Colorado and Portland sit in the bottom middle half of the Western Conference Standings hoping that a win today was going to help them gain momentum. It was not ideal for Colorado to lose, but it was helpful for Portland to win because it was their first win in the last five games. Portland now sits in 11th place in the Western Conference, four games back of 7th place. The first half was back and forth with some good chances, but with tremendous goalkeeping by Portland's Aljaz Ivacic and Colorado’s William Yarbrough, things didn't seem to click for both offenses. Portland makes its first attempt in the third minute to take the lead when Claudio Bravo race up the field fending off Keegan Rosenberry only for Keegan to turn around because Claudio passes the ball to Yimmi Chara for a shot that he took by moving the ball from his left foot to his right foot thus taking a right-footed shot but the ball landed right up front of the goalkeeper for an easy stop. Gyasi Zardes had an opportunity when he and Diego Rubio were in sync when running. Diego then sends the ball to Zardes, who has to stop the ball from getting to the defender, and when he shoots it, it comes wide to the side of the net. After about a few more shots were missed by both teams, a momentum shift happened as time was winding down in the first half. Santiago Moreno was running towards the net of Colorado’s William Yarbrough, only for Yarbrough to step outside his box to block the shot, but Moreno tried to dodge him but they both collided with one another. The result of this play was a penalty kick awarded to Portland via VAR, where Sebastián Blanco scored his third goal this season. 

Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored two goals for Portland in a span of eight-minute, 54th, and 62nd minutes respectively. Bill Tuiloma assisted on the first goal by kicking the ball from one side of the field to the other, hoping for Jaroslaw to come away with the ball. In the mix of having 2 defenders around him and Auston Trusty right behind him, Jaroslaw outran him to kick the ball to the back of the net. The play was under review shortly after because of a questionable handball, but it was ruled a goal. The second goal by Jaraslaw was a team effort rather than the work of two or three players. It all started when Jaroslaw's shot on goal was deflected off of Yarbrough. Then, Danny Wison cleared the ball. However, Portland came right back on the attack when Eryk Williamson crossed the ball to Jaraslaw, who was running towards the net for a wide-open look at the goal to put Portland up to a commanding lead of 3-0.  Hungry for more goals, Bill Tuiloma took a free-kick and fired it right at the goal, but it missed the net by inches and ended up bouncing off the side post. 

[Photography by ICONIC photography Scott Boldt]