MLS Sunday: Penedo saves the day for Galaxy

Panamanian keeper Jaime Penedo, who began the season on the bench, had the game of his MLS career, stopping 10 shots to help the defending champion LA Galaxy hold off the Seattle Sounders, 1-0, and get out of the Western Conference basement. The Portland Timbers have struggled at home but rarely put on a performance as poor as they did in falling to Orlando City, 2-0.

Both the Galaxy and Sounders were missing injured stars -- Robbie Keane and Clint Dempsey -- but the game produced plenty of chances as the teams combined for 30 shots. Alan Gordon, starting in place of Keane, had the game's only goal.

The Portland Timbers have struggled at home but rarely put on as poor a performance as they did in falling to Orlando City, 2-0.

No. 1 draft pick Cyle Larin scored his first goal for Orlando, and Kaka converted a late penalty kick after Diego Chara was called for encroachment on the first attempt saved by Adam Kwarasey.

MLS, Week 6 Results:
Sunday, April 12
Portland 0 Orlando City 2. Highlights
30 ORL – Cyle Larin (Kevin Molino) 30
84 ORL – Kaka pen.

LA Galaxy 1 Seattle 0. Highlights
23 LA -- Alan Gordon (Omar Gonzalez, Juninho)
Att.: 27,000.

Saturday, April 11
D.C. United 2 NY Red Bulls 2. Highlights
26 DC -- Perry Kitchen (Taylor Kemp) 26
67 DC -- Perry Kitchen (Chris Rolfe) 67
68 NY -- Damien Perrinelle (Felipe) 68
90 NY -- Lloyd Sam 90
Att.: 16,304.

Sporting KC 0 Real Salt Lake 0. Highlights
Att.: 20,087.

Houston 3 Montreal 0. Highlights
15 HOU -- Giles Barnes (Brad Davis)
72 HOU -- Ricardo Clark (Rob Lovejoy)
80 HOU -- Rob Lovejoy
Att.: 18,924.

San Jose 1 Vancouver 0. Highlights
75 SJ -- Sanna Nyassi
Red Cards:
80 SJ -- Adam Jahn
80 VAN -- Pedro Morales
Att: 18,000.

New England 0 Columbus 0. Highlights
Att.: 13,092.

Philadelphia 2 New York City 1. Highlights
27 PHL -- Zach Pfeffer (Eric Ayuk Mbu, Sebastien Le Toux)
55 NYC -- David Villa
90'+2 PHL -- Vincent Nogueira
Att.: 18,603.

Friday, April 10

FC Dallas 0 Colorado 4.  Highlights
2 COL -- Dominique Badji (Dillon Powers)
43 COL -- Dillon Powers (Marcelo Sarvas)
70 COL -- Gabriel Torres (Juan Ramirez)
85 COL -- Dillon Serna (Gabriel Torres)
Att.: 12,979.

Saturday night ...

After two straight weeks when D.C. United stole wins thanks to stoppage-time goals by Chris Pontius and Luis Silva, it blew a two-goal lead against the New York Red Bulls, surrendering goals to Damien Perrinelle in the 68th minute, a minute after it took a 2-0 lead, and to Lloyd Sam in the 90th minute when keeper Bill Hamid couldn't handle a free kick, allowing the Englishman an easy tap-in.




-- The San Jose Earthquakes ended the Vancouver Whitecaps' five-game unbeaten streak with a 1-0 win on Saturday thanks to Sanna Nyassi's goal in the 75th minute.

INJURY REPORT. Sporting Kansas City's 0-0 tie with Real Salt Lake was marred by a leg injury to Ike Opara, who had been outstanding so far in his season with Sporting KC as a full-time starter.

Opara, who had scored two goals in the first five MLS games from his position at center back, exited in the 82nd minute with an injury to his left leg. An injury to his right ankle required surgery and kept him out most of the 2014 season. Sporting KC's confidence in Opara was one of the reasons it parted with Aurelien Collin.

Saturday afternoon ...

Last Sunday, the Philadelphia Union blew it in stoppage time, turning a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 defeat at Sporting Kansas City. On Saturday, it finally got its first win of the season when Frenchman Vincent Nogueira scored the stoppage-time winner for a 2-1 victory over New York City FC.

Zach Pfeffer, a U.S. U-20 candidate, also scored for the Union, which was winless in five games with three straight defeats through Week 5.

John McCarthy, the 2014 USL PRO Rookie of the Year, earned the win in his MLS start, making three saves in place of Algerian international Rais Mbolhi, who was dropped after the SKC loss.

The Union was also playing without injured Fernando Aristeguieta, who had come into the game with three of Philadelphia's five goals, and his replacement up front, Sebastien Le Toux, had to exit in the 67th minute after slicing his arm.

-- New England and Columbus played to a 0-0 tie in Jermaine Jones' first start of the season for the Revs.

Friday night ...

So long to that 18-game winless streak. And bye-bye to that scoreless streak that reached 602 minutes. How could it have been? For one night, at least, the Colorado Rapids looked unstoppable, crushing FC Dallas, 4-0, for their first win -- and first goals -- of the 2015 season.

It began with rookie Dominique Badji's goal in the second minute and ended with Dillon Serna's golazo with five minutes to play. Dillon Powers and Gabriel Torres both added a goal and an assist.

Suspended head coach Pablo Mastroeni watched from a luxury box, and Claudio Lopez served as interim boss on the bench.



MLS, Week 6 Results:
Wednesday, April 8
Vancouver 2 Columbus 2. Highlights
24 CLB – Kei Kamara (Ethan Finlay) 24
31 VAN – Octavio Rivero (Darren Mattocks) 31
50 CLB – Kei Kamara (Justin Meram) 50
64 VAN – Darren Mattocks (Kekuta Manneh, Pa Modou Kah)
Att.: 18,083.

MLS Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
PTS TEAM W-L-T GF/GA
10 D.C. United 3-1-1 5/4
8 NY Red Bulls
2-0-2 7/4
8 Orlando City
2-2-2 6/5
8 New England 2-2-2 4/6
6 Chicago 2-3-0 5/7
5 Columbus
1-2-2 5/5
--------------------------------------
5 New York City 1-2-2 4/4
5 Philadelphia 1-3-2 7/10
3 Toronto FC
1-3-0 6/8
2 Montreal 0-2-2 2/6

WESTERN CONFERENCE

PTS TEAM W-L-T GF/GA
13 Vancouver 4-2-1 9/7
10 FC Dallas 3-2-1 7/8
9 Real Salt Lake 2-0-3 6/4
9 San Jose
3-3-0 7/7
9 Sporting KC 2-1-3 6/6
8 Houston
2-2-2 5/3
--------------------------------------

8 LA Galaxy 2-2-2 6/6
7 Seattle 2-2-1 6/4
6 Colorado
1-1-3 4/2
6 Portland 1-2-3 6/6

Leading MLS Scorers:
G PLAYER (TEAM)
5+1 Octavio Rivero (Vancouver)
3+2 Kei Kamara
(Columbus)
3+1 Kaka
(Orlando City)
3+1 Lloyd Sam
(NY Red Bulls)
3
Fernando Aristeguieta
(Philadelphia)
3 Obafemi Martins (Seattle)
3 Blas Perez (FC Dallas)
3 Clint Dempsey (Seattle)
3 Fanendo Adi (Portland)
3 Chris Wondolowski (San Jose)

Week 7:
Thursday, April 16
New York City vs. Philadelphia, 7 pm
Friday, April 17
NY Red Bulls vs. San Jose, 7 pm UniMas
Saturday, April 18
Montreal vs. Chicago, 3 pm (postponed until Sept. 23)
D.C. United vs. Houston, 7 pm
Columbus vs. Orlando, 7:30 pm
FC Dallas vs. Toronto FC, 8:30 pm
Colorado vs. Seattle, 9 pm
Real Salt Lake vs. Vancouver, 9:30 pm
LA Galaxy vs. Sporting KC, 10:30 pm
Sunday, April 19
Philadelphia vs. New England, 5 pm ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
New York City vs. Portland, 7 pm Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes
Note: All times ET.

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