In a driving spring rain, the Portland Timbers got down to business early against D.C. United. Just :34 seconds into the match, Diego Valeri drove down the right wing before slipping in a sublime cross to Gastón Fernández at the top of the six. As DCU 'keeper Bill Hamid came off his line, Fernández chipped the ball up to himself before half-bicycling it into the back of the net, giving the Timbers a 1-0 lead. It was the fastest goal ever scored by the Timbers in their MLS history.
But D.C. United kept working and in the 21st minute, midfielder Davy Arnaud fires a shot from distance that gets deflected before looping into the upper right corner of the Portland net. 1-1.
The Timbers, however, kept their foot on the gas. Dominating possession and carefully working the ball forward creating chances, they were rewarded in the 38th minute. Diego Valeri lined up a corner kick played expertly into the mixer where center back Futty Danso managed to get a foot to while slipping backwards. He hit the ball squarely into the lower right corner and give the Timbers a 2-1 lead.
Then in the 79th minute, on a D.C. United corner kick, the ball deflected of Danso for an own goal and a tie game again.
In the last dying seconds of the match, second half substitute Maximiliano Urruti was the man on the spot. Valeri recovered his own partially cleared corner kick before chipping chipped in a low cross that Urruti side footed on goal for Hamid to block. But Urruti stayed with it and slammed in the rebound at the death to give the Timbers a 3-2 victory. The goal set the Providence Park crowd into delirium.
