Two late goals give Real Salt Lake 4-4 tie with Timbers

PORTLAND — Giuseppe Rossi and Sam Johnson scored late goals and Real Salt Lake rallied for a 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.

Sebastian Blanco scored in the 70th minute to put Portland up 3-2 and Felipe Mora added what appeared to be an insurance goal in the 85th.

But Rossi’s first MLS goal in the 90th closed the gap, and Johnson tied it late in stoppage time.

Diego Chara scored in the sixth minute to give the Timbers and early lead. It was his first of the season and his first since 2018, ending a string of 43 straight appearances without a goal. His last goal also came against RSL.

Salt Lake tied it on Corey Baird’s goal in the 19th minute, but some three minutes later Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored for the Timbers to give them back the lead.

Damir Kreilach’s goal for Real Salt Lake tied it again in the 48th minute, but Portland again answered with Sebastian Blanco’s blast from beyond the penalty area.

The teams were among those that sat out of Wednesday night’s matches to protest racial injustice. Five of six MLS games set for that night were postponed, including Portland’s match against the Earthquakes in San Jose, and RSL’s match against LAFC.

The next day Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen reacted on a local radio show, saying: “The disrespect was profound to me personally.”

Hansen also suggested he might not invest as much in the team going forward. In addition to RSL, Hansen also owns the Utah Royals of the National Women’s Soccer League and the USL’s Real Monarchs.

In the wake of those comments, a report in The Athletic detailed Hansen’s alleged use of racially charged remarks and a racial slur. The MLS and NWSL both launched investigations, and on Friday night Real Salt Lake announced Hansen was taking a leave of absence.

REAL SALT LAKE 4, TIMBERS 4

Real Salt Lake 1 3—4

Portland 2 2—4

First half—1, Portland, Chara, 1, 6th minute; 2, Real Salt Lake, Baird, 2, 19th; 3, Portland, Niezgoda, 2 (Valeri), 21st.

Second half—4, Real Salt Lake, Kreilach, 4, 48th; 5, Portland, Blanco, 3 (Ebobisse), 70th; 6, Portland, Mora, 1 (Blanco), 85th; 7, Real Salt Lake, Rossi, 1 (Kreilach), 90th+1; 8, Real Salt Lake, Johnson, 1 (Baird), 90th+5.

Goalies—Real Salt Lake, Andrew Putna, Zac MacMath; Portland, Steve Clark, Aljaz Ivacic.

Yellow Cards—Chara, Portland, 30th; Mabiala, Portland, 67th; Williamson, Portland, 69th; Johnson, Real Salt Lake, 81st.

Referee—Ismail Elfath. Assistant Referees—Jeffrey Greeson, Mike Rottersman, Daniel Radford. 4th Official—Michael Radchuk.

Lineups

Real Salt Lake—Andrew Putna; Aaron Herrera, Nedum Onuoha, Marcelo Silva, Donny Toia; Maikel Chang (Giuseppe Rossi, 84th), Damir Kreilach, Pablo Ruiz (Sam Johnson, 81st), Albert Rusnak; Corey Baird, Justin Meram (Everton Luiz, 66th).

Portland—Steve Clark; Chris Duvall, Larrys Mabiala, Jorge Villafana, Dario Zuparic; Sebastian Blanco (Marvin Loria, 90th+3), Diego Chara, Diego Valeri (Renzo Zambrano, 90th+3), Eryk Williamson (Cristhian Paredes, 78th); Jeremy Ebobisse (Andy Polo, 78th), Jaroslaw Niezgoda (Felipe Mora, 67th).