Credit: LAFC
Four home wins in MLS round one game ones
Monday’s soccer news roundup starts with the MLS playoff round one openers in the best-of-three series. Philadelphia beat New England 3-1 at home, taking the lead from a 19th minute Daniel Gazdag penalty. Mikael Uhre made it 2-0 Union in the 26th and Nathan Harriel scored in the 37th. The Revolution’s Gustavo Bou pulled a goal back in the 68th minute.
“I think we were able to create some quality chances,” New England interim coach Clint Peay said. “We had a good start to the game and were moving the ball well. The scoreline is not what we wanted. We feel that we can create and produce chances against this team, and now the key is can we capitalize on some of those moments.”
LAFC beat Vancouver 5-2 at home, going up from a Ryan Hollingshead goal in the 19th. Vancouver’s Brian White equalized in the 27th, but Denis Bouanga returned the LA lead in the 29th. Sam Adekugbe equalized for the Whitecaps in the 40th. Hollingshead scored again for LA in the 52nd and Bouanga made it 4-2 in the 64th. Jesus Murillo finished off the LAFC scoring in the 80th minute.
We weren’t as efficient as Vancouver tonight,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “They had two chances and two goals. So, I think there’s room for improvement there. I’m not sure there is a conversation. I think it’s pretty clear what not to do. It’s not like this happens every week. I don’t think there needs to be a conversation. We’ll obviously review the video with the guys, but in this case it’s pretty black
and white. There isn’t really any argument going on, or discussing, or reasons why. It’s pretty clear. The answer in the second-half was better.”
Houston beat Real Salt Lake 1-0 at home to open Sunday’s schedule. Hector Herrera put the Dynamo up in the 22nd with Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna equalizing in the 54th. Amine Bassi scored for Houston in the 79th minute.
I have been doing this long enough and it is very difficult to win playoff games,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said. “You see why because you’re going against opponents that are experienced. These are what playoff games look like. It wasn’t our greatest soccer, and a part of that is the opponent. They did a really good job of taking the crowd out of it and putting the correct numbers in spots to frustrate us. Their transition play was very dangerous throughout the night. It was a really good game from them, but in the end, it was a better game for us.”
Cincinnati beat the Red Bulls 3-0 at home, taking the lead from a 23rd minute Alvaro Barreal goal. Luciano Acosta doubled the lead in the 35th and Barreal scored again in the 89th minute.
“Yeah, there’s been a lot of conversations around the format, but everybody has to deal with the same format,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “We can’t think about what we do or don’t like about it. We just have to go and play, and if we do that in a strong way like we did tonight, then we get to the portion of the playoffs that looks familiar and then it looks a little different because you have to perform on the night or your season is over. Hopefully, we’re in a position to be talking about an elimination game, a one-off, but we have to do our job to finish off this best of three.”
Sporting Kansas City won 4-1 at St Louis City. Sporting KC took the lead from a 27th minute Logan Ndenbe goal with St Louis’s Tim Parker equalizing in the 28th. Remi Walker returned the Sporting lead in the 36th, Gadi Kinda doubled it in the 39th, and Daniel Salloi added a fourth KC goal in the 61st.
You have got to go on with your business,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “That’s a very good team we played tonight. There’s a reason why they’re in first place in the west. When you do it consistently over the course of the season, it means a lot to a team and they’re very good. They have great commitment in the group and they have some real dangerous players within their team. Obviously, we have got a game coming up and we have to look at it it’s just the next game. We have got to try to win that game. That’s the only way to look at it.”
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