MLS: Quintero Hat Trick Leads Minnesota By Toronto; RSL Bumps SKC Out of 1st
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Darwin Quintero scored three times for the first hat trick in Minnesota United FC history, helping the Loons beat Toronto FC 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Minnesota United (6-1-10) snapped a three-game losing streak that included a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas on Friday at TCF Bank Stadium.
Quintero got his first goal eight minutes into the match, splitting two defenders and firing into upper left corner for a 1-0 lead. His second goal, in the 52nd minute, was just off the fingertips of Toronto FC keeper Clint Irwin and his third came just five minutes later, bending in a shot from the left side, over Irwin's fingertips and into the upper right corner.
Miguel Ibarra also scored for United in the 13th minute.
Justin Morrow, Sebastian Giovinco and Jordan Hamilton had Toronto FC's goals. Hamilton got the Reds (4-3-10) within one with just a minute left in stoppage time.
FC Dallas 3, Atlanta United 2
FRISCO, Texas (AP) – Tesho Akindele scored two late goals, and FC Dallas beat Atlanta United 3-2 on Wednesday night to remain undefeated in 10 home matches this season.
Atlanta (11-4-4), unbeaten in its previous six matches, took the lead on a pair of goals by Josef Martinez.
Martinez's first goal, a sliding redirect of Hector Villalba's pass into the box, evened the match just before intermission. His second goal, in the 73rd minute on a shot from open space outside the top of the box, put Atlanta in front.
Akindele, who came on in the 75th minute, evened the match on a breakaway 11 minutes later. Then he got a foot on a loose ball on a corner kick for the game winner in the 88th minute.
FC Dallas (10-2-5) has won six of its last nine games in league play and is unbeaten in its last 15 home games (seven wins, eight draws) - its longest home streak since a 19-game stretch from August 29, 2015 to September 3, 2016.
Real Salt Lake 4, Sporting Kansas City 2
SANDY, Utah (AP) – Sebastian Saucedo scored from the top of the box at the end of the first half and Real Salt Lake knocked Sporting Kansas City out of a share of first place in the Western Conference with a 4-2 win Wednesday night.
Sporting KC (9-4-5) has lost two straight and trails FC Dallas by three points in the West.
RSL (8-8-2) led 3-1 at intermission, but Sporting KC pulled within one when Ike Opara scored on a cross by Johnny Russell in the 64th minute.
Tim Melia kept the Sporting KC comeback alive by denying Albert Rusnak's penalty kick in the 80th minute, but Daniel Salloi was sent off in the 90th minute and Roger Espinoza earned a red card in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Luis Silva scored on a penalty kick in the 10th minute of extra time.
LA Galaxy 2, D.C. United 2
CARSON, Calif. (AP) – Darren Mattocks weaved through three defenders and scored over David Bingham to help D.C. United earn a 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night.
The Galaxy could have climbed above the playoff line in the Western Conference with a win.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored five minutes into the game to give the Galaxy the lead, one-touching a cross from Dave Romney. Chris Pontius made it 2-0 with a goal in the 25th minute on a shot from atop the box that found the far corner.
Luciano Acosta found Zoltan Stieber a minute later to cut the deficit, and then Mattocks got his eighth goal of the season, setting a new season high.
Both teams managed 13 shots. The Galaxy had four shots on target; D.C. United managed three.
Seattle Sounders 2, Colorado Rapids 1
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) Will Bruin scored twice and Stefan Frei made a spectacular save to help the Seattle Sounders to their second win in their last eight games, 2-1 over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night.
It was Seattle's second straight win over Colorado on the Fourth of July. The Sounders are 7-3-1 all-time at Colorado (4-10-3).
Bruin put Seattle (4-9-3) in front in the 19th minute, finding the ball in open space in front of the goal box and beating goalkeeper Tim Howard with a shot into the lower left corner.
Colorado's Sam Nicholson headed home a long entry pass from Edgar Castillo in the 40th minute, but Bruin scored the game-winner off an ill-advised clearing pass by Howard in the 59th minute.
Frei dove to his left to deflect a Colorado shot on a breakaway in the 82nd minute.
Five Colorado players were shown yellow cards, three for unsporting behavior, one for time wasting and one for persistent infringement.
