Home side Minnesota FC snaps Timbers Lamar Hunt U.S . Open Cup tourney run with a late second half goal.
The host side took the 1-0 lead in the 22th minute after Darwin Quintero converted his penalty kick attempt to the left side of the net. The goal was excruciating painful for the Timbers.
The visitors had a chance to take the lead in the seventh minute, when Diego Chara played the ball to Sebastián Blanco, who cut onto his left foot on the edge of the box and fired a shot that forced Minnesota goalkeeper Vito Mannone into a diving save.
One minute later, Dairon Asprilla fired a shot from distance that just missed the left side of the post.
In the 29th minute, Blanco passed the ball to Jeremy Ebobisse on the edge of the box. Taking a touch onto his left foot, Ebobisse’s shot from just inside the penalty area was saved by Mannone at the far post. Four minutes later, Blanco’s long ball from a set-piece play found Asprilla inside the penalty area, but his leaping header missed in the 33rd minute.
Continuing on the attack, Jorge Moreira’s cross from the right flank picked out Asprilla, but his jumping header flashed past the target in the 35th minute. Seven minutes later, Ebobisse ran onto a ball from Zarek Valentin, but his shot from outside the box missed over the target in the 42nd minute.
The Timbers equalized just before halftime after Moreira played a low pass to Ebobisse at the top of the box. Ebobisse’s one-time pass fell to Fernandez, whose driven shot into the lower left corner of the net made it a 1-1 game in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
TOYE HITS GAME WINNER
In the 50th minute, Ebobisse’s header from Moreira’s cross was caught by Mannone. Two minutes later, Blanco’s shot from distance was tipped over the crossbar by Mannone. After Asprilla picked up the ball on the left wing, he cut on his right foot and struck a hard shot from the edge of the penalty area that forced Mannone into a diving save to his left in the 59th minute.
Minnesota United took a 2-1 lead against the run of play after Mason Toye received a long pass and curled his shot into the far corner of the net in the 64th minute.
In the 69th minute, second-half substitute Andrés Flores found Asprilla cutting towards the end line, but his shot missed past the far post. In the 81st minute, Moreira’s cross into the six-yard box found Fernandez, but his flashing header missed inches over the crossbar.
Portland nearly tied the match in the 94th minute after a cross from Blanco was kicked away by Mannone into the path of Diego Valeri. The ball bounced off Valeri and hit the post before being cleared away by a Minnesota defender.
GAME NOTES
- Brian Fernandez scored his fourth goal in U.S. Open Cup play.
- Only Frederic Piquionne has score more career goals for the Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup.
- Fernandez is the first Timbers player to score in three different U.S. Open Cup games in the same season.Fernandez has now scored 12 goals in all competitions for Portland this season in his 15 matches for the club.
- Jeremy Ebobisse notched the second assist of his U.S. Open Cup career.Sebastián Blanco was credited with six chances created in the match.
- Only once in regular-season play has Blanco created more chances in a single match.
- The game was the sixth match in club history in either the quarterfinals or semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup.
- All six matches have been in the last six years and all six have been on the road.
