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2021/04/25 12:42 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Dairon Asprilla and Cristhian Paredes scored and the Portland Timbers beat the Houston Dynamo 2-1 on Saturday night for their first victory of the season. Asprilla scored in the sixth minute to give the Timbers the lead, celebrating with a cartwheel and a backflip. After the goal, the entire team went to the bench to hug Diego Valeri, whose father Luis died this week. Coach Giovanni Saverese wore a black arm band. Ahead of the first leg of Portland’s CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal match Wednesday against Club America, usual starters Valeri and Felipe Mora didn’t come on until the second half.
“It was not a surprise”: Role players step up to get Timbers first MLS win
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Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images
The Portland Timbers beat the Houston Dynamo 2-1 last night, and it feels like a minor weight has been lifted. The Timbers officially have three points in their back pocket and did so without expending the energy of a lot of their first team players. The Dynamo aren’t the strongest team in MLS by any means, but the fact that Portland came in with a heavily rotated lineup and won bodes well for the future.
Portland Timbers beat Houston Dynamo, usher back familiar feelings at Providence Park in front of fans
Updated 10:27 PM;
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After more than a year of uncertainly and unsettledness, Saturday felt almost normal at Providence Park. After all, the Portland Timbers beat the Houston Dynamo 2-1 and fans were there to cheer them on, making a stadium that sat empty for more than a year feel like a fortress once again.
It was Cristhian Paredes who scored the game-winner on a thunderous one-time strike set up by Felipe Mora in the 73rd minute.
Center back Bill Tuiloma picked his head up and saw Mora sprinting into the box, prompting Tuiloma to launch a ball upfield. Instead of trying to go for goal, Mora headed it behind him into the path of Paredes, who only needed to run onto it and smash it straight ahead.
Portland Timbers beat Houston Dynamo 2-1 in their MLS home opener
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Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
The Portland Timbers got their first win of the 2021 MLS campaign, as they dispatched the Houston Dynamo 2-1 in their league opener in front of a limited capacity Providence Park. Portland took the lead early through Dairon Asprilla, but Houston would equalize on an own goal off a set piece. Portland would eventually find the winner via Cristhian Paredes in the second half, which would prove to be the difference for the home side.
The match started with a different lineup than the past three matches. With the first leg of their round of 16 matchup against Club America in the Concacaf Champions League looming on Wednesday night, Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese chose to rotate the lineup for the matchup against Houston. After featuring the same starting eleven for three straight matches, Saturday presented an opportunity to give some players a rest, as Portland navigat