Soccer Land

  Both Major League Cup conference finals took place on Saturday. EASTERN CONFERENCE: At Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Tadeo Allende posted a hat trick (14', 23', 89') as Inter Miami throttled the visiting New York Football Club 5-1 in the Eastern Conference Final. WESTERN CONFERENCE: At Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego: Brian White scored twice (8', 45'+2) as the Vancouver Whitecaps dominated the homestanding San Diego Football Club 3-1 in the Western Conference Final. The Herons and Whitecaps are both in the MLS Cup Final for the first time and will meet each other this coming Saturday at Fort Lauderdale's Chase Stadium at 11:30 AM PST (Fox/Fox Deportes/Apple TV).

  Despite reaching the NWSL Playoff semifinal round, the Portland Thorns dismissed head coach Rob Gale on Tuesday. Sarah Lowden will serve as interim head coach of the NWSL club until a permanent replacement can be found.

  At Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, California: Anders Dreyer's goal in the 72nd minute on Monday enabled the San Diego Football Club to defeat visiting Minnesota United 1-0 in a Western Conference semifinal playoff match. The conference finals are set for this coming Saturday with the New York Football Club visiting Inter Miami at Fort Lauderdale's Chase Stadium (3:00 PM PST) in the Eastern Conference Final while the Vancouver Whitecaps pays a visit on San Diego FC at Snapdragon Stadium (6:00 PM PST) in the Western Conference Final. Both games will be telecast by Apple TV. The winners will then face off against each other in the MLS Cup Final on Saturday, December 6 at 11:30 AM PST (Fox/Fox Deportes/Apple TV).

  The Major League Soccer Cup Playoffs continued over the weekend with three games. SATURDAY'S GAME: WESTERN CONFERENCE: At BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia: After a 2-2 draw through 120 minutes, Sebastian Berhalter, Jayden Nelson, Ryal Gauld, and Mathias Laborda (who had scored in regulation, 45'+1) all converted their spot kicks as the homestanding Vancouver Whitecaps won the penalty-kick shootout 4-3 over the Los Angeles Football Club in a Western Conference semifinal. The Whitecaps will face the winner of Monday's San Diego FC-Minnesota United match (7:00 PM PST/Apple TV). SUNDAY'S GAMES: At TQL Stadium, Cincinnati: Lionel Messi scored a goal (19') and assisted on three others (Mateo Silvetti, 57', and Tadeo Allende (62', 74') as Inter Miami smoked homestanding FC Cincinnati 4-0 in their conference semifinal. At Subaru Park, Chester, Pennsylvania: Maxi Moralez scored the only goal of the match in the 27th minute as the New York Football Club ...

  At PayPal Stadium San Jose, California: Rose Lavelle (named the game's Most Valuable Player) scored the only goal of the match in the 80th minute on Saturday as the Gotham Football Club defeated the Washington Spirit 1-0 to win the National Women's Soccer League Championship Game. It was GFC's second league title in the last three years.

  At Inter@Co Stadium, Orlando, Florida: Jaedyn Shaw's goal in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time carried Gotham FC to another road playoff win, this time, a 1-0 semifinal win over the Orlando Pride in Sunday's National Women's Soccer League semifinal. GFC will face the Washington Spirit in this coming Saturday's NWSL Final at PayPal Stadium in San Jose, California (5:00 PM PST, CBS/Paramount+).

  At Audi Field, Washington: Gift Nyanko Monday (27') and Croix Collette Bethune (83') each scored a goal on Saturday as the Washington Spirit blanked the visiting Portland Thorns 2-0 in a National Women's Soccer League playoff semifinal. The Spirit will face the winner of Sunday's Orlando Pride-Gotham FC match (12:00 Noon PST/ABC ) in next Saturday's NWSL Playoff final at San Jose's PayPal Park (5:00 PM PST, CBS/Paramount+).

  Major League Soccer's Cup Playoffs continued with three games contested over the weekend. SATURDAY'S GAMES: EASTERN CONFERENCE: At TQL Stadium, Cincinnati: Brenner Sousa de Silva scored twice (67', 86') as FC Cincinnati came from behind to upend the visiting Columbus Crew 2-1 and win their best-of-three conference quarterfinal series two games to one. WESTERN CONFERENCE: At Allianz Field, St. Paul, Minnesota: After a 3-3 regulation draw, and with overtime dispensed with, Nectarios Triantis, Owen Gene, Morris Duggan, Michael Boxall, Carlos Harvey, Bongi Hlongwane, and Dane St. Clair converted their spot kicks as Minnesota United outlasted the visiting Seattle Sounders 7-6 in the penalty-kick shootout and won their conference quarterfinal series, two games to one. SUNDAY'S GAME: At Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego: Anders Dreyer (5', 79') and Amahl Pellegrino (17', 53') each scored twice (one goal in each half) as San Diego FC belted the visiting Por...

  The quarterfinal round of the National Women's Soccer League Playoffs took place over the past weekend. FRIDAY'S GAME: At Inter@Co Stadium, Orlando, Florida: Haley McCutcheon (21') and Luana (90'+8) each scored once as the Orlando Pride blanked the visiting Seattle Reign 2-0. SATURDAY'S GAMES: At Audi Field, Washington: After a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes, Rebeca Bernal Rodriguez, Esme Morgan, and Katherine Hershfelt each converted a spot kick as the Washington Spirit defeated visiting Racing Louisville 3-1 in the penalty-kick shootout. At CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri: Jayden Shaw (68 ') and Katherine Stengel (120'+1) each scored once as Gotham FC surprised the homestanding (and top-seeded) Kansas City Current 2-1 in overtime. SUNDAY'S GAME: At Providence Park, Portland, Oregon: Reilyn Turner scored the game's only goal in thee 94th minute as the Portland Thorns defeated the visiting San Diego Wave 1-0 in overtime. In the semifinal round...

  At Bank Of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina: In the lone Friday MLS Cup Playoff match, Nicolas Fernandez scored twice (45'+2, 90'+10) as the New York City Football Club defeated homestanding Charlotte FC 3-1 to win their Eastern Conference best-of-three quarterfinal series two games to one. Next up for the CityZens, an Eastern Conference match on the road with the Philadelphia Union on November 22 or 23 at Chester, Pennsylvania's Subaru Park.

  At Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington: In the lone Monday MLS Cup Playoff contest, Obed Valdez scored twice (8', 86') as the Seattle Sounders held off visiting Minnesota United 4-2 in the second game of a Western Conference best-of-three quarterfinal series. The third and deciding game in this series will be on Saturday at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota (1:00 PM PST, Apple TV).

  Several MLS Cup Playoff games were contested over the weekend. Saturday games: EASTERN CONFERENCE: At SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, Illinois: Tai Baribo scored twice (8', 16') as the Philadelphia Union blanked the homestanding Chicago Fire 3-0 in the second game of a best-of-three conference quarterfinal series and doused the Fire in two straight games. The Union will host a single-game Eastern Conference semifinal match on November 22 or 23. At Geodis Park, Nashville: Sam Surridge (PK-9') and Joshua Bauer (45') each scored once as Nashville SC held off visiting Inter Miami 2-1 to even their best-of-three conference quarterfinal series at a game apiece. This series will be decided this coming Sunday at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (Apple TV). At Yankee Stadium, the Bronx, New York City: After a scoreless regulation, and with overtime dispensed with, Archie Goodwin, Idan Toklomati, Harry Toffolo, Dazet Zaha, Adilson Malanda, Djibril Diani, Nathan Byrne each conve...