Timbers hit rock bottom in Dallas

FRISCO, Texas    ●   FC Dallas hadn’t won at home in seven matches while Portland hadn’t won on the road all season. Most likely, something had to give on Saturday night in Frisco.

And give it did.  In a big way for Dallas, as the hosts heaped more road misery on Portland in a 5-0 win on. It’s the second time in three games that Portland has allowed five goals while for FC Dallas it’s the first time they’ve scored more than twice in a match all season.

Jackson was the main threat for Dallas on the night, notching a goal and posting two assists, while playmaker David Ferreira had two assists in his best performance since returning from injury.

An own goal from Hanyer Mosquera, plus goals from Andrew Jacobson, Scott Sealy, and Ruben Luna rounded out the scoring for Dallas.

On the other side, the Timbers set a new MLS record for goal-scoring futility on the road, having now gone 697 minutes since scoring away from JELD-WEN Field.

Perhaps the biggest story of the night heading into the match was the absence of Brek Shea, left off the gameday roster after his verbal altercation with Schellas Hyndman on Wednesday.

But Shea was forgotten in the 16th minute, when Ferreira sprayed a fantastic ball out to Jair Benitez. The Colombian, who missed a potential game-tying penalty kick in the dying moments of Wednesday’s match at San Jose, sent in a low, hard cross that Mosquera was unlucky to deflect past goalkeeper Troy Perkins to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.

FCD doubled their advantage soon after. Ferreira played another fantastic ball, this time to Zach Loyd on the right side. Midfielder Andrew Jacobson ran onto Loyd’s lay-off and blasted a shot past Perkins from outside the box to give FCD their first two-goal lead in a first half this season.

Things didn’t improve for Portland in the second half as Ferreira kept up his man-of-the-match performance. The 2010 MLS MVP fed Jackson and the Brazilian midfielder beat two Timbers before sending in a shot that deflected off Futty Danso and into the Portland goal in the 48th minute.

Sealy got into the act for Dallas in the 69th minute, played through on goal by Jackson. The Trinidad and Tobago international made no mistake with his shot, slipping it past Perkins for his first goal since October 18, 2008.

The rout was complete in the 81st minute, when homegrown forward Ruben Luna scored his second career goal from a Jackson cross.

After Saturday’s 5-0  there’s no telling exactly how much farther the Timbers will fall.

The Timbers set a new MLS record for the most road minutes without a goal, now having gone 697 minutes since scoring away from JELD-WEN Field. The last time the Timbers scored on the road was April 14 in a 3-1 loss to the LA Galaxy.

“What is there to say? Humiliated,” Timbers interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson said. “I think we quit tonight.”

“I don’t think tactics lost us the game,” Wilkinson said. “It’s not me isolating the players. I’m in it with them, so I’m very careful about what I say there. But we are embarrassed tonight. We found a way to lose the game, scored an own goal, and then dug a deeper hole and didn’t track runners. You can’t tactically allow for players to not track runners. They’ve got a job to do. It’s up to us collectively to get the jobs done. But this is unacceptable, completely unacceptable.”

In three games since Spencer was fired, the Timbers are 0-3-0 and have been outscored 11-3. They’re now the sole occupants of last place in the Western Conference with 19 points from 20 games.

“I feel humiliated,” Wilkinson said. “I feel terrible for the organization. We talk about how great our fan support is. We had a group of fans that traveled tonight, and I apologize to them. And that’s me and the organization apologizing. It’s important that we readdress the situation.”

LA Galaxy 3, Chivas USA 1

Landon Donovan scored twice to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 3-1 victory over Chivas USA on Saturday night.

Robbie Keane got his fifth goal in the last four games to help the Galaxy (9-10-3) win for the sixth time in nine games since returning from a three-week break in June. Donovan has seven goals and Keane six in that span.

Paolo Cardozo scored his first MLS goal in the 52nd minute for Chivas (6-8-5), which lost for the second time in 10 league matches.

Beckham’s three-game goal-scoring streak ended, but he had assists on the first two goals.

Columbus Crew 1, DC United 0

Chris Birchall scored in the 46th minute to help Columbus end a two-game skid.

Birchall, in his sixth game after being signed in May following three seasons with Los Angeles, ran past the D.C. line to take a leading ball from Jairo Arrieta. Birchall dribbled down the left side and scored from 10 yards out with his left foot for his first goal with the Crew (7-7-4).

Columbus goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum made three saves for his seventh shutout.

United (10-7-3) missed a chance to tie the match in the 88th minute when Chris Korb struck the left post with his 18-yarder.

New York Red Bulls 2, Philadelphia Union 0

Kenny Cooper headed in two goals, scoring for the first time since May 23, to lead New York.

The Red Bulls (11-5-5) remained undefeated at home this season, improving to 7-0-3. New York is the lone MLS team without a loss at home.

Cooper, who did not start Wednesday’s game against Chicago, scored off a pass from rookie Connor Lade in the 43rd minute, then added another header off a fine feed from Thierry Henry in the 58th minute. Cooper has 13 goals this season, four behind San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski for the MLS lead.

Philadelphia (6-10-2) played without forward Freddy Adu, who did not accompany the Union to New Jersey for what interim coach John Hackworth called a “team matter.”

Houston Dynamo 3, Montreal Impact 0

Macoumba Kandji scored twice to help extend Houston’s unbeaten streak to six games.

Bobby Boswell also scored to help the Dynamo (9-5-7) win their third straight and move into third place in the Eastern Coference. Kandji had his first two-goal game since Oct. 24, 2009, when he was playing for New York.

Montreal (7-13-3) has lost two of three and five of its last seven.

Sporting Kansas City 0, New England Revolution 0

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen made four saves for his league-leading ninth shutout of the season.

Sporting (11-6-4) moved one point behind first-place New York in the Eastern Conference. Nielsen’s shutout moved him one ahead of Vancouver’s Joe Cannon.

Matt Reis earned his fourth shutout for New England (6-9-5), which is just 1-7-2 on the road.

Real Salt Lake 2, Colorado Rapids 0

Alvaro Saborio and Will Johnson both scored and Real Salt Lake beat Colorado.

Salt Lake (12-7-3) won its second straight at home to bounce back from a 5-0 loss at San Jose a week earlier.

Colorado (7-13-1) lost its fifth straight and is winless in its last eight meetings against Salt Lake.