Who said streaks are not meant to be broken? Today, the Portland Timbers thanks to Sebastian Blanco’s heroics and all-around team effort turned the tables and broke the domination of Minnesota United.
Still, the Loons in the early stages of the match started making their moves and got into an early lead through Franco Fragapane, thanks to assists from Robin Lod and Romain Metanaire, opening the score for the Loons and taking a 1-0 lead.
The Loons have had the Timbers’ number for some time, but suddenly the home side started rallying and putting pressure over the posts of Dayne St. Clair.
Portland’s eleven started creating many dangerous plays until the equalizer came from Larrys Mabiala near the end of the first half and injecting a lot of momentum for the Timbers going into halftime.
With a corner kick taken by Claudio Bravo, Mabiala scored the Timbers’ first goal with a header to even the score at one goal apiece.
At the start of the second half, nobody thought it would become the San Sebastian’s show, but the Andean did deliver with a brace and sealed today’s match with a win and eliminated the Loons.
The first of his two goals came in the 47th minute when a loose ball that the Loons defense only cleared as far as Blanco, who scored with an unstoppable shot from distance and the Timbers took a 2-1 lead.
Once again for Blanco, the man put the game away for his Timbers with a beauty of a goal past the visitors’ goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair that despite his efforts he couldn’t stop what became the insurance goal for the home side. For Blanco, he’s done it again with a brace to deliver a hard 3-1 loss to the Loons, ending their season as well the dominance they have had over the Rose City side in recent years.
The Portland Timbers will look to end another team’s recent dominance over them playing against a hardened Colorado Rapids side in Commerce City, Colorado.
Something tells me that these Timbers can do anything they can in the field of play as well as making a statement of nothing being written in this postseason. The Portland side can deliver!
Goals
Franco Fragapane 11’ MIN, Larrys Mabiala 43’ POR, Sebastian Blanco 47’ POR, Sebastian Blanco 66’ POR
Man of the Match
Sebastian Blanco
Portland Timbers
Minnesota United FC
