MLS playoffs knockout round matches: Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC 3-1 Philadelphia Union
Both clubs were favorites playing at home and did not disappoint with each providing a solid performance.
LA Galaxy 3, Real Salt Lake 1
- 14′ – LA – Alan Gordon (Giovani dos Santos, Landon Donovan)
- 21′ – RSL – Joao Plata (PK)
- 26′ – LA – Emmanuel Boateng (Alan Gordon)
- 34′ – LA – Emmanuel Boateng (Alan Gordon)
Coach Galaxy Bruce Arena comments on the win:
“I think that’s a team we’ve been playing with over the last two or three weeks, getting them ready for the playoffs. They’ve been training together, they know each other and their responsibilities and they played in a very cohesive manner.
This is the best collective effort we’ve had in a while. I was pleased. Obviously I don’t want to concede a goal. It would have been nice to get the fourth goal in the second half in the first fifteen minutes and deflate RSL a little bit, but we weren’t able to do that and they kept coming at us. So maybe if we would have got that fourth goal, we really would have been positioned to kill off the game in the right way.”
Toronto FC 3 Philadelphia Union 1
- 15′ – TFC – Sebastian Giovinco (Jozy Altidore)
- 48′ – TFC – Jonathan Osorio (Nick Hagglund, Sebastian Giovinco)
- 73′ – PHI – Alejandro Bedoya (Richie Marquez, Ilsinho)
- 85′ – TFC – Jozy Altidore
Toronto midfielder Michael Bradley comments:
“We’re very, very, very excited. Very proud in every way. The effort, the commitment, the willingness to accept what the game was and embrace it, go for it, was at such a high level tonight. For tonight, every player, every person who is a part of this club, every fan, every person in Toronto, should enjoy it… then starting tomorrow morning, we’re going to get ourselves ready for two tough games against a good team.”
Forward Altidore went on saying:
“It was amazing. It almost feels like soccer in Toronto is reborn again, for Toronto FC. So to be a part of a night like this where you saw the fans kind of come alive again like they were that first year. I remember playing here [in 2007 with the New York Red Bulls] and it was amazing. So to be a part of it was a special night.”
Coach Vanney added:
“The speed of the game, the tension of the game was just a different level than any of the regular season games. The guys were ready for it. That’s what caught us last year, we weren’t quite ready for it. This year we were.”
