Duncan McGuire scored his first aim of the season shortly earlier than halftime and host Orlando Metropolis preserved a 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening.
Eduard Atuesta assisted McGuire, whose tally helped Orlando (7-2-6, 27 factors) win its third straight in MLS and prolong its league unbeaten run to 12 matches.
Pedro Gallese made two stops to maintain his seventh clear sheet after a uncommon beneficiant evening in a 3-2 residence defeat to Nashville within the U.S. Open Cup spherical of 16 on Wednesday evening.
Maxime Crepeau made three saves for Portland (6-4-5, 23 factors), which improved after halftime however hardly ever translated having extra possession into clear second-half probabilities.
The Timbers trailed 14-7 in total shot makes an attempt, and have scored solely twice throughout their final 5 matches in all competitions. They’ve performed 228 minutes and not using a aim on the street in league play.
McGuire was as soon as an everyday starter for Orlando, and after scoring 14 targets in his rookie MLS marketing campaign for a time seemed to be heading for a European transfer.
However the play of Marco Pasalic and Luis Muriel have resulted in him getting used primarily off the bench in 2025. He began Saturday for simply the third time, presumably on account of effort others exerted within the U.S. Open Cup defeat on Wednesday.
He put Orlando in entrance within the thirty ninth minute after the hosts had dominated to that time.
The possibility got here from the second part of an assault after the Timbers solely partially cleared Ivan Angulo’s preliminary cross from the precise.
Atuesta took the ball down along with his physique simply past the precise nook of the penalty space, then dribbled to his left, after which slotted a low vertical cross into McGuire close to the nook of the 6-yard field.
McGuire reached it and fired a low end previous Crepeau from a considerably tight angle.
It was McGuire’s first aim since Oct. 2, when he bagged his tenth of the 2024 common season.
–Area Stage Media
