NYCFC rolls over host rival Red Bulls 2-0
HARRISON, New Jersey — Ben Sweat scored his first MLS goal and set up Jack Harrison’s strike to help New York City FC beat the New York Red Bulls 2-0 on Saturday in the Hudson River Derby.
Harrison opened the scoring with a curling shot in the 33rd minute.
Rodney Wallace drew two defenders at the corner of the penalty area, found an overlapping Sweat and Harrison deftly finished the cross home.
Sweat scored in the 65th minute on a header off Alexander Ring’s free kick as NYC won for the first time at Red Bull Arena.
“When we look at all the games that we played against the Red Bulls previous to this year, they always wanted it more than us and that is unacceptable at this level,” NYCFC coach Patrick Vieira said. “I believe that if you want to win football matches you have to match the competitiveness of the opposition and I think today we did that brilliantly.”
CARSON, Calif. — Ike Opara scored on a bicycle kick in Sporting Kansas City’s victory over Los Angeles. Opara made it 2-0 with his stunning goal over charging goalkeeper Clement Diop in the 35th minute after taking a lofted pass from Matt Besler. Roger Espinoza opened the scoring for Kansas City in the 22nd when Diop’s double-fisted punch of Espinoza’s long shot ricocheted into the net.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federico Higuain scored twice in Columbus’ victory over Montreal.
Higuain has five goals in his last four MLS games, and leads the Crew with nine.
Higuain scored in the 17th minute on a free kick a few yards outside the box that flicked off the head of a defender in the Montreal wall. He doubled his tally on a left-footed shot in the 88th off an assist from Adam Jahn.
Kekuta Manneh scored in the 70th on a loose ball in front of the net, and Ola Kamara added another in the 72nd off a cross from Manneh.
Earlier, Anthony JacksonHamel scored for Montreal in the 19th to leave the Impact level at the break.
CHESTER, Pa. — Fabrice “Fafa” Picault scored on a dazzling volley and Andre Blake made two spectacular second-half saves in Philadelphia’s victory over D.C. United, to lift the Union off the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
Picault took a cross from Alejandro Bedoya and sent in a left-footed shot inside the left-hand post past diving goalkeeper Bill Hamid in the 31st minute.
In the 70th minute, Union’s Oguchi Onyewu was called for a handball after the ball went off his shoulder in the penalty box. But Blake preserved Philadelphia’s lead, diving to the right to stop Lamar Neagle’s penalty attempt. Blake made another big save in stoppage time, tipping Neagle’s wide-open, point-blank header over the bar.
ATLANTA — Josef Martinez scored in the 67th minute to help expansion-club Atlanta beat Colorado in front of 44,938 fans at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Martinez beat goalkeeper Tim Howard with a leftfooted shot from in front for his seventh goal in seven appearances this season.
Atlanta moved past the Red Bulls into the playoff positions in the Eastern Conference.
MINNEAPOLIS — Francisco Calvo and Jerome Thiesson scored secondhalf goals and expansion Minnesota came from 2-0 down to draw with Vancouver.
Calvo headed a long cross from Kevin Molino just inside the back post for his first career goal to get United back into the game five minutes into the second half. Thiesson leveled it with his first MLS goal.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Danny Hoesen scored his second goal of the season and assisted on Marco Urena’s second goal, lifting San Jose past Real Salt Lake. Hoesen opened the scoring in the 13th minute, off a long cross from Nick Lima.
Despite the victory, on Sunday the Earthquakes fired coach Dominic Kinnear and assistant John Spencer, naming former player Chris Leitch the replacement head coach.