The MLS knockout round continued on Thursday with Montreal beating DC United 4-2 at RFK Stadium. Montreal’s Laurent Ciman opened the scoring in the 4th minute. Matteo Mancosu doubled the lead in the 43rd and scored the Impact’s third goal in the 58th. Mancosu assisted on Ignacio Piatti’s goal in the 83rd minute. DC staged a late comeback with goals from Lamar Neagle in the 90th and Taylor Kemp four minutes into stoppage time. Montreal advances to play the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“We knew that DC has been playing well,” Montreal Impact coach Mauro Biello said. “They’ve had a lot of confidence, a lot of rhythm scoring goals at home. It was important for us to establish our shape early, to not give them space. We were able to get that corner kick goal, which was huge. Then we were able to control the game in different moments, in the midfield, and then finding spaces out wide with our speed.”
In the Western Conference knockout round, Seattle shutout Sporting KC 1-0 at CenturyLink Field. Nelson Valdez scored the game’s only goal in the 88th minute. Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei made seven saves to keep the clean sheet. Seattle moves on to play FC Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals.
All of the Conference semifinals are on Sunday’s soccer TV schedule. MLS Eastern Conference semifinals on ESPN: Montreal vs New York Red Bulls at 3pm on ESPN. Fox Sports 1 has Toronto vs NYCFC at 7pm. Western Conference semifinals on ESPN: Galaxy vs Colorado Rapids at 5pm. Fox Sports 1 has Seattle Sounders vs FC Dallas at 9pm.