Andre Luiz scored two goals to lead Sporting Kansas City’s comeback effort in a 3-3 home draw with the Portland Timbers on Saturday.
Kansas City twice trailed by two-goal deficits but drew level on Luiz’s spectacular equalizer in the 73rd minute. Luiz took the ball just past midfield and raced in on a breakaway before calmly stopping in the box and firing home the shot to complete his brace.
Luiz extended his scoring streak to five matches, and the forward already has seven goals in seven matches since signing with Sporting KC in August. Luiz’s star performance was dimmed, however, when he limped off the field in the 82nd minute with an apparent leg injury.
Justin Reynolds scored the other goal for Sporting Kansas City (6-18-4, 22 points), who are in last place in the MLS standings but 2-2-1 in their last five matches.
The draw was a missed opportunity for the Timbers, who are 0-3-2 in their last five matches. Portland (9-13-6, 33 points) is in 10th place in the Western Conference, and three points out of the final West playoff berth.
David Da Costa and Ariel Lassiter each had a goal and an assist. Vincent Janssen scored Portland’s other goal on a penalty kick.
Da Costa’s fifth goal of the season opened the scoring in the 10th minute. The rest of the first half was relatively quiet, until the match was suddenly blown open by two penalty kicks in stoppage time.
Jansen Miller’s 45th-minute foul on Kristoffer Velde in the box wasn’t initially called on the field, but a penalty kick was awarded after a video review. Janssen buried the chance four minutes later, tallying his fourth goal in eight matches since signing with Portland in July.
Only a minute after Janssen’s goal, Kansas City drew a penalty of its own after Diego Chara fouled Taylor Calheira in the box. Goalkeeper James Pantemis got a piece of Luiz’s shot, but the ball deflected off the post and back out to Luiz, who buried his own rebound in the seventh minute of added time.
A nice passing play set up Lassiter with plenty of space in front for the finish in the 64th minute. Six minutes later, Reynolds seemingly had little room to maneuver in Portland’s box, but the defender converted a tremendous shot for his first goal of the season.
Pantemis and Sporting Kansas City’s Stefan Cleveland each finished with two saves.
–Field Level Media
