New England beats NYCFC to earn MLS playoff spot
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Teal Bunbury and Gustavo Bou scored, Matt Turner had his second consecutive shutout and the New England Revolution beat New York City FC 2-0 on Sunday to earn a playoff spot.
New York City (17-7-10) clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs after the game when the Columbus Crew beat the Philadelphia Union 2-0.
Turner finished with six saves, including a diving stop in the 54th minute, a leaping one-handed save in the 63rd and another diving save in the 85th.
Teal Bunbury gave the Revolution a 1-0 lead in the 66th minute. Penilla cut back to evade a defender on the right side and then rolled a pass to a charging Bunbury who chipped a bending first-timer into the corner of the net. Gustavo Bou lobbed a shot from 30 yards outs over the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Sean Johnson into the net to cap the scoring in the 89th.
New England (11-10-12) has just one loss in its last nine games.
CREW 2, UNION 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Pedro Santos had a goal and an assist in the second half and Columbus beat Philadelphia to hand the Eastern Conference's top seed to New York City FC.
Youness Mokhtar's first career goal, set up by Luis Diaz and Santos, put Columbus (10-15-8) up in the 69th minute. Four minutes later, Santos' 11th goal doomed Philadelphia (16-10-7), which fell six points behind NYCFC and into a tie for second with Atlanta United, which holds the tiebreaker with one game to play. Eloy Room made three saves for his first shutout.
The game was delayed by almost an hour as lightning arrived with the start of halftime.
LOS ANGELES FC 1, MINNESOTA UNITED 1, TIE
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Michael Boxall scored the tying goal with a no-look header in the 75th minute for Minnesota and Loons tied MLS-leading Los Angeles FC, but fell short of securing a home game for the first round of the playoffs.
Jan Gregus sent a free kick flying over the defense, and Boxall knocked it in with a leap that had his back turned to goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega. Carlos Vela matched the MLS season goal record with his 31st in the 70th minute for LAFC (20-4-9). Vela tied the mark set last year by Atlanta United's Josef Martinez.
Minnesota United (15-10-8), which beat Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night to clinch a postseason spot in for the first time since joining the league as an expansion club in 2017, finished 10-1-6 at home in its first year at futuristic Allianz Field.
LAFC clinched the MLS Supporters' Shield trophy for the best regular-season record by beating Houston in its last match Wednesday night.
REAL SALT LAKE 2, DYNAMO 1
SANDY, Utah (AP) — Jefferson Savarino and Corey Baird scored and Real Salt Lake beat Houston to clinch a playoff berth.
Real Salt Lake (15-13-5) snapped a three-game winless streak and, heading into next Sunday's regular-season finale, can finish as high as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Savarino put away a side-netter from just outside the area to give Real Salt Lake a 2-1 lead in the 75th minute. Corey Baird scored for Salt Lake in the opening seconds, and Tomás Martínez tied it in the 32nd.
Houston (11-18-4) lost for the eighth time in its last 11 matches.
D.C. UNITED 0, RED BULLS 0, TIE
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Bill Hamid made a spectacular save in the 61st minute to highlight his 12th shutout and D.C. United played New York to the draw to maintain position for home-field advantage in a possible playoff rematch.
D.C. (13-10-10) ran its unbeaten streak and shutout streak to four matches, its longest since opening the season with three straight shutouts. Hamid was in goal for both streaks.
D.C. stayed in fourth place in the East standings, one point ahead of the Red Bulls (14-13-6), and only needs to beat last-place Cincinnati next weekend to host an opening playoff game. The Red Bulls are one point up on Toronto.
ATLANTA UNITED 1, IMPACT 1, TIE
MONTREAL (AP) — Julian Gressel scored for Atlanta United in the tie with Montreal that ended the Impact's playoff hopes.
Gressel scored in the 53rd minute, and Bojan Krkic tied it for Montreal in the 81st.
Defending champion Atlanta (17-12-4) has already clinched a playoff spot.
Clement Diop made five saves in his MLS debut for Montreal (11-17-5). Evan Bush was on the bench for the first time since the end of the 2017 season, a streak of 66 consecutive league matches. Brad Guzan made three saves for Atlanta.
WHITECAPS 4, GALAXY 3
CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Michaell Chirinos scored in stoppage time to lift Vancouver past Los Angeles.
Hwang In-Beom, on the counterattack, patiently approached goalkeeper Matt Lampson before rolling a pass to Chirinos for an empty-netter in the third minute of injury time.
The Galaxy (16-14-3), who had their three-game win streak snapped, fell from second to fourth in the Western Conference standings. Los Angeles has a one-point lead, with one regular-season game to play, over Real Salt Lake for the final home match in the knock-out round of the playoffs.
Doneil Henry, Theo Bair and Tosaint Ricketts also scored for the Whitecaps (8-15-10). Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Uriel Antuna and Chris Pontius scored for the Galaxy.
SOUNDERS 1, EARTHQUAKES 0
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Jordan Morris scored in stoppage time and Seattle beat San Jose.
Morris slipped behind the defense and chipped a shot past goalkeeper Daniel Vega into the net in the fourth minute of injury time. San Jose's Magnus Eriksson, near midfield, headed a pass backward, but Morris beat defender Florian Jungwirth to the ball and then beat Vega one-on-one.
The Sounders (15-10-8) can clinch the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with a win, and a loss or a tie by Minnesota United, in next Sunday's regular-season finale. The Earthquakes (13-15-5) can clinch a playoff berth with a win over Portland or a tie with Portland and a loss by Dallas to Sporting Kansas City.
Seattle's Stefan Frei had 10 saves for his ninth shutout of the season.
TIMBERS 2, SPORTING KANSAS CITY 2, TIE
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Dairon Asprilla converted a penalty kick in the 85th minute to give Portland the draw with Sporting Kansas City, keeping the Timbers in line for a playoff spot.
Asprilla was given the opportunity for his first goal after Ilie Sanchez fouled Jeremy Ebobisse in the penalty area. Sanchez drew a red card for his efforts, the third issued in the game.
The point moved Portland (13-13-7) one point up on Dallas and two on San Jose, which is a point out of playoff position, with one game to play. San Jose plays at Portland next Sunday.
Sebastian Blanco also scored for Portland.
Kristian Nemeth and Daniel Salloi scored for Sporting (10-15-8).
TORONTO FC 2, FIRE 2, TIE
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Omar González had a goal and an assist to help Toronto FC tie Chicago.
Toronto (12-10-11), which has already qualified for the postseason, can clinch a home game in the knock-out round with a win, and losses by New York and D.C. United, in next Sunday's regular-season finale.
Chicago (9-12-12), which had its three-game unbeaten streak snapped, was eliminated from playoff contention.
González headed home a corner kick Alejandro Pozuelo in the 80th minute to make it 2-2. Jozy Altidore gave Toronto a 1-0 lead in the 59th. Aleksandar Katai tied it in the 68th, and Fabian Herbers gave the Fire a 2-1 lead in the 77th.
RAPIDS 3, FC DALLAS 0
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Tim Howard earned his fifth shutout in his last start and Colorado kept its slim playoff hopes alive with the victory over FC Dallas.
Howard, the long-time U.S. national team goalkeeper, made three saves in his 38th career regular-season shutout.
Colorado (12-15-6) remained three points behind Dallas (12-12-9), which holds the final playoff spot — one point up on San Jose with one game remaining.
Jack Price, Diego Rubio and Kei Kamara scored.
ORLANDO CITY 1, FC CINCINNATI 1, TIE
CINCINNATI (AP) — Benji Michel scored a minute into extra time to give Orlando City the tie with FC Cincinnati.
The late goal was the 75th conceded by expansion Cincinnati, the most in MLS history. The previous record was established by Orlando City last season. Orlando City (9-14-10) was eliminated from the playoff chase.
Allan Cruz scored for Cincinnati (6-22-5).