The Portland Timbers played their first match since March 8 on Monday night in Orlando in the MLS Is Back season resuming tournament. Their first match of the tournament was against the LA Galaxy, and Jeremy Ebobisse and Sebastián Blanco scored for the Timbers, with Chicharito (Javier Hernández) scoring the lone goal late for the Galaxy.
Chicharito had a chance to put the Galaxy up early with a 13th minute penalty kick, but Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark made a nice double save, first on the initial penalty kick, then on Sacha Kljestan’s rebound shot.
The game was level at the half but Jeremy Ebbobisse on-timed a nice pass from near the touchline by Sebastián Blanco to put the Timbers up 1-0. Seven minutes later the Timbers doubled the lead when Blanco made the run himself from near the touchline, beating several Galaxy defenders before giving the Timbers a 2-0 lead.
In the 75th minute, the Timbers went down a player when Dario Zuparic received his second yellow card, and the Galaxy would make them pay in the 88th minute when Chicharito made a nice cutting run across the box and one-tmed Gordon Wild’s pass into the net to pull the Galaxy within a goal at 2-1.
But that would be the final as the 2-1 win puts the Timbers at the top of Group F after the first round of the MLS Is Back Tournament. The next match for the Timbers is Saturday, July 18 at 5:00 PM Pacific when they take on the Houston Dynamo, who drew 3-3 with Los Angeles FC in an exciting Group F match earlier in the day.
MLS IS BACK TOURNAMENT MATCH RECAP | LA Galaxy 1, Portland Timbers 2 | Timbers website
MLS IS BACK TOURNAMENT MATCH HIGHLIGHTS | LA Galaxy 1, Portland Timbers 2 | July 13, 2020 | Timbers website
