MLS Recap: LAFC Put Five Past Real Salt Lake, Sporting KC Earns Wild Win
SANDY, Utah (AP)—Diego Rossi scored two goals on Saturday and Los Angeles FC stayed undefeated as a franchise with a 5-1 rout of Real Salt Lake.
LAFC (2-0-0) secured the lead with a quick pair of first-half goals. Rossi evened it at 1-all in the 30th minute, slipping behind defender Demar Phillips, settling Marco Urena's pass and slotting a right-footed shot over Nick Rimando's outstretched leg. Latif Blessing made it 2-1 for LAFC in the 33rd, finishing a three-pass combo in the area with a tap-in.
Benny Feilhaber sent a right-footed shot through Rimando's legs in the 47th minute. Rossi scored on a breakaway in the 81st, his third goal of the season, and Carlos Vela capped the scoring with a right-footed chip from the top of the area five minutes later.
Joao Plata gave RSL (0-1-1) the early lead in the 20th minute with a follow-up volley on his own saved penalty attempt.
Real Salt Lake conceded five goals at home for the first time in franchise history.
Columbus 3, Montreal 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Gyasi Zardes scored two goals, the second on a penalty in the 94th minute, and the Columbus Crew beat the Montreal Impact 3-2 on Saturday.
Luis Argudo drew the foul against Ken Krolicki that set up Zardes, who put in the go-ahead goal just under the crossbar for the Crew (2-0-0).
Raheem Edwards tied it for the Impact (0-2-0) in the 85th minute with a left-footed volley into the far corner off Daniel Lovitz's wide cross.
Ignacio Piatti cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 59th minute.
Federico Higuain opened the scoring for Columbus on a penalty in the 12th minute with goalkeeper Evan Bush guessing the wrong way. It was Higuain's 50th career regular-season MLS goal.
Zardes made it 2-0 in the 15th minute with a close-range putback off a free kick that clanked off the crossbar.
Kansas City 4, Chicago 3
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP)—Felipe Gutierrez scored twice and Sporting Kansas City rallied with two late goals to beat the Chicago Fire 4-3 on Saturday night.
Gutierrez capped the scoring for Sporting (1-1-0) in the 86th minute, finishing Daniel Salloi's back-heel flip. Jimmy Medranda tied it at 3-all three minutes earlier with a left-footed blast.
Chicago (0-1-0) erased a two-goal deficit with three goals over a 13-minute span. Aleksandar Katai cut the deficit to 2-1, heading home Bastian Schweinsteiger's cross in the 70th minute. Nemanja Nikolic evened the score with a putback on Tim Melia's save in the 74th minute and he made it 3-2 in the 82nd, finishing a short feed from Brandon Vincent off Matt Polster's deep cross.
Gutierrez opened the scoring with a putback header from the middle of the area in the ninth minute. Johnny Russell doubled the lead for Sporting in the 44th minute, finishing Salloi's back feed with a left-footed smash.
Vancouver 2, Houston 1
HOUSTON (AP)—Kei Kamara scored his 100th career MLS goal, Brek Shea had the go-ahead score early in the second half and the Vancouver Whitecaps beat the Houston Dynamo 2-1 on Saturday night.
Shea scored on a breakaway goal in the 49th minute after he was sprung free by Kamara's pass up the left channel.
Kamara gave Vancouver (2-0-0) the early lead with a penalty kick in the 28th minute—reaching the milestone in his 300th career game. He drew the penalty when he was pushed down in the box by Philippe Senderos. Kamara has scored twice in as many games.
Alberth Elis drilled a right-footed blast past Stefan Marinovic to even the score for Houston (1-1-0) in the 39th minute.
New York 4, Portland 0
HARRISON, N.J. (AP)—Carlos Rivas scored two goals and the New York Red Bulls opened their MLS season with a 4-0 win over the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
Rivas slotted one past goalkeeper Jake Gleeson to make it 3-0 in the 80th minute and finished Connor Lade's cross with a tap-in in the 93rd minute to cap the scoring.
Ben Mines, a 17-year-old Homegrown Player making his MLS debut, opened the scoring in the 18th minute, finishing Alejandro Gamarra's cross.
Bradley Wright-Phillips made it 2-0 in the 77th minute with a header off Sean Davis' redirection of Vincent Bezecourt's corner.
The Red Bulls came into the match on the heels of Wednesday's Concacaf Champions League win over Club Tijuana. New York will host the second leg of the quarterfinals on Tuesday, starting with a 2-0 advantage on aggregate.
The Timbers dropped to 0-2-0.
Minnesota 2, Orlando City 1
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—Ethan Finlay scored a pair of goals on Saturday night to help Minnesota United beat Orlando City 2-1.
Finlay made it 2-1 for Minnesota (1-1-0) in the 79th minute on a tap-in set up by Mason Toye's flick on to Miguel Ibarra's cross.
Kevin Molino's pass got Finlay wide open behind the defense for a chip shot that beat goalkeeper Joe Bendik for the opening goal in the 12th minute.
Yoshimar Yotun tied it for Orlando (0-1-1) in the 42nd minute with a penalty kick. Finlay's tackle on Richie Laryea was originally ruled a foul that occurred outside the box but was changed to a penalty after video review.
