The Portland Timbers triumphed in the ‘Cascadia derby’ on Saturday, thumping the Seattle Sounders 4-1 while St. Louis City crushed Cincinnati 5-1 to move to the top of the overall standings.
Seattle made the short trip to Portland on the back of five wins from their opening seven games while Portland had just a solitary victory to their name.
But the adage that the form book goes out of the window in derby games proved to be true as the Timbers turned on the style for a famous win.
Raul Ruidiaz put the Sounders in front in the 58th minute, finishing off a fine, flowing move, but Portland scored four times in the final 20 minutes.
A stunning bicycle kick from Colombian Dairon Asprilla levelled the scores before Nathan Fogaca powered through to make it 2-1.
Jaroslaw Niezgoda added the third before a thundering drive from Juan Mosquera completed the rout.
New club St. Louis had won their opening five games, a league record for an expansion team, before successive defeats brought them back down to Earth but CityPark was rocking again after another memorable performance from Bradley Carnell’s side.
Severe weather delayed the start of the game by over two hours but the home side wasted no time, taking the lead through a first-time effort from Jared Stroud.
St. Louis went into 3-0 up at the break after a drive from German Eduard Loewen and a Kyle Hiebert header and the win was wrapped up early in the second half after a Niko Gioacchini strike and a Rasmus Alm effort against the post which flew in off the back of Cincinnati keeper Roman Celentano’s head.
The New England Revolution were denied a sixth win in eight games with Sean Zawadzki grabbing an injury time equalizer for the Columbus Crew in Saturday’s 1-1 draw.
Bruce Arena’s New England Revolution looked well set for three more points after an own goal from Crew defender Milos Degenek in the 58th minute, the Australian defender making a hash of a cross from Dylan Borrero.
But just seven minutes later, Borrero, already yellow carded for protesting, was sent off for a second bookable offense, leaving the Revs to hang on with 10 men for the final stages.
In the eighth minute of injury time, Lucas Zelarayan floated a cross into the box and Zawadzki met it with a perfect glancing header to leave New England frustrated.
Arena did not disguise his unhappiness with referee Chris Penso and the VAR team but didn’t spare Borrero either.
“He’s a young, immature player and you’re in a game with a referee that’s probably immature as well,” Arena said.
“I think the yellow card for dissent, a strong referee doesn’t give that. The yellow card for the foul was clear. No question about that.
“[Borrero] has to grow up. He’s still a young player. He has to mature.”
A similar late fate awaited Atlanta, which without their Argentine World Cup winner Thiago Almada due to injury, took a fourth-minute lead through a Giorgos Giakoumakis angled header from a Brooks Lennon corner.
A solo goal from Richie Laryea brought Toronto level, the Canada right-back bursting forward before unleashing a fierce drive.
But Atlanta restored its advantage in the 76th minute with Machop Choi’s header, his first goal in MLS, only for Toronto to equalize at the death through Servania’s left-foot drive.
Max Alves put Colorado ahead at Charlotte from close range before a well-placed, side-footed effort from Kerwin Vargas brought the home side on to level terms.
A back post header from Polish winger Kamil Jozwiak put the North Carolina team 2-1 up but the victory was snatched from them when keeper George Marks rushed off his line and was caught out with Michael Barrios tapping into the unguarded goal.
The theme of week eight in MLS continued with Omir Fernandez heading in an 89th-minute equalizer for the New York Red Bulls in a 1-1 draw with Houston.
Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United picked up a second win of the campaign with a 1-0 victory at Montreal with Lewis O’Brien, on loan from Nottingham Forest, sliding the ball in after Mateusz Klich had struck the post.
New York City beat Nashville 2-1 at Citi Field while Orlando City enjoyed a 2-1 win at Minnesota United.
Champions Los Angeles FC face local rivals Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.
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