Real Salt Lake beat Portland, extends MLS lead

SANDY, Utah (AP) Real Salt Lake extended its lead in Major League Soccer with a 4-2 home win over ten-man Portland on Friday, with Joao Plata scoring one goal and setting up two others.

In the day's other game struggling Toronto was held to a 1-1 home draw by New England.

Portland had no answer for Salt Lake's precision passing early in the first half. RSL showed patience in working the ball into the attacking third and made the Timbers pay for it with a pair of early goals.

Joao Plata set up Luis Gil for the opener in the ninth minute, and the diminutive Ecuadorian forward put his own name on the score sheet in the 15th.

Darlington Nagbe pulled a goal back for Portland just after the half-hour mark, but the Timbers' chances of getting back on level terms took a major blow when Ben Zemanski was sent off in the first-half stoppage time.

Joao Plata made another key contribution as he set up another goal for the hosts in the 55th minute, with Javier Morales netting to re-establish the two-goal buffer.

Alvaro Saborio made it 4-1 to the hosts before Sal Zizzo scored a consolation for the visitors in the 78th.

The result moved Real Salt Lake eight points clear of Los Angeles, its nearest rival in the Western Conference, and seven points clear overall from East leader Montreal.

In Toronto, it was New England that took the early lead as Diego Fagundez score in the second minute, but Andrew Wiedeman flicked home the equalizer from a goalmouth scramble late in the first half.

The point was enough to move New England provisionally into outright fifth place the last playoff-yielding spot in the Eastern Conference, a point above Houston.