In the kind of game that has put ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC in the position its in, City SC couldn’t hold on to a two-goal lead in the second half and squandered a chance for its first road win of the season, having to settle for a 4-4 tie with the Portland Timbers on Saturday night in Oregon.
At a time of year when ties are not good for a City SC team desperately clawing for a playoff spot, Evander scored on a free kick in the 99th minute to tie the game and deny City SC of three points and left them with only one. It wasted a quality offensive effort by the team’s new acquisitions but the defense let them down as it allowed four goals for the fourth time in the past nine games.
Simon Becher and Cedric Teuchert scored, both off corner kicks from Marcel Hartel, Eduard Lowen converted a penalty kick after Becher was fouled in the box and Nokkvi Thorisson, who’s not a new guy, scored off a pass from Teuchert. Becher, Teuchert and Hartel were all players City SC added in the summer transfer window and another new player, center back Henry Kessler, also made a big block to stop a sure goal late in the first half.
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Evander was fouled by Hosei Kijima five yards from the top of the box in the 99th minute and on the ensuing free kick, Evander curved it over a four-man wall and out of reach of a diving Roman Burki.
City SC is still in 13th place in the Western Conference, and is still 10 points out of the final playoff spot, but now has eight games left to play.
Becher started the scoring in the 11th minute off a corner kick. Lowen had played a long ball to Tomas Totland, and Portland keeper Maxime Crepeau had to deflect Totland’s ball into the box over the net for a corner. Hartel took the corner and found an unmarked Becher at the near post for an easy header and his third goal for City SC, but his first in an MLS match.
Becher set up the second goal when Portland’s Miguel Araujo wiped him out in the box just after he had taken a shot that was stopped by Crepeau. Referee Ramy Touchan signaled for a penalty kick and, in the 36th minute, Lowen slammed it into the upper left corner for his fourth MLS goal and his fifth overall. Four of his five goals have come on penalty kicks.
One thing City SC hasn’t done well is crank up its defense after allowing a goal and in the 39th minute, Jonathan Rodriguez had an easy tap-in off a pass by Felipe Mora that went through the legs of Kyle Hiebert. It was the third time in the past four games that City SC has scored a goal and then allowed a goal within the next four minutes, and two of those came against Portland. (The other was against Juarez in the Leagues Cup.)
Portland cranked up the pressure and threatened to tie the game, but City SC got the ball out and threatened at the other end, with a shot by Nokkvi Thorisson being blocked and going out for a corner kick. Hartel again took the corner and hit an outswinger to the top of the box to an unmarked Teuchert, whose shot found its way through traffic and in to make it 3-1 in the 47th minute.
Portland almost did it again. Roman Burki couldn’t hang on to a high ball in the box and it fell to Portland’s Felipe Mora, with no one between him and the net. But as he shot the ball, Kessler, playing his first game with the team after being acquired in a trade for Tim Parker, came flying in and, careful to keep his arms out of the way, threw his body in front of the shot and it deflected off him and off the frame and out. City SC was able to take the 3-1 lead into the half.
Mora got a goal in the 57th minute to make it 3-2, but this time it was City SC’s turn to quickly get a goal back. Two minutes later, Thorisson got a ball in the back, cut back to his left and put a shot with his left foot just inside the post to make it 4-2.
But nothing was safe in this game. Portland made it 4-3 when Mora put in a rebound Burki couldn’t hold on to in the 64th minute. It looked as though Portland had tied the game on a header by Antony in the 82nd minute, but a VAR check showed he was offside and the goal was wiped out. Mora got a red card in the 93rd minute when he fouled Chris Durkin and then caught the fallen Durkin in the head with his cleat.