Staff and wire reports
FRISCO, Texas — The Seattle Sounders didn’t have to win Sunday night. All they needed to do was keep the game close.
Mission accomplished.
The Sounders lost to FC Dallas 2-1 but still advanced to Major League Soccer’s Western Conference finals by winning the two-leg series 4-2.
The Sounders beat Dallas 3-0 in Seattle on Oct. 30.
Seattle plays host to the Colorado Rapids on Nov. 22 in Game 1 of the conference finals. Dallas, which won the Supporters Shield this season for posting the best regular-season record in MLS, was just the third team in league history to face a three-goal deficit after the first game in a two-leg series — and no team has come back.
Seattle sat back in the defensive end for much of the first half but gave up a goal in the 25th minute. Dallas defender Atiba Harris hooked a cross into the area and Tesho Akindele headed it off the crossbar for his third career playoff goal.
Seattle got a much-needed away goal in the 54th minute from midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro to tie the game 1-1. Tyrone Mears stole the ball from Walker Zimmerman deep in Dallas territory and played it across goal for a sliding Lodeiro to knock home.
Two minutes later, Maximiliano Urruti gave Dallas a 2-1 lead but the home team needed three more goals to keep from being eliminated from the playoffs.
Also on Sunday, the Sounders announced that seven of their players have been selected for national team duty. The players were called in for games that will take place prior to the MLS conference finals.
The seven include forwards Jordan Morris (USA) and Nelson Valez (Paraguay); defenders Román Torres (Panama), Joevin Jones (Trinidad &Tobago), Oniel Fisher (Jamaica) and Damion Lowe (Jamaica); and midfielder Lodeiro (Uruguay).
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