Dallas beats Portland 3-2 on late own goal by Timbers’ Cristhian Paredes
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Petar Musa and defender Nkosi Tafari scored in the second half and FC Dallas turned a late own goal by Portland midfielder Cristhian Paredes into a 3-2 victory, snapping the Timbers’ seven-match unbeaten run in a Fourth of July thriller on Thursday night.
Antony Alves Santos took a pass from Evander da Silva Ferreira and scored in the 8th minute with a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to give Portland (8-8-6) a 1-0 lead that stood until halftime. It was the fourth goal of the season for Antony and the 12th assist for Evander.
Musa scored four minutes into the second half to pull Dallas (6-10-5) even. Tsiki Ntsabeleng and Sebastian Lletget had assists on Musa’s 10th goal in his rookie campaign.
Tafari gave Dallas a 2-1 lead in the 61st minute, using Lletget’s fifth assist of the season to score his second goal.
Evander answered with the equalizer two minutes later for the Timbers with an assist from Antony. It was Evander’s 10th goal this season and the third assist for Antony.
Paredes’ own goal came in the 87th minute.
Maarten Paes saved three shots — all in the first half — in goal for Dallas. James Pantemis stopped two shots with both coming in the second half for the Timbers.
Portland had won three straight entering play, going 5-0-2 during its unbeaten run.
Dallas takes an 11-9-9 lead in the all-time series and improves to 10-1-5 at home against the Timbers. The club snaps a two-match losing streak after winning its first two matches under interim manager Peter Luccin.
Evander had a goal and an assist in the same match for the eighth time this season. He became the third Timbers player to reach double figures in goals and assists in a single season. Diego Valeri did it four times and Sebastián Blanco accomplished the feat in 2018.
The Timbers have scored multiple goals in six of their last seven matches.
Portland returns home to play Nashville SC on Sunday. Dallas travels to take on Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.
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