Portland Timbers beat San Diego FC in penalty shootout, force Game 3 of playoffs

PORTLAND, Ore. — San Diego FC’s first-round Major League Soccer playoff series against Portland will come down to a decisive Game 3.

The expansion club fell on the road to the Timbers on penalty kicks 3-2 on Saturday night after they played to a 2-2 tie in regulation.

SDFC was leading 2-1 for most of the second half when a goal by Gage Guerra in the 98th minute equalized the game and sent it to PKs with no overtime period for first-round series games.

In the PKs, Anders Dreyer connected first, followed by Portland’s Felipe Mora hitting. Hirving “Chucky” Lozano snuck one by the keeper on the far side, then Pablo Sisniega, in for an injured CJ dos Santos, made a save on Portland’s Cristhian Paredes.

However, SDFC sailed the next two attempts by Onni Valakari and Marcus Ingvartsen high above the net. Sisniega made another save, but Kristoffer Velde hit for Portland on the fourth attempt to tie the PKs at two.

On the fifth attempt, Jeppe Tverskov also sent his shot too high, nailing the crossbar and leaving the door open for Portland. Antony Alves Santos stepped to the ball and delivered the game-winner to force a deciding Game 3.

The teams will play Nov. 9 at Snapdragon Stadium. The match will start at 6 p.m.

“It’s a penalty shootout, man. If you’re brave enough to shoot one of those, it can happen to anybody,” SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said. “Proud of all the guys who stepped up and had the courage to take it.”

The night began with what was probably the worst start SDFC could have asked for, as the Timbers’ front line was winning early and creating a number of chances.

In the 18th minute, a deep ball from Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis went to the front of the SDFC box and found Alves Santos, who fell down. However, he kept the ball long enough for Velde to get into position, pick up the loose ball and fire a rocket into the net to make it 1-0 Portland.

“We had a bad start to the game, I feel Portland came with a lot of energy, and they started the game good,” SDFC forward Amahl Pellegrino said. “We didn’t find the solution in the first 15-20 minutes.”

Three minutes later, SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos made a sliding stop on the near side of the goal to stop another Timbers threat, but appeared to get kicked in the head inadvertently by Timbers forward Kevin Kelsy.

Timbers and SDFC players in the box immediately looked to the sideline for the medical team, and after a 10-minute delay, dos Santos was taken off the field on a stretcher.

After the game, Varas didn’t have an update on dos Santos, but did say “it doesn’t look good.” Sisniega entered the game for the injured dos Santos, his fifth appearance of the season.

Portland continued to dominate for the next 20 minutes, but the San Diego attack was finally able to move forward in the final 15 minutes, thanks in part to 13 first-half fouls called on Portland.

Twelve minutes of stoppage time were added due to the Dos Santos injury, and in the 45+12th minute, SDFC found its equalizer when forward Corey Baird made a run down the far sideline.

Baird crossed it to the top of the box, where Pellegrino was waiting. He took a second to line up his shot and let the Timbers defender fall off him, then fired a hooking shot that froze Pantemis and found the net in the top corner on the far side.

“I just got the ball on a good bounce, and I believe in my finishing quality and it was a good goal,” Pellegrino said of his score. “But today that doesn’t count for anything, so we have to go back and have a good week – as we always have in San Diego – with good trainings and be prepared for next (Sunday).”

A minute later, Pellegrino took control of an errant Portland pass and seemingly crossed a ball into the box for a goal from Valakari, but a replay review deemed SDFC offside.

Despite the late push, Portland still controlled most of the first half with eight shots, three of them on goal, while SDFC had five shots.

In the second half, Lozano made his return to the pitch and continued the momentum SDFC had built to end the first half with an early goal.

In the 51st minute, Anders Dreyer uncorked a fiery shot on goal that was blocked by Pantemis to the near side, but Lozano was in perfect position next to the goal to fire the ball right back and into the wide-open net.

“It’s nice to have him back,” Pellegrino said of Lozano back on the pitch. “Everyone knows what kind of amazing football player he is. I don’t think people will be sad to have a player like that on their team. Everyone wants to have the best players on the field, and it’s good to have him back.

“Hopefully, we will have some more guys back for the next game and the sickness will go away from the squad.”

There was a brief pause to see a stadium replay and determine if the goal should be reviewed for offsides on Dreyer’s original shot, but play went on with SDFC now in front 2-1.

Lozano missed the season finale in Portland and the first match of the playoff series following a reported internal incident with Varas.

The Mexican forward’s appearance in the second half was his first action since being pulled at the half Oct. 4 against Houston.

“We want everybody available, at their best,” Varas said of Lozano’s return. “We talk about our collective spirit being a bit of our superpower. (Lozano) coming in and being able to help us and also help us defend – even though we weren’t able to defend the lead all the way to the end – him making a big effort, just like the rest of the guys, it was a good effort from all of them.”

From there, it was about surviving for SDFC as the Timbers pushed forward for the final 25 minutes and the extra eight minutes of stoppage time.

Timbers midfielder Omir Fernandez barely missed a header wide of the net in the 66th minute, Sisniega made his first save of the match in the 71st minute on a shot from Velde, and then Velde barely missed wide on a diving header attempt in the 74th minute.

Portland had another chance that started in the 81st minute. Cristhian Paredes corralled a cross on the far side and fired it back to the head of Fernandez in the middle of the box. His shot went wide, Paredes saved it and sent it in again, only for Felipe Mora to just barely miss his header.

Despite the continued pressing from the Timbers and lack of any good offensive runs themselves, SDFC was seemingly seconds away from winning the match.

That’s when Portland finally broke through on a Gage Guerra goal in the 98th minute. Ariel Lassiter was in the near-side corner and chipped the ball into the box where Guerra came crashing in and headed the ball into the top, far-side corner to tie the match.

“(Portland) started taking a lot of risks, we weren’t able to punish that risk that they took in terms of some 1-v-1 and 2-v-2 situations on the final line,” Varas said. “They put enough pressure that they ended up getting one of these, kind of, scramble goals.

“It is what it is. It hurts because we’re all competitors, but we’ll use it as motivation to go back home and play our best.”

SDFC was looking to become only the third MLS expansion franchise to ever advance past the first round in its inaugural season. The last team to do it was Nashville in 2020, and the only time before that was the Chicago Fire in 1998 when they won the MLS title.

The San Diego club will have another chance to get it done in Game 3 at home in front of the fans at Snapdragon Stadium. And despite losing on the scoreboard, the side heads south with plenty of encouragement from scoring two goals on the road in a hostile environment.

“This team doesn’t lose themselves,” Pellegrino said. “We play our type of football and we have an identity. You can’t win every game, but it’s a lot of good things to take from this game and we just have to use that and prepare ourselves for an unbelievable game in San Diego.

“The crowd was amazing last game and I think this will just give more energy for the upcoming game, and I’m really looking forward to that.”