Colorado took advantage of Los Angeles’ absence of international players to win 1-0 at the Galaxy on Saturday and cut the gap between the two teams to a single point.
That result and Seattle’s home win over Chicago saw the Sounders move clear into second place in the Western Conference.
Sporting Kansas City went clear top of the Eastern Conference after a home win against Columbus, while there were also home victories for Dallas over Vancouver and Portland over Toronto.
Colorado’s Edson Buddle scored the sole goal in the 75th minute, rocketing a shot into the roof of the net after Vicente Sanchez robbed Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant of the ball.
INTERNATIONAL DUTY
The Galaxy — who were without Ireland’s Robbie Keane, Americans Landon Donovan and Omar Gonzalez, as well as Panama’s Jaime Penedo, all on international duty — lost at home for the first time since early May.
Seattle benefited from an own-goal in the 89th minute to beat Chicago 2-1 and bring up their fourth straight win.
Gonzalo Segares ran back toward the goal to clear the ball and instead knocked it into the net.
Lamar Neagle also scored for Seattle while Mike Magee netted for Chicago, who have never beaten the Sounders and lost there for the fourth straight time.
Sporting Kansas City moved three points clear atop the East, ahead of New York and Montreal who were due to play yesterday, with a 3-0 win over Columbus.
Claudio Bieler converted a penalty in the first half for his first goal in nearly two months, while US-born Lebanese international Soony Saad netted in the 41st and C.J. Sapong headed home in the 55th to complete the scoring.
Dallas’ Mauro Diaz and Jair Benitez scored in the final five minutes to lift the hosts to a 3-1 win over Vancouver.
Japanese international Daigo Kobayashi gave Vancouver the lead in the fourth minute, but Je-Vaughn Watson equalized in the eighth.
VOLLEY
The game remained deadlocked until the 87th minute when Diaz tapped in a pass from Colombian Fabian Castillo to score from close range. Benitez added another goal with a looping long-range volley that sailed over the head of Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted in the 90th.
Portland’s Kalif Alhassan opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time and the Timbers added three goals in the last 10 minutes to record a 4-0 win over Toronto.
Rodney Wallace, Will Johnson and Diego Valeri all scored in the late flurry to help Portland remain tied with Colorado for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Additional reporting by staff writer
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care