A sellout crowd saw a once in a lifetime event as the Portland Timbers took on the Chicago Fire in the first home MLS game. The non stop rain could not stop the magic that happened on Thursday evening. The pre game display was amazing as flags from every MLS club was displayed on the pitch as well as the the big Timber flags. The teams came out of the tunnel in front of the Timbers Army and made their way to the center of the pitch. The Timbers Army sang the National Anthem with fireworks going off at key moments of the song. The tifo display came up in the North end as the anthem ended a sight to be seen.
This had to be one of the largest displays ever in MLS history.
The match started with some amazing energy as all the crowd were on their feet. The Timbers were on the attack from the start as they made some quick passes on many good runs. The Timbers got an early corner kick which Jack Jewsbury took. His kick seemed right on the mark as Kenny Cooper headed it into the back of the net. The crowd exploded but as luck would have it the linemen ruled the corner was over the line before it came back in for Coopers header. Chicago is a well established club that a proved the game would be a battle with their physical play. The two sides got close to getting into it as Cooper was taken down hard. Yellow card was issued to Chicago as the game remained intense. Then in the 29th minute history happened as Kalif Alhassan received a pass just pass the midfield mark on the left side of the pitch. He slipped and went down and it look as he may loose the , which seemed to freeze the Chicago players for a second. Kalif was able to recover quickly placing a perfect through ball to Jorge Perlaza. Perlaza made a perfect run with a cutback move that froze both defenders and the keeper coming at him. This allowed him to put an easy shot into the far part of the net. The Timbers first goal was what dreams are made of and the crowd went nuts.
The game was far from over as nine minutes latter defender Rodney Wallace would punish Chicago for a weak clearance as he blasted a shot from 2o yards out as the Chicago keeper Sean Johnson watched helplessly as it went into the net. The play all started with a Jewbury free kick.
As the second half started in did not take long for the Timbers to find the net once again. Two minutes in Wallace crossed the ball in from the left side that got away from Johnson to a waiting Perlaza who slipped it in for his second goal of the night. It seemed the Timbers were in complete control of the match for the night, but Chicago came to life and the Timber Keeper Jake Gleeson and to make a break away save on Chicago striker Dominic Oduro.
This seemed to put the Fire on fire as the Timber ended up giving up an own goal in the 66th minute off defender Eric Brunner. From where I was at it look as if Marko Pappa of Chicago had scored on a great strike. The replay showed otherwise. Pappa did get his goal for Chicago in the 81st minute on one of the best strikes I have seen in the box into the upper left corner of the net. The Timber lead now looked shaky as Chicago was back into this match. The Timber got the momentum back on a Jewsbury corner kick in the 84th minute. There were a lot of bodies in front of the goal as the ball came in and what looked like a Cooper hand ball was not called and he ball ended up in the net off a Chicago player.
Johnson had no way of getting to the ball with all the bodies in his way. You may say it was a Timbers Army goal as it seemed their energy is what caused the ball to roll into the Chicago net.
Thus the match ends in fireworks and history is made as the Timber win their first match of the season at home. A night to remember!
