THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON, Calif. — Dema Kovalenko and Javier Morales scored on either side of halftime and Real Salt Lake advanced to the Western Conference final with a 2-2 tie against Chivas USA on Saturday night.
Real Salt Lake won the series with a 3-2 aggregate score and will face the winner of Sunday’s New York-Houston conference semifinal in the next round.
Chivas was eliminated in the first round for the third consecutive season.
Chivas’ Sacha Kljestan opened the scoring in the 30th minute. Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales knocked Ante Razov down inside the penalty area and referee Michael Kennedy awarded the hosts a penalty. Kljestan tucked the ball into the upper right corner of the net.
The goal was Chivas’ first in its last five playoff matches and snapped a 411-minute post-season scoreless streak.
With the aggregate-goals series even at 1-1, Real Salt Lake answered quickly. In the 39th minute, Morales found Kovalenko on the right side of the six-yard box, and Kovalenko flicked a header into the back of the net.
RSL tied the match but more importantly went back ahead in the aggregate score by a goal. With its lead, Real Salt Lake again dropped players behind the ball and bunkered into a defensive stance. Morales then capitalized on a breakaway in the 77th to give Real Salt Lake a two-goal edge in the series.
Justin Braun scored in the 83rd minute from the top of the penalty area to level the match.
Crew advance to MLS Cup semifinals with 2-0 win over Wizards
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Brad Evans and Robbie Rogers scored to give the Columbus Crew a 2-0 win over the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night and a place in the MLS Cup semifinals.
The teams tied 1-1 in the first leg of the two-game quarter-final match Nov. 1 in Kansas City, giving Columbus a 3-1 aggregate victory. The Crew will play their semifinal match at home against the Chicago Fire on Thursday.
Evans’ goal came in the seventh minute after Crew midfielder Brian Carroll lobbed a long pass over the Kansas City defensive line and into Evans’ path. He then chipped the ball over Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who had rushed off his line in an effort to reduce Evans’ shooting angle.
The ball bounced once inside the six-yard box before crossing the goal-line, and Evans said he thought it was heading wide.
"It took a fortunate bounce and actually bounced really high," Evans said. "I kind of got lucky in that sense."
Rogers doubled the Crew’s lead in the 57th minute, after pretty passes from Alejandro Moreno and Guillermo Barros Schelotto inside the Wizards’ penalty area gave Rogers space for a left-footed shot that beat Hartman.
"We scored two timely goals. We were able to exploit the space behind the defence," said Crew coach Sigi Schmid. "That’s something I was very pleased with."
Columbus frustrated Kansas City’s attackers throughout the game, surrendering few good scoring opportunities.
In the 15th minute, Wizards forward Abe Thompson took a pass inside the six-yard box, but was unable to control the ball on his first touch, giving Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer time to disrupt Thompson and spoil the scoring opportunity.
Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad sent a shot toward goal in the closing seconds of the first half that got past the outstretched arms of Hesmer, but was a yard wide of the left goalpost.
Columbus finished the regular season with a league-best 57 points, 17 points ahead of the Wizards.
"Obviously we knew it would be a difficult challenge, but we believed we were going to be able to do it," said Kansas City coach Curt Onalfo. "But we just fell short."
Schmid said the Wizards were "sharp and aggressive" against the Crew.
"They went after us and made it difficult for us to play," Schmid said.
Referee Ricardo Salazar doled out six yellow cards, including five in the second half as Kansas City’s desperation for a goal ran headlong into the Crew’s efforts to slow the pace of the game and run time off the clock.
Thursday’s game will be the Crew’s fifth appearance in a MLS Cup semifinal. Columbus has never appeared in a MLS Cup final.