Minnesota notches first playoff win

Kevin Molino scored two goals, Robin Lod added another and Minnesota United beat the Colorado Rapids 30 in St. Paul, Minn., for the first playoff victory in franchise history.

Fourthseeded Minnesota, unbeaten in its past nine games will play topseeded Sporting Kansas City in the conference semifinals.

Molino rolled a leftfooter from the top of the area inside to open the scoring in the 22nd minute.

Dayne St. Clair, a 23year old in his first playoff appearance, had six saves for Minnesota.

Lod ran onto a long through ball from Emanuel Reynoso at the top of the area, cut back to evade a defender and flicked in a leftfooter to make it 20 in the 54th minute. Jan Gregus tapped a cross to a charging Molino, who chipped it over sliding goalkeeper William Yarbrough, to cap the scoring in the 79th.

Colorado had won three in a row heading into the playoffs.

Premier League: Deprived of top scorer Mohamed Salah, captain Jordan Henderson and threequarters of their firstchoice defense, the champions still easily dealt with Leicester — the team that came into the weekend in first place in the Premier League — 30 at Anfield. ... Arsenal has failed to score in four of its last five league matches — its only goal in that period came from the penalty spot — and is in 11th place after a 00 away draw against Leeds. ... Dominic Calvert-Lewin took his goal tally for the season to a leaguehigh 10 by scoring twice in Everton’s 32 win at Fulham. ... West Ham won 10, handing Sheffield United its eighth loss of the season.

European leagues: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice, giving him 10 goals in six games played, as Milan won 31 at Napoli. ... Yusuf Yazici had two two goals as Lille beat Lorient 40 to move into second place in the French league. ... Max Kruse scored on a rebound as Union Berlin beat Cologne 21. ... Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a hat trick to lead Mainz to its first Bundesliga win of the season, a 31 victory at Freiburg.