SAN DIEGO (AP) — Onni Valakari and Anders Dreyer scored in the first half and top-seeded San Diego FC held on for a 2-1 victory over the Portland Timbers on Sunday night in a best-of-three first-round opener of the MLS Cup playoffs.
San Diego, which won the Western Conference in its first season, grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute when Valakari scored off a Manu Duah shot that hit the right post. Valakari had four goals in the regular season — his
first.
Dreyer used an assist from 19-year-old defender Luca Bombino to send a header into the net for a 2-0 lead seven minutes later. Dreyer had 19 goals and 19 assists in his first season in the league. Bombino had four assists in 26 appearances as a rookie.
Portland cut it to 2-1 in the 36th minute on first-year defender Kristoffer Velde's first career goal. Antony Alves Santos notched his first playoff assist in his third appearance, and Diego Chara, 39, collected his first in 24 postseason appearances — all with the Timbers.
Portland missed two opportunities to knot the score in the second half. Antony had CJ dos Santos one-on-one but missed left in the 61st minute, and Kamal Miller sent a header over the crossbar two minutes later.
Defender Jimer Fory received a red card for getting back-to-back yellow cards in less than two minutes — forcing Portland to play a man down from the 66th minute on.
Dos Santos totaled two saves for San Diego in his first postseason start.
James Pantemis turned away six shots in his third postseason start for the Timbers and his fifth overall.
The series shifts to Portland on Saturday where San Diego beat the Timbers 4-0 on Oct. 18. The two clubs played to a scoreless draw in San Diego in late August.
The Timbers advanced to the postseason for the first time since 2021 and eighth time overall. They beat visiting Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday in the wild-card round. Portland won the Cup in 2015.
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