Rapids, Quakes play to 0-0 draw

Former U.S. World Cup goalkeeper Tim Howard had his fifth shutout of the season and the Colorado Rapids played the Earthquakes to a 0-0 draw Sunday at Avaya Stadium in a match between the worst teams in the Western Conference.

Colorado (7-19-7) was trying to win consecutive games for the third time this season. San Jose (4-20-9) snapped a six-match skid.

San Jose goalkeeper James Marcinkowski had his first clean sheet. The Earthquakes haven’t conceded a home goal to Colorado since a 1-1 draw May 18, 2013. Atlanta wins, sets attendance record: Atlanta United scored two first-half goals and picked up a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire, setting another Major League Soccer attendance record and securing a spot in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League.

United’s main objective, the Supporters’ Shield for the best regular-season record in MLS, will go down to the final week of the regular season. The New York Red Bulls remained one point behind the Five Stripes with a 1-0 victory at Philadelphia.

United improved to 21-6-6 for 69 points, tying the MLS points record set last season by Toronto FC. Atlanta drew its seventh 70,000plus crowd of the season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, finishing with a total of 901,033 fans for a per-game average of 53,002. That easily eclipsed the mark of 48,200 that was set in its inaugural season. More games: In other highlights, Wayne Rooney scored twice, Luciano Acosta had a goal and an assist and host D.C. United wrapped up a playoff berth with a 3-1 victory over New York City FC . ... Roger Espinoza and Johnny Russell scored second-half goals and Sporting Kansas City won 3-0 at FC Dallas to move atop the Western Conference. Kansas City is two points ahead of FC Dallas and Los Angeles FC, which plays at Sporting next week in the season finale . ... Diego Rossi scored two goals and host LAFC tied the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-2 to set an MLS record for points in an inaugural season with 57. ... Nicolas Lodeiro had the first three-assist game of his career, giving him a Seattle career record of 35 in the regular season, leading the visiting Sounders past the Houston Dynamo 3-2 . ... Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in his fifth straight game and added an assist and the Los Angeles Galaxy kept their playoff hopes alive with 3-1 win at Minnesota.