Houston Dynamo forward Corey Baird (11) slides into the stands as he celebrates his goal against Real Salt Lake during the first half of an MLS playoff soccer match Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke) HOUSTON (AP) — Griffin Dorsey scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 shootout victory and the Houston Dynamo advanced to the Western Conference semifinals after a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday in the rubber match of the first-round MLS Cup series. Houston (15-11-9), the fourth seed in the West, will play No. 8 seed Sporting Kansas City in the conference semifinals. The second-seeded Seattle Sounders host defending champion and No. 3 seed Los Angeles FC in the other semifinal. Houston took a 1-0 lead into halftime when Corey Baird took a pass from Héctor Herrera and scored in the 28th minute. It was the first career postseason goal for Baird, who spent his first three seasons in the league with Real Salt Lake. Diego Luna used assists from Bryan Oviedo and Braian Ojeda in the 65th minute to score the equalizer for Real Salt Lake. Both of Luna’s two career postseason goals came in this series. Luna and Danny

Real Salt Lake forward Jefferson Savarino (10) celebrates after scoring against the Houston Dynamo during the second half of an MLS playoff soccer match Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Sandy, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) SANDY, Utah (AP) — Jefferson Savarino scored the equalizer in the second half and Real Salt Lake forced a rubber match in the best-of-3 first-round series with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Houston Dynamo on Monday night. Amine Bassi gave Houston (14-12-9) a 1-0 halftime lead when he scored unassisted in the 28th minute, but he was denied a goal by Zac MacMath in the first round of the shootout. Savarino knotted the match in the 70th minute for Real Salt Lake (15-12-8), scoring unassisted. MacMath finished with four saves for RSL. Steve Clark saved two shots for the Dynamo. Cristian Arango, Damir Kreilach, Savarino, Brayan Vera and 20-year-old Diego Luna delivered goals in that order in the shootout for Real Salt Lake. Adalberto Carrasquilla, Thorleifur Úlfarsson, Griffin Dorsey and Nelson Quiñónes scored for the Dynamo after Bassi’s miss. Real Salt Lake snapped a three-match losing streak against Houston. The Dynamo, who had a 3-0 road victory over RSL in August, fall to 3-11-6 all

Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna, front left, collides with Houston Dynamo midfielder Artur, right, during the second half of an MLS playoff soccer match, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox) HOUSTON (AP) — Amine Bassi scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute, Héctor Herrera also scored a goal, and the Houston Dynamo beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 Saturday night in Game 1 of the best-of-three first-round MLS Cup Playoffs series. Houston can clinch a berth in the conference semifinals with a win in Game 2 on Nov. 6 in Sandy, Utah. After an RSL giveaway in its defensive territory, Griffin Dorsey’s back-post shot was swatted away by goalkeeper Zac MacMath but Bassi blasted the put-back from the center of the penalty area into a wide-open net to give the Dynamo a 2-1 lead. Herrera gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, when he chest-trapped a pass from Adalberto Carrasquilla and then slipped a low left-footer into the net to make it 1-0. Diego Luna scored for Real Salt Lake in the 54th minute to make it 1-1, his first MLS Cup Playoffs goal. On the counter-attack, Anderson Julio played an arcing cross

Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna (26) scores during the second half of an MLS soccer match against the New York Red Bulls Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Sandy, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Diego Luna scored in the 74th minute and Real Salt Lake beat the Colorado Rapids 1-0 on Saturday night. Real Salt Lake (14-12-8) reached the 50-point mark for just the second time since 2015 (53 in 2019). RSL has 19 regular-season wins over Colorado since the start of the 2014 season. Colorado (5-17-12) lost only two of its last 10 regular-season matches at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids finished with just 17 points in 17 home games this season. Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath stopped six shots. Colorado goalkeeper Abraham Rodriguez made four saves. Free News Delivery by Email Would you like to have the day’s news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start! Source link

Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna, left, is congratulated by midfielder Maikel Chang, middle, and defender Jasper Loffelsend, after scoring against the LA Galaxy during the second half of an MLS soccer match Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Diego Luna scored in the second half to help Real Salt Lake rally from two goals down to a 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night. Defending-champion Los Angeles FC clinched a top-four seed in the Western Conference with the tie by Real Salt Lake (13-12-8). The Galaxy (8-13-12), with 21-year-old Novak Mocovic making his first career appearance in goal, grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute when Dejan Joveljic took passes from Daniel Aguirre and Douglas Costa and scored his sixth goal of the season. Jovelic returned the favor, picking up an assist on Costa’s netter in the 34th minute to put the Galaxy up 2-0. It was Costa’s third goal this season. Real Salt Lake pulled within a goal by halftime when Anderson Julio used a pass from Nelson Palacio in the first minute of stoppage time to notch his fifth netter of the season. Luna netted

Real Salt Lake forward Carlos Andrés Gómez, left, dribbles under defense by Los Angeles FC defender Diego Palacios, right, during the first half of an MLS soccer match Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cristian Arango scored the lone goal, Zac MacMath finished with seven saves and Real Salt Lake snapped a seven-match losing streak against Los Angeles FC with a 1-0 victory on Sunday night. Real Salt Lake (13-11-7) jumps over LAFC (12-10-9) into a tie for second place in the Western Conference with the Seattle Sounders. LAFC would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory. Neither team scored until Rubio Rubín subbed in for Real Salt Lake in the 69th minute and picked up an assist in the 72nd on Arango’s sixth goal of the season. Braian Ojeda also notched an assist on the score. Maxime Crépeau had three saves in his fourth start of the season for LAFC. LAFC entered the match with an 11-1-0 all-time record against Real Salt Lake. It is the highest win percentage in any series in league history with at least five matchups. But the club continues to struggle to score goals.

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Defender Brayan Vera scored early, Cristian Arango added a second-half goal and Real Salt Lake continued to dominate the Colorado Rapids with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night. Real Salt Lake (11-9-7) beat Colorado (3-13-10) three times in a single season for the second time in club history, also doing so in 2014. Real Salt Lake improved to 11-2-3 in its last 16 meetings with the Rapids in all competitions. Real Salt Lake snapped a four-match losing streak in all competitions, getting off to a good start when Vera found the net unassisted in the 19th minute for his first goal of the season. Arango used an assist from Maikel Chang four minutes into the second half to score his third of the campaign. Zac MacMath finished with three saves to earn the clean sheet for Real Salt Lake. Marko Ilic saved three shots for the Rapids. Colorado has lost five straight and falls to 1-13-4 in its last 18 matches in all competitions. The Rapids have lost eight straight on the road and have been outscored 22-3. Colorado was shut out for the fifth straight match and for the eighth time in its last nine.

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Corey Baird and defender Daniel Steres scored first-half goals to guide Houston to a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, snapping the Dynamo’s 11-match winless streak in the series and ending RSL’s nine-match unbeaten run. Baird scored his fifth goal of the season to give Houston (10-10-5) the lead in the 9th minute. Defender Brad Smith notched an assist. Steres found the net in the 29th minute when he took a pass from Héctor Herrera and scored for the first time this season. Adalberto Carrasquilla scored off an assist from Ibrahim Aliyu in the 75th minute to complete the scoring with his second netter of the campaign. Steve Clark finished with one save to earn his 10th clean sheet of the season for the Dynamo, one behind league leader Stefan Frei of the Seattle Sounders. Gavin Beaver saved one shot for Real Salt Lake (10-8-7), which had gone 5-0-6 in its club-record run against Houston. It was the Dynamo’s longest winless streak against any opponent. Real Salt Lake entered play having gone 6-0-3 in its previous nine outings. The club was trying for its fourth streak of 10 or more, setting the club

Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna, right, celebrates with Brayan Vera after scoring against the New York Red Bulls during the first half of an MLS soccer match Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Sandy, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) SANDY, Utah (AP) — Diego Luna scored in each half, Jefferson Savarino added a goal and an assist and Real Salt Lake cruised to a 3-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night, upping its unbeaten streak to nine. Real Salt Lake (10-7-7) improves to 7-0-6 all-time at home against New York (6-9-8) and remains the only team the Red Bulls have played at least three times on the road without a victory. Luna took a pass from Savarino in the 2nd minute and scored to give Real Salt Lake the lead for good. Luna stretched the lead to 2-0 eight minutes into the second half, using an assist from Danny Musovski to notch his third netter this season. Frankie Amaya found the net for a fourth time this season, taking a pass from Kyle Duncan in the 80th minute to make it 2-1. But Savarino answered one minute later to push the lead back to two goals. Bryan Oviedo

Sporting Kansas City forward Alán Pulido, right, and Real Salt Lake midfielder Nelson Palacio battle for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match Wednesday, July 12, 2023, in Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Danny Musovski and Anderson Julio scored second-half goals as Real Salt Lake came from two scores down to earn a 2-2 draw with Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night, upping its unbeaten streak on the road to 11 in all competitions. Real Salt Lake (9-7-7) is just the third team in league history with a double-digit unbeaten run on the road and the first since the Portland Timbers had an 11-match run spanning the 2012-13 seasons. Dániel Sallói staked Sporting KC (6-10-8) to a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute, using an assist from Johnny Russell to score his fifth goal of the season. Russell took a pass from Erik Thommy six minutes later and found the net for a third time this season as Sporting KC took a 2-0 lead into halftime. Musovski got Real Salt Lake on the scoreboard in the first minute of the second half when he used a pass from Cristian Arango