Bradley Wright-Phillips scored the only goal of the game as the New York Red Bulls advanced to the MLS Cup Eastern Conference finals with a 1-0 win and 2-0 aggregate victory over DC United.
As United pushed forward looking to take the game into extra time, Gonzalo Veron fed Wright-Phillips and he kept his nerve to round goalkeeper Bill Hamid and stroke it home to complete the victory.
The Red Bulls will face the Columbus Crew in the Conference finals after Kei Kamara's extra-time strike gave them a 3-1 victory on the night and 4-3 aggregate win over Montreal Impact.
Kamara gave the Crew the perfect start when he headed home in the fourth minute, but Dilly Duka capitalised on a loose ball to equalise five minutes before the break for the Impact.
Ethan Finlay then levelled the tie 13 minutes from the end of normal time after Jack McInerney's initial shot had been blocked.
And the Crew booked a date with the Red Bulls when Cedrick Mabwati whipped in a ball from the left and Kamara met his cross to head home.
In the West, Walker Zimmerman's 91st-minute strike forced extra time and he then scored the winning penalty as FC Dallas advanced with a 4-2 shootout win over Seattle Sounders after the finished level 3-3 on aggregate.
Tesho Akindele headed Dallas ahead in the 84th minute but Chad Marshall's last-minute equaliser looked like it would send Seattle through.
However, Zimmerman had other ideas and he headed home barely a minute later to give Dallas a 2-1 lead on the night and after neither side could find a winner in extra time, Mauro Diaz, Ryan Hollingshead, Akindele and Zimmerman converted their penalties to send Dallas through.
The Portland Timbers will meet them in the Western Conference finals after a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Fanendo Adi scored the first goal of the tie in the 31st minute before Diego Chara scored in stoppage time to wrap it up for the Timbers.
Source: PA-WIRE
