MLS roundup: D.C. United, Montreal Impact clinch playoff berths
WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrick Mullins had a goal and an assist and D.C. United clinched a third consecutive MLS Cup playoff appearance with a 3-1 victory over New York City FC on Sunday.
Bobby Boswell and Rob Vincent added goals to help United (11-9-13) win its fourth straight. City (14-10-9) was eliminated from the Supporters' Shield race and fell three points behind the New York Red Bulls for the top seed in the East.
United opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Lloyd Sam sent in a low cross and Luciano Acosta deflected it through to Mullins for the finish. Boswell headed home Sam's corner in the 31st and Vincent capitalized on a defensive miscue in the 45th.
David Villa scored for NYCFC on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute—his 22nd of the season. But he dropped a goal behind Bradley Wright-Phillips in the Golden Boot standings after Wright-Phillips added two goals to his tally Sunday.
FC Dallas 2, Sounders 1
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Carlos Ruiz stabbed home Mauro Diaz's flick pass in the 89th minute and FC Dallas moved to the top of the Supporters' Shield table with a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Sunday.
FC Dallas (17-8-8) moved two points ahead of the Colorado Rapids and eliminated the New York Red Bulls from contention with a game to go. The Sounders (13-14-6) would have clinched a playoff berth with a win and remain in contention with Real Salt Lake, Sporting KC and the Portland Timbers for the final three playoff spots.
Bob Bradley’s Swansea debut, Man City’s disappointing draw headline EPL play
Maximiliano Urruti tied it for FCD in the 79th minute, smashing home a rebound from Matt Hedges' close-range attempt.
Nicolas Lodeiro slipped a free kick between FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz and the inside post to open the scoring for Seattle in the 41st minute. It came five minutes after the Sounders' Herculez Gomez had a goal disallowed due to an offside call.
Galaxy 1, Dynamo 0
HOUSTON (AP) — Alan Gordon scored in the 72nd minute and the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Houston Dynamo 1-0 on Sunday to clinch a home game in the knockout round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
The Galaxy (12-6-15) are locked into the No. 3 seed in the West a week ahead of the regular-season finale. Houston (7-14-12) remained in last place in the Western Conference.
In the buildup to Gordon's goal, Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis made a diving save of Mike Magee's shot attempt but failed to secure it. David Horst awkwardly attempted to poke the loose ball safely away but Gordon swooped in and blocked it back into the net.
Impact 2, Toronto FC 2
MONTREAL (AP) — Tosaint Ricketts scored in the 87th minute to give Toronto FC a 2-2 tie with the Montreal Impact in the rain Sunday night.
The Impact clinched a playoff spot, and Toronto remained in contention for one of the top two Eastern Conference placings that would give it home-field advantage and a bye into the conference semifinals.
Jozy Altidore also scored for Toronto (13-9-11), which remained winless in five games (0-1-4). Ignacio Piatti scored twice for the Impact (11-10-12). They are unbeaten in three games.
Red Bulls 3, Crew 2
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Bradley Wright-Phillips scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season to break a tie for the Golden Boot lead and the New York Red Bulls beat the Columbus Crew 3-2 on Sunday.
New York (15-9-9) secured a bye in the knockout round after Toronto FC tied Montreal 2-2. Columbus (8-13-12) was eliminated from playoff contention Thursday.
New York broke it open with two goals in the first 13 minutes of the second half. Mike Grella scored on an open shot in the 53rd minute off a nice assist from Sacha Kljestan. Five minutes later, Wright-Phillips cut back his defender and rolled it through the legs of goalkeeper Brad Stuver from a difficult angle.
Watch: Arsenal's Walcott, Ozil spoil Bob Bradley's Swansea debut
Wright-Phillips added another in the 70th minute. Aurelien Collin had a glancing header of Kljestan's corner kick and Wright-Phillips was uncovered at the back post for an easy tap in.
Adam Jahn put Columbus on the board with a breakaway goal in the 73rd minute and Harrison Afful added another goal 10 minutes later with a chip shot. In the first half, Stuver made up for taking down Alex Muyl inside the penalty area by saving Kljestan's poorly placed penalty kick.
Timbers 1, Rapids 0
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Fanendo Adi scored on a penalty kick in the 35th minute and the Portland Timbers continued to fight for a playoff spot with a 1-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Sunday.
The defending MLS Cup champion Timbers won their fifth straight at home and pulled even in points with Sporting Kansas City for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Timbers were a point back of fifth-place Seattle.
Colorado (15-6-12) dropped to second in the conference standings behind Dallas while vying for the Supporters' Shield for the team with the best regular-season record.
The Timbers (12-13-8) have been winless on the road this season, which has hurt their playoff chances. But the result Sunday keeps them in the playoff race heading into the final game of the regular season next Sunday against the Whitecaps in Vancouver.
The Rapids wrap up the regular season at home next Sunday against the Houston Dynamo.
Adi's penalty kick was the result of a foul in the box on Vytautas Andriuskevicius. Three minutes later, Andriuskevicius drew another penalty but Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard stopped the shot and Adi missed a chance on the rebound.
Roundtable: Bob Bradley's career bests, expectations at Swansea City
Jack Jewsbury, who is retiring following the season, was captain for his 156th game with the Timbers, tied for fourth on the team's career list. He was honored before his final home game, and the sellout crowd at Providence Park chanted "Captain Jack!"
"I want to thank each and every one of you for what you bring to this. Look at this atmosphere we get to play in front of every single game. It's amazing," he said.
After the game went to the stand in front of the Timbers Army supporters' group to shakes hands and sin autographs.
Colorado was coming off a 2-1 victory over San Jose on Thursday night, snapping a 14-game winless streak over the Earthquakes. Kevin Doyle scored both goals in the Rapids' third straight victory.
The Timbers fell 1-0 to the Rapids on Oct. 1 in Colorado.
Real Salt Lake 0, Sporting KC 0
SANDY, Utah (AP) — Nick Rimando extended his MLS record with his 129th shutout and Real Salt Lake tied Sporting Kansas City 0-0 on Sunday night.
Real Salt Lake (12-11-10) leads a group of four teams for the final three playoff spots. Sporting KC (12-13-8), Seattle and Portland are all within one or two points of RSL with one week to go.
Joao Plata had three good scoring opportunities for RSL. He started a two-on-two counter attack in the 59th minute and one-touched Olmes Garcia's deflected cross but Tim Melia went low to block it. Plata raced to a chipped cross at the back post in the 79th but Melia denied him again. On the last play of the game, Plata had an open header but it went just wide.
Fire 2, Revolution 1
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — David Accam scored in the 80th minute and the Chicago Fire eliminated the New England Revolution from playoff contention with a 2-1 victory Sunday.
Chicago (7-16-10), already out of the playoff race, won for the first time since Sept. 3. New England (10-14-9) lost for just the second time in its last six games.
Michael de Leeuw opened the scoring in the ninth minute for Chicago. Brandon Vincent rolled a cross into the area and an open De Leeuw redirected it home at the near post. Accam scored his ninth goal of the season when he raced to Jonathan Campbell through ball and finished on a one-on-one opportunity.
New England tied it in the 43rd minute on Diego Fagundez's shot from distance.
There were two red cards in the second half. Luis Solignac was given a straight red for Chicago in the 54th minute after tripping London Woodberry with his studs up. In the 73rd minute, New England goalkeeper Brad Knighton was sent off for taking down Accam in a goal scoring opportunity.
City 2, Union 0
CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Carlos Rivas and Julio Baptista scored and Orlando City beat Philadelphia 2-0 to prevent an early playoff-clinching opportunity for the Union on Sunday.
With New England's 2-1 loss to Chicago on Sunday, the Union (11-13-9) needed only a tie to secure the final playoff spot.
Philadelphia maintained its three-point lead over New England in the standings and will host the East-leading New York Red Bulls on the final weekend of the regular season next Sunday. The Revolution host the Montreal Impact.
Watch: Lionel Messi scores minutes after return from injury
Rivas opened the scoring for Orlando (8-11-14) on a breakaway in the 59th minute. He collided with Union goalkeeper Andre Blake, who came off his line to challenge, and the ball caromed forward into the goal.
Baptista scored on another breakaway in the fifth minute of second-half, stoppage-time with his shot slipping through Blake's deflection.
Orlando City entered the match out of playoff contention.
Whitecaps 0, Earthquakes 0
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Paolo Tornaghi had a clean sheet in his first MLS start and the Vancouver Whitecaps tied the San Jose Earthquakes 0-0 on Sunday in a game with no playoff implications.
Both teams had already seen their postseason hopes vanish. Vancouver (9-15-9) had its winless streak extended to four games and San Jose (8-11-14) has only won once in its last 10 games.
Tornaghi came out of his area to block Simon Dawkins's shot from the corner of the 6-yard box in the seventh minute. Cordell Cato tried to curl a shot inside the far post in the ninth minute but Tornaghi dove to deflect it wide.
Vancouver forward Masato Kudo won a loose ball in the penalty area in the 54th minute but David Bingham deflected the open shot. Bingham blocked Kudo's shot in the 56th and Kudo's rebound attempt hit the crossbar.
It was the sixth straight draw in the series at San Jose, with the last win coming on April 6, 2012.
