MLS Cup Playoffs: San Diego beat Portland; Vancouver and Philly win | OneFootball

MLS Cup Playoffs action continues this evening with three first-round matchups around the league. 

Here is what went down. 

San Diego 2-1 Portland Timbers

Scorers: Valakari 23', Dreyer 30' ; Velde 36'

The regular season's Western Conference winners, San Diego FC, picked up a big win in the club's first-ever playoff game, dispatching Portland in SoCal. 

It was an utterly dominant sowing from the hosts in the opening 30 minutes, and despite goals from Onni Valakari and Anders Dreyer, they perhaps should have been three or four goals to the good. 

A lifeline from Kristoffer Velde on the counter-attack brought Portland back into the affair — momentum they took with them into the second-half. 

But any late fight-back from the Timbers was quashed when Jimer Fory received two yellow-cards in a matter of minutes, getting his marching orders to force Phil Neville's side into a hole.

The series will now shift to the Pacific Northwest, where the Timbers will look to find some momentum in front of the famous Providence Park crowd.

Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 Dallas FC

Scorers: Ríos 43', Müller 60' (P), Cabrera 83'

In front of a massive crowd in Vancouver, the Whitecaps cruised to a game-one victory over Dallas. 

It was one-way traffic from opening whistle as the 'Caps looked dominant, and the pressure paid off when Daniel Ríos opened the scoring with a tremendous header just before the half-time break. 

Second-half goals from Thomas Müller and and Kenji Cabrera saw Vancouver cruise to an emphatic win as they look to to make a deep MLS Cup run after a historic regular season. 

Up next, game-two in Dallas. 

Philadelphia Union 2-2 Chicago Fire

Scorers: Vassilev 70', Iloski 75' ; Bamba 84', Elliot 90+4'

Supporters Shield winners Philadelphia Union took game-one of their best-of three series with Chicago Sunday evening after a penalty shootout. 

While it took some time for the to teams to feel each other out in the opening interval, Philadelphia broke the deadlock after a spell of pressure deep into the second-half thanks to two quick-fire goals from Indiana Vassilev and Milan Iloski. 

Just when it seemed like the Union would be cruising to a win in the series opener, Chicago came roaring back in the dying minutes with two late goals, the second of which was a stunner from skipper Jack Elliot. 

With the score all level after regular time, the match headed straight to a penalty shootout to set the tone for the series. 

In the dramatic penalty shootout, a Joel Waterman miss was followed up by a Jesús Bueno secured victory for the Union in series opener.  

Next up will be game-two in Chicago as a potential series decider. 

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