Three points slip away from Union
SOMEHOW the Union, with just two wins in its last 11 MLS games, stays near the top of the league's Eastern Conference standings.
SOMEHOW the Union, with just two wins in its last 11 MLS games, stays near the top of the league's Eastern Conference standings.
Saturday night's 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo, before 18,524 at PPL Park in Chester, gave the Union a 2-2-7 league record, good for 13 points, since a 6-2 rout of Toronto on May 31.
But the overall point 33-point total (from an 8-5-9 record) has the Union in second place in the East, one point behind the Columbus Crew.
Jack McInerney scored in the game's 15th minute Saturday, but Houston got the tying goal from Geoff Cameron in the 84th.
"I think frustration and disappointment are the two biggest feelings we have right now," said assistant coach John Hackworth, who again ran the team from the touchline with manager Peter Nowak's back problems again keeping him off the field. "We feel we deserved three points in that game."
The Union will be back at PPL Park on Saturday night when it hosts FC Dallas, currently in second place in the Western Conference, at 8 o'clock.
U.S. roster change
Add Columbus Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers to the U.S. team for Wednesday's game with Mexico at Lincoln Financial Field.
Neither of the rosters are as significant as the game's main attraction, which will be Jurgen Klinsmann's debut as coach of the Americans.
Mexico's roster will include 10 players who were on the field for the Gold Cup final in July, when Mexico downed the United States, 4-2, at the Rose Bowl.
But the Mexicans will be without their biggest star, Javier Hernadez. "Chicharito" is sitting out the first 3 weeks of England's Premier League, including Manchester United's 3-2 Community Shield win over Manchester City yesterday, due to a concussion suffered during United's tour of the United States last month.
Indy ties for first
Lianne Sanderson, who scored 51 goals in 36 games during the 2007-08 season with Arsenal's women's team in London, scored her third goal of this season in extra time to give the Independence a 2-1 win over Sky Blue FC last night at Piscataway, N.J.
Natasha Kai opened the scoring in the game's 17th minute, her ninth goal of the season, but Sky Blue's Aluko tied the score in the 24th minute.
The win left the Independence (11-3-3) in a first-place tie with Western New York, each with 36 points. Those two teams have clinched playoff berths, which no other team has done with 1 week remaining in the WPS regular season.