Game Recap – Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo
August 22nd, 2015
“The second half, those 45 minutes might be the most important 45 minutes of the season,” same Coach Caleb Porter about his Portland team’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit.
It started with Houston’s Boniek Garcia. A Dynamo corner kick was not cleared all the way, allowing Will Burin to make a short pass to Garcia, who ran into the box and positioned himself before Timber’s goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey could respond.
With a sharp finish from the right into the bottom left of Portland’s goal (40’).
Portland Timbers 0 – 1 Houston Dynamo
Less than 6 minutes later, Will Burin got his own goal, when he received a ball from Brad Davis and blasted it into the left corner again (45’).
Portland Timbers 0 – 2 Houston Dynamo
Although the hosts did appear to up their game and create more opportunities coming back from half time, the first part of the second half still seemed to go in Huston’s favour. However, as Portland Timbers have scored 14 of their 28 goals of this MLS season in the last 15 minutes of the game, they weren’t planning to let this statistic go…
The hosts efforts in the first half finally materialized when Darlington Negbe passed the ball to Lucas Melano, who held the ball and let the Dynamo defense gather around him. Then, passing back to Negbe who continued running into the box and scored Portland’s first goal (76’).
Portland Timbers 1 – 2 Houston Dynamo
Lucas Melano himself got his own shot at glory ten minutes later, where he finished a pass by Diego Valeri and shot in into Houston’s net (86’). This is the first MLS goal for the Argentinian, who signed with the Portland Timbers last month.
Portland Timbers 2 – 2 Houston Dynamo
On added time, Portland’s Diego Chara was shown a red card and sent off due to a serious foul, sending a high elbow to the neck of Houston’s Erick “Cubo” Torres.
