Yimmi Chara did it again with his second acrobatic goal of the season in the 18th minute almost carrying the Portland Timbers to their first win on the road and the season. However, LAFC’s persistence paid off at the end when Mamadou Fall scored the equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a draw at Banc of California Stadium in a late Sunday night match.
In the end, both sides split a point and endure the agony of a near victory being denied after the visiting Timbers ended up with ten men in the second half after a red card to fullback Claudio Bravo on 62 minutes.
The second yellow card for Claudio Bravo when he was called for a tactical foul over LAFC’S forward Cristian Arango, leaving his team short a man and for the remainder of the game.
In a match where LAFC had three injury substitutions starting with Ryan Hollingshead coming in for Franco Escobar and in the second half when Carlos Vela didn’t come up in the second half and replaced by Kwadwo Opoku and Diego Palacios was replaced by Latif Blessing.
For the Portland Timbers, being so close to what would be a clean sheet as well an immense win and their first win on the road, these fell short when Brian Rodriguez found a wide-open Mamadou Fall in the 93rd minute.
A match with an extraordinary number of yellow cards as the home side picked up two and the visiting Timbers had a total of six yellow cards along with the one red card that sent Bravo off and put the Rose City side at a disadvantage.
The irony of this match is that the Timbers’ first goal came from a bounce on Mamadou Fall’s arm and Yimmi Chara picked the ball and sent it for his second goal of the season with another spectacular score. In the equalizer by Mamadou Fall, Yimmi Chara left his man alone inside the area to score the equalizer.
To conclude, the Portland Timbers were moments away from what could have been an immense win on the road as well Ivacic earning his first clean sheet along with three golden points. The sheer pressure from the Black and Gold eventually paid off in stoppage time.
Both teams ended up sharing the spoils and points in the end with two points and in eighth place in the Western Conference, they are looking forward to hosting first-place Austin FC at Providence Park on Saturday, March 12th.
Goals
Yimmi Chara 18’ POR, Mamadou Fall 93’ LAFC
Man of the Match
Yimmi Chara
Next match
Home game against Austin FC (2,0,0, 6 points)
Portland Timbers
