MLS results | Sunday | Sports
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) extended its home winning streak to nine games with a 3-1 win over the Houston Dynamo in front of a sellout crowd on Sunday night at Banc of California Stadium.
Carlos Vela converted a pair of first-half penalty kicks before Ryan Hollingshead rounded out the scoring in the 52nd minute.
With the win, LAFC is now 20-8-4 on the season for 64 points, leaving the club atop the Western Conference standings and tied with the Philadelphia Union in the race for the Supporters’ Shield, which goes to the team with the best regular-season record. Both teams have two games remaining before the regular season comes to a close on Sunday, Oct. 9.
LAFC will return to action on Sunday, Oct. 2, making its final regular season road trip to take on the Portland Timbers at Providence Park.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Santiago Moreno scored in stoppage time to give the Portland Timbers a draw with the Columbus Crew.
The Timbers have a five-game undefeated streak as they vie for a playoff spot. The draw moved Portland (11-8-13) to fifth in the Western Conference standings with two games to go.
“I think I always just want to help my teammates and have fun out there, so of course I enjoyed the moment I scored,” Moreno said through a translator. “I think anyone who scored would enjoy it just as much as well.”
The Crew, who lead the MLS with 15 draws, remained just above the playoff line in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with three games left. But Columbus (9-7-15) surrendered a late goal for the third time in as many games.
Kevin Molino scored for the Crew in the 37th minute. It was his first goal of the season.
The Crew held on until the final minute of stoppage time, when Moreno’s blast got by Crew goalkeeper Eloy Room. It was Moreno’s seventh goal of the season,
“You do everything so well for 80, 90 minutes and then you concede a goal,” Crew defender Milos Degenek said. “It’s very frustrating. It’s not something you want to keep doing week in and week out, but you can’t dwell on it now. It’s happened. It’s happened way too many times, but it has happened. We have to find a solution.”
Inter Miami 3, DC United 2
WASHINGTON — Major League Soccer said it will look into a claim that D.C. United player Taxi Fountas used a racial slur against Inter Miami defender Damion Lowe during the second half of the team’s match on Sunday night.
Inter Miami won the road match 3-2 to give its playoff hopes a major boost, with Gonzalo Higuain getting the deciding goal off an assist from DeAndre Yedlin in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
But the mood was somber afterwards, with Inter Miami (12-13-6) players revealing that they were ready to walk off the field during the match if something was not done about what they believe Fountas said.
“It was a racist comment,” Inter Miami coach Phil Neville said. “It was unacceptable. A word was used. I think it’s unacceptable in society. A word was used, I think, the worst word in the world. And that’s it, really.”
Fountas and Lowe, who is Black, both received yellow cards in the 62nd minute after exchanging words. That all happened shortly after Fountas scored to tie the game at 2-2.
Inter Miami players gathered and after a period of conversation that lasted several minutes, Neville spoke with Wayne Rooney, his D.C. United counterpart. Rooney took Fountas out of the game, and play resumed.
“There was a complaint, which I’m sure will get investigated. Not much more I can say,” Rooney told reporters.
Yedlin said he has been outspoken about how there’s no place for racism in soccer throughout his career. He said Fountas used the slur as Lowe was walking away from their dust-up.
“If nothing was done, we weren’t going to continue,” Yedlin said.
Once Fountas was taken off, the game went on, but there was no celebration after.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t even feel like a win because of that incredibly dark moment,” Yedlin said. “So now, we’ll see what MLS does about it. My eyes will be on that a lot, to see what kind of action they take, because it’s now up to them to take action and make a stand and show this not only has no place in the game but no place in society.”
MLS released a statement postgame saying an investigation “into this matter will begin promptly.”
“MLS has zero tolerance for abusive and offensive language, and we take these allegations very seriously,” the league said.
Miami also got two goals from Leonardo Campana.
Christian Benteke also scored for United (7-19-6). United outshot Miami 17-8, but each team had five shots on goal.
Drake Callender saved three of the five shots he faced for Miami. David Ochoa saved two of the five shots he faced for United.
Miami next plays on Friday against Toronto on the road, and United will visit CF Montreal on Saturday.
