To start things out, what happened to L.A. and where did this San Jose team come from? Everyone acknowledged that San Jose had basically put together a new team, but no one was really sure how well they would perform together this ealy in the season.
Another interesting thing is that San Jose took a win out of L.A. and did it without some of their "big" signings.
Landon Donovan, who is nursing sore ribs, entered the match in the 73rd minute. San Jose scored all three of their goals in the first half and L.A. tried to field a comeback in the second half, but feel short with two goals scored. Their first round draft pick, Chris Carrieri, did not play in the match.
In their first win of the 2001 season Tampa Bay's Carlos Valderrama had two assists in the Mutiny's 4-2 defeat over the Dallas Burn. Jorge Rodriguez had both goals for Dallas.
In a match that went down to the wire the Metrostars won their first season opener ever with a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution. The score was 0-0 at the end of the first half, but both teams took it up a notch in the second half. Clint Mathis was the first to score for the Metros in the 61st minute, but Leonel Alvarez tied it back up just 12 minutes later. Finally in stoppage time, Adolfo Valencia gave the Metro stars the win.
In another fresh, young team surprise, the DC United hosted the defending MLS Cup championship and came away with a 3-2 win. Roy Lassiter opened the scoring for the Wizards, but Bobby Convey responded for the United. Matt McKeon then scored for KC to put them back in the lead. Raul Diaz Arce then brought DC back even and then finally DC rookie Mark Lisi scored the game winner in the 88th minute.
In what must have been a disheartening loss for Colorado, the Miami Fusion came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Rapids 2-1 in front of their home crowd. Both Fusion goals came from their off-season aquisition Alex Pineda Chacon, both in the second half.
In the nationally televised match of the weekend, the Columbus Crew hosted a very strong Chicago Fire. The Fire dominated the match and scored in the 16th minute at the foot of John Wolyniec, who then almost immediately earned a yellow card for sliding into Tom Presthus. In the 69th minute Dante Washington tied up the game for good when he redirected a ball into the Fire net.
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