Last day of MLS: Playoff matchups set, Wondolowski retires
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - Damir Kreilach scored in stoppage time to put Real Salt Lake over Sporting Kansas City 1-0 on Sunday night and clinch a berth in the playoffs on the final day of the MLS regular season.
Real Salt Lake (14-14-6), the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, will play second-seeded Seattle in the first round.
Sporting KC (17-10-7) went into the day with a chance to clinch the No. 1 seed, but fell to No. 3 and will play sixth-seeded Vancouver.
Kreilach put away a volley off a bicycle kick by Justin Meram from point-blank range to make it 1-0 in the fifth minute of stoppage time to keep Real Salt Lake's season alive.
David Ochoa had four saves for RSL. The 20-year-old goalkeeper in his third MLS season has four career shutouts, all in 2021.
EARTHQUAKES 1, FC DALLAS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Chris Wondolowski scored his 171st and final career goal to help San Jose tie with FC Dallas.
The all-time MLS goals leader retired after the game, finishing a 17-year career. Wondolowski, 38, put away a one-touch shot from near the penalty spot off a low cross played by Marcos López to give San Jose (10-13-10) a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute. He scored five goals in his final season.
Neither team is playoff-bound.
San Jose had 59.6% possession and outshot Dallas (7-15-11) 26-7.
MINNESOTA UNITED 3, GALAXY 3
CARSON, Calif. (AP) - Adrien Hunou and Robin Lob scored early for Minnesota, which played to a draw with Los Angeles to make the playoffs. The Galaxy, on the other hand, were eliminated because of the dramatic win by Real Salt Lake.
Minnesota or Los Angeles would have secured a playoff spot with a win, but a tie was would have been good enough as long as Real Salt Lake didn't win. But RSL scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time for a 1-0 win over Sporting KC, and forced the Galaxy into a must-win situation.
The Galaxy had three shots - two on goal - in the seven minutes of stoppage time.
Instead, Minnesota (13-11-10) goes into the playoffs as the No. 5 seed and will play at fourth-seeded Portland. Real Salt Lake secured the seventh and final spot with 48 points, the same as the Galaxy (12-13-19), but RSL had the goal differential tiebreaker.
TIMBERS 3, AUSTIN FC 0
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A goal by Sebastian Blanco in the 53rd minute was the final tally for playoff-bound Portland in its win over Austin.
The Timbers' playoff spot wasn't in doubt - they clinched the fourth spot in the standings with a 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday. As a result, Portland will open the playoffs at home against Minnesota, which played to a 3-3 draw with the LA Galaxy on Sunday.
Portland (17-13-4) set a club record for most wins in a season. The Timbers have advanced to the playoffs in each of the last five seasons.
Austin (9-21-5) was eliminated before Sunday's game. Playing its first season, the expansion team won just two road matches this season. But the team had beaten in the Timbers twice at home.
ATLANTA UNITED 2, FC CINCINNATI 1
CINCINNATI (AP) - Miles Robinson and Josef MartÃnez scored for Atlanta United, which overcame an early deficit Sunday to beat FC Cincinnati 2-1 and clinch a playoff berth on the last day of the regular season.
Atlanta (13-9-12) earned the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference. It will play fourth-seeded New York City FC in the first round.
Robinson scored in the 70th minute and MartÃnez gave Atlanta United its first lead in the 79th at 2-1. Robinson, a 24-year old in his fifth MLS season, flicked a header off a corner kick by Ezequiel Barco that slipped under the crossbar for his first career goal to make it 1-1 and MartÃnez side-netted a volley, off a clearance attempt that sailed high in the air before the finish from corner of the 6-yard box.
Zico Bailey gave Cincinnati (4-22-8) the lead in the 21st minute.
RAPIDS 5, LOS ANGELES FC 2
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) - Jonathan Lewis scored two goals as Colorado eliminated Los Angeles from the playoffs and moved into first place in the Western Conference.
The second goal from Lewis, in the 53rd minute, happened when Diego Rubio stole the ball deep in LA territory.
Collen Warner, Cole Bassett and Dominique Badji also scored for Colorado (17-7-10), who earned the first-round bye by a point when Seattle played to a 1-1 draw at Vancouver. It was the Rapids' first five-goal game this season.
Cristian Arango and Brian Rodriguez had second-half goals for Los Angeles (12-13-9), which also needed Vancouver to lose to make the playoffs.
WHITECAPS 1, SOUNDERS 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Ryan Gauld pulled Vancouver even with a header in the 20th minute in a tie with Seattle to earn a playoff spot.
Vancouver (12-9-13) reached the postseason for the first time since 2017. The Whitecaps finished sixth in the Western Conference, setting up a first-round matchup with No. 3 Sporting Kansas City.
Fredy Montero scored for the Sounders (17-8-9) on a penalty kick in the eighth minute. Second-place Seattle will open the playoffs against No. 7 Real Salt Lake.
D.C. UNITED 3, TORONTO FC 1
TORONTO (AP) - Ola Kamara scored twice to tie for the MLS goals lead with a career-high 19 as D.C. beat Toronto.
Kamara lost the Golden Boot award to New York City FC's Taty Castellanos on a tiebreaker, with Castellanos having eight assists to Kamara's five.
Steven Birnbaum also scored for D.C. United (14-15-5), which missed the Eastern Conference playoffs when the New York Red Bulls tied Nashville.
Julian Gressel had two assists for the Washington club.
Richie Laryea scored for Toronto (6-18-10).
RED BULLS 1, NASHVILLE F.C. 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Fábio Roberto Gomes Netto scored in the opening seconds to help New York tie with Nashville and clinch a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs on the final day of the regular season.
The seventh-seeded Red Bulls (13-12-9) play at No. 2 seed Philadelphia in the first round. No. 3 seed Nashville (12-4-18) will host to sixth-seeded Orlando City.
Fábio volleyed a cross by Cristian Cásseres Jr. to himself and then beat goalkeeper Joe Willis from point-blank range to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead in the opening seconds.
Hany Mukhtar responded for Nashville by blasting a free kick from just outside the area on the left side that appeared to deflect off a Red Bulls player into the net to make it 1-1 in the 37th minute.
ORLANDO CITY 2, FC MONTREAL 0
MONTREAL (AP) - Orlando didn't just beat Montreal. It also clinched an MLS playoff spot.
Sebastian Mendez and Daryl Dike both scored in the game, which put an end to CF Montreal's playoff aspirations. Montreal (12-11-11) needed a win to make it into the playoffs.
Orlando (12-9-13) will face New York City FC in the first round of the playoffs.
INTER MIAMI 1, REVOLUTION 0
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - Blaise Matuidi scored in the 58th minute as Miami surprised first-place New England in the regular-season finale.
The Revolution (22-5-7), which set a record of 73 points in winning the Supporters Shield, lost only its second home game.
A win would have given New England a record 23rd victory. Manager Bruce Arena remains tied with Sigi Schmid for most regular seasons wins in MLS history.
John McCarthy made three saves for his second shutout in 13 games for Miami (12-17-5), which finishes in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
New England has a first-round bye.
CREW 2, FIRE 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Lucas Zelarayan and Miguel Berry scored for Columbus in its win over Chicago, but the defending MLS champions will miss the playoffs.
Columbus (13-13-8) finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, tied with D.C. United, one point behind the final playoff spot.
Chicago (9-18-7) finished in 12th place.
Zelarayan weaved around two defenders in the box to score in the 31st minute and Berry cleaned up a rebound of his own shot in the 58th minute.
Eloy Room picked up his seventh shutout.
NEW YORK CITY FC 1, UNION 1
NEW YORK (AP) - ValentÃn 'œTaty'ť Castellanos scored his 19th goal of the season to give short-handed New York a tie with Philadelphia. The team also clinched a home game in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
Fourth-seeded New York City (14-11-9) played a man down after 24-year-old Gedion Zelalem, who made his first start since 2019, was shown a red card in the 21st minute. NYCFC will play No. 5 seed Atlanta United in the first round.
Castellanos won the league's Golden Boot award, besting D.C. United's Ola Kamara. While they had the same number of goals, Castellanos had more assists. He went high in the air to side-net a header off an arcing ball from Maximiliano Moralez to make it 1-1 in the 53rd minute.
Kacper Przybylko scored with a one-touch finish from point-blank range to give Philadelphia (14-8-12) the 1-0 lead in the 26th minute.
The second-seeded Union will play No. 7 seed New York Red Bulls in the first round.