Kansas City and FC Dallas grabbed a slim advantage from their home legs, while New England escaped from New York with a scoreless draw.

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REVS EARN GIANTS STADIUM TIE
The New York Red Bulls carried play, but failed to make it pay off in a scoreless draw with the New England Revolution to open their Eastern Conference Semifinal series in front of 14,156 fans at Giants Stadium.

The Red Bulls dominated possession in the first half, but were unable to get one past New England goalie Matt Reis despite good early chances for the attacking trio of Francis Doe, Josmer Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel.

Revs top gun Taylor Twellman was contained by the New York defense, which allowed goalkeeper Jon Conway to have an easy night.

New England's best second half chance was when even Twellman fired on goal, but Jon Conway did well to make the save.

The aggregate goal, home-and-home series now shifts to New England next Sunday.

Line-ups
NE - Matt Reis; Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Avery John, Wells Thompson (James Riley 90'), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston, Khano Smith, Taylor Twellman, Pat Noonan (Adam Cristman 87')

NYRB - Jon Conway; Hunter Freeman, Jeff Parke, Seth Stammler, Dave van den Bergh (Chris Leitch 78'), Jozy Altidore, Dane Richards, Claudio Reyna (Clint Mathis 86'), Dema Kovalenko, Francis Doe (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 68'), Juan Pablo Angel

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FC DALLAS SCORES DYNAMO WIN
FC Dallas started their playoff run with a 1-0 victory over reigning MLS Cup champions Houston at Pizza Hut Park on Saturday night.

The lone goal came in the 23rd minute when Clarence Goodson found himself on the end of a long throw-in that took an odd bounce off defender Ryan Cochrane. The 25-year old had no trouble burying it past keeper Pat Onstad, who had little time to react.

Houston nearly leveled two minutes from time when Nate Jaqua chipped a ball into the box for an onrushing Brian Ching, who managed to pull keeper Dario Sala off his line, but the shot was saved. Dwayne De Rosario picked up the rebound and had an open net at which to aim, but missed wide.

The two sides meet again on Friday at Robertson Stadium.

Scoring
DAL - Clarence Goodson 1 23'

Line-ups
HOU - Pat Onstad, Craig Waibel, Ryan Cochrane, Wade Barrett, Eddie Robinson, Brian Mullan, Dwayne De Rosario, Richard Mulrooney, Stuart Holden (Brad Davis 63'), Joseph Ngwenya (Nate Jaqua 70'), Brian Ching

FCD - Dario Sala; Bobby Rhine, Clarence Goodson, Drew Moor, Chris Gbandi, Arturo Alvarez, Pablo Ricchetti (Dax McCarty 76'), Adrian Serioux, Juan Toja, Carlos Ruiz (Dominic Oduro 65'), Kenny Cooper (Abe Thompson 83')

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WIZARDS GET A LEG UP
Kansas City were the victors in the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinals against Chivas USA, claiming a 1-0 win at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday.

The home side took the lead in the 31st minute on a Davy Arnaud 33-yard free kick. The shot sailed wide of the wall, bounced off the ground and then past keeper Brad Guzan.

A few minutes later, Chivas aimed to equalize on an Alex Zotinca shot from distance, but Kevin Hartman saw it the whole way and blocked the path. Jesse Marsch pounced for the rebound, but Hartman recovered to smother it.

The visitors came close once again after the break when Jonathan Bornstein found John Cunliffe in the area, but his shot skimmed the crossbar.

The Wizards will take their lead to Home Depot Center for the second leg on Saturday.

Scoring
KC - Davy Arnaud 1 35'

Line-ups
CHV - Brad Guzan, Jason Hernandez, Claudio Suarez, Shavar Thomas, Jonathan Bornstein, Alex Zotinca (John Cunliffe 57'), Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Paulo Nagamura, Francisco Mendoza, Laurent Merlin (Ramon Nunez 70')

KC - Kevin Hartman; Jack Jewsbury (Ryan Raybould 89'), Jimmy Conrad, Nick Garcia, Michael Harrington, Davy Arnaud, Sasha Victorine, Kerry Zavagnin, Kurt Morsink (Ryan Pore 72'), Scott Sealy, Eddie Johnson