Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Alan Gordon scored at the death to rescue a point for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday as the defending champions claimed a 2-2 draw against the Portland Timbers at Providence Park.
After failing to break down a stout Real Salt Lake defense in their season opener last week which ended in a scoreless draw, Caleb Porter's Timbers returned home hoping to take their first three points of the season.
Things started well for the home-standing Timbers as the team took a direct approach to attacking early on which seemed to catch the Galaxy off guard a bit.
But it was a well-executed counter-attack by the Timbers that led to the first goal just past the half-hour mark as new goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey rolled the ball short to Darlington Nagbe. Nagbe flicked it to an on-rushing Rodney Wallace, who got free down the left flank before feeding it through to Fanendo Adi.
Adi took a quick touch and drove it with pace into the top right corner, leaving Galaxy goalkeeper Brian Rowe with no chance for a save.
Los Angeles adjusted to Portland's approach in the second half and found an equalizer 25 minutes from time when Jose Villarreal served a great ball into the box from the left flank where Gyasi Zardes nodded it home at the near post.
It looked as if the Timbers were set to claim all three points when Adi fired home his second of the day off a feed from Nagbe, but in the second minute of added time, Gordon came through with a looping header off a corner kick from Stefan Ishizaki that found its way past Kwarasey, forcing the sides to share the spoils.
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