Football
Associated Press 9y

Portland five-goal rally stuns Galaxy, Sounders fail to clinch playoff spot

Fanendo Adi scored two second-half goals in the Portland Timbers' 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.

The Timbers scored all five goals in a 25-minute span in the second half and moved level on points with the Vancouver Whitecaps for third points in the West. The Galaxy conceded the most goals at home since Sept. 12, 2009, in a 6-3 loss to FC Dallas.

Adi tied it at 1 in the 65th minute with a turnaround left-footed strike from the middle of the box. Three minutes later, he converted from the spot to give Portland the lead for good.

Diego Chara netted a leaping header to make it 3-1 in the 74th minute. The Galaxy's Robbie Keane closed the deficit in the 84th, but Darlington Nagbe answered with a breakaway goal 18 seconds after the ensuing kickoff.

Keane gave the Galaxy the early lead in the 36th minute. The Galaxy would have clinched a berth in the conference semifinals with a win.

Maximiliano Urruti capped the scoring in the 90th minute. It was the Timbers' first road win against the Galaxy.

Obafemi Martins scored in the 82nd minute and the Seattle Sounders eliminated the Houston Dynamo from playoff contention with a 1-1 draw.

The Sounders extended their undefeated streak to seven games but missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot of their own in the extremely tight Western Conference standings.

The Dynamo needed a win to stay in the playoff race, and Ricardo Clark put them in the lead in the 65th minute. Brad Davis found him wide open near the top of the arc, where Clark lined it up and punched a low skidder back inside the left post.

Martins' tying goal was a reactive header from close range, redirecting the first bounce off Andreas Ivanschitz's corner.

Mike Grella scored in seven seconds for the fastest goal in MLS history and the New York Red Bulls beat the Philadelphia Union 4-1 on Sunday to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Grella raced to the ball and attacked the open lane after flat-footed midfielder Michael Lahoud allowed the initial back pass to roll past him. With Steven Vitoria backpedaling, Grella juked left and sent a left-footed shot deflecting off the defender and past goalkeeper Andre Blake.

Tim Cahill had scored the previous fastest goal at eight seconds in the Red Bulls' 3-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo on Oct. 20, 2013.

Grella also scored in the 17th minute to give New York a 3-0 lead.

Bradley Wright-Phillips added his 16th goal of the season on a right-footed volley in the fourth minute. Kemar Lawrence scored his first MLS goal to make it 4-0 just before the half.

The Red Bulls are level on points with FC Dallas in the Supporters' Shield race for the overall regular-season title with one game left. Next Sunday, New York is at Chicago, and FC Dallas will finish at home against San Jose.

Sebastien Le Toux scored for the Union in the 55th minute.

Chris Pontius scored in the 39th minute and D.C. United added three second-half goals to beat the Chicago Fire 4-0.

United moved into second place in the Eastern Conference and can secure an automatic berth in the conference semifinals with a win over the Columbus Crew in the regular-season finale next Sunday.

Pontius opened the scoring when he pushed the ball past Chicago's Jon Busch with a heavy touch and raced behind the goalkeeper to finish in the open net.

Bobby Boswell headed home Fabian Espindola's corner in the 67th minute, Espindola knocked in a left-footer with the benefit of defender Lovel Palmer's deflection in the 71st, and Alvaro Saborio volleyed in a high-arching deflection from point-blank range in the 80th.

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