the goal was given although television replays indicated the ball might not have completely crossed the line.
Cunningham again played provider in the 64th minute, maintaining possession before sliding a pass to Douglas Sequeira, whose angled shot from wide on the left found the inside of the far post and nestled into the goal.
Dynamo pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute when a Brad Davis corner kick found an unmarked Adrian Serioux for a point-blank header, but Cunningham restored the margin nine minutes later with his 14th goal on the campaign, a shot from straight out that kissed off the inside of the right post, beating Pat Onstad.
Here's Ellinger's team (4-4-2): Scott Garlick - Kevin Novak, Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart, Willis Forko - Chris Klein (Kenny Cutler 90), Mehdi Ballouchy (Douglas Sequeira 60), Carey Talley, Andy Williams - Jeff Cunningham, Jason Kreis. [Substitutes Not Used: Nelson Akwari, Chris Brown, Atiba Harris, Jay Nolly, Jamie Watson]
Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel (Kelly Gray 67), Ryan Cochrane, Adrian Serioux, Wade Barrett (Kevin Goldthwaite 82) - Stuart Holden (Chris Wondolowski 72), Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis - Dwayne De Rosario - Brian Mullan, Alejandro Moreno. [Substitutes Not Used: Chris Aloisi, Patrick Ianni, Julian Nash, Zach Wells]
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake remained in the hunt for a first-ever playoff spot, but saw the job get a little bit tougher despite twice coming back from a goal down before settling for a 3-3 draw with the Kansas City Wizards last Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium. Real are still in fifth place in the Western Conference with 37 points from 30 matches, two points behind the Colorado Rapids for the final postseason berth, and now just a point ahead of sixth-place Los Angeles Galaxy.
LAST MATCH
The Wizards were returning home trying to maintain their slim advantage on New York in the East, knowing their controlled their own destiny, while Real Salt Lake were still three points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The home side got just the start they were looking for, when Josh Wolff hammered home a rising drive after just six minutes, when he was sent into the area on a wonderful through ball from Davy Arnaud.
But almost from nothing, Real had the lead before the break. In the 35th minute, Chris Klein chased down a loose ball on the right side of the area and clipped in a cross that Atiba Harris rose up to meet completely unmarked, heading home past Bo Oshoniyi.
Then nine minutes later, Harris, starting in place of MLS leading scorer Jeff Cunningham, put RSL into the lead. A free kick into the area was poorly cleared by the Wizards defense, and Harris came racing in on the right to side-foot home a volley.
But shortly after the break, the Wizards restored their lead. In the 54th minute, Arnaud knocked in a pass to Wolff in the area, and he laid back a quick pass to Scott Sealy, who knocked it home past Scott Garlick for his fifth goal in the last six league games.
Nine minutes later K.C. again nosed in front. Wolff again played provided, slipping a ball down the left for Dave van den Bergh to run onto. Just before the byeline he pulled a rolling ball back for Jose Burciaga Jr., who hit a measured curling shot inside the far post.
Yet Real had one more answer. Klein -- making his return to the city where he spent the first eight years of his professional career -- played in a cross from the right to Jason Kreis, whose sent a powerful header goalward only for it to come back off the base of the right post. But he was quickest to the rebound, tapping it home past a fallen Oshoniyi for the 80th-minute leveler.
RSL head coach John Ellinger made three changes to the team that lost 2-1 to FC Dallas the previous weekend, also fundamentally changing his tactical scheme. Carey Talley came back from suspension, replacing Douglas Sequeira in midfield, while Nelson Akwari returned to the lineup as Ellinger went with three in the back, coming in for Mehdi Ballouchy. Atiba Harris replaced Jeff Cunningham, slowed by a hamstring injury.
Here's Ellinger's team (3-4-2-1): Scott Garlick - Nelson Akwari (Mehdi Ballouchy 68), Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart - Kevin Novak, Carey Talley, Jason Kreis, Willis Forko (Jeff Cunningham 78) - Chris Klein, Andy Williams (Jafet Soto 90) - Atiba Harris. [Substitutes Not Used: Chris Brown, Kenny Cutler, Jay Nolly, Douglas Sequeira]
"We came from behind twice, and obviously we feel good about that," Ellinger said. "It's one of those things where we both didn't want to lose. They're a very good team ... We're still in it. We got out of here with something. We needed a tie and we needed Colorado to lose and that's what happened."
TEAM NEWS
With Ellinger going with three in the back and loading the midfield behind Atiba Harris, it put Jason Kreis in an even deeper role in the center of the park. But he still scored the 108th goal of his MLS career.
"You know initially that is what you think when you are playing in the midfield, for me lately it is sort of play the game and you may get one or two chances a game and I feel that I blame myself for not being able to finish those chances," he said. "... I made a bad play on that and I was a little frustrated with it so it was nice to have another bite at the apple there making that run into the box late in the game."
Harris started in place of Jeff Cunningham, who had suffered a hamstring strain against FC Dallas the week before. Cunningham came off the bench in the 78th minute, just before the Kreis equalizer.
"If we were even or up, we wouldn't have used him," Ellinger said. "He has 16 goals. You have to give him some respect. There is no question he had an influence on the game-tying goal."
Harris had missed the previous RSL match while with St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean Cup, a qualifying tournament for next summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup. He played three games in five days for St. Kitts and Nevis - who were eliminated - but still was able to play the entire match and score twice in a 10-minute span. "That was big time for us, with Jeff being injured," Ellinger said. "He stepped up big time."
"He was awesome, absolutely awesome. He had two fantastic finishes and almost had a third and I think really deserved to have a penalty call," Kreis said. "I thought he did a lot of hard work on that play and I think if the referee was in a little bit better position he would have seen it was a clear penalty. So I thought Atiba was excellent tonight, a lot of us have a lot of confidence in him. I'm happy to see things go up on him."
For Real to stay alive in the MLS Cup Playoffs race, they must avoid losing to Houston AND have Colorado fail to defeat the New York Red Bulls at home.
"I prefer to think of it one week at a time. It sounds like I'm full of you know what, but I wanted to take care of this game and re-evaluate where we are," said Chris Klein. "Now we know we are two points back of Colorado so we have to be one game better than them over the final two weeks of the season and that starts with a very difficult home game against Houston, we want to get three points there. After that we are going to re-evaluate what we need to do against Chivas."
But to do that, Real will have to avoid conceding an early goal as they've done in each of their last three games. They've allowed eight goals over that span, scoring seven and going 1-1-1.
"We have recently given away an early goal in the last three games, I think in the first 10 minutes in all three. So we are a bit on the opposite side of that, we are and have shown to be incredibly strong willed and a strong-minded team just to come back," Kreis said. "When we have a first half of the season where we were 3-9-4 and come back with the record we've shown so far in the second half shows what kind of mentality this team has."
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Houston Dynamo booked their spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs with a dramatic 1-0 win against D.C. United - who still claimed the MLS Supporters' Shield despite the loss - last Saturday evening at Robertson Stadium. Dynamo now have 44 points from 30 matches and can secure home-field advantage in the conference semifinals with a victory against Real and the failure of Chivas USA to win. The top spot in the Western Conference is still within reach, five points behind FC Dallas with two games to be played (and Houston holds the tiebreaker).
LAST MATCH
Both teams were looking for a good run of form over the final month of the season to propel them into the playoffs. Dynamo had won just once in their last seven games, while United were coming off just their second league victory since mid-July.
While the Crew's defeat of FC Dallas in Columbus took care of one piece of business to be decided on the night -- the winning of the Supporters' Shield by United, and the berth in next year's CONCACAF Champions' Cup that went along with it -- Dynamo still had to win to make sure they could clinch a spot in the postseason.
And finally, in the 86th minute, the breakthrough came in stunning fashion. Brad Davis flighted in a cross from the left, substitute Paul Dalglish headed it on, and Brian Ching let loose with a tremendous overhead full bicycle kick that flashed to the right of United goalkeeper Troy Perkins for his 11th goal of the campaign and the full three points the Orange needed.
Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made no changes to the team that settled for a 1-1 draw with Chivas USA at home the previous weekend.
Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel, Eddie Robinson, Adrian Serioux (Ryan Cochrane 66), Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis - Dwayne De Rosario - Brian Ching, Alejandro Moreno (Paul Dalglish 51). [Substitutes Not Used: Kevin Goldthwaite, Kelly Gray, Stuart Holden, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski]
"I thought we played well tonight. We didn't give them much. [D.C. is] a very high powered offensive team. I think most of the saves [Pat] made was nothing much," Kinnear said. "The defense held well. The only time we looked a little dangerous was when we carelessly gave the ball away."
TEAM NEWS
It was just the second victory since mid-August for Dynamo. However, they've gone without a loss over their last four games.
"It's a huge win. ... Playing against a great team like D.C. United and getting the win against them is huge. Hopefully it will motivate us for the next two games we have," said Dwayne De Rosario.
Ching's goal put an end to a long scoring drought - dating back to July 15 - which also saw a one-month absence to a knee injury.
"I've been frustrated," Ching said to the Houston Chronicle. "Last night I sat down and thought about it; what's the difference between now and the beginning of the season? And whether I've been doing anything different. I needed to get back to what I was doing at the beginning of the year. Play one to two touches and get in the box. And that's how the goal came about."
Said Kinnear: "You don't see that every week. [It was] fantastic by him. When the ball went wide he went straight to the box because he wanted to score. It's been a frustrating time for us, and I think that goal erases that frustration for a lot of people."
Ching pulled into a tie for the Houston club goalscoring lead with De Rosario. It also put a strong candidate forward for Sierra Mist MLS Goal of the Year honors, which De Rosario also has a real chance to win for the third year running after his bomb from midfield against the Chicago Fire on Aug. 30. "It will probably be the only chance I get to show up Dwayne," Ching said jokingly.
"I think this was a very important game. It was like a playoff in itself. It was a great strategic game," De Rosario said. "I knew it would take a spectacular goal or even an own goal for a win. I'm glad we scored the spectacular goal. I'm glad that Brian [Ching] tried that bicycle kick."
Forward Alejandro Moreno left the game in the 52nd minute due to fatigue. Moreno traveled to Venezuela earlier in the week to play for his national team against Uruguay on Sept. 27.
"[He was] a little tired, and had a little bit of a sore back as well. You could tell that he was a little bit laboring," Kinnear said. "We came back at halftime, and it stiffened up on him so that was the reason for the change."
