Football
Associated Press 9y

Sebastian Giovinco leads Toronto FC over Union; FC Dallas beats D.C. United

Sebastian Giovinco continued his spectacular MLS debut season by scoring a goal and adding an assist to help Toronto FC beat the Philadelphia Union 2-1 on Saturday.

The game turned in a three-minute sequence in the first half when Giovinco played provider for Marky Delgado in the 29th minute and scored himself in the 32nd.

Giovinco, who raised his season tally to 12 goals, came close to a third goal in the 40th minute after a through ball from Jozy Altidore put him away. He beat onrushing goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre, but sent the ball just wide of the post.

Substitute Conor Casey, a former TFC player, scored in stoppage time for the Union after making room for a low shot that beat a diving Joe Bendik.

Fabian Castillo drove home a carom from the top of the goal box in the second minute of stoppage time to give FC Dallas its fourth straight victory, 2-1 over fellow division leader D.C. United.

Tesho Akindele found space to the left of goal and fed a cross to Victor Ulloa inside the penalty area that he fired toward goal. Defender Taylor Kemp got a foot on the ball, but it bounced directly to Castillo for the winner.

Kellyn Acosta scored in the 73rd minute to give Dallas a 1-0 lead after increasing pressure in the United end after a scoreless first half.

Four minutes later, Kemp fired a cross in front of Dallas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy toward Jairo Arrieta, but defender Matt Hedges redirected the shot past the keeper to even the match on an own goal.

Kevin Doyle scored on a counter-attack in the 84th minute, boosting the Colorado Rapids past the Seattle Sounders 1-0.

The Rapids not only won their third straight game, they came away from Seattle with a victory for the first time since the Sounders joined MLS in 2009. Seattle lost for the fifth time in six games and has been shut out in four of those.

Jared Watts started the scoring play by sending a long ball up the field. Doyle, the Irish international who joined the Rapids in March, caught up with it and got just enough space around Sounders defender Zach Scott to send a shot from inside the top left of the penalty area into the far side of the net for his second goal of the season. 

Sacha Kljestan and Mike Grella scored and Dax McCarty had two assists in the New York Red Bulls' 2-0 victory over Orlando City.

New York has won four of its last five MLS matches and close the gap on Eastern leaders six points.

Kljestan scored in the 21st minute, and Grella connected in stoppage time. Grella has five goals this season, and Kljestan has three.

Luis Robles made four saves for his fifth shutout of the season and 24th overall.

Benny Feilhaber had a goal and assist in the first half, helping Sporting Kansas City beat the Montreal Impact 2-1.

Feilhaber opened the scoring in the fourth minute after Roger Espinoza's interception in the Impact backfield. Espinoza fed Kristian Nemeth, who crossed it back to Feilhaber for a left-footed blast into the right corner of the net.

Feilhaber then assisted Dom Dwyer in the 34th minute, splitting the Impact's central defense with a 50-yard pass from behind midfield. Dwyer chased it to the top of the 18-yard box where he curled it home.

Ignacio Piatti scored in the 59th minute for the Impact. The goal snapped a 355-minute MLS shutout streak for Sporting, which has won a franchise-record eight straight home games in all competitions.

Joao Plata set up a goal, added a second-half score and Real Salt Lake snapped a four-game winless streak with a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo.

Plata fed Javier Molales, who turned and drilled a shot that went in off the post in the 36th minute. Plata added his first goal of the season in the 65th minute, taking a feed at the top of the goal box, dribbling into clear space and driving a shot into the lower right corner.

Houston snapped a three-game winless streak with a 2-0 victory over San Jose a week ago and played most of the second half short-handed after Kofi Sarkodie was given a red card for a serious foul in the 51st minute.

Lee Nguyen drove a right-footed shot past Josh Saunders in the 12th minute and the New England Revolution made it hold up, beating New York City FC 1-0 to snap a five-game losing streak.

NYCFC played the final 35 minutes of regulation and six more of stoppage time a man down after Ned Grabavoy was shown a red card in the 55th minute.

Goalkeeper Brad Knighton earned the shutout, making several saves in the closing minutes to preserve the win.

Frank Lampard did not make the trip with NYC, delaying his debut. The former Chelsea midfielder injured his calf in training and missed a game last week against Toronto FC. Lampard and newly acquired designated player Andrea Pirlo could make their debuts next week against Orlando City.

In Portland, Matias Laba scored in the 58th minute to pull Vancouver even with the Portland Timbers in a Cascadia Cup rivalry match.

Diego Valeri scored in the first half for the Timbers, who had won six of their previous eight games. Portland, coming off a 3-0 loss at Philadelphia last weekend, was jockeying with the Whitecaps for position in the Western Conference.

With a win, Vancouver could have pulled even with FC Dallas atop the standings, despite dropping its previous two matches.

The match ended on a contentious note. Vancouver defender Jordan Harvey was sent off with a red card in stoppage time after a slide tackle from behind on Valeri. There a shoving match between the teams at the final whistle, and Portland's Will Johnson appeared to exchange words with the officials, resulting in a yellow card and then a red.

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