NEW YORK CITY (CMC):Jamaica-born forward Omar Cummings scored a second-half item to help the Colorado Rapids open the new Major League Soccer season with a 4-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday in Commerce City in the American state of Colorado.
The 25-year-old Cummings, playing his second season for Colorado, scored the third goal for the Rapids, as the Rapids' midfielder Terry Cooke outshone fellow Englishman David Beckham.
Cooke put the Rapids into a first-half lead then goals from Christian Gomez (his first for Colorado), as well as Cummings and Colin Clark - with assistance from Cooke - sealed the victory.
The first half was a tightly contested back and forth affair, with both sides creating and spurning many good chances.
Both Cummings and Gomez came close to scoring, but they had to wait until the hour to add to their tally, when a con-troversial penalty was called on Galaxy defender Abel Xavier after bringing down Cummings in the penalty area, and Gomez hit the target.
Poor shooting
Seven minutes later, Cooke pushed a soft pass behind the Galaxy defenders and Cummings ran onto the ball, easily rounded the keeper and slotted his shot into the vacant net.
Clark sealed the result when he put the ball through Xavier's legs in the left side of the box and sliding the ball under Steve Cronin from inside the goal area at the left post.
In Frisco, Texas, Cuba-born substitute Maykel Galindo answered the call about six minutes from time to give Chivas FC a share of the points after Juan Toja gave FC Dallas the lead in the 21st minute on Sunday.
In Columbus, Ohio, Columbus Crew behind goals from Adam Moffat and Alejandro Moreno prevailed 2-0 over Toronto FC and a win in the first installment of the 'Trillium Cup'.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, a late bomb in injury time from Cuauhtemoc Blanco was enough to give the Chicago Fire a point on the road, coming back to snatch a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake.
In Foxborough, Massachusetts, Steve Ralston, Adam Cristman and Sainey Nyassi scored to give the New England Revolution a 3-0 victory against the Houston Dynamo in the team's first-ever season opener at Gillette Stadium.
