PORTLAND, Ore. – If there’s one thing to know about recent matchups between the Portland Timbers and LA Galaxy, it’s never truly over until it’s over.
That proved to be the case again Sunday afternoon, as Galaxy forward Alan Gordon snatched away a Timbers win at the death with a stoppage-time equalizer in a 2-2 draw at Providence Park, spoiling what would have been a thrilling Portland win after a 90th-minute goal from Fanendo Adi.
It’s the third time in four games that late goals have decided a game between the two Western Conference rivals, all ending in draws. Sunday’s game was eerily similar to their May 11 meeting last year – only in reverse – with Diego Valeri stealing away a near Robbie Keane winner, with both goals coming in stoppage time.
So what makes LA so hard for the Timbers to put away – aside from the fact that they’ve won MLS Cup three out of the last four years?
“What makes us so hard to put away?” Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said in his postgame comments. “I don’t know. We have good matchups with them, and I thought it was a great game; it was exciting. In soccer, when a team snatches a draw at the death, they feel better and the team that gave it away feels worse. But ultimately it’s still a draw, so that’s why I think you have to let it sink in a little bit and understand overall the perspective of where we are and what we’ve done over the last two weeks.”
What Portland have done is allowing Porter and his team to see past the heartbreak of letting three points slip away.
They’ve secured draws with their first two opponents of the season, both conference foes and both playoff teams from last year, following their season-opening scoreless draw with Real Salt Lake.
“I think it’s important that you have perspective,” Porter said. “We just played toe-to-toe with the MLS Cup champions, and we played very well.”
The Timbers scored the opener in the 31st minute and then very nearly bagged the winner right before stoppage time, both on goals from Adi, their Designated Player striker. LA first leveled in the 65th minute on a Gyasi Zardes goal, capping what Porter called a flat start to the second half for his team and their only extended run of negative play on the night.
“These guys came out with the right mentality, they had confidence, I thought we were organized and we scored a great goal and deserved to be up,” Porter said. “Start of the second half, we knew that LA were going to push.”
Which is what LA did after Adi’s second goal. And on a corner kick, Gordon did what Gordon does, bulldozed his way into the cement mixer and looped in a header for the draw.
“Obviously they were going to throw everything forward, and Gordon is a big boy, and that’s what he’s done over the course of his career,” Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury said. “I think at the end we have to managed the set piece a bit better. Whether that’s moving one of the guys over to mark him, he’s one of the most dangerous guys in the air, but the reality is just managing those plays at the end of the game a bit better.”
And Porter said outside of a few moments, the 2015 version of the Timbers is shaping up in a positive manner.
“I think we look effective, we look organized, we’re creating chances,” Porter said. “If we play the way we played the way we played the last two games game in and game out, we’re going to get points.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
