Seattle Sounders have had a week of sucker punches

When you've had a difficult week, it's possible that the last person you want to see flailing his way towards you is Steven Lenhart. And when you think that you've actually ended that week on a surprise upbeat note, it must just add insult to injury when Lenny pops up with yet another injury time goal to sucker punch you just before the final bell.

In the 91st minute of injury time, Seattle looked to have beaten San Jose at their own game, by scoring a late, late equalizer through Fredy Montero, to silence Buck Shaw stadium. It had been a draining week for Seattle - having won three consecutive US Open Cup titles, they were denied a fourth on penalties at Sporting KC, in a shootout that included a controversial retaken penalty, after Gspurning was adjudged to have come off his line to save Nagamura's 4th penalty. Had the save stood it would have tilted the shootout Seattle's way for the last two penalties - but Johnson missed his final kick in the wake of the incident and the Sounders' remarkable Cup run was over, on an emotional night at Livestrong Park.

So it must have felt like a cathartic moment when Montero pounced to tie up the scores on Saturday night. He had had a terribly subdued Cup final and started this game on the bench, as did the exhausted Johnson and the playmaker Rosales. But with San Jose leading 1-0 through a second half Dawkins goal, all three were thrown on by Sigi Schmid, in search of an equalizer, and his bold move looked to have got its reward, as Montero played San Jose at their own late show game.

They should have waited a minute. There was still time for a stung San Jose team to maraud upfield and pick up a couple of corners, the second of which was met by the head of Lenhart to secure yet another late result for San Jose and deliver yet another sucker punch to Seattle.

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Lenhart is one of those players who seems to both invite and deny description - for this week's attempt I'll just say that watching him go up for that ball in slo-mo must have provoked the same reaction on the Seattle bench as seeing a dog that has jumped in the lake arrive back among a linen-clad picnic, to shake himself dry: "Lenny! Nooooooooooooo..."

He's just being Lenhart. But Seattle could have done without seeing him, and San Jose, at the end of a tough week.

Sporting's celebrations continue

The past week will live long in the memory of Sporting Kansas City fans.

After clinching their first piece of silverware since 2004 on Wednesday – the shootout win over Seattle at a raucous LiveStrong Sporting Park captured the 2012 US Open Cup – they also returned to the summit of the Eastern conference on Saturday night.

Facing a long time leader of the East (D.C. United) straight after going 120 minutes in a grueling and emotional cup final victory in front of your own fans wasn't ideal for SKC. But they thoroughly deserved the three points, as a celebratory mood reverberated around LSP all night long.

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Teal Bunbury headed Graham Zusi's corner home for the opener but DC hit back in the first half with Andy Najar's run and pass finished off at the back post by Nick DeLeon. But Zusi proved the hero for SKC, smashing home the winner just after the hour mark. Zusi shone on Saturday. He set up the first – a league leading tenth assist of the season – scored the winner and hit the woodwork twice. His energetic display came after going the distance on Wednesday versus Seattle, proving his immense appetite for success across the board.

The University of Maryland product hasn't had it all his own way this season - after starting the season in the same sensational fashion he displayed in 2011, Zusi's form had petered off of late. Initially called up to Jurgen Klinsmann's national team camp in June, he was then omitted from the squad for the US friendlies against Scotland, Canada and Brazil. That seemed to knock his confidence, and it was no coincidence that as Zusi's form nosedived, so did Sporting's. After winning their opening seven games of the season, Sporting hit an inconsistent run. But things are once again looking rosy in that part of the Midwest. And with Bunbury's return to form – notching two goals in his last two games – coupled with Zusi at his creative best, that sparks trouble for the rest of the league. The latter manages to find pockets of space in wide areas, and between opposition midfield and defenses, with ease - and Sporting hope to thrive on that.

Now back on top of the pack clambering for the Eastern conference, Sporting will have their work cut out to stay there. They face New York twice and Houston once, in their next five games, signifying a pivotal stretch that'll go a long way to deciding who clinches the conference crown. Having the wizardry of Zusi on tap could well be the determining factor that tips the scales in Sporting KC's favor.

As for New York and Houston, second and third behind SKC respectively, they cancelled each other out over the last week, with New York's 2-0 win on Friday night at Red Bull Arena avenging last Friday's 2-0 loss to the Dynamo at BBVA. JPW

Real Salt Lake can't maintain traction, Vancouver Whitecaps gaining it

This has been a difficult couple of months for Real Salt Lake, who by their own high standards, and those of Jason Kreis, look curiously vulnerable. The Rio Tinto is not the fortress it once was, and while several of the veterans at the core of a great side are still there and producing, there remains the sense that at times the project has been running on fumes this year. At any given time you know that Saborio or Espindola are likely to burst out and have one of those unplayable games (and Saborio was unlucky to glance a brave attempt off the post with the score at 0-0 on Saturday), but yesterday's game with Vancouver was symptomatic of a growing trend with RSL, where they fall behind and can't get back into the game.

It's easy to forget that earlier in the season we were briefly talking about RSL rather than San Jose as the team you could never put away, but you wonder how much of that was due to a residual mindset from a team that was already beginning to break up (in that peculiar inevitability that eventually forces even a steadily built MLS team to cycle in younger, cheaper players, due to the salary cap). The 2-1 defeat to Vancouver was Real's second straight loss. They'll probably win next week - they're still a good side and can demonstrably beat anyone in the league on their day. But it's hard to see how they're going to be going into the play-offs with momentum at this point, as opposed to say Houston, San Jose, LA, or even their hosts in Saturday's game, Vancouver.

Martin Rennie may have wanted to swap notes with Kreis yesterday. Rennie's in the upswing stage of his team's cycle - players like Robson, Miller and Dane Richards (scorer of a classy second on Saturday) are joining an already overhauled blend animated by the rookie striker Darren Mattocks - and the Whitecaps look to be getting stronger and stronger. Rennie has driven them to resolute home form in particular, after inheriting a side who'd had an uninspiring expansion year - thus also inheriting a mandate for change. As things stand they'll be a threat in the run-in and play-offs, but what will be fascinating is watching how Rennie juggles this side over the next couple of years - as salary cap demands meet the need to continually develop and introduce young players to his system.

Kreis is still an exemplar of how to do this, and if this is a transition year, it's worth remembering that second in the overall standings is the envy of most of those at full tilt behind his team. But with Champions League fixtures kicking in now, an already stretched squad may continue to struggle to maintain what traction they have. They're 5 points behind San Jose now, with Vancouver and Seattle a further 5 points back and now the Galaxy lurking a mere point behind those two. The West is tightening GP

Donovan is the King of the SuperClasico

If your going to win the SuperClasico, you might as well win it in style. The LA Galaxy dismantled Chivas USA on Sunday night, drubbing The Goats 4-0 courtesy of an inspired performance from captain Landon Donovan. It was the perfect way to bounce back after a 4-0 loss of their own, after their lopsided loss to Seattle last time out. The Galaxy certainly displayed character, to reaffirm their playoff credentials after the defeat at CenturyLink Field.

Assisting on all four goals on Sunday, Donovan now leads the league in assists and has 9 goals and 12 assists in 21 SuperClasico matchups. Donovan was at his creative best, but Chivas gave him far too much time to wreak havoc. The Goats are having a much better season in 2012 and boasted the league's best defense before the derby, but now their faint playoff hopes look to be on the brink. They have four games in hand of their fierce rivals but sit ten points behind LA, who occupy the final postseason berth.

It was the Galaxy's fifth straight SuperClasico series win, and they've now won the title seven times out of eight. The king of the SuperClasico, Donovan, moved fourth all-time in MLS assists (105), but was keen to point out the superb play of his teammates in the blowout win:

"Our team was great tonight, and when we defend that way, it makes my job really easy. I don't have to do a lot of defending. I can focus on things that I'm good at, and when I had the ball, guys made good runs, intelligent runs. They wanted the ball. They wanted to score, so it made it really easy."

On the night LA sparkled; they went 1-0 up after Donovan set up Keane as the duo combined to tear open Chivas' defense, but the second took a long time coming as Dan Kennedy stood on his head in goal for the Rojiblancos. However Donovan soon delivered twice for Brazilian Juninho to finish with aplomb, before whipping in a corner seven minutes from time that Omar Gonzalez headed home for his first goal since 2011, after recovering from an ACL tear.

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LA now sit just one point behind Seattle and Vancouver in the West, who are third and fourth respectively. They still have David Beckham to return, as his duty at the London 2012 games came to a close. That shows the depth LA now have at their disposal, after superb performances from other midfielders Marcelo Sarvas and two-goal hero Juninho.

But the night belonged to Donovan, who now travels to Mexico City to play in a "friendly" for the USA at the Azteca. Donovan travels South of the Border in fine form, with his side now having lost just once in their last seven league games. His involvement for Jurgen Klinsmann's side means he will miss LA's emotional league game with Columbus on Wednesday. In Sunday night's game, the Galaxy honored the late Crew midfielder Kirk Urso with armbands bearing his name and number 15. JPW

Columbus Crew and Toronto FC honor Kirk Urso

Yesterday Columbus Crew were due to face their northern rivals Toronto FC in the first game since the sudden death of young midfielder Kirk Urso last weekend. As the weekend approached, a somber Crew organization tried to rally themselves for what would inevitably be a very difficult day for the family, friends and colleagues of the young player - promising to give their all in the game as a tribute to the player's own commitment and enthusiasm for the game.

Then at the end of the week, when it became apparent that Urso's funeral was taking place this weekend, Toronto agreed to postpone the game to allow the Columbus players to attend the ceremony, and honor their team mate alongside his family and friends. It was the right decision - there's always an argument for what someone "would have wanted", but in this case it felt like a weight that this particular sporting occasion was not designed to bear. Better to pause.

As it turned out, Toronto's gesture allowed for a very specific type of respect to be paid between rival fans - writing in the comments section of our weekend preview Ben Hoelzel, of the main Columbus supporters group, Crew Union, said:

On behalf of Crew supporters, I would like to say that this a very class gesture by the Toronto organization (which already has a congested schedule with CCL play). And the TFC fans and Crew supporters that usually have a go at each other on the online forums leading up to these games have shown nothing but class and respect. Yes there is some rivalry there, but there are some things more important than sport. So, thank you to those TFC supporters that have shown some true class this week in the wake of this tragedy.

There's not much to add to that, but Joe and I would like to again wish all strength to the Urso family, Kirk's friends, and all at the Crew organization, at this difficult time. GP

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