Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard made two saves in a penalty shootout Sunday to advance his team past the LA Galaxy in the Major League Soccer play-offs.
The Rapids won 3-1 on penalties after a 1-0 victory in the second leg of a two-match MLS Cup Western Conference semi-final series left the teams deadlocked 1-1 on aggregate.
Los Angeles won the opening leg 1-0 at home but lost the second leg 1-0 Sunday on a goal by Colorado’s Swiss midfielder Shkelzen Gashi in the 36th minute.
The triumph puts Colorado into the Western Conference two-leg final against the Seattle Sounders, who advanced 4-2 on aggregate after losing the second leg 2-1 to FC Dallas.
Sunday’s match may have been the final Galaxy appearance for England’s Steven Gerrard, who opened the scoring in the penalty showdown only to have Kevin Doyle equalise for Colorado.
Giovani dos Santos sent his kick over the crossbar to sting the Galaxy and Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux put Colorado ahead to stay with his attempt into the open left half of the net.
England’s Ashley Cole saw his attempt knocked aside by Howard, who dived to his right to deny the Galaxy star.
Colorado’s Marco Pappa put the hosts on the brink with a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner.
Howard ended matters with another diving save to the right to deny the Galaxy’s Jeff Larentowicz.
“We got into the last 15, 20 minutes, we looked tired. In the overtime, we were dead,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said of the Rapids’ advantage in their high altitude ground.
In Eastern Conference action, Sebastian Giovinco scored a hat-trick to lead Toronto FC to a resounding 5-0 victory over New York City FC.
Toronto, 2-0 winners at home a week earlier, won 7-0 on aggregate and will play the Montreal Impact for a place in the MLS Cup final.
Two goals from Ignacio Piatti lifted the Impact to their first conference finals berth with a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls that gave the Impact a 3-1 aggregate triumph.
The wins for Toronto and Montreal mean a Canadian team will reach the MLS title game for the first time.
Giovinco scored Toronto’s first two goals in the first 20 minutes – the second from the penalty spot.
He added a third in the final moments.
Jozy Altidore set up the first goal and made it 3-0 with a tightly-angled blast in the 30th.
Toronto native Jonathan Osorio scored in the second half on a pass from Will Johnson, another Canadian.
The crowd of 28,355 at Yankee Stadium had mostly trickled away by the end, except for a band of a few hundred Toronto supporters.
It was a disappointing exit for City, and another disappointing early play-off ouster for their cross-town rivals Red Bulls – who had entertained high hopes after finishing atop the Eastern Conference for the second straight regular season.
Montreal opened the scoring on Piatti’s blast in the 51st minute.
Needing three goals at that point to advance the Red Bulls pulled one back on a deflected goal from Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 77th.
But Piatti completed his double in the 85th, from a pass from Didier Drogba, who was making his first appearance since September 28.
*Agence France-Presse
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