New York Red Bulls 0, Philadelphia Union 0
Whatever joy the New York Red Bulls felt about moving into a first-place tie with Sporting KC was overshadowed by the opportunity they missed in their scoreless tie against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.
New York found little satisfaction in a game dominated by strong midfield defense and outstanding goalkeeping from the Red Bulls' Luis Robles and Philadelphia's Zac MacMath. With bodies moving up and clogging the middle third of the field, space for passing and solid scoring chances came at a premium.
For some, like Red Bulls midfielders Dax McCarty and Tim Cahill, the outcome felt more like failure than advancement for their 11-8-6 team, which hasn't scored in two games.
''Tonight, I feel like we dropped two points,'' said McCarty, whose bullet-like header in the final seconds of stoppage time found MacMath's abdomen just inches from the Union goal line. ''It doesn't feel like we got a point.''
LA Galaxy 4, Real Salt Lake 2
Robbie Keane scored three goals and the Los Angeles Galaxy rallied to beat Western Conference-leading Real Salt Lake 4-2 on Saturday night.
Keane scored in the 56th, 67th and 86th minutes to help the Galaxy (11-9-4) pull four points behind Salt Lake and tighten an eight-team battle for five West playoff berths. The top seven teams are separated by eight points, with San Jose another three points back.
Omar Gonzalez, who signed a designated player contract this week, also scored for Los Angeles. The Galaxy could had two more - but those were stopped on the goal line, first by Chris Wingert on Landon Donovan two minutes after Keane's first goal and by Kenny Mansally on Todd Dunivant near the end.
Montreal Impact 2, DC United 1
Marco Di Vaio scored twice to lead the Montreal Impact to a 2-1 win over D.C. United on Saturday night.
Montreal (11-7-5) snapped a two-game skid with their second win in the last nine matches.
''I'm very happy because I play to score and when I don't score, I'm not happy because I'm not helping the team,'' Di Vaio said. ''The team needs goals from me and they got it today in an important game after two losses. It was important for our morale.''
Conor Doyle scored for D.C. (3-17-4), which is winless in 11 road matches while totaling just three goals.
Columbus Crew 2, Toronto 0
Federico Higuain scored two goals for the second straight match, lifting the Columbus Crew to a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.
The Argentinean forward gave the Crew (8-11-5) the lead in the 19th minute, then for the second straight game had an exquisite chip for the second tally in the 67th. Higuain perfectly placed a looping ball from 23 yards over the futile effort of goalkeeper Joe Bendik, who was only a few yards off the goal line.
Higuain is tied with Dominic Oduro for the team lead with nine goals as the Crew have consecutive wins for the first time since Aug. 29 and Sept. 1, 2012, a span of 32 games.
New England Revolution 2, Chicago Fire 0
Juan Agudelo returned to the lineup for the Revolution after a two-month injury absence and scored a dazzling goal in the 54th minute to lead New England to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night.
Kelyn Rowe banged in a rebound of a Saer Sene drive in the 91st minute for New England's second goal.
The 20-year old Agudelo took a long, looping pass from midfielder Chris Tierney and nudged a one-touch volley over on-charging Chicago goalie Sean Johnson, while Fire defender Bakary Soumare was unable to keep the ball from crossing the goal line with a dive into the net. Agudelo missed eight matches while recovering from a right knee sprain.
New England ended a two-match winless and scoreless streak, improving to 9-9-6 on the season, 5-4-3 at home. Chicago (9-10-4) had its four-match (3-0-1) unbeaten streak end, being shut out on the road for the fifth time this season. The Fire had scored in 12 consecutive matches.
Houston Dynamo 3, Seattle Sounders 1
Giles Barnes scored twice in the first half and Will Bruin added a goal in the second half to lead the Houston Dynamo to a 3-1 win over the Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night.
The win was the second in three games for the Dynamo (10-7-6), while Seattle (10-8-4) saw its four-game unbeaten streak end in U.S. national team captain Clint Dempsey's his first start for the Sounders.
Barnes gave the Dynamo a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute when Bruin kept the ball alive before it reached the end line then fed it back to Barnes, who sent a shot from 14 yards out in the left box that found the upper right corner.
Five minutes later, Barnes made it 2-0 with a blast from 30 yards out in the middle of the field that went just inside the far post, giving him his first multi-goal game.
Colorado Rapids 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 0
For Deshorn Brown, the Colorado Rapids' season has been about maturing and growing as a team. He credits a coaching staff that won't let them get down.
''This is a staff that won't let us get down on ourselves,'' said Brown, one of several young players on a team that is contending in the Western Conference. ''The coaches meet with us daily to remind us to stay focused.''
That paid off when Brown scored in the 36th minute Saturday night to lead the surging Rapids to a 2-0 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Edson Buddle added a goal for Colorado, which extended its unbeaten streak to nine games. The Rapids are 5-0-4 since an 0-3-1 stretch.
Portland Timbers 2, FC Dallas 1
Coach Caleb Porter pumped his fist at Portland's fans following the Timbers' victory over FC Dallas: The push for the playoffs is on.
Darlington Nagbe scored the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute and the Timbers held on to defeat FC Dallas 2-1 Saturday night. Ryan Johnson also scored for Portland, which moved into third place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference, a point ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy and two in front of Vancouver.
''We want to start sprinting now,'' Porter said. ''And I think we showed how hungry we are for the playoffs tonight.''
Dallas is winless in a season-high 11 straight matches. The team's longest drought came last season when they went 13 straight games without a victory.
The loss dropped FC Dallas (8-7-9) into seventh place in the Western Conference. Coach Schellas Hyndman said he feels his team is close to breaking out of its funk.
