Portland Extends Unbeaten Home Streak Against Galaxy To Four Straight Matches
The Portland Timbers and defending MLS Cup-Champion LA Galaxy each tallied a goal in the final minutes of Sunday’s nationally televised match, playing to a 2-2 draw in front of a sold-out crowd of 21,144 fans at Providence Park.
“Well I think these are the types of games where you have to let it sink in a little because of the way it ended. Your initial inclination is to be pretty down and the players were. We had three points in the bag. I think it’s important that you have perspective though. We just played toe-to-toe with the MLS Cup champions,” said Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter.
Timbers forward Fanendo Adi registered a brace, scoring the go-ahead goal for Portland (0-0-2, 2pts) in the 90th minute as he converted a pass from midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe at the edge of the six-yard box. Earlier in the match, Adi vaulted Portland into the lead with a right-footed effort in the 31st minute as Portland strung together several quick passes in less than 15 seconds beginning with goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey’s distribution. During the buildup, Nagbe took a pass from midfielder Diego Chara and hit a one-touch, back-heel pass to midfielder Rodney Wallace. Wallace delivered a through ball to Adi and the forward picked up the pass streaking into the penalty box and bent a right-footed shot around Galaxy goalkeeper Brian Rowe.
Adi’s two goals marked his 10th and 11th career MLS goals for Portland in just 26 regular-season appearances since last year and his fifth career two-goal performance in MLS.
The Galaxy (1-0-1, 4pts), however, netted the game-tying goal as substitute forward Alan Gordon found the back of the net with a header off a corner kick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. LA forward Gyasi Zardes tallied a goal for the defending champions in the 65th minute when he narrowly beat Kwarasey to a cross from midfielder Jose Villarreal in front of goal.
“We played well. We really did. Give credit to them,” said LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. “They got two goals out of this, to their credit. We had to fight real hard to get a point out of this but we deserve the point.”
With the result, Portland extended its home unbeaten streak against the Galaxy to four straight games (2-0-2), dating back to July 13, 2013. Portland is 3-1-2 at home against the Galaxy since 2011. The Timbers saw their streak of four consecutive shutouts – spanning the end of the 2014 season and the beginning of the 2015 season – snapped, ending the stretch at 458 minutes without conceding a goal in regular-season play. The run, which began on Oct. 4, 2014, is the longest shutout streak in Timbers MLS history.
Dating back to last season, Portland extended its home unbeaten streak to six consecutive matches (2-0-4) at Providence Park since Sept. 7, 2014.
The Timbers hit the road for the first time this season next weekend, traveling to face off against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, March 21, at Sporting Park in Kansas City; kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. (Pacific).
Full Match Recap
A full match recap is available on the Timbers website.
