LAFC ‘s Mamadou scores late for a 1-1 draw versus the Portland Timbers
Los Angeles, California- On a beautiful clear night, we had football under the lights. LAFC hosted its second match at home this season, this time against the Portland Timbers. Timber’s head coach, Giovanni Savarese, had done well versus LAFC in their last three matches and let’s not forget, the Timbers after all are the Western Conference defending champions.
That being said, LAFC came out strong in the first fifteen minutes of the match. However, the visiting team settled in and slowly began to execute their game plan. On the Field, Portland is led by Colombian sensation Diego Charra. In the 18th minute, Yimmy Chará made LAFC pay the price of a deflected pass as he made an athletic bicycle-style kick that netted the ball and gave Portland its first lead of the game. After this first goal, the Timbers played the counter-attack scheme very well and had a few opportunities to score, but LAFC’s bend-but-don’t-break defense held up. The teams went into the half with Portland in the lead 1-0.
The second half began with LAFC captain Carlos Vela on the bench.
LAFC was looking to strike early in the second half, but the Portland defense was holding its grip. In the 62nd minute, Claudio Bravo received a second yellow card which led to a red card and ejection. This play changed the projection of the game. Portland truly parked the bus and LAFC was relentless in attempting to tie the game. It finally paid off in stoppage time. A pass from Brian Rodriguez, then a goal from Mamadou Fall tied the game at one. This play gave LAFC one point to add to their Western Conference standings. Although LAFC earned one point, the bigger take-away here is that they struggled versus Portland, and they struggled to score even when Portland was down 1 player. It is very early in the season, but the Timbers style seemed to be effective versus LAFC. The next game for LAFC is Saturday, March 12th versus a struggling Inter Miami.
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