Football
Associated Press 7y

Atlanta United puts four past Chicago; Montreal rallies for draw vs. NYCFC

Josef Martinez scored a pair of second-half goals and Atlanta United turned in another dominating performance, beating the Chicago Fire 4-0 for its first home victory on Saturday.

Before a raucous crowd of 45,000, expansion United jumped ahead four minutes into the game from an own-goal by Chicago's Brandon Vincent. Julian Russell's attempted cross from the right side of the penalty area deflected off Vincent, right past goalkeeper Jorge Bava.

Atlanta poured it on after half-time against a team that played a man down most of the game due to an 11th minute red card to Johan Kappelhof. Martinez made it 2-0 in the 60th minute off a deft flick from Miguel Almiron, and added his second goal in the 82nd, breaking free in the box and sliding in the shot from a tough angle.

Hector Villalba scored in the 67th minute with a booming left-footer after winding up with the ball right at the penalty spot after a deflected shot.

Dominic Oduro's goal midway through the second half lifted the Montreal Impact to a 1-1 draw with New York City FC on Saturday.

Oduro slid behind the defense and had a soft touch as he chested down a long ball from Patrice Bernier. He turned and beat NYCFC keeper Sean Johnson to the ball and chipped it into the net for his first goal of the season.

Oduro had four of the five shots the Impact put on Johnson's goal.

Rodney Wallace scored his second goal of the season late in the first half to put NYCFC on top before the break. He pounced on a rebound after Montreal keeper Evan Bush made a save on Alexander Ring. Wallace got his left foot on the ball and slid it just inside the left post past the sliding Bush.

The teams combined for 31 shots but put only nine on goal. NYCFC had more opportunities among its 18 shots but only had one shot on target in the second half after forcing Bush to make three saves in the first.

Emmanuel Boateng found the inside of the net for what turned out to be the game-winner in the 74th minute as the LA Galaxy earned their first win of the year 2-1 against Real Salt Lake.

Boateng's goal was set up by Romain Alessandrini who drew the defense around him on the right side of the box before firing a pass to the opposite side to a streaking Boateng who beat goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Alessandrini also assisted on the Galaxy's first goal, which tied the score at one in the 69th minute. Alessandrini found Romney with a cross to the middle of the box, who then fired a left-footed shot just under the crossbar.

Real Salt Lake took an early lead in the 18th minute after a goal by Yura Movsisyan. Movsisyan took a high arching into the box by Albert Rusak and headed it through.

Toronto FC scored two late goals to beat 10-man Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 after Brek Shea was sent off in the 70th minute.

Shea was shown yellow for a hard foul on Toronto's Nick Hagglund and then given a second yellow for dissent to the referee leaving his team down a man with 20 minutes to play.

And the visitors took full advantage, with Victor Vazquez heading home from a Jozy Altidore assist in the 76th minute.

Altidore would then double Toronto's lead four minutes later, firing home a right-footed shot after a nice spin move at the top of the penalty area following a pass from Jonathan Osorio.

It was the first win of the season for the 2016 MLS Cup runners-up, who had played to draws in two matches to start the 2017 campaign.

Sporting Kansas City benefited from an own goal in the 89th minute that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Sporting KC was clinging to a 1-0 lead when Soony Saad, outside the box, attempted a shot that went off the defender and was headed wide. Keeper David Bingham went out to scoop up the spinning ball and it went off his hands and into the goal.

The goal was crucial, as Florian Jungwirth spoiled Tim Melia's shutout in stoppage time. A long ball into traffic came down to Jungwirth at the top of the penalty box and he turned and put a left-footed shot over Melia. Melia then came up with a big save; punching away Jungwirth's deflected shot in the third and final minute of stoppage time.

Benny Feilhaber scored his first goal of the season for Sporting KC with a bending shot from 25 yards in the 37th minute. San Jose keeper David Bingham remained rooted on his spot as Feilhaber's 30th career goal slipped just under the crossbar.

The goal for San Jose was the first KC allowed this season.

Minnesota United's Christian Ramirez scored in the 58th minute to give it its first ever lead as a franchise, but Marlon Hairston answered for Colorado one minute later to force a 2-2 draw between the two sides.

Minnesota, playing in its inaugural MLS season, had been outscored 11-2 through two games this season. But Ramirez gave it its first ever lead in the 58th minute, taking a centering pass from Jerome Thiesson to nail in a header past goalkeeper Tim Howard.

However the lead did not last, as Marlon Hairston immediately answered with his first score of 2017 which tied the match at two-all. Marc Burch earned an assist on the play.

The Rapids had a shot to win in stoppage time, but Alan Gordon's right-footed shot sailed high.

Dominique Badji scored in the 17th minute to give the Rapids a 1-0 lead which they carried into halftime. Kevin Molino drilled through the equalizer via penalty kick in the 50th minute for Minnesota United.

Maximiliano Urruti scored twice in the second half as FC Dallas rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to earn a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution.

The Revolution held a 1-0 lead into the 71st minute when Urruti beat Cody Cropper after Cropper charged off his line to cut off the scoring chance. Just six minutes later Urruti put home the game winner, beating Cropper high to the near post.

The two goals gives Urruti three total for FC Dallas in just two career MLS games.

Lee Nguyen put the Revolution on the board early with his first goal of the year, a penalty kick in the 10th minute. Nguyen took the kick after Antonio Mlinar Delamea drew a penalty on FC Dallas' Cristian Colman.

The Revolution attempted just four shots overall, 11 fewer than FC Dallas.

Cyle Larin scored twice, including the game winner in the 73rd minute, as Orlando City won 2-1 against Philadelphia.

With the score tied at one-all with 15 minutes left, Larin found his way behind the middle of the Union defense thanks to a streaking pass from Carlos Rivas and beat goalkeeper Andre Blake for the game-winner. The forward has accounted for all three Orlando City goals this season.

After Larin gave Orlando City the lead in the 39th minute, C.J. Sapong found the back of the net with a header to tie the score in the 52nd minute. The Union had a final opportunity to level the match in the 93rd minute, but Alejandro Bedoya's header was denied by Joe Bendik.

Philadelphia is winless in its last 10 matches dating back to last season.

Columbus Crew SC scored twice off penalty kicks and Zack Steffen kept D.C. United winless and scoreless on the season with three saves in a 2-0 win.

Federico Higuaín scored in the 38th minute and Ola Kamara connected in the 66th minute for the Crew. Both shots just eluded diving D.C. keeper Bill Hamid, who had guessed right on both attempts but couldn't get to the balls, slotted just inside the post -- one left and one right.

Steffen earned his first career win with two great saves in the second half. He came off his line early in the second half to stop Jose Guillermo Ortiz, who made an extra touch off a give-and-go and then couldn't get the chip high enough to go over the sliding keeper. Patrick Nyarko got his head on a long free kick but Steffen got his left arm out and deflected the ball away as he dove toward his left post in the 70th minute.

That added to the frustration of D.C. United, which set a record by not scoring in the first three games of the season. United got back playmaking midfielder Luciano Acosta from an ankle injury but he had no shots in 75 minutes.

Diego Valeri scored twice and David Guzman got the game-winner as the Portland Timbers beat the Houston Dynamo 4-2.

Fanendo Adi also scored for Portland and Jake Gleeson finished with four saves. Erick Torres and Romell Quioto had the goals for Houston, and Tyler Deric had three saves.

Tied 1-1, Houston took the lead in first half stoppage time. Alberth Elis threaded a pass through the Portland penalty area to Quioto, who took a touch to control the ball, then slid a pass past Gleeson for his third goal of the season.

Portland started its comeback in the 58th minute, when Zarek Valentin's cross from the left found an unguarded Valeri to head home from six yards out for his second of the game and fourth in the first three games this season.

The Timbers took a 3-2 lead in the 66th minute. On the edge of the Houston penalty area, Guzman knocked an attempted clearance to Darlington Nagbe, who spun and slipped a return pass behind the Dynamo defense to Guzman. The Portland midfielder then faked a shot, dribbled past a sliding Deric and knocked home his first goal of the season.

Adi added an insurance goal in the 88th minute, running down the ball near the top of the area, then danced around Houston defenders for a few moments before banking a shot off the far post for his third goal.

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