Though the Portland Timbers dominated possession early in the first half and hit the crossbar twice in the first 30 seconds as well as a post, the Chicago Fire did have a couple of good chances. Timbers goalkeeper Milos Kocic kept his team in it with this fingertip save in the 10th minute.
But Portland kept up their relentless pressure into the attacking third. Kocic let fly a perfectly placed long kick forward that Frederic Piquionne flicked on to a sprinting Diego Valeri. Valeri took a touch or two with some great footwork into the Chicago 18-yard box and then fired it home to give Portland a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute. Kocic earned his first MLS assist on Valeri’s goal. He becomes the first Timbers MLS GK to earn an assist and the first Timbers GK to do so since Josh Wicks on July 15, 2007, in a 4-1 win over the California Victory at then called PGE Park
Ben Zemanski, making his third start of 2013, gives the Timbers a 2-0 lead with a clinical finish in the 58th minute. Piquionne, continuing his great run of play, took the ball into the right corner and found Zemanski unmarked at the top of the 18-yard arc. Zemanski fired to the low corner giving him his first goal in a Timbers uniform and Piquionne his second assist of the game.
But Chicago came back in the second half. In the 68th minute, a long through ball to Fire midfielder Mike Magee brings Kocic off his line. Ball pops out and Magee gathers and buries it to make it 2-1.
Mike Magee gets taken down just outside the Portland box and on the ensuing free kick, Fire midfielder Daniel Paladini curls a shot around the Timbers wall to make it 2-2 in the 82nd minute.
