Things looked rosy for SDFC, but the club took a “hard slap” late as Portland came back for the win. (Photo courtesy of SDFC)
The Portland Timbers beat expansion side San Diego FC on Saturday to force a rubber match in the best-of-three first-round series for the MLS Cup.
Antony Alves Santos scored the winner in a penalty-kick shootout after Gage Guerra tied it 2-2 in regulation on a header in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
“Today we got a really hard slap in the face in the last seconds, said forward Amahl Pellegrino. “And, yeah, this is the beauty of the game and the worst.”
Kristoffer Velde scored for Portland after Marcus Ingvartsen sent his shot over the net and Antony delivered after Jeppe Tverskov hit the crossbar. The series returns to San Diego on Nov. 9 for the finale to determine who moves on the Western Conference semifinals.
“It’s just about making sure that we, right now, recover, and that we use this little bit of pain we have as motivation to get to go home and close this out in front of our fans playing our best football,” said coach Mikey Varas.
Guerra took a pass from Ariel Lassiter and scored his first MLS goal to pull the Timbers even and send it to PKs. Lassiter notched his second assist of the series after subbing into the match in the 79th minute.
Velde staked Portland to a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute with his second goal in his first postseason. Antony notched his second assist of the series and goalkeeper James Pantemis collected his first.
Disaster struck five minutes later for the regular-season Western Conference champions when dos Santos collided with Timbers forward Kevin Kelsy. Dos Santos was apparently knocked unconscious. He was taken off the field by stretcher and left in an ambulance.
Pablo Sisniega replaced dos Santos and Amahl Pellegrino scored the equalizer for San Diego in the 12th of 15 minutes of stoppage time. It was Pellegrino’s first netter in his second postseason appearance. Corey Baird picked up his first postseason assist.
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano made his first MLS playoff appearance when he subbed in to begin the second half before scoring unassisted in the 51st minute to give San Diego a 2-1 lead.
Pantemis finished with three saves for the Timbers in his fifth career playoff start.
Sisniega saved two shots for San Diego. The 30-year-old hadn’t played since getting a start in a Leagues Cup match on Aug. 1.
He made two saves in the shootout, but Felipe Mora, Velde, and Santos, known as Antony, all converted for Portland to seal the win.
The loss snapped an SDFC three-game win streak and ended a 12-match road win streak dating back to the regular season.
When SDFC hosts Portland at Snapdragon Stadium for the decisive Game 3 it will be the fourth straight meeting between the two clubs.
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