Toronto beats Montreal in 4-3 thriller, Columbus beats Red Bulls, Cincinnati upsets Atlanta at MLS tournament

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Gyasi Zardes and Lucas Zelarayan scored for the Columbus Crew in a 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Thusday night to clinch a spot in the knockout round of the MLS is Back tournament.

With a pair of wins to open the World Cup-style tournament, the Crew have all but secured the top spot in their group with a final match against Atlanta on Tuesday.

Zardes threatened in the 17th minute but his header went into the net atop the goal. He scored in the 23rd minute, for his third goal in two games. It was his 70th career MLS goal.

Pedro Santos nearly added another goal for the Crew from distance in the 40th minute but Red Bulls goalkeeper David Jensen dove to push the ball into the post and away from the net.

Zelarayan scored in the opening minutes of the second half. The Crew signed the Argentine attacking midfielder from Tigres UANL for a club record transfer fee in the offseason.

Zardes broke away for a chance at a second goal in the 74th minute but he was successfully tackled by Amro Tarek.

New York had no shots on goal in the game.

Sebastian Berhalter, son of U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter, got the start in the midfield for the Crew.

Ayo Akinola scored three goals and Toronto FC beat Canadian rival Montreal 4-3 on Thursday night in the MLS is Back tournament

Akinola leads all players in the tournament with five goals.

The teams combined for five goals in the opening half of the wild game played without fans at ESPN's Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World. Saphir Taider converted two penalty kicks for the Impact.

Richie Laryea gave Toronto the early lead with a hard shot to the far post as Montreal's defending sputtered. Laryea, a defender, was playing for Justin Morrow, who was held out of the game with Achilles tendinitis.

Montreal drew even in the 14th minute when Romell Quioto out-dashed defender Omar Gonzalez to beat Toronto goalkeeper Quentin Westberg one-on-one.

The Reds got back the lead on Akinola's goal in the 25th minute. Pablo Piatti fed the ball to Alejandro Pozuelo, who crossed it to Akinola for the tap-in goal.

Taider converted his first penalty to pull the Impact into a 2-all tie, but moments later Akinola scored his second goal to put the Reds back in front.

Akinola's third goal came in the 83rd minute. Clement Diop rushed toward him but Akinola jumped to avoid the goalkeeper and score. It was the first hat track in the series between the two teams.

Taider got his second PK in stoppage time for the final margin.

Akinola, a Homegrown Player in his third year, scored twice in Toronto's tournament opener, a 2-2 draw with D.C. United.

The Reds were without forward Jozy Altidore for the second straight game. Altidore had just returned to full team training on July 3 after a 14-day quarantine in Canada. He trained in the United States during the league shutdown.

Toronto's Jonathan Osorio also was held out as he recovers from a quad injury.

Frankie Amaya scored his first career Major League Soccer goal in the 76th minute to give Cincinnati a 1-0 victory over Atlanta United on Thursday in the MLS is Back tournament.

United was playing a player down after Jake Mulraney was sent off in the 26th minute with his second yellow card. Cincinnati struggled for much of the match to capitalize on the man advantage against the 2018 MLS Cup champions until Amaya's goal.

The young midfielder's left-footed shot from atop the penalty area sailed over the outstretched arm of Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Amaya, the first pick in the 2019 MLS draft, has played for the U.S. Under-20 team.

Cincinnati caught a break in first-half stoppage time when Atlanta appeared to win a penalty kick from a foul on Ezequiel Barco, but it was overturned by an offside call after video review.

Cincinnati was missing several key players because of injury, including forward Jurgen Locadia, midfielder Allan Cruz and defender Greg Garza.

Atlanta's J.J. Williams was sent off with a red in stoppage time and United finished out the game with just nine players.

Amaya’s goal was Cincinnati’s first of the tournament.