Teenager Christian Torres scored his first Major League Soccer goal in stoppage time to give Los Angeles FC a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers on Sunday night.
Torres, a 16-year-old homegrown player, left-footed a shot that Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark couldn’t get to.
Jeremy Ebobisse scored early in the second half for the Timbers (9-5-4), who continued to wrestle for the top spot in the Western Conference standings with the defending MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders, who were playing later against San Jose.
LAFC (7-7-4) had seven key players missing because of international duty and injury, including MLS top scorer Diego Rossi and Brian Rodriguez, who played for Uruguay and are now quarantining, and Carlos Vela, who is rehabbing a knee injury.
It was coach Bob Bradley’s 100th game with LAFC across all competitions.
The Timbers had a scary moment early in the game when Ebobisse was involved in a hard collision and spent several moments on the turf treated by trainers.
Felipe Mora had a pair of good chances for the Timbers in the 38th and 40th minutes, but both times he was denied by LAFC goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega.
After a scoreless first half, Ebobisse’s blast two minutes into the second put the Timbers in front. It was his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
LAFC nearly tied it in the 61st minute, but Clark got low to keep Danny Musovski’s shot out of the net and Kwadwo Opoku’s rebound attempt was off.
Ebobisse, who has played in 75 straight matches for the Timbers, limped off the field in the 86th minute after landing awkwardly.
Portland had won five straight before falling 2-1 at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.
LAFC, sitting in fourth place in the standings, lost 2-1 on Wednesday against the Whitecaps in Portland. Vancouver is playing its “home” matches this season at Providence Park because of travel restrictions with Canada.
