Evander scores twice to lead Portland over Galaxy
Evander scored a pair of goals and the Portland Timbers remained in play for the postseason with a 4-2 victory over the Galaxy on Wednesday night.
Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora also scored for the Timbers (12-10-7), who are in eighth place in the Western Conference conference with five games remaining.
The Galaxy (16-7-7) remained atop the conference standings. The team already clinched a playoff spot, becoming the West’s first team to make the postseason.
The teams that finish eighth and ninth in the conference will play a single-elimination wild-card match on Oct. 23. The first round of the playoffs starts Oct. 26.
Rodriguez scored in the 18th minute on a header off a cross from Evander to give the Timbers an early lead.
Eight of the 11 players the Galaxy started in Saturday’s El Tráfico win over LAFC weren’t with the team at the start of last season, and they’ve already won twice as many games.
Evander nearly added another goal in the 33rd minute, but his shot went just wide. He was just a step too slow on another chance in the 37th before finally breaking through two minutes later to put the Timbers up 2-0.
Gabriel Pec scored for the Galaxy in fist-half stoppage time.
Evander scored a second goal in the 51st to make it 3-1. He leads the league with 32 goal contributions.
The Galaxy closed the gap with Joseph Paintsil‘s goal in the 59th minute that originally was ruled offside but awarded after video review.
Mora pulled down a ball from Antony with his chest at the far post and scored to make it 4-2 for Portland in the 80th. It was the Timbers’ conference-leading 60th goal of the season.
