Sjoberg header enough for Colorado to win at Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) - Colorado's Axel Sjoberg headed in a corner late in the first half and the Rapids defended strongly to win 1-0 at Seattle on Saturday and stay top of the Major League Soccer standings.
The Rapids stayed a point ahead of Dallas, which won at New England, while Real Salt Lake moved up to third and also won on the road, at Sporting Kansas City.
Colorado's winning goal came in the 43rd minute from Marc Burch's corner, with Swedish defender Sjoberg bouncing his header into the net for his first goal of the season.
The Rapids have six wins and two draws from their past eight games.
The Sounders almost equalized with their own header from a corner in the 72 minute, but Burch cleared Zach Scott's shot off the line.
Dallas remained on Colorado's tail by winning 4-2 at New England, with Tesho Akindele scoring twice.
The visitors took the lead through Akindele's penalty in the fifth minute. Michael Barrios drew the penalty from a collision with Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and left the game on a stretcher soon after.
Juan Agudelo equalized in the 23rd minute and New England went ahead with Lee Nguyen's penalty in the 26th.
Dallas' Atiba Harris headed home a corner to tie it in the 36th.
The visitors went ahead in the 70th minute as Fabian Castillo pounced on a poor clearance and slotted the ball past Shuttleworth. Akindele capped the scoring with a strike from the top of the area in the 90th minute.
Real Salt Lake capitalized on some defensive miscues by Sporting KC to win 3-1.
Argentina's Juan Manuel Martinez opened the scoring in the 32nd minute at the end of a four-pass combination that started with a defensive giveaway deep in Real Salt Lake territory.
Real Salt Lake went ahead 2-0 in the second minute of first-half stoppage time when Yura Movsisyan's pass deflected off Sporting's Brad Davis into the back of the net for an own goal.
Dom Dwyer slotted home Jimmy Medranda's diagonal cross in the 50th minute to cut the deficit to 2-1, but RSL retook the momentum 3 minutes later with Kyle Beckerman's steal and low hard feed to Movsisyan for a breakaway and chip-shot finish.
New York Red Bulls humiliated city rival New York City 7-0 to match the league record for margin of victory.
Dax McCarty put away a header into the top-right corner off a corner from Sacha Kjelstan in the third minute, and Bradley Wright-Phillips added two goals - the second coming on a bicycle kick in stoppage time - as the Red Bulls took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
McCarty made it 4-0 in the 51st minute and substitutes Alex Muyl, Gonzalo Veron and Gideon Baah rubbed salt into the wounds with further goals.
Wright-Phillips, who was scoreless in his first seven matches this season, has five goals in his past six.
The Red Bulls have won all four games played against NYC, which was unbeaten in its previous five games.
Orlando City's Cyle Larin scored twice, both set up by Kaka, as the hosts beat Montreal 2-1 to end a six-game winless streak.
Toronto's Sebastian Giovinco shot wide when 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper in the 68th minute to spurn the best scoring opportunity of the game and the match against Columbus ended 0-0.
Chicago's Arturo Alvarez scored his first MLS goal for six years, and that was enough for the Fire to beat Houston 1-0.