Dayne St Clair scored and Andrew Thomas hit the crossbar in a penalty-kick shootout that was decided by the goalkeepers in the 11th round, and Minnesota United staged a shorthanded rally to beat the Seattle Sounders on Saturday in the rubber match of the best-of-three first-round series for the MLS Cup after a 3-3 tie in regulation

Thomas, who replaced starter Stefan Frei in the 89th minute with a shootout looming, appeared to injure a finger on a miss by Joaquín Pereyra to begin the shootout. He finished with a heavily taped hand.

The fifth-seeded Sounders got off to an even faster start in the rubber match than they did in a 4-2 victory at home – when Obed Vargas scored in the eighth minute to give them a lead they never relinquished on Monday.

This time Albert Rusnák used assists from Danny Musovski and defender Nouhou Tolo to score in the fifth minute for a 1-0 lead. Musovski scored unassisted from the center of the box three minutes later for a two-goal lead.

Minnesota United cut it to 2-1 in the 19th minute when Pereyra scored off a set piece after a yellow card on Seattle’s Yéimar Gómez Andrade. It was Pereyra’s first goal in his sixth postseason appearance.

The fourth-seeded Loons were forced to play a man down from the 41st minute on after defender Joseph Rosales was tagged with a red card for violent conduct.

Minnesota United took a 3-2 lead on shorthanded goals by Jefferson Díaz in the 62nd minute and fellow defender Anthony Markanich in the 71st. Markanich subbed into the match in the 59th minute before scoring off a set piece.

Seattle failed to take advantage with an extra man until Jordan Morris scored in the 88th minute to tie it. Rusnák and Cristian Roldán had assists.

Stefan Frei finished with two saves for the Sounders.

St Clair turned away five shots for Minnesota United, which advances to the Western Conference semi-finals for the third time in club history.

Inter Miami ends Nashville’s season with 4-0 win

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Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are three wins away from an MLS Cup title.

Messi scored a pair of first-half goals and added two assists, leading the way as third-seeded Inter Miami ousted sixth-seeded Nashville SC 4-0 on Saturday night in the decisive Game 3 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Tadeo Allende scored a pair of goals about three minutes apart – both set up by Messi – in the second half to blow the game open for Inter Miami, who outscored Nashville 8-3 in the series. Messi had a hand in all eight of those goals, scoring five and assisting on the other three.

Inter Miami will go to FC Cincinnati for an East semi-final match – everything now is single-elimination, unlike Round 1’s best-of-three format – on 22 or 23 November. Cincinnati went undefeated against Inter Miami this season, winning 3-0 at home on 16 July and playing to a scoreless draw at Fort Lauderdale on 26 July. Messi was in the lineup for the first meeting, but not the second.

“We know Cincinnati will be a tough test,” Inter Miami’s Jordi Alba – who is retiring when this playoff run ends – said after his 100th appearance with the club.

Messi is the heavy favorite to win his second straight MLS MVP award, and if that happens he would be the first back-to-back winner in league history. He also won the Golden Boot as MLS’ leading scorer this season, just finalized a new three-year deal to remain with the club through 2028 and seems to be playing his best soccer at the perfect time for Inter Miami.

This is the first time Inter Miami have gotten this far in the MLS playoffs. A year ago, in Messi’s first full season with the club, they lost a Game 3 of Round 1 at home as the Supporters Shield winners and were ousted by Atlanta.

Not this time. Messi saw to that.

With four Nashville defenders around him, Messi scored from the top of the 18-yard box in the 10th minute for a 1-0 lead. And the second goal was from nearly the same spot, albeit much easier.

Mateo Silvetti controlled a long pass and got past a Nashville defender, attracting the attention of goalkeeper Joe Willis. Silvetti pushed the ball toward Messi, who had nothing but empty net to shoot at in the 39th minute for a 2-0 edge.

“I would say the team played a near-perfect game, through the defense, midfield and attack,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said.

It appeared, briefly anyway, that Nashville cut the lead in half in the opening minute of the second half, but Sam Surridge’s would-have-been goal was whistled dead because one of his feet got tangled with Inter Miami’s Maxi Falcon on the play and a foul got called.

The Inter Miami-Cincinnati winner will play either top-seeded Philadelphia Union or fifth-seeded NYC FC in the East final. The MLS Cup final is scheduled for 6 December, and Philadelphia, Cincinnati or Inter Miami would all play host that match if it got to the title game.

FC Cincinnati tops Columbus Crew in final game of Darlington Nagbe’s career

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Brenner Souza – known simply as “Brenner” – scored goals in the 67th and 86th minutes to help FC Cincinnati beat the Columbus Crew 2-1 on Saturday night and win the best-of-three series 2-1 in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.

Cincinnati play No 3 seed Miami or sixth-seeded Nashville in the one-game Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Brenner’s second goal gave Cincinnati their first lead of the game. Samuel Gidi, on the counterattack, tapped a short pass from near the penalty spot to the top of the 18-yard box, where Brenner took a step to his right and slipped a low shot inside the left post.

Andrés Herrera ran on to a long ball-ahead played by goalkeeper Patrick Schulte and bounced a first-touch cross to a charging Jacen Russell-Rowe for a half-volley finish from just outside the six-yard box that gave the seventh-seeded Crew a 1-0 lead in the 63rd minute.

Brenner answered four minutes later for No 2 seed Cincinnati with a first-touch goal, after a soft header by Teenage Hadebe off a corner kick.

Roman Celantano had four saves.

The game marked the end of Darlington Nagbe’s career. The 35-year-old midfielder who won four MLS Cup titles – two (2020, 2023) with the Crew – across 15 seasons, announced in October that this season, his 15th in Major League Soccer, would be his last.

Cincinnati opened the series with a 1-0 win before the Crew evened the series with a 4-0 victory in Game 2 with each team winning on their home field.