The most anticipated match of the 2011 MLS season so far occurred on the weekend. Glamour clubs LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls battled it out at The Home Depot Center on Saturday night with both teams coming away with a single point after the 1-1 draw.
It was an entertaining contest between two very good sides who managed to remain top of their respective conferences with the result.
Former Arsenal and Barcelona star Thierry Henry opened up the scoring for the Red Bulls in just the fourth minute when he received a neat through ball from Dane Richards, controlling with a lovely first touch and then angling it past Donovan Ricketts to make it 1-0.
Galaxy striker Juan Pablo Angel had the ball in the back of the net against his former club in the 25th minute when he headed home Landon Donovan's left-footed cross from the right but has was adjudged to be off-side, however, the Galaxy responded just over 15 minutes later when captain Donovan powered home a header from a pinpoint David Beckham to tie it up.
LA now have a record of 4-4-2 from their 10 matches and are one point clear at the top in the West whilst New York have won four and drawn three from their eight outings and are two points clear in the West.
There were a distinct lack of goals in other MLS Week 8 matches, with Portland Timbers edging Philadelphia Union 1-0 which is the same scoreline produced by Real Salt Lake against nine-man Chivas USA.
The match which yielded the largest amount of goals was the 2-1 victory by Toronto FC over Houston Dynamo but the remaining four matches produced just two goals which were scored in the 1-1 draw between Columbus Crew and Seattle Sounders.
The fixtures played between New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids, DC United and FC Dallas and Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps were all scoreless draws.
2011 MLS season - Week 8 scores
Portland Timbers: 1 (Mamadou Danso 72') Philadelphia Union: 0 JELD-WEN Field, Portland, OR - 18,627
Real Salt Lake: 1 (Will Johnson 87') Chivas USA: (red cards - Andy Boyens 25', Marcos Mondaini 38') Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT - 14,365
Toronto FC: 2 (Joao Plata (p) 50', Maicon Santos 81') Houston Dynamo: 1 (Lovel Palmer 87') BMO Field, Toronto, ON - 20,259
New England Revolution: 0 Colorado Rapids: 0 Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA - 11,755
Columbus Crew: 1 (Emilio Renteria (p) 67') Seattle Sounders: 1 (Fredy Montero 7') Crew Stadium, Columbus, OH - 7,148
DC United: 0 FC Dallas: 0 RFK Stadium, Washington, DC - 11,504
Chicago Fire: 0 Vancouver Whitecaps: 0 Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL - 11,680
LA Galaxy: 1 (Landon Donovan 41') New York Red Bulls: 1 (Thierry Henry 4') Home Depot Center, Carson, CA - 27,000
