Nat Borchers scored on a header in the 54th minute and Real Salt Lake won its fourth straight match with a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.
Salt Lake (14-7-6) is in third place in the Western Conference behind Los Angeles and Seattle.
By halftime, Sporting K.C. and RSL combined for 18 fouls and a pair of yellow cards.
“It was the most boring game I’ve been a part of in my life,” Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. “There was no rhythm to the game. There was no soccer played. Just a bunch of free kicks. It wasn’t fun.”
RSL had been struggling offensively until Beckerman sent a free kick into the penalty box as Borchers streaked toward the right post and Borchers drove the ball home.
“It’s almost like Kyle and I drew it up like basketball, like an inbounds play,” Borchers said. “I just made sure I curled my run and he hit the perfect ball.”
At Fire 3, Chivas USA 2: Dominic Oduro scored in the 85th minute to give short-handed Chicago the victory. Nick LaBrocca’s score in the 63rd minute tied it for Chivas.
At Toronto FC 2, Rapids 1: Danny Koevermans scored twice in the second half to rally Toronto FC over Colorado. Former Seattle Sounder Sanna Nyassi scored for the Rapids in the 69th minute.
Red Bulls 1, at FC Dallas 0: Luke Rodgers scored in the 36th minute, and goalkeeper Frank Rost made three saves for his second shutout of the season as New York hung on to snap an eight-game winless streak.
At Union 1, Crew 0: Former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux scored his team-leading seventh goal in the 32nd minute, and Philadelphia snapped an eight-match winless streak by beating Columbus.
At Dynamo 2, Earthquakes 1: Second-half substitute Will Bruin scored in the 79th minute to send Houston past San Jose – its first win in nearly a month.
At Galaxy 3, Whitecaps 0: Mike Magee scored two goals, Robbie Keane had a goal and an assist, and MLS-leading Los Angeles blanked Vancouver.
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