Nelson Valdez scores late as the Seattle Sounders beat Sporting KC

Nelson Valdez scored a late goal as the Seattle Sounders beat Sporting Kansas City 1-0 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

Substitute Valdez had endured a challenging season on the goals front, but he redirected a Joevin Jones shot in the 88th minute to put a thrilling finish on an equally thrilling match.

Sporting started very firmly on the front foot with three clear-cut chances in the opening minutes of the match. Paulo Nagamura forced Stefan Frei into two saves and Graham Zusi hit the post.

The back-and-forth affair continued throughout the first half, with rookie Jordan Morris blazing a shot wide of the SKC net and Chad Marshall's headed effort sailing over the crossbar from a set piece cross by Nicolas Lodeiro.

The opening 45 was also physical, and Osvaldo Alonso saw yellow for a hard, sliding tackle on Roger Espinoza that drew shouts for red from the SKC bench.

Matt Besler appeared to have SKC's opener in the 53rd minute after heading home a cross into the Seattle area from a set piece, but the linesman's flag had gone up for offside and the goal was ruled out.

A Zusi corner kick took a fortuitous bounce and landed right at the feet of Seth Sinovic on the edge of the penalty area in the 60th minute, but Frei was once again in the right place to parry away the well-struck effort.

A moment of brilliance from Benny Feilhaber, who had just seen yellow for referee dissent, almost led to SKC's opener. The 31-year-old weaved his way through the Seattle defense, but once again Frei was there to save his team on the goal line.

Seattle will host Dallas at CenturyLink field on Sunday in the first leg of the teams' two-legged semifinal.