PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath made five saves and Real Salt Lake held off the Portland Timbers for a scoreless draw Saturday night.
The Timbers (2-2-6) remained undefeated in their past three games. They also played to a 0-0 draw at Houston last Saturday.
Real Salt Lake (3-2-5) was routed 6-0 last weekend by NYCFC, and then lost an Open Cup match to the third-division side Colorado Hailstorm 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Portland beat RSL in all four of their meetings last season, outscoring them 14-4. The last time an MLS team had a four-game sweep of an opponent was in 2010, when the Galaxy swept the Sounders.
Sebastian Blanco, who has seven goals and seven assists all-time against RSL, couldn’t break through for the Timbers and was subbed off in the 59th minute.
Justin Glad, who played Wednesday after missing the previous four matches, was in the starting lineup for Salt Lake. Goalkeeper David Ochoa made his season debut in the Open Cup, but after playing the full 90 minutes he was not available against the Timbers.
The Timbers dominated possession (66.7 percent) and outshot RSL 15-5. Salt Lake’s best chance came in the 76th minute, but Portland goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic got the save.
Ivacic also stopped Sergio Cordova’s shot in stoppage time to preserve the draw.
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