Credit: FC Dallas
Cincinnati, Sporting KC, and LAFC advance in the MLS playoffs
Monday’s soccer news starts with the roundup of round one game twos in the MLS playoffs. Cincinnati took their series with the Red Bulls two games to none. Cincinnati drew 1-1 at New York and advanced 8-7 on penalties. Tom Barlow put the Red Bulls up in the 45th with Aaron Boupendza equalizing for Cincinnati in the 75th. Moving to penalties, Cincinnati failed to convert in the third round and New York didn’t score in the fifth round. Cincinnati failed to convert in the ninth round with the Red Bulls not scoring in the ninth and tenth rounds.
“I’m very pleased that we’re moving on,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “Again, it was not an easy game. And we advanced, that’s the most important thing.”
FC Dallas evened their series with Seattle at 1-1 with a 3-1 home win. Paul Arriola put Dallas up in the 6th and Jesus Ferreira doubled the lead from the penalty spot in the 18th. Jordan Morris pulled a goal back for Seattle in the 48th, but Jader Obrian finished off the Dallas goals in the 89th minute.
“For us it is about what we learned from this game, what we did well, what we can change, and what we can learn about it,” Dallas coach Nico Estevez said. “We want the best gameplan that’s going to allow us to be successful. It’s going to be hard work for the staff and there will be a lot of analyzing. We learned things and we have to be better at the end of the day. Playing at home or on the road doesn’t change our mentality. Our mentality is to improve.”
Sporting Kansas City completed their two-game sweep of 1st-place St Louis with a 2-1 home win. Logan Ndenbe scored for Sporting a minute into first-half stoppage time and Daniel Salloi made it 2-0 in the 73rd. St Louis City’s Celio Pompeu scored in the 86th minute.
I told you guys this time and time again as we were going into this series,” Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. “This is not about a rivalry. It’s about the playoffs. It’s about trying to get as close as we can to winning the MLS Cup. That’s our objective, so all that other stuff goes off to the side. We have to win the game and that’s what’s most important. If you win the game, all the other stuff lines up as well. It’s the playoffs. That’s really what it meant to us.”
The weekend games concluded with LAFC advancing with a 1-0 win at Vancouver. Denis Bouanga converterd a 24th minute penalty with LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau keeping the clean sheet with five saves.
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