MLS roundup: FC Dallas tops Sporting KC to become last remaining unbeaten team
FRISCO, Texas - (AP) — Maynor Figueroa scored his first goal of the season and Jesse Gonzalez earned his 10th career shutout and FC Dallas defeated Sporting Kansas City 1-0 on Saturday night.
Dallas broke through in the 77th minute of the even match between teams that have now conceded just three goals apiece this season.
Michael Barrios drove the ball to the end line before crossing it left to the back post where the soaring Figueroa, who slipped his defender, got his head on it to beat Tim Melia.
Dallas (4-0-2) is now 6-0-5 in its last 11 regular-season home games with six clean sheets. Gonzalez made just one save as his defense blocked four shots. He now has three shutouts in four starts this season and 10 in 21 regular-season games over the past three seasons.
Melia had five saves for Kansas City (3-1-3).
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UNION 3, IMPACT 3
CHESTER, Pa. (AP) Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored his second goal of the game in the 87th minute, rallying the Montreal Impact to a 3-3 draw with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
Jackson-Hamel replaced Dominic Oduro in the 62nd minute and put away a rebound to tie it. Matteo Mancuso's shot from just outside the box had bounced off the arms of a diving Andre Blake. Jackson-Hamel tapped it in from the top of the 6-yard box.
Philadelphia (1-4-2) took a 3-0 lead on a penalty kick by Roland Alberg in the 39th minute, his second goal of the game. Alberg evaded a defender and beat Evan Bush from point- blank range in the opening minutes and C.J. Sapong's header made it 2-0 in the 23rd.
Ignacio Piatti sliced through three defenders before scoring just before halftime, and Jackson-Hamel's header pulled Montreal (2-2-3) within a goal in the 69th minute.
TIMBERS 2, WHITECAPS 1
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Darlington Nagbe scored a spectacular goal and Darren Mattocks added his first of the season as the Portland Timbers defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Nagbe's highlight reel strike came in the 18th minute, when he received a pass 30 yards from goal and danced away from two Vancouver defenders. Moving toward the penalty area, he shrugged off a challenge by Kendall Watson, who has an eight inch and 50 pound advantage. Nagbe finished the play by blasting a right-footed shot from 20 yards out over Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted and off the bottom of the crossbar for his second goal of the season.
Portland doubled their lead in the 39th minute, with Nagbe involved again. His threaded pass found Diego Valeri on the right wing, who then drove a cross into the Vancouver penalty area. Mattocks was racing into the area and met the cross, driving the ball past Ousted from 5 yards out and heaping more misery on his former team. Mattocks played for Vancouver from 2012-2015.
Vancouver got back into the game in the 59th minute, when Matias Laba was fouled in the Portland penalty area. Fredy Montero's penalty kick was blocked by Timbers goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, but Montero was first to the rebound and knocked it in for his fourth goal of the season. Attinella was making his first appearance for Portland, starting in place of Jake Gleeson, who was out due to a hip flexor injury.
Portland's win was marred by an apparent knee injury to star midfielder Valeri, who was stretchered off the field in the 80th minute.
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RED BULLS 2, COLUMBUS 0
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Luis Robles had two saves to earn his fourth shutout and Alex Muyl scored early to spark the New York Red Bulls to a 2-0 win over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night, leaving the teams tied atop the Eastern Conference standings.
The Red Bulls (4-3-1) are unbeaten in their last 18 regular-season home games, 15 of them wins and 12 shutouts, including four straight.
Robles went outside his box and met a streaking Justin Meram of Columbus (4-3-1), taking the shot off his face, with the ball deflecting out of play in the 38th minute. Early in the second half, Ola Kamara had a close-in shot that deflected off a defender's foot but Robles was there to snatch the ball away.
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ObalHorYJ4]
Muyl's second goal of the season, in the 11th minute came was he bodied down a centering pass from Kemar Lawrence and tapped it home as Zach Steffen fell trying to change directions. Daniel Royer scored on a penalty kick in the 38th minute.
ATLANTA 3, REAL SALT LAKE 1
SANDY, Utah (AP) — Brandon Vazquez scored his first MLS goal in the closing seconds of stoppage time to secure Atlanta United's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
It was the second road win for the expansion team—and their first against an established club. Atlanta (3-2-2) won at fellow expansion team Minnesota United in the second week.
It also marked the first loss for Salt Lake coach Mike Petke, who was 2-0 after replacing Jeff Cassar following the team's slow start.
Héctor Villalba scored his fourth goal in the 9th minute and Yamil Asad had his second in the 46th with Miguel Almirón, the third member of Atlanta's young, dynamic attackers figuring in both goals.
DYNAMO 2, EARTHQUAKES 0
HOUSTON (AP) — Erick Torres scored his MLS-leading seventh goal of the season and the Houston Dynamo beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 on Saturday.
Torres opened the scoring in the ninth minute, converting from the penalty spot after Fatai Alashe conceded a penalty against Alex Lima. Alberth Elis tapped in a corner kick—Houston's first of the match—by Eric Alexander in the 72nd. Elis, a 21-year old designated player, has three goals in seven career MLS games.
It was the third game in eight days for San Jose (2-3-3), which is winless in its last six after opening the season with back-to-back victories.
Joe Willis had two saves for his first shutout this season. It was his second consecutive start after Tyler Deric started the first five matches for the Dynamo (4-2-1).
Houston is unbeaten, and all of its four wins have come, at home.
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NEW ENGLAND 2, D.C. UNITED 2
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Revolution took advantage of an own goal early in the second half to earn a 2-2 draw with D.C. United on Saturday night.
D.C. conceded a corner kick in the 48th minute and Kelyn Rowe got two attempts. D.C. cleared the first one beyond the end line but on the second Antonio Mlinar Delamea put his head on the ball, directing it into defender Sean Franklin and deflecting past keeper Bill Hamid.
New England (2-3-3) opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Kei Kamara had a perfect cross to Lee Nguyen, who headed the ball down toward Hamid's feet, just squeezing it inside the post for his fourth goal.
D.C. (2-3-2), which had just four goals this season and had been shutout four times, scored twice in quick succession. Jared Jeffrey pounced on a ball New England failed to clear and hammered home a big shot past Cody Cooper from the top of the box. That came in the 26th and just two minutes later Sebastien Le Toux beat Cooper to the ball after a nice lead from Lloyd Sam and chipped the ball over Cooper. It was the first goals for both players.
