Football Americana Week 16: World Cup star Donovan back in the groove

All the talk in Major League Soccer recently has been of designated players, with New York Red Bulls leading the way by signing a certain Frenchman to help establish them in a playoff spot. Their new star didn't feature in the week 16 games but will no doubt play a big part for the rest of 2010. Here's what happened for all those that did play.

Kansas City Wizards took three points home from an unexpected road win against Columbus Crew. The game was won on 14 minutes when Ryan Smith found Teal Bunbury in space in the right channel and he nutmegged the goalkeeper from the edge of the penalty area. Wizards goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen was inspired yet again.

The Crew returned to winning ways over the weekend by beating New York Red Bulls, sans Thierry Henry, to stay above them at the top of the East. Emilio Renteria sprung the offside trap to give Columbus the lead in the first half and Brian Carroll's shot from distance ended a spell of penalty box pinball to secure the victory. The home side lost a man late on when Frankie Hejduk saw red.

The Wizards were also in action again over the weekend, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Colorado Rapids. Davy Arnaud scored for the Wizards from a 20th minute one-on-one with Matt Pickens, but a well-taken equaliser by Conor Casey earned the Rapids a share of the spoils. Later on he really should've won it.

Seattle Sounders continued their good form at RFK Stadium with another win over DC United, who failed to score again despite creating the majority of the openings. All too often this season they've been punished for not getting on the scoresheet, and the Sounders stole the points in the 89th minute thanks to a header by Roger Levesque after an error by promising rookie full-back Jordan Graye.

DC suffered another home defeat on Sunday evening, this time against LA Galaxy. US international Edson Buddle, not for the first time this season, was quickest and deftest in a scramle and beat Troy Perkins too easily for 1-0. The talented Honduran teenager Andy Najar towered above the LA defence to head in the equaliser but USA hero Landon Donovan squeezed in a penalty winner after a clear handball.

It was a former Sounder who sealed a late win for Philadelphia Union, who beat Toronto FC 2-1 at PPL Park. All three goals came after the break, Michael Orozco putting the Union in front with a superb header only for Chad Barrett to equalise 20 minutes later. But it would be glory for the Union deep into stoppage time, when their expansion draft pick from Seattle, Sebastien Le Toux, found the net from the penalty spot.

At Pizza Hut Park, FC Dallas handed LA the advantage in the West by beating Real Salt Lake 2-0. RSL twice hit the woodwork before the FCD's exciting young forward Brek Shea pounced on Nick Rimando's parry to make it 1-0 in the 69th minute. Less than ten minutes later Atiba Harris doubled the lead from close range to send Dallas into third in the West.

That result meant that LA's win took them back into a nine-point lead over RSL at the top of the East. Dallas are now just five points behind Salt Lake, with the Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes right on their tail. In the West, Columbus' win over RBNY kept them at the top and Toronto are gaining ground in third. After two defeats in a matter of days DC United are now the worst team in the league again, picking up just 12 points from 17 games and scoring only 12 times. You can see those tables here and check out all the week 16 action here.