Juan Mosquera scored his first Major League Soccer goal and goalkeeper David Bingham made four saves as the Portland Timbers defeated visiting Sporting Kansas City 1-0 on Monday in the season opener for both clubs.
The match was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed because of a storm that dumped more than 10 inches of snow in the Portland area last week.
Mosquera, a defender, scored in the sixth minute. He won a race with Kansas City’s Ben Sweat for the ball at the end line on the right wing. Mosquera knocked the ball back to teammate Yimmi Chara, then took a return pass near the top right of the 6-yard box. Mosquera’s low shot squeezed under the body of Sporting KC goalie John Pulskamp, who attempted to make a diving save, and found the far side netting.
Pulskamp made two strong stops just a minute earlier, diving to knock the ball off the foot of Portland’s Jaroslaw Niezgoda after a Kansas City turnover deep in its own end, then saving Marvin Loria’s follow-up shot at the right post.
Bingham, starting for the injured Aljaz Ivacic (hand), last had an MLS shutout while playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2020. He didn’t face a shot until the 24th minute, when he was forced to make two saves against Erik Thommy.
Bingham made a dive to stop Thommy’s shot from the middle of the penalty area, then seconds later was forced to leap to tip Thommy’s chip over the crossbar.
Bingham went to his knees to stop a shot by Khiry Shelton, a former Oregon State standout, in the 76th minute, then dove to his right to cradle a volley from Daniel Salloi about a minute later.
Kansas City’s William Agada put a header just wide of the right post off a corner kick in second-half stoppage time.
Timbers forward Yimmi Chara, whose brother Diego is Portland’s captain, was forced to leave in the 30th minute with an apparent right hamstring injury.
–Field Level Media
