues or concerns,” said OrlandoCity general manager Paul McDonough of Kaka, who was making his first appearance with Brazil since moving to MLS. “To the contrary, he undergoes one trainingsession and match with the Brazilian national team and he is injured.”
Streaking …
New England, 6 games (WTWWWW)
*Plays Sunday.
WINLESS STREAK
Orlando City, 6 games (LTLLTL)
D.C. United, 3 games (LLL)
New York City, 3 games (TLL)
Sporting Kansas City snapped a three-game losing streak with a 0-0 draw at the Portland Timbersthat created a three-way tie for fourth place in the Western Conference. Sporting KC holds two games in hand on both the Seattle Sounders and Timbers. Between injury call-ups and suspensions, the twoteams were missing six players.
MLS Results, Week 28:
Wednesday, September 9
VAN: Octavio Rivero (Cristian Techera) 73
VAN:Cristian Techera (Kekuta Manneh) 77
Att.: 17,583.
Portland 2 Sporting KC 0.
Att.: 21,144.
MLS Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
PTS (GP) TEAM W-L-TGF/GA
44 (28) D.C. United 13-10-5 35/34
41 (28) Crew SC 11-9-8 45/47
40 (26) New England 11-9-7 38/36
37 (26) Toronto FC 11-11-4 45/44
————————————–
30(28) Philadelphia 8-14-6 35/45
29 (28) Orlando City 7-13-8 33/50
28 (27) New York City 7-13-738/46
27 (27) Chicago 7-14-6 34/42
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PTS (GP) TEAM W-L-T GF/GA
48 (28) Vancouver 15-10-3 40/28
46 (28)LA Galaxy 13-8-7 49/33
44 (26) FC Dallas 13-8-5 38/30
41 (28) Seattle 13-13-2 34/32
41 (26) Sporting KC 11-7-8 40/35
41 (28) Portland 11-9-8 29/32
————————————–
38 (27) San Jose 11-11-5 33/31
35 (27) Houston 9-10-8 35/34
32 (27) Real Salt Lake 8-11-8 29/40
Leading MLS Scorers:
G PLAYER (TEAM)
18 KeiKamara (Crew SC)
17 Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC)
15 David Villa (New York City)
15 Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)
13 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose)
11 Obafemi Martins (Seattle)
11 Cyle Larin (Orlando City)
10+1 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver)
10 Will Bruin (Houston)
10 Fanendo Adi (Portland)
MLS Schedule, Week 29:
Wednesday, September16
New York City vs. Toronto FC, 7:30 pm
New England vs. NY Red Bulls, 7:30 pm
Friday, September 18
Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas, 7pm UniMas
Saturday, September 19
Toronto FC vs. Colorado, 2 pm
Vancouver vs. Seattle, 7 pm
New York City vs. San Jose, 7 pm
D.C.United vs. Columbus, 7 pm
Montreal vs. New England, 8 pm
Chicago vs. Orlando, 8:30 pm
Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy, 9:30 pm
Sunday, September20
Portland vs. NY Red Bulls, 5 pm ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
Philadelphia vs. Houston, 7 pm Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes
All times ET.
Week 30:
Wednesday, September 23
Montreal vs. Chicago, 8 pm
Houston vs. Sporting KC, 8:30 pm
Friday, September 25
NY Red Bulls vs. Orlando, 7 pm UniMas
Saturday, September 26
Toronto FC vs.Chicago, 2 pm
Montreal vs. D.C. United, 5 pm
Columbus vs. Portland, 7:30 pm
New England vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 pm
Houston vs. Colorado, 8:30 pm
Vancouver vs. New YorkCity, 10 pm
Sunday, September 27
Sporting KC vs. Seattle, 5 pm ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
San Jose vs. Real Salt Lake, 7 pm Fox Sports 1, FoxDeportes
LA Galaxy vs. FC Dallas, 9:30 pm Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes
All times ET.