The newest incarnation of the Portland Timbers earned their first MLS win on Thursday night in the opener of the newly renovated JELD-WEN Field, getting two goals from Jorge Perlaza in a 4-2 win over the Chicago Fire in front of a crowd of 18,627 on a rainy, cold night in Portland.
Perlaza opened the scoring in the first half with a nice cutback and curling the shot around Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson (see photo above). Rodney Wallace added a second goal for the Timbers before halftime, and then only a few minutes into the second half, Perlaza got his second when he knocked home a fumbled save by Johnson. Chicago pulled back to 3-2 on an own goal by the Timbers’ Eric Brunner, and a nice chipped goal by Marco Pappa, but a scramble in front of the Fire goal shortly after resulted in a 4-2 Timbers lead (officially ruled an own goal) and the Timbers held on for their first MLS win.
Match report:
http://www.soccercityusa.com/timbers/chi041411.htm
Photos only:
http://www.soccercityusa.com/timbers/chi041411-pics.htm
Offiicial match report:
http://portlandtimbers.com/news/2011/04/perlaza-hero-timbers-win-thrilling-home-opener
Match highlights:
http://www.portlandtimbers.com/videos?catid=1954&id=13717
Timbers photo gallery
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150170041832236&aid=311921&id=182844932235&page=0
