Despite starting Sunday night’s match on the front foot, the Portland Timbers were sent reeling by LAFC late in the first half and never recovered, losing 4-2 to the Californian side.
Playing on the conspicuously wet field at Banc of California Stadium, both sides seemed hesitant in the early going. While the Timbers weathered some early pressure from LAFC, they were soon able to settle into their familiar low defensive block, leaving the more adventurous play to the home side who had struggled to score in their previous two matches.
Chances were scarce for both sides until the Timbers opened the scoring in the 25th minute. After running on to a ball down the left flank, Diego Valeri cut a pass back to the top of the box where Felipe Mora was lurking. Rather than taking a shot into a pack of defenders, Mora spun and continued the progress of the ball across the field, rolling a pass into the path of Eryk Williamson on the left. With space in front of him, Williamson drove toward goal before juking an LA defender and slotting the ball past LAFC keeper Pablo Sisniega for the score.
The goal was enough to energize LAFC and the home side responded with a flurry of attacks that the Timbers struggled to contain. A series of balls into the Timbers box asked questions of Steve Clark and his backline, with the ball even winding up in the net once only to have Diego Rossi’s finish called back because he was in an offside position.
Finally, in the 37th minute, LA got their equalizer. A corner kick whipped in by Brian Rodriguez found the run of Bradley Wright-Phillips at the near post where the journeyman goalscorer flicked the ball on with his head. The helpful touch perfectly evaded the Timbers defense and fell at the back post just as Mark-Anthony Kaye arrived for a straight-forward touch over the line.
The hosts’ second goal of the night came from the run of play but was no less well worked than their first. Breaking down the pitch and into the Timbers’ end in the 41st minute, Brian Rodriguez played a diagonal ball from the center of the pitch to Rossi making a darting run inside from the Timbers’ right. Timing his run perfectly, Rossi received the ball in behind the defense and, as Clark rushed out to close him down, hit a curling shot past the keeper for a simple, smooth finish.
With the Timbers still reeling and unable to recover, LAFC kept the pressure on and, in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, the hosts scored their third. After a dangerously placed free-kick was knocked down in the Timbers box, Rodriguez got on the ball and played a square pass across the face of goal to Wright-Phillips. Unmarked, Wright-Phillips had no trouble putting a boot to the ball and knocking it over the line to take a 3-1 lead.
In the final minute of first-half stoppage time, however, the Timbers snatched the momentum back. Pushing quickly down the pitch, Jorge Villafana hit an early diagonal ball into the LA box that dropped into the path of Jeremy Ebobisse. Rising up to the ball, Ebobisse nodded it forward; dropping the ball over Signiega, under the bar, and over the goal line to pull the Timbers back within one.
The Timbers came close to pulling even in the 62nd minute after Diego Valeri was tripped up at the top of the LA box. After earning the foul, Valeri stepped up to the free-kick and hit a cutting ball through a gap in the wall onto to see it sting off the woodwork and fly away from goal.
The remainder of the second half was less promising as the Timbers struggled to get the ball into the attacking end with any sense of purpose. Despite flashes of skill from the attacking group, the Timbers could not find an equalizer in the final half-hour of the match.
Adding one final insult, LAFC grabbed an insurance goal in the 95th minute when Kaye played substitute Danny Muovski in on goal for a one on one finish around Clark that sealed the deal for LA and sent the Timbers home without a single point.