Wednesday's soccer news starts with Atlanta and DC United making their MLS is Back exits. Atlanta lost 1-0 to Columbus to finish at the bottom of Group E with no points. Columbus won the group with 9 points. Youness Mokhtar scored the game's only goal in the 18th minute with Andrew Tarbell making six saves to keep the clean sheet.
"Of course we are very disappointed with the result," Atlanta coach Frank de Boer said. "We were depending on the result of tomorrow night (to potentially advance as a 3rd-place team), but still if you are going to leave you want to leave with three points. You want to have that positivity leaving going back home to Atlanta. But now it’s disappointing. That’s normal when you lose three times by the score of 1-0. Very disappointing for everybody that loves Atlanta United."
Montreal shutout DC United 1-0 in Group C. DC finishes in 4th-place with 2 points and Montreal is 3rd with 3. The Impact can still advance as one of the 3rd-place teams. Saphir Taider scored for Montreal in the 31st minute with Clement Diop making three saves.
"It was a journey," DC United coach Ben Olsen said. "And again, I think not a lot went our way but we gave a pretty good performance overall. We put ourselves in a position to win that game. Unfortunately, we just didn't make any plays. We made one, unfortunately, for them. Then on the offensive end we got plenty of looks and we just didn't see out any plays. You're not going to move on in the tournament if you can't see out a play."
In Monday's early game, Sporting KC shutout Real Salt Lake 2-0. Johnny Russel scored for Kansas City in the 1st minute with Gerso doubling the lead in the 86th. Tim Melia made one save to keep the clean sheet. Group D has a game left that could reshuffle the top three with Colorado already eliminated.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Doug Roberson on United's exit from MLS is Back. ESPN's Austin Lindberg picks up the food in the bubble story at MLS is Back. AP's Ronald Blum reports on the Relativity vs US Soccer Federation ruling over allowing La Liga games that count in the United States.
The Athletic's Paul Tenorio with USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter's comments from the MLS is Back bubble. Yahoo Sports' Doug McIntyre also has Berhalter talking about the state of the USMNT program. SI.com's Brian Straus stays with Berhalter on the interesting circumstances for international soccer.
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