LA Galaxy draw Portland Timbers 2-2 in wild comeback

The LA Galaxy escaped with a tie on a rainy Sunday afternoon in Portland, clawing back from a late Fanendo Adi strike with an extra time Alan Gordon header to level the match before a stunned crowd at Providence Park.

The Galaxy struggled with the conditions early, as heavy rain and wind tormented LA while the Timbers pressed the Galaxy back four with crisp wing play. Goalkeeper Brian Rowe was active early, pulling the ball out of the air on a few occasions.

The first twenty minutes were frantic with lots of space in the midfield and both teams transitioning quickly in attack. Eventually LA calmed down and began finding openings. A Keane through ball just missed Gyasi Zardes coasting in behind the Portland defense, then a minute later left back Robbie Rogers picked out Zardes again but his shot rifled into the side netting.

In the 31st minute the Timbers struck. A Stefan Ishizaki cross was collected by goalkeeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey. As Portland sprinted forward, the ball quickly moved to Rodney Wallace on the break, who found Fanendo Adi making a diagonal run. Alone on goal, Adi took a touch before confidently curling it into the right corner.

The second half began with LA putting the Timbers under intense pressure. In the 49th minute, Jose Villarreal won a powerful header which came down perfectly for Baggio Husidic all alone on top of the PK spot, but he blasted aimlessly high.

A few minutes later Omar Gonzalez played a beautiful long ball over the top (He's getting good at those) to Zardes alone again, but he shot high waiting for the ball to come down on the wet turf. Soon after, Rogers found Zardes unmarked deep inside the six-yard box, but the forward was unlucky to whiff the attempt.

At this point the Timbers were sitting back dangerously absorbing pressure and you feel a goal coming. Finally in the 65th minute, a wide Jose Villarreal cross met a perfect run from Zardes, poking it home from close range in between centerback Nat Borchers and a stranded Kwarasey.

The match soon intensified as Alan Gordon came on for Villarreal with LA searching for a game winner, while Portland were looking more and more dangerous with direct play.

Late in the game, the Timbers went ahead. In the 90th minute, Liam Ridgewell found Nagbe cutting in on the right. Nagbe evaded Rowe's challenge and passed to Adi, who hesitated before finishing as Timbers players and fans celebrated jubilantly. However, immediately following the kickoff Mika Vayrynen volleyed a shot off a defender for a corner. Stefan Ishizaki quickly drove a swerving cross into the path of Alan Gordon and his header sailed over Kwarasey into the left corner, giving the Galaxy an improbable point in dramatic fashion.