MLS wrap: Ill-discipline costs Vancouver, Sporting

Heroes turned to villains in losses for Sporting Kansas City and Vancouver in the MLS on Saturday, while newboys Portland remain pointless.

After romping to a 4-2 win over Canadian rivals Toronto FC in their first MLS game last Saturday, new franchise Vancouver were dumped back to earth after slipping to Philadelphia Union 1-0 at PPL Park.The game changed in the 57th minute when the Whitecaps’ French striker Eric Hassli – scorer of a double on debut against Toronto – received a second yellow card for a late tackle on Philadelphia defender Carlos Valdes.Veteran striker and former MLS Golden Boot winner Carlos Ruiz then scored the game’s only goal on 77 minutes to send the Whitecaps back to Canada with a loss.Hassli’s fate mirrored that of Omar Bravo, with the Mexico striker sent off in the 31st minute of Sporting’s 3-2 loss to the Chicago Fire.Bravo scored a double on his MLS debut in Round 1, but found himself making the wrong sort of headlines when he was forced to scramble back to defend a Sporting corner gone wrong and brought down Gaston Puerari in the penalty area as the last man.Diego Chaves put away the consequent penalty, with fellow Uruguayan striker Puerari adding a double. Kansas City replied with strikes from Matt Besler and Teal Bunbury.The Portland Timbers’ quest for their first ever MLS point continues after they were beaten 2-0 at Toronto, with Dutch striker Javier Martina scoring twice and the Canadian side surviving the late dismissal of Belgian midfielder Mikael Yourassowsky.Elsewhere, missing seven players due to injury and international call-ups and forced to turn to third-choice goalkeeper Alex Horwath, the New York Red Bulls pulled off a credible 0-0 draw at Columbus Crew.Former New York striker Juan Pablo Angel scored the first goal of his LA Galaxy career but it mattered little as his side lost 4-1 to Real Salt Lake, while New England edged DC United 2-1 at home after scoring two goals in the opening 16 minutes.American striker Chris Wondolowski struck a double in San Jose’s 2-0 win over Dallas.