Portland Timbers midfielder Sebastian Blanco (10) celebrates a goal against Real Salt Lake during an MLS soccer match Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, in Sandy, Utah. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News via AP) SANDY, Utah (AP) — Sebastian Blanco scored two goals and the Portland Timbers beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday night to clinch home field for the first round of the playoffs. Blanco put in a header in the 17th minute and scored on a give-and-go with Jaroslaw Niezgoda to finish a counter attack just before halftime. In between, Blanco centered the ball with pace that went off Aaron Herrera for an own goal. With the season ending Sunday, Portland (16-13-4) is locked into the fourth seed in the Western Conference. Salt Lake (13-14-6) could have clinched a playoff spot, but only managed a penalty-kick goal by Albert Rusnak, his career-high 11th, in the closing minutes. Portland swept all three games this season by a combined 12-4 margin. 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

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Cade Cowell and Carlos Fierro each had a goal and an assist as the San Jose Earthquakes beat Real Salt Lake 4-3 on Saturday. San Jose (10-13-10) has won back-to-back matches at RSL for the first time in club history after winning on May 7 at Rio Tinto Stadium. Salt Lake (13-13-6) had its club record seven-game home winning streak snapped. Chris Wondolowski scored in first-half stoppage time, for his 170th career goal, to give San Jose a 2-1 lead. Wondolowski has scored 13 career goals against Real Salt Lake, joining Landon Donovan as the top goal scorers against RSL since they joined MLS in 2005. Cowell made it 3-1 in the 69th, his first since July 3, and Jackson Yueill gave San Jose a three-goal advantage in the 79th. Albert Rusnák scored a goal in each half for RSL. Maikel Chang added a goal in the 85th. 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

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Damir Kreilach and Albert Rusnák each scored in the final 10 minutes and Real Salt Lake beat FC Dallas 2-1 on Wednesday night. Kreilach scored his 15th goal of the season for Salt Lake (13-12-6) to tie it in the 80th. Rusnák put a low shot inside the far post off a feed from Justin Meram for the go-ahead goal. Matt Hedges scored in the 20th minute for his first MLS goal since the regular-season finale in 2019. Ricardo Pepi, of the U.S. national team, entered in the 82nd and came close to scoring a tying goal for Dallas. Dallas (6-15-11) has a 10-game winless streak. 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

CHICAGO (AP) — Robert Beric scored moments before halftime and the Chicago Fire held on to beat Real Salt Lake 1-0. Beric stopped a cross by Miguel Ángel Navarro, turned and blasted a shot inside the post in the 45th minute for Chicago. Gabriel Slonina had five saves for the Fire and the 17-year-old rookie has four shutouts this season. David Ochoa tied his career with eight saves for Real Salt Lake (12-11-6) 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

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Damir Kreilach had a goal and two assists in Real Salt Lake’s 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night. Real Salt Lake (12-11-6) has won a club-record seven straight home matches. It also matched New York City FC (June-August) with the longest home winning streak of the season. Kreilach’s header from close range found the top left corner of the net in the 13th minute. Kreilach assisted on Rubio Rubín’s goal in the 56th and Anderson Julio’s in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Kreilach has scored in five straight matches, a club record. He surpasses Luis Silva (2017), Alvaro Saborio (2014) and Jeff Cunningham (2006), who each scored in four consecutive matches. Younes Namli scored in the 56th minute for Colorado (14-6-9). 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

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Anderson Julio scored on a breakaway in the 95th minute to give Real Salt Lake a 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night. Salt Lake (11-10-6) has won three of its last four games. Los Angeles (11-11-5) had its winless run extended to eight matches. Julio got a touch on Damir Kreilach’s long pass to get away from two defenders and he volleyed it inside the far post, past a diving Jonathan Bond. Kreilach opened the scoring for Salt Lake in the 45th minute with a header that went off the hands of Bond and rolled over the line. Kreilach has four goals in his last five games and 12 overall this season. Chicharito scored for the Galaxy in the 76th by settling a pass from Efraín Álvarez and beating goalkeeper David Ochoa to the near post. Chicharito also had good scoring chances in the 16th and 57th minutes, but Ochoa batted away the first and used a kick save to deny a breakaway. 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

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Yimmi Chara and his brother Diego Chara scored in the Portland Timbers’ 6-1 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Felipe Mora, Dairon Asprilla, Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Cristhian Paredes also scored for Portland, which is undefeated in its last six games. The Timbers (12-10-4) started the game in fifth place in the Western Conference, just a point in front of sixth-place RSL, but the win vaulted Portland into fourth. Salt Lake dropped to seventh behind Minnesota. Salt Lake (10-10-6) had won two straight and three of its last four, playing under interim coach Pablo Mastroeni, who took over when Freddy Juarez joined the Sounders’ staff. The Timbers won the last meeting between the teams 3-2 on Aug. 7 at Providence Park. Mora scored his 11th goal of the season in the 11th minute to give the Timbers the lead. Sebastian Blanco’s pass found Mora on the run in front of the goal. Dairon Asprilla made it 2-0 with a goal off a header in the 36th minute. RSL narrowed the margin before halftime with Damir Kreilach’s goal from close range in the 41st. It was Kreilach’s team-leading 11th goal of the season. Yimmi Chara extended

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Damir Kreilach scored his 10th goal of the season and Real Salt Lake beat the Seattle Sounders 1-0 on Saturday night. David Ochoa had two saves for Real Salt Lake (10-9-6). The 20-year old has four shutouts this season. Aaron Herrera went toward the end line, faked inside and then cut back to evade defender Brad Smith before playing a perfectly placed ball in front of the net, where Kreilach put a header into an open net in the 48th minute. Herrera, a 24-year-old defender who came into this season with five career assists, has nine this season. RSL has won back-to-back games and three of its last four. Stefan Frei had four saves for Seattle (13-5-6). 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

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Rubio Rubín scored two goals, Albert Rusnák added a goal and two assists and Real Salt Lake beat San Jose 4-3 on Wednesday night, spoiling a hat trick by the Earthquakes’ Javier “Chofis” López. Justin Meram tied it at 3 for Real Salt Lake (9-9-6) in the 71st minute, and Rubín slipped a one-touch shot inside the post in the 81st minute. Chofis, who had his first multi-goal game in MLS, opened the scoring in the 26th, but Rubín knocked in the rebound of shot by Rusnák that was deflected by goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski to make it 1-1 in first-half stoppage time. Rusnák scored to give Real Salt Lake a 2-1 lead in the 49th minute, and Chofis scored in the 50th and 65th minutes to put the Earthquakes (6-9-9) back in front. Real Salt Lake ended a five-game road losing streak and won for just the second time in 18 matches away from Rio Tinto Stadium dating to August 2020. 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

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cristian Arango scored twice for his first multi-goal game in MLS to help Los Angeles FC beat Real Salt Lake 3-2 on Sunday night. Real Salt Lake defender Toni Datkovic tapped an errant pass to goalkeeper David Ochoa that rolled into the net for an own goal that gave LAFC a 3-2 lead in the 59th minute. LAFC (8-9-6) moved into a tie with Real Salt Lake (8-9-6) for seventh place in the Western Conference standings with 30 points. Arango, who signed with LAFC on Aug. 2, has scored in three consecutive games, ran on to a ball deflected by defender Justen Glad and scored from 6 yards 20 seconds into the match. Maikel Chang tapped a pass to Damir Kreilach for a one-touch finish from just outside the area to make it 1-1 in the 28th minute, and Edward Atuesta chipped a cross to Arango, who flicked a header inside the far post to put LAFC back in front in the 30th. On the counter-attack, Albert Rusnák played a through ball to Anderson Julio who blasted a shot past goalkeeper Tomás Romero to make it 2-all in the 48th minute. LAFC has scored at least