Salt Lake 3 - Seattle 0
Real Salt Lake came up with a huge home result, beating the higher seeded Sounders by three goals at Rio Tinto Stadium in the opening leg of their Western Conference semifinal two-game series. Alvaro Saborio was the hero for RSL, scoring in the 41st and 53rd minutes. Javier Morales assisted on both goals, with Ned Grabavoy scoring the third in the 88th minute. In what turned out to be an easy night in terms of saves, Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando needed none to keep the clean sheet.
“One of our focuses was to keep a zero back there," Rimando said. "We knew they had some lethal weapons up top and in the midfield and (we had) to stay compact."
New York 0 - LA 1
Things got testy at the end of the game, with shoving and words between the two teams but it's the Los Angeles Galaxy carrying a one goal lead back to The Home Depot Center. Mike Magee made that happen, finishing off a David Beckham service in the 15th minute at Red Bull Arena. Unfortunately, both teams will be down a man as a result of that end of game altercation, with the Red Bulls' Rafa Marquez and LA's Juninho ejected.
"Once we score the goal, we know we’re good enough that if we put our mind to it it’s going to be real hard to score a goal against us," Galaxy forward Landon Donovan said. "We were happy with that. Another day things go a little differently and we get the second, but I think all in all it was a really good performance."
Philadelphia 1 - Houston 2
Two quick goals set the stage for an entertaining game at PPL Park. Andre Hainault put Houston up six minutes in and Philadelphia was level by the 7th when Sebastien Le Toux scored. Calen Carr got the opening leg winner in the 30th minute.
Colorado 0 - Kansas City 2
With Colorado needing a wildcard win over Columbus on Thursday to make this series happen, they were unable to string together two playoff wins in a row at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Teal Bunbury opened the scoring in the 49th minute and the Rapids were down a man by the 57th when Tyrone Marshall was sent off. Bunbury scored again in the 59th to give Sporting a two goal advantage to start the second-leg.
"They were putting pressure on us," Bunbury said. "They’re at home. They were putting us under pressure. We were a little slow at first to defend what they were bringing to us. It took us a little time to notice it. We had to pick our moments when to press them and when to go at them. The second half, we were pressuring them, and we got the job done."
