Real Salt Lake ties St. Louis City 2-2 to earn final postseason spot in Western Conference

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — João Klauss scored in the 88th minute and St. Louis City rallied to tie Real Salt Lake 2-2 to close out the regular season on Saturday night.

Real Salt Lake (12-17-5) earns the Western Conference's final postseason berth by virtue of its tiebreaker advantage over the San Jose Earthquakes. RSL will play the Portland Timbers on the road on Wednesday in a loser-out wild-card match. The winner will play the expansion side and Western Conference regular-season champion San Diego FC in the best-of-three first round.

Klauss matched his career high with his 10th goal of the season for St. Louis City (8-18-8). Rookie defender Fallou Fall, 21, notched his first assist in his eighth appearance. Defender Devin Padelford collected his second assist this season. Padelford had one assist in three seasons and 46 appearances for Minnesota United.

Victor Olatunji scored twice in the first half to stake Real Salt Lake to a 2-0 lead. He found the net in the 17th minute when he used assists from 18-year-old rookie Zavier Gozo — his third — and Braian Ojeda — his first — to score.

Olatunji made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute with his fourth goal of the season in his eighth career appearance. Diogo Gonçalves collected his career-best fifth assist in his second season in the league.

Eduard Löwen halved the deficit by halftime for St. Louis City when he scored on a penalty kick in the 42nd minute. Löwen's sixth goal matched his career high and came after a foul on Brayan Vera.

Roman Bürki totaled one save for St. Louis City.

Rafael Cabral turned away six shots for Real Salt Lake.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer