ZCZC
BSP-07
FBL-MLS
Seattle Sounders roll on, Nashville, New England record upsets
LOS ANGELES, Nov 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Defending champion Seattle Sounders
continued their impressive march through another postseason on Tuesday, while
Nashville SC and the New England Revolution scored upsets in a pair of
Eastern Conference playoff clashes.
Raul Ruidiaz delivered a goal and two assists as the Sounders advanced with
a 3-1 victory against the shorthanded Los Angeles FC on a rainy evening in
the Pacific Northwest.
Ruidiaz, of Peru, has eight goals and six assists in seven career North
American Major League Soccer postseason games.
Nicolas Lodeiro and Jordan Morris each added a goal and an assist as the
second-seeded Sounders reached the Western Conference semi-finals where they
will face FC Dallas.
Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei stopped a penalty shot by Carlos Vela who
returned Tuesday from an injury.
LAFC were missing four starters, including Diego Rossi, of Uruguay. The MLS
Golden Boot winner and MVP finalist Rossi, Brian Rodriguez (Uruguay), Jose
Cifuentes (Ecuador) and Diego Palacios (Ecuador) travelled to South America
for World Cup qualifying earlier this month and all four tested positive for
the coronavirus.
Because of their depleted roster, LAFC were forced to give a bigger role to
16-year-old rookie Christian Torres, who spent last season in the club’s
academy program.
Eduard Atuesta scored the only goal for LAFC in the loss.
Meanwhile, Tajon Buchanan scored a first half goal and Carles Gil delivered
two assists as visiting New England Revolution shocked top seeded
Philadelphia Union 2-0.
Adam Buksa also scored for the Revolution who beat Philadelphia for the
first time in six tries this season to reach the league quarter-finals where
they will face fourth seeded Orlando City on Sunday.
“We knew we had a fighting chance to beat them. We are happy to do that,”
said Canadian Buchanan.
He scored in the 30th minute to give the Revolution a 2-0 lead. The ninth
overall pick in the 2019 draft dribbled in alone and beat goalkeeper Andre
Blake with a right-footed shot.
“I just wanted to go at him one on one,” said Buchanan. “I am happy it went
in the back of the net. I try to bring fight and energy to these games.”
This was also the first loss of the season at home for Philadelphia who
captured the Supporters’ Shield as the league’s top regular-season team for
the first time in franchise history.
Blake, the MLS goalkeeper of the year, was playing his first game since
suffering a broken hand.
The eighth seeded Revolution have now won two straight playoff games after
beating the Montreal Impact 2-1 on Friday.
Also, Daniel Rios’ goal in extra time gave seventh seeded Nashville SC a 1-
0 victory over host Toronto FC in East Hartford, Connecticut.
In the 108th minute of play, Hany Mukhtar made a nice move to get open in a
crowd and to blast a shot. Goalkeeper Quentin Westberg made the save, but
Rios was there for the easy tap-in goal.
Nashville, who are in their first season of existence, advance to visit the
third-seeded Columbus Crew in the next round on Sunday.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1316 hrs