Emilio’s 14th season goal leads D.C. United past Columbus

David Beckman made his first MLS start, but Galaxy lost 5-4 to Red Bulls.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS — Luciano Emilio scored his MLS-leading 14th goal and D.C. United beat the Columbus Crew 2-0 on Saturday night.

Brazilian midfielder Fred also scored for United, who remained tied with the New York Red Bulls for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Columbus (6-7-8) is fighting to qualify for the MLS playoffs following an early-season slump.

Both goals came in the second half of a tightly contested match played in front of a crowd of 21,639.

Fred’s third goal of the season came right after United sent a shot off the goal post that Columbus couldn’t clear in the 52nd minute.

Eleven minutes later, Emilio picked the ball off the feet of Crew defender Ezra Hendrickson inside the penalty area and put a low shot between the legs of goalkeeper Will Hesmer.

The teams traded blows throughout a chippy first half that saw 16 fouls but only two shots on goal, both from United. Hesmer easily stopped both.

Striker Ricardo Virtuoso had the Crew’s best scoring opportunity before the break, sending a hard shot from 21 yards wide right of the goal in the 18th minute.

Columbus struck first out after halftime when Guillermo Barros Schelotto set up midfielder Danny Szetela for a 20 yard try on goal that was stopped by goalkeeper Troy Perkins in the 51st minute.

Less than a minute later, United pressed inside the Crew penalty area, sent a shot off the left post and took the lead when Fred took advantage of lax Crew defense.

Columbus coach Sigi Schmid responded with two substitutions in the next 10 minutes, bringing on Eddie Gaven and Duncan Oughton for Virtuoso and Szetela. Schmid’s offensive-minded changes proved meaningless when Emilio doubled United’s lead in the 63rd minute.

Ned Grabavoy nearly put Columbus on the scoreboard with a 19-yard blast that rose just over the crossbar and out of play in the 88th minute.

United midfielder Joshua Gros left the game with a possible head injury in the ninth minute and was replaced by Domenic Mediate. Gros left the field under his own power.

Red Bulls 5, Galaxy 4

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — David Beckham brought back memories of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer, reviving soccer interest in the New York area for a night.

Playing before a record crowd of 66,237, Beckham made his first Major League Soccer start and set up a pair of goals by Carlos Pavon in the first eight minutes.

But the New York Red Bulls rallied for a wild win over the Galaxy when Juan Pablo Angel scored his second goal of the game in the 88th minute.

Chivas USA 2, Toronto FC 0

TORONTO — Maykel Galindo and Sacha Kljestan scored to help Chivas USA extend Toronto FC’s winless streak to seven games.

Toronto’s scoreless run is at 552 minutes.

The only good news for Toronto was the return of three of its stars. Danny Dichio, Jeff Cunningham and Marvell Wynne all came on in the second half after missing games in recent weeks with injuries.

Toronto (5-11-5) didn’t get its first shot on goal until the 37th minute.