Timbers have to settle for 2-2 tie at Chicago

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — Brandon Vincent had a goal and an assist and the Chicago Fire tied the Portland Timbers 2-2 on Saturday.

Vincent headed down Bastian Schweinsteiger’s deep diagonal cross to cap the scoring in the 84th minute for the Fire (0-2-1). The result snapped Chicago’s four-game losing streak stretching back to last season.

“When you’re disappointed after you tie a match away from home against a good team, it means that you did a lot of good things because it felt like we could’ve gotten this win today and the first three points,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said.

Sebastian Blanco headed home Andres Flores’ cross from the middle of the 18-yard box to give the Timbers (0-2-2) the 2-1 lead in the 55th minute.

“I’m very happy for that, but it’s not enough because we’re very disappointed to lose two points,” Blanco said of his third goal in four game. “We had a very good first half but in the second half we lost the ball and we defended more than we attacked.”

Schweinsteiger set up Vincent’s wide cross in the 50th minute and Nemanja Nikolic tapped in his third goal of the season to make it 1-all.

Blanco’s takeaway near midfield led to Diego Valeri’s early goal for Portland in the sixth minute. It was the reigning MVP’s first goal of the 2018 campaign.

“I think right now the team is gaining confidence. That’s the best part for us,” Timbers midfielder Diego Chara said. “Today, we got a point from Chicago. Now, we have a difficult game against Orlando but I think the team is looking very good.”

TIMBERS 2, FIRE 2

Portland 1 1—2

Chicago 0 2—2

First half—1, Portland, Valeri, 1 (Blanco), 6th minute.

Second half—2, Chicago, Nikolic, 3, (Vincent, Schweinsteiger), 50th. 3, Portland, Blanco, 3 (Flores), 55th. 4, Chicago, Vincent, 1 (Schweinsteiger), 84th.

Goalies—Portland, Jake Gleeson; Chicago, Richard Sanchez.

Yellow Cards—Katai, Chicago, 12th; Valeri, Portland, 52nd.

Referee—Drew Fischer. Assistant Referees—Corey Rockwell, Jeremy Kieso. 4th Official—Rubiel Vazquez.

A—13,768 (20,000)

Lineups

Portland—Jake Gleeson; Marco Farfan (Vytautas Andriuskevicius, 82nd), Larrys Mabiala, Bill Tuiloma, Zarek Valentin; Sebastian Blanco, Diego Chara, Andres Flores (Julio Cascante, 87th), Cristhian Paredes, Diego Valeri; Fanendo Adi (Samuel Armenteros, 91st).

Chicago—Richard Sanchez; Christian Dean, Kevin Ellis (Alan Gordon, 75th), Johan Kappelhof, Brandon Vincent; Elliot Collier, Aleksandar Katai (Diego Campos, 46th), Dax McCarty, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Tony Tchani (Drew Conner, 59th); Nemanja Nikolic.