Crew Eliminates Earthquakes, 2-1

Brian McBride scored in the 81st minute as the Columbus Crew eliminated the San Jose Earthquakes with a 2-1 victory in the Major League Soccer playoffs on Saturday night in front of 13,004 at Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus knocked out the defending champions with consecutive victories in the first-to-five-points format.

After Joe Cannon deflected Edson Buddle’s shot while colliding with Buddle and defender Jeff Agoos, McBride put the loose ball into an empty net for his first goal of the playoffs.

Freddy Garcia gave Columbus a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute.

Ariel Graziani scored for San Jose in the 58th minute.

Colorado 1, Dallas 0--Chris Carrieri scored in the 78th minute off a pass from Robin Fraser as the Rapids forced a deciding playoff game with a victory over the Burn in front of 9,637 at Denver.