In a wild night at Providence Park, the Timbers went down a man in the first half, but rallied from trailing twice on shorthanded goals by Felipe Mora and Sebastián Blanco and ended up with a 2-2 tie vs. the Colorado Rapids. Jonathan Lewis and Michael Barrios had the goals for the Rapids.
The first half was not particularly exciting as far as scoring chances, with each team getting a few dangerous balls into the opposing team’s goal area, but there were no serious goalscoring chances. But the flow of the match changed dramatically in the 42nd minute when Timbers defender Bill Tuiloma received his second yellow card and an ejection, so the Timbers would play the remainder of the match down a man.
The Rapids controlled play to start the second half, but the Timbers largely kept them from having a serious scoring threat until the 64th minute, when Andre Shinyashiki found Jonathan Lewis open in the Timbers box, and he finished easily to put the Rapids up 1-0, and also broke the Timbers shutout streak at 395 minutes.
The Timbers did not take long to respond though, as only three minutes later, Dario Župarić played a ball across the face of the Rapids goal which was finished by Felipe Mora, and the score was level again at 1-1.
But just a few minutes before stoppage time, the Rapids retook the lead on what may be the most spectacular (and unlikely) goal seen at Providence Park in a long time. Michael Barrios attempted a cross from near the Timbers endline that was over the head of Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark, off the post, and found it’s way into the net, and the Rapids had retaken a 2-1 lead.
But the Timbers were not done yet, and managed their second shorthanded goal of the night in stoppage time, when Dairon Asprilla made a run down the left side and cut deep into the Rapids box, then found Sebastián Blanco just a few yards out from goal, and Blanco one-timed the ball into the net, and the Timbers had rallied again for a 2-2 draw, which was the final score.
Steve Clark had five saves for the Timbers, while William Yarbrough had two saves for the Rapids.
MATCH RECAP | 10-man Portland Timbers fight back for 2-2 draw with Colorado Rapids | Timbers website
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS | Mora, Blanco score as Portland Timbers come back for 2-2 draw with Colorado Rapids | Timbers website
