The Portland Timbers claimed the three points in an end-to-end game that finished on a high note for the visitors as the Timbers won 2-1 away to the CCL finalists, Montreal Impact.
Montreal started the game unusually bright, keeping control of the ball well inside their opponents half whilst retaining the ball off the Timbers with ease. The hosts used this early pressure to their advantage when Calum Mallace won possession in the middle of the park from inside the Portland half, but his long-range effort took a nasty deflection off a Timbers defender and the ball flew out for a corner. Montreal were given too many chances in the opening half by the Timbers who had a very poor first half, the nimble Ignacio Piatti burst down the heart of the Portland defense in the 29th minute trying to grab the opener for the hosts, but Nat Borchers made a great block to deny the number 10.
Marco Donadel had the first chance on goal for the Impact in the 32nd minute when a hard hit free kick from the Italian midfielder was punched away by Adam Larsen Kwarasey to deny Montreal a lead they thoroughly deserved. Evan Bush made a rare cameo appearance for the Canadian side in the 36th minute when a Portland corner pinned around the penalty area before Jack Jewsbury headed the ball goal wards, but Bush easily collected the downward effort from the full back.
The visitors started the second half on the right foot as Darlington Nagbe unleashed a rocket of a shot in the 47th minute, but Bush pulled off a great low save to his left, to deny the Timbers. Montreal tried to regain possession of the game when Dilly Duka made a break into the Timbers box in the 53rd minute but the winger is met with an army of Timbers defenders, who squeeze the danger away. Nagbe and Rodney Wallace combined well in the 56th minute to see Wallace have a sliding shot inside the box, but Bush was there to make another great save.
Despite their chances it was Portland who struck first through Borchers in the 65th minute. Liam Ridgewell headed the ball over to Fanendo Adi, whose header crashed off the crossbar from close-range, but the rebound was met by Nat Borchers, and the man with golden beard cleaned up the move with the header to give Portland the lead. Before the celebrations were over for the first goal, the Timbers had scored a second. A terrible defensive mistake from Reo-Coker gifted Wallace the ball who passed it to Diego Valeri on the edge of the penalty box, and the attacking midfielder beautifully curled the ball past the reach of Bush to double Portland’s advantage.
The goals didn’t stop there as Montreal managed to pull one back as Dominic Oduro scored on the rebound of a fantastic Kwarasey save, to give Montreal a slice of hope with 20 minutes to play. Montreal thought they had completed the comeback when McInerney headed in Mallace’s weak shot from a corner, the Montreal crowd and players were sent into a frenzy however the goal was ruled out for a foul on a Timbers player inside the box.
Portland should been awarded a penalty in the final minutes of the game when Maximiliano Urruti burst through one-on-one with Bush, but Miller came out of nowhere and took the striker down inside the box from behind, however the referee waved off the decision. It proved to be too late for the Impact as the referee blew for full time, and the visitors return home with a valuable three points.