The Portland Timbers finished atop Group F after drawing LAFC 2-2 Thursday evening in Florida in their final group stage match of the MLS is Back Tournament. For Portland, it was a welcome relief to equalize in the 81st minute after a Jeremy Ebobisse header found the back of the net, his third goal in as many games. As group winners, the Timbers ensured a knockout round match-up against FC Cincinnati. A loss to LAFC would have dropped Portland to second place in the group and forced a showdown with Cascadia rival Seattle Sounders in the round of sixteen.
The Timbers opened Thursday’s game with a mostly rotated starting lineup. Coach Savarese made seven changes and gave forward Jarloslaw Niezgoda and defender Marco Farfan their first starts of the tournament to mostly positive results. Niezgoda opened the game with an early goal after catching LAFC off guard in transition and was able to calmly slip a nice ball past LAFC keeper Pablo Sisniega in the 7th minute.
The first twenty-five minutes or so saw Portland applying heavy pressure on the LAFC defense and made things difficult for an offense that had scored nine goals in their first two matches. After that, LAFC looked like they had gotten into gear and it was all black and gold to finish out the first half.
Bradley Wright-Phillips, already looking to be the biggest steal of the off-season, sent Portland Bill Tuiloma the wrong way in open space and launched an impressive blast past keeper Steve Clark to equalize in the 36th minute. Just a few minutes later, LAFC forced a corner kick and Mark-Anthony Kaye was easily able to free himself of Tuiloma’s marking to head in Latif Blessing’s inward-swinging cross. It was rough night for both Tuiloma and midfielder Andy Polo who fell victim to LAFC’s relentless precision attack.
Much of the second half saw both teams poking and prodding opposing defenses for another goal to limited effect, as both teams seemed to be fighting fatigue. LAFC’s Bob Bradley and Coach Savarese found new life in the match after sending in numerous substitutes toward the end of the match. Tournament rules allow up to five substitutions per game and Coach Gio upgraded Portland’s tired offense with the late additions of Diego Valeri, Eryk Williamson, and Jeremy Ebobisse. Ebobisse nearly equalized for Portland in the 77th minute after his shot attempt off a Diego Valeri pass inside the box went just wide. His header in the 81st minute quickly made up for the error and the Portland defense held on to keep the score level at 2-2 to finish out the game.
The Timbers look to re-charge over the coming days and push on against a surprising FC Cincinnati squad on Tuesday, July 28th at 7:30 PST on ESPN.
