New York Red Bulls 4, Real Salt Lake 3
Dax McCarty scored on a header four minutes into extra time to lift the New York Red Bulls to a 4-3 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Fabian Espindola scored two goals for New York - both on penalty kicks - and the second came with just two minutes remaining in regulation. Tim Cahill, who recovered from a knee injury suffered early in the game, also scored for the Red Bulls (10-7-5).
New York blew an early 2-0 lead before rallying to gain ground in a tight Eastern Conference race. The top five teams in the conference are separated by a total of seven points.
''It's always important to score to help the team,'' said Espindola.
Alvaro Saborio scored all three goals for Real Salt Lake (11-7-4), which lost its second straight match but remains in first place in the West.
''It's a really tough loss and it's going to stick with us for a day or so,'' RSL head coach Jason Kreis said. ''We were down two goals at someone else's place. If we came back to win, it would have been historic. But then we lose? I just hope it doesn't have a lasting mental effect on our players.''
Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke was at a loss for words after the match.
''I'm still a little light headed now after what went on,'' Petke said. ''It was the agony and the ecstasy with nothing in between. I'm thrilled one second and agonizing the next. But it was a great game to watch and to see it unfold like that is remarkable.''
Espindola scored his second goal of the match and sixth of the season after he was pulled down in the penalty box by Aaron Maund. He calmly made the penalty kick to tie the score at 3.
In injury time, McCarty split two defenders to get his third goal of the season and help New York move to 7-2-2 at home.
Montreal Impact 1, Sporting KC 0
Rookie Blake Smith scored in extra time and the Montreal Impact ended a five-game winless slide with a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
Veteran Patrice Bernier made the play happen as he let Hassoun Camara's pass go through his feet to Marco Di Vaio at the top of the box, a play that is called a dummy in soccer.
The veteran striker slipped a pass to Smith on the left side for a low shot between the legs of goalie Jimmy Nielsen.
''Sometimes a dummy creates space, and it allowed Marco time to shoot or make a play,'' Bernier said. ''We tried to push more offensively in the second half because Marco was alone (up front) most of the game and it paid off.
''It gave him enough time and Blake was cold-blooded and was able to finish it off and give us the 1-0.''
Smith did a triple back flip to celebrate the goal.
''I want to come in and bring that spark and help the team get that final push,'' Smith said. ''Fortunately, it worked for us this time.''
Montreal (10-5-5) moved within one point of the conference-leading Kansas City (10-6-6), with two games in hand. The visitors ended a six-game undefeated streak going back to a 2-1 defeat at home to Montreal on June 1.
San Jose Earthquakes 2, Portland Timbers 1
Victor Bernardez and Steven Lenhart scored three minutes apart in the second half and the San Jose Earthquakes earned a 2-1 victory against the Portland Timbers on Saturday.
Bernardez, a center back, stepped up in the absence of forward Chris Wondolowski and converted a 55th-minute penalty kick to give San Jose the lead.
Lenhart slipped in behind the Timbers' defense to touch home a long free kick by Shea Salinas in the 58th minute.
Darlington Nagbe scored for the Timbers in the 83rd minute, but Portland couldn't find an equalizer even after San Jose midfielder Marvin Chavez was given two yellow cards and was ejected in the 86th minute.
San Jose (7-9-6) won its second straight match to move past Seattle and into seventh place in the Western Conference.
The Timbers (8-3-10) lost for the second time in four games since their 15-match winless streak ended earlier this month.
Salinas earned the penalty kick - the fourth called against Portland this season - when his counterattack ended in a collision with Timbers center back Andrew Jean-Baptiste.
San Jose's penalty kicks are usually taken by Wondolowski, but he is playing with the U.S. Gold Cup squad.
Bernardez, known primarily for his booming free kicks, used a bit more finesse to beat Portland goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who came in with the league's second-best goals-against average at 0.84.
Bernardez went low to Ricketts' right as the Jamaican international went in the opposite direction.
Toronto FC 2, Colombus Crew 1
Andrew Wiedeman scored in the third minute of stoppage time to give Toronto FC a 2-1 victory Saturday against the Columbus Crew and its first home win in more than a year.
Toronto (3-10-8) snapped a 16 match winless streak.
Under driving rain, Wiedeman lunged and chipped a left-footed shot past Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum to give TFC its first victory at the lakefront stadium since July 18, 2012. The Reds were 0-7-9 over that stretch.
The winner came just six minutes after Jonathan Osorio drilled home a left-footed shot from just inside the penalty area in the 87th minute to tie.
Osorio's fourth goal broke TFC's scoreless streak at 420 minutes, the worst mark of 2013 in MLS.
Dominic Oduro scored in the 17th minute for the Crew (6-10-5).
Houston Dynamo 1, Chicago Fire 1
Cam Weaver scored for the Houston Dynamo and Mike Magee scored two minutes later for the Chicago Fire as the teams played to a 1-1 tie Saturday night.
The Dynamo (8-6-6) are unbeaten in three straight games, while the Fire (7-9-4) are unbeaten in two consecutive games after losing two straight.
Houston took a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute as Weaver, who was inside the goalkeeper's box, kicked in a pass from Brad Davis from the right box. It was Weaver's first goal since May 28, 2011.
Chicago tied it at 1-1 in the 63rd minute on Magee's 13th goal of the season. Patrick Nyarko set up Magee's goal with a cross from the right box into the middle goalkeeper's box where Magee nudged it in.
Bobby Boswell appeared to give the Dynamo a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute as Boswell's header from the penalty area went inside the near post, but the goal was disallowed as Boswell was called offside.
Houston midfielder Andrew Driver left the game in the 15th minute because of a right Achilles injury.
Brad Davis replaced Driver. Chicago midfielder Alex left the game in the 41st minute due to an undisclosed injury, with Dan Paladini taking his spot in the lineup.
Colorado Rapids 2, LA Galaxy 0
The Colorado Rapids have turned around their season.
Quite a change from June 23 when they were 5-7-5, in the midst of a painful slide.
''We kept putting in hard work and kept believing in what we are doing in our training,'' Colorado coach Oscar Pareja said. ''The most important thing is the group is convinced and committed with the club.''
Hendry Thomas scored in the 41st minute and the Rapids shut out the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 Saturday.
Dillon Powers added a goal and an assist for Colorado (9-7-7). The Rapids beat the Galaxy for the first time in seven meetings and had been 0-5-1 over that span.
Colorado is unbeaten, 4-0-2 in its past six games after going through a 0-4-1 stretch.
''This team knows that no one is bigger than the club and they play as a team,'' Pareja said. ''That is the key.''
Thomas found space between two defenders when Powers lined up for a corner kick. Powers put the ball right on the head of Thomas, whose header sailed past goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini.
''Dillon has given us so much in his area of the field,'' Pareja said. ''I thought he has really matured.''
Los Angeles (10-9-3) was looking for its fifth win in seven matches. The Galaxy were shut out for the sixth time this season in falling to 1-6-0 in their past seven road games.
Vancouver Whitecaps 0, Philadelphia Union 1
Second-half substitute Antoine Hoppenot scored in the 85th minute to give the Philadelphia Union a 1-0 victory over a Vancouver Whitecaps side that played with 10 men most of Saturday night.
Philadelphia (9-6-7) remained unbeaten in three games, while the Whitecaps (9-7-5) lost their second straight game.
Hoppenot scored off a Philadelphia counterattack moments after Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath had robbed Whitecaps striker Camilo at the other end.
The Whitecaps were a man down from the 8th minute, when midfielder Jun Marques Davidson received a red card for head-butting Keon Daniel in the back. The incident resulted after Keon kicked the ball while Davidson was on top of it after a whistle.
D.C. United 1, NE Revolution 2
Diego Fagundez scored his second goal in as many matches to lift the New England Revolution to a 2-1 comeback victory over D.C. United on Saturday.
Dimitry Imbongo also scored for the Revolution (8-7-6), who won their first game this season in which they also allowed a goal and won consecutive road matches for the first time this season.
Fagundez leads New England with seven goals.
Luis Silva scored his second goal in just his second appearance for D.C. United (2-15-4), who have lost four with a draw in their past five matches.
Silva, acquired from Toronto earlier this month in a trade, is tied for the club lead with two goals for a league-worst offense that has only managed 10 goals in 21 matches this season.
New England scored twice in nine minutes to turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead.
