A rainy and chilly night at Providence Park saw the Portland Timbers rally from a goal down twice to earn a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution. Dairon Asprilla and Yimmi Chará would score for the Timbers, while Brandon Bye and Sebastian Lletget would find the net for the Revolution.
New England would have much of the early possession and early chances, but neither team really threatened the opposing goal for much of the first half. Then with just five minutes left in the half, New England would tally the first goal when a Carles Gil corner kick found the head of Brandon Bye at the far post. His header was off the crossbar and into the net to put the Revolution up by a 1-0 score, which would be the score at the break.
In the second half, play would be more wide-open, and just a minute into the half, the Timbers would have a good scoring chance when Dairon Asprilla had a great look from near the penalty spot, with his chance being thwarted by a fine save from New England goalkeeper Earl Edwards. Then in the 60th minute, the Timbers would finally break through when Santiago Moreno controlled the ball nicely at the top of the Revolution and then chipped a pass into the run of Asprilla, who quickly controlled then pass and then finished easily past a charging Edwards to level the score at 1-1.
But it would only take two minutes for the Revolution to re-take the lead, when DeJuan Jones made a run down the left side and slid a low pass to a wide open Sebastian Lletget, who easily chipped a shot inside the far post, and the Revolution had re-taken a 2-1 lead.
But in the 78th minute, the Timbers did find the equalizer when Josecarlos Van Rankin played a cross into the box that the Revolution were unable to clear cleanly. Yimmi Chará would see his chance with the open deflection, and would execute a spectacular bicycle kick that would beat Edwards and slip just inside the far post, to level the score at 2-2.
The Revolution would nearly steal a last-second victory at the end of stoppage time when Adam Buksa’s attempted header was just tipped over the bar by Aljaž Ivačič, and the match would end in a 2-2 draw to open the new season.
Aljaž Ivačič would have five saves for the Timbers, while Earl Edwards had three for the Revolution.
RECAP | Yimmi Chara bicycle kick evens for Portland as Timbers draw New England Revolution 2-2 | Timbers Website
