SI

MLS: Martinez, Villalba Keep Atlanta United in First; LAFC's Diomande Keeps Scoring

Atlanta continues its stay atop MLS's standings with its win over Union and Toronto breaks its three-match losing streak after drawing with Sporting KC while the Portland Timbers extended their MLS unbeaten streak to 11 matches.

Associated Press

Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

CHESTER, Pa. — Josef Martinez and Hector Villalba each scored to help Atlanta United beat the Philadelphia Union 2-0 on Saturday night.

Brad Guzan had three saves in his sixth shutout of the season for Atlanta (12-4-4).

Martinez scored his MLS-leading 18th goal of the season to give Atlanta a 1-0 in the 58th minute, converting from the spot after Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake conceded a penalty in the area drawn by Miguel Almiron.

Villalba put away a cross by Almiron into a wide-open net to cap the scoring in the 76th. Martinez rolled it to Almiron on the left side of the area, and Almiron—as Blake charged—tapped it to Villalba at top of the 6-yard box for the finish.

Philadelphia (6-9-3) has lost four of its last five overall and is winless, including three consecutive losses, in four games with Atlanta all-time.

New England Revolution 0, Seattle Sounders 0

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Matt Turner recorded his fourth shutout of the season and the New England Revolution played to a scoreless draw with the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night.

Turner made one save for the Revs (7-4-7) and Stefan Frei needed one save in his clean sheet for the Sounders (4-9-4).

New England extended its unbeaten streak to seven.

Toronto FC 2, Sporting Kansas City 2

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Jordan Hamilton tied it in the 69th minute and Toronto FC held on for a 2-2 draw with Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Hamilton made it 2-all with a left-footed shot from 25 yards straightaway that curled inside the left post. The tie snapped a three-game losing streak for Toronto FC (4-10-4).

Ilie Sanchez and Johnny Russell had rallied Sporting KC (9-4-6) to a 2-1 lead with a quick pair of goals earlier in the second half.

Sanchez scored from the spot in the 57th minute and Russell ran onto a well-played ball from Diego Rubio and finished across the goalkeeper in the 61st.

Jonathan Osorio opened the scoring in the 25th minute for Toronto, redirecting Justin Morrow's cross into the net.

Houston Dynamo 3, Minnesota United 0

HOUSTON — Philippe Senderos scored twice and the Houston Dynamo beat Minnesota United 3-0 on Saturday night.

The Dynamo (7-6-4) took the lead in the 36th minute when Alberth Elis headed down Romell Quioto's corner in front of Senderos who hammered it home from close range.

Senderos headed home another corner from Quioto from the middle of the area to double the lead in the 52nd minute. The Houston defender, who only plays up on set pieces, has three goals in the last two games.

Elis added a second-half stoppage-time goal, capitalizing on a misdirected clearance attempt that landed at his foot. It was his ninth goal of the season.

Minnesota United lost its fourth in five games and dropped to 6-11-1.

Montreal Impact 2, Colorado Rapids 1

MONTREAL — Saphir Taider scored two goals only a minute apart early in the second half, and the Montreal Impact held on to beat the Colorado Rapids 2-1 Saturday night for their fourth straight win.

The Impact (8-11-0) have won five of their last six games to get back into the hunt for a playoff spot in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Substitute Dominique Badji scored for the Rapids (4-12-3), who lost a second game in a row and fell to 1-6-1 on the road.

The Impact found themselves against an opponent that played 10 men back, clogging the 18-yard box in front of designated player goalie Tim Howard. They tried high crosses, low crosses, dribbles from Ignacio Piatti on the left and Alejandro Silva on the right and lobs up the middle - each time being blocked by a blue and yellow-clad Rapids defender.

Fullback Daniel Lovitz danced in and shot over the bar early on and Piatti got off a curling shot in the 40th minute that went into Howard's arms, the only one of nine first-half shots to get through while the Rapids had no attempts.

In the 55th minute, Silva recovered a ball and fed it to the right side, where Taider shot between Howard's legs for a goal.

Two minutes later, a counterattack saw Silva feed Piatti on the left for a lob into the middle that the Algerian international fired in for his second of the game and third of the season.

A free kick in the 79th saw the ball go off defender Rod Fanni to Badji, who had replaced Yannick Boli in the 50th, alone on the doorstep for an emphatic blast into the net on his seventh goal of the season. The goal ended Evan Bush and the Impact's shutout string at 420 minutes.

Real Salt Lake 2, FC Dallas 0

SANDY, Utah — Albert Rusnak scored on an early penalty kick, Luis Silva added a stoppage-time goal and Real Salt Lake beat FC Dallas 2-0 on Saturday night.

Sebastian Saucedo drew the foul against Kellyn Acosta to set up Rusnak's goal in the 11th minute. Rusnak went low and to the left and goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez guessed the right way, but was unable to get to it.

Silva finished Jefferson Savarino's cross to cap a breakaway in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.

Savarino blocked Matt Hedges' header away to help preserve Real Salt Lake's lead in the 71st minute.

Real Salt Lake (9-8-2) started 10 homegrown players and subbed on an 11th to set an MLS record for most homegrown appearances in a single game.

FC Dallas dropped to 10-3-5 in losing their first game to a Western Conference opponent this season.

LA Galaxy 4, Columbus Crew SC 0

CARSON, Calif. — Romain Alessandrini scored two goals as a substitute to help the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Columbus Crew 4-0 on Saturday night.

Ola Kamara opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, making a run through the middle of the area to finish Ashley Cole's low cross.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic drew a penalty when Lalas Abubakar took him down in the area. Ibrahimovic converted from the spot in the 56th for his 11th goal in 14 appearances this season.

Alessandrini entered as a substitute for Kamara in the 60th minute and made it 3-0 for the Galaxy (7-7-4) in the 67th. He stole it from Abubakar at the top of the penalty area and dribbled up the left side for a close-range finish.

Alessandrini added a 20-yarder in the 93rd minute to cap the scoring.

The Crew (8-6-6) have lost three of their last four.

Vancouver Whitecaps 3, Chicago Fire 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Kei Kamara scored two goals and teen sensation Alphonso Davies had an assist and created several scoring chances in the Vancouver Whitecaps' 3-2 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old Davies was foiled by the posts multiple times, including on a breakaway in the 30th minute where he bounced a shot off the iron, then shook his head in disbelief. Davies will play in the MLS All-Star game against Italian champion Juventus on Aug. 1 in Atlanta.

A battle in front of Chicago's net in the 28th minute saw Fire goalkeeper Richard Sanchez stop a shot from Vancouver midfielder Yordy Reyna. But the rebound bounced to Kamara, who rocketed the ball into the back of the net to open the scoring for the Whitecaps (7-7-5).

The Fire (6-8-5) tied it in the 42nd minute after Vancouver midfielder Felipe Martins was beaten down low, allowing the Fire's Kevin Ellis to get a pass off to forward Nemanja Nikolic, who beat Whitecaps goalkeeper Brian Rowe for his eighth goal.

Vancouver's Jordan Mutch waltzed past Sanchez at the top of the box in the 46th minute and slowed the ball before tapping it into the net for his first MLS goal. Efrain Juarez got the assist.

In the 71st minute, Davies blasted past Chicago's defenders and lobbed a shot at Sanchez. The rebound went straight to Kamara, who tapped it in for his second goal of the night and team-leading eighth of the season as the Whitecaps jumped out to a 3-1 lead.

Fire midfielder Tony Tchani drilled one past Rowe in the 81st minute to bring his team within one. Chicago applied major pressure in the final minutes, but could not net the equalizer.

The loss snapped Chicago's five-game unbeaten streak.

Portland Timbers 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

PORTLAND, Ore. — Samuel Armenteros scored two goals and the Portland Timbers extended their MLS unbeaten streak to 11 matches with a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.

Armenteros scored during the 14th and 53rd minutes for the Timbers (8-3-5).

Portland, 0-3-2 to start the season, is tied for fourth in the West Division. The Timbers, who have an unbeaten streak of 13, counting U.S. Open Cup matches, haven't lost since falling to Orlando on April 8. The Timbers, 8-0-3 during this run, have the longest unbeaten streak in the MLS this season. The franchise record is 15 matches.

San Jose (2-10-6) extended its winless streak to nine games. Florian Jungwirth scored the Earthquakes' lone goal during the 87th minute.

Portland outshot the Earthquakes 19-14.

Armenteros gave Portland an early boost with his goal in the 14th minute. Midfielder Diego Valeri hit Armenteros in stride just inside the penalty box, and the Timbers forward easily blasted an 8-yard shot past Andrew Tarbell for a 1-0 lead. Valeri's assist made him the 11th player in MLS history to have more than 60 career goals and 60 career assists.

Armenteros was on the verge of an enormous first half. During the 25th minute, he had a point-blank shot on goal that Tarbell deflected to the right. Just before halftime, Armenteros took a crack at a 14-yard bicycle kick that just missed the goal's right corner.

Armenteros, acquired by Portland during the offseason, added a second goal early in the second half. Again fed by Valeri, Armenteros slipped past San Jose's double team, then put a short left-footed shot under Tarbell's arms for a 2-0 Timbers lead.

It was the second two-goal game this season for Armenteros, who has six goals in 15 games.

San Jose added some intrigue to the game's finish. Jungwirth hit a 15-yard shot that Timbers' goalie Jeff Attinella partially deflected, but the ball had enough momentum to trickle into the goal's left corner, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

LAFC 4, Orlando City 1

LOS ANGELES — Adama Diomande scored two goals to help Los Angeles FC beat Orlando City SC 4-1 on Saturday night.

Orlando City (6-11-1), which played its first game with new coach James O'Connor after he was hired on June 29, has lost nine games in a row.

Diomande, who has three multi-goal games and nine goals in seven appearances with LAFC (10-4-4), opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Latif Blessing chased down the rebound of his own shot and his ensuing cross was deflected to Mark-Anthony Kaye, who tapped it to Diomande for the finish from the top of the 6-yard box.

Blessing made it 2-0 in the 32nd when he put away a cross by Aaron Kovar from point-blank range.

Sacha Kljestan scored for Orlando City in the 59th minute, but Diomande answered in the 82nd. Diego Rossi tapped a feed from Blessing into a wide-open net to cap the scoring about two minutes later.

Tyler Miller had a career-high eight saves for LAFC.

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