The Los Angeles Football Club defeated the Portland Timbers 3-1 on March 4. Having lost their last matchup against LAFC, the Timbers are continuing their active losing streak against the LA club. Kickoff was at 1:55 p.m., a slight delay due to LAFC celebrating their championship win of last season. 

A Portland player was fouled a minute after the initial whistle. About 10 minutes into the game, the LAFC set up a dangerous counterattack. David Bingham and the Timbers’ defense put a stop to all of that commotion with successful deflections and a save.

At 23’ LAFC capitalized on the costly turnovers of Portland. A cross from the left pitch corner by Kellyn Acosta set up Giorgio Chiellini to bag the team’s first goal of the season. Not too long after, LAFC was awarded a penalty as Timbers’ Santiago Moreno landed a foul on Christian Paredes. Carlos Vela took the penalty and placed it in the bottom right part of the net, making the score 2-0 LAFC.

Before the first half of the game ended, Joe Dickerson, head referee, added nine minutes of stoppage time. While not much happened in this period, the Timbers set up an attack that led to John McCarthy making an outstretched save. Seven minutes into the second half of playing time, Vela sent a through pass to Mahala Opoku which added LAFC’s lead. LA leads 3-0.

Portland wasn’t going to go down without a fight, however. At 62’ Juan Mosquera led a charge downfield, where he placed a ball for Evander which led to the Timbers’ opening goal. They still trail 3-1.

Throughout the second half, LAFC had been making little mistakes that Portland continued to exploit. At 83′ Paredes capitalized on the rebound of another shot. Portland inches closer to LAFC as the score is 3-2.

In the four minutes of stoppage time, neither team was able to do much and the score remained the same. Because of this, LAFC stood victorious in their first game at the newly named BMO stadium.