Galaxy and Real Salt Lake clinch playoff berths

• by Soccer America , Sep 23, 2012

[MLS REWIND: Week 29] Real Salt Lake and the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy secured spots in the MLS playoffs with wins over the Portland Timbers (2-1) and Toronto FC (4-2), respectively. With three spots already taken -- the San Jose Earthquakes clinched on Sept. 8 -- just two open playoff spots remain in the Western Conference. In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Fire moved to within two points of first-place Sporting Kansas City with a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew on a pair of Chris Rolfe goals. Freddy Adu's season of frustration continued as he suffered a quadriceps injury converting a penalty kick for his second goal of the game in the Philadelphia Union's 3-1 win over the Houston Dynamo. For all the weekend action ...

WEEK 29, MLS RESULTS:
Sept. 23 in Chester, Pa.
Philadelphia 3 Houston 1. Goals: Adu (unassisted) 28, Adu (pen.) 50, Martinez (Okugo) 70; Garcia (Bruin, Sarkodie) 44.
Houston -- Hall, Sarkodie, Boswell, Taylor, Hainault (Weaver 81); Luiz Camargo (Barnes 63), R.Clark, Davis; Kandji (Carr 45), Bruin.
Philadelphia -- MacMath, Williams, Valdes, Okugo, Gaddis; M.Farfan, Carroll, Lahoud; Cruz (Albright 81), Martinez, Adu (Daniel 57; Hoppenot 66).
Referee: Edvin Jurisevic.
Att.: 17,666.



Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C.
D.C. United 1 Chivas USA 0. Goal: Boskovic (Pajoy) 64.
D.C. United -- Hamid, Korb, McDonald, Jakovic, Kitchen (Neal, 77), Saragosa, DeLeon, Najar, Pontius, Pajoy, Maicon Santos (Boskovic, 57).
Chivas USA -- Kennedy, Valencia, Califf (Correa, 81), Smith (Agudelo, 80), Bolanos, Zemanski, LaBrocca, Joseph, Vagenas (Moreno, 61), Villafana, Townsend.
Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero.
Att.: 11,770.




Sept. 23 in Vancouver
Vancouver 2 Colorado 2. Goals: Rochat (Koffie 3) 64, Miller (Koffie, Robson) 68; Cummings (unassisted) 34, Smith (unassisted) 86
Colorado -- Pickens, Moor, Wynne, Marshall, Zapata, Rivero (Smith 73), Larentowicz, Thomas (Akpan 82), Castrillon, Casey (Nane 89), Cummings.
Vancouver -- Knighton, Lee, Bonjour (Miller 46), DeMerit, Harvey, Rochat, Koffie, Robson, Richards, Mattocks, Camilo (Thorrington 75).
Att.: 18,992.



Sept. 22 in Seattle
Seattle 1 San Jose 2. Goals: Zakuani (Ochoa) 14; Dawkins (Gordon) 2, Wondolowski (Bernardez) 30.
Seattle -- Gspurning, Johansson (Martinez 82), Parke, Ianni (Hurtado 49), Gonzalez, Tiffert, Alonso, Evans, Zakuani (Estrada 71), Ochoa, Montero.
San Jose -- Busch, Beitashour, Hernandez, Bernardez, Morrow, Ballouchy (Lenhart 65), Baca (Opara 88), Cronin, Dawkins (Corrales 60), Wondolowski, Gordon.
Referee: Hilario Grajeda.
Att.: 38,948.



Sept. 22 in Bridgeview, Ill.
Chicago 2 Columbus 1. Goals: Rolfe (MacDonald) 23, Rolfe (Nyarko) 26; Arrieta (unassisted) 15.
Chicago -- Johnson; Anibaba, Friedrich, Berry, Segares; Nyarko, Pause, Alex (Thompson 89), Fernandez; Rolfe (Oduro 84), MacDonald (Paladini 78).
Columbus -- Gruenebaum; Miranda (Vargas 84), Marshall, James, Williams; Gaven (Meram 69), O’Rourke, Mirosevic, Renteria (Tchani 69); Higuain, Arrieta.
Referee: Michael Kennedy.
Att.: 19,172.



Sept. 22 in Carson, Calif.
Los Angeles 4 Toronto FC 2. Goals: Juninho 11, Juninho 33, Keane (Magee, Donovan) 36, Keane (Donovan) 92+; Dunfield (Silva) 38,
Silva (Avila) 86.
Toronto FC -- F.Hall, J.Hall, Eckersley (Amarikwa 46), O’Dea, Emory (Lambe 68), Wiedeman (Avila 60), Dunfield, Maund, Morgan, Silva, Johnson
Los Angeles -- Saunders, Gonzalez, DeLaGarza, Franklin, Dunivant, Wilhelmsson (Buddle 68), Juninho, Sarvas, Magee (Stephens 78), Donovan, Keane.



Sept. 22 in Sandy, Utah
Real Salt Lake 2 Portland 1. Goals: Espindola (Morales) 14, Morales 36; Dike (Zizzo) 61.
Real Salt Lake -- Rimando, Beltran, Olave, Borchers, Wingert, Beckerman, Grabavoy, Johnson, Morales (Gil, 90+2), Espindola (Alvarez, 83), Paulo Jr. (Bonfigli, 67).
Portland -- Bendik, Kimura (Alexander, 67), Mosquera, Horst, Smith (Dike, 46), Nagbe, Jewsbury, Wallace, Zizzo, Mwanga, Songo’o (Alhassan, 82)
Referee: Kevin Stott.
Att.: 20,524.



Sept. 22 in Foxboro, Mass.
New England 1 New York 1. Goals: Barnes (Guy, Rowe) 95+; Lindpere (Cahill) 91+.
New England -- Shuttleworth, Lechner (McCarthy 35), Barnes, Soares, Alston, Rowe, Guy, Simms (Toja 58), Nguyen, Bengtson, Fagundez (Feilhaber 73)
New York -- Gaudette, Lade, Holgersson, Pearce, Conde, Tainio (Barklage 79), McCarty, Marquez (Lindpere 35), Solli, Cahill, Le Toux (Sam 93+)
Red Card: New York -- Lade 74.
Referee: Sorin Stoica.
Att.: 24,364



Sept. 22 in Montreal
Montreal 0 Sporting KC 0.  
Sporting KC -- Nielsen; Sinovic, Besler, Olum, Harrington; Julio Cesar (Nagamura 60), Rosell (Joseph 91+), Zusi; Kamara, Sapong, Peterson (Myers 83)
Montreal -- Perkins; Brovsky, Nesta (Nyassi 57), Ferrari, Camara; Warner, Bernier; Mapp (Wenger 46), Felipe, Arnaud; Di Vaio.
Att.: 20,521.



Sept. 20 in Chester, Pa.
Philadelphia 0 D.C. United 1. Goal: Pajoy (Pontius, Maicon Santos) 67.
Philadelphia -- MacMath, Williams, G.Farfan (Hoffman, 70), Okugo, Valdes, Carroll, Cruz, Daniel, Gomez (Adu, 77), Hoppenot (Martinez, 57), McInerney.
D.C. United -- Hamid, Jakovic, Korb, McDonald, DeLeon, Boskovic (Maicon Santos, 57), Najar, Kitchen, Neal, Pontius, Pajoy.
Referee: Baldomero Toledo.
Att.: 16,024.




Sept. 19 in Harrison, N.J.
New York 0 Sporting KC 2. Goals: Sapong (Besler) 12, Kamara (Zusi) 19.
New York -- Gaudette, Lade, Holgersson, Pearce, Conde, Tainio (Le Toux 74), McCarty (Cooper 46), Marquez, Lindpere (Sam 69), Cahill, Henry.
Sporting KC -- Nielsen, Sinovic, Besler, Collin, Myers, Julio Cesar, Nagamura (Olum 90), Espinoza (Peterson 79), Zusi (Rosell 92+), Kamara, Sapong.
Referee: David Gantar.
Att.: 10,286.



Sept. 19 in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus 1 Chivas USA 0. Goal: Meram (Arrieta) 89.
Columbus -- Gruenebaum, Marshall, James, O'Rourke, Williams, Miranda, Duka (Renteria, 57), Gaven (Meram, 80), Mirosevic (Tchani, 67), Arrieta, Higuain.
Chivas USA -- Kennedy, Califf, Valencia, Riley, Jazic, Minda, LaBrocca (Villafana, 77), Smith (Agudelo, 72), Bolanos, Zemanski, Moreno (Correa, 84).
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez.
Att.: 13,874.



Sept. 19 in Santa Clara, Calif.
San Jose 2 Portland 2. Goals: Mwanga (Wallace) 45, Mwanga (Songo'o) 62; Wondolowski (Lenhart, Gordon) 73, Wondolowski (Cronin) 90th+.
San Jose -- Busch, Morrow, Opara, Corrales, Beitashour, Bernardez, Cronin, Baca (Gordon, 63),  Ballouchy (Wondolowski, 59), Dawkins, Lenhart.
Portland -- Bendik, Horst, Wallace, Mosquera, Palmer (Kimura, 83), Smith, Nagbe, Songo'o, Jewsbury, Mwanga (Brunner, 85), Boyd (Dike, 16).
Referee: Armando Villarreal.



STANDINGS:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
PTS TEAM W-L-T- +/-
55 Sporting KC 16-7-7 37/25
53 Chicago 16-8-5 42/34
50 New York 14-8-8 50/43
50 D.C. United 15-10-5 47/39
46 Houston 12-8-10 42/37
-----------------------------
45 Columbus 13-11-6 36/37
40 Montreal 12-15-4 44/49
30 Philadelphia 8-14-6 29/33
29 New England 7-15-8 37/41
22 Toronto FC 5-18-7 34/55

WESTERN CONFERENCE
PTS TEAM W-L-T- +/-
60 *San Jose 18-6-6 62/36
49 *Los Angeles 15-11-4 54/42
49 *Real Salt Lake 15-11-4 40/34
48 Seattle 13-7-9 45/31
38 Vancouver 10-12-8 31/40
-----------------------------
36 FC Dallas 9-12-9 35/38
30 Colorado 9-18-3 38/45
29 Portland 7-15-8 31/51
28 Chivas USA 7-15-7 21/45
*Clinched playoff berth.