PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers had gone 379 minutes without giving up a goal at Providence Park, but even before Los Angeles FC’s Christian Torres equalized in added time on Sunday night, the cracks in the dam had started to show.
In the game’s fifth minute, LAFC played their starting striker, Bradley Wright-Phillips, into space behind Portland’s defense only to see a heavy touch kill the chance on goal. In the second half, Kwadwo Opoku shot wide at an open net after Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark went to ground to stop Danny Musovski, while more Clark heroics were needed in the 85th minute to keep what was still, at that time, a clean sheet.