Sebasti?n Blanco scored his first goal in more than two months, Steve Clark had his second consecutive shutout and the visiting Portland Timbers beat New York City FC 1-0 on Sunday night.
Clark had five saves and has had clean sheets in each of his last three starts.
Diego Valeri lobbed a free kick into the center of the area and, after it deflected of defender Sebastien Ibeagha, Blanco scored on a first-timer in the 14th minute.
NYCFC (7-2-8) lost for the first time since a 4-0 loss to Toronto on March 29 and had its 12-game unbeaten streak snapped.
Portland (7-8-2) has won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game win streak from April 20 to May 4 and has four wins in its last six.
“It was a very good performance,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese told 750 The Game. “It was a very important win for us. We needed these three points to continue to climb in the table. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Sunday’s game was the first of five games in 15 days for the Timbers. Savarese made several key lineup rotations with the compacted schedule in mind. Diego Chara, who was one yellow card away from a one-game suspension, Jeremy Ebobisse, Julio Cascante and Jorge Moreira all started the game on the bench.
The Timbers have historically struggled without Chara. Prior to Sunday, the Timbers had failed to earn a win in their last 22 MLS regular season games where Chara didn’t start. That changed in New York City.
“Guys stepped into the game and got the job done,” Savarese said. “Today, everybody showed that the group is very united and everybody can contribute.”
