First-place Galaxy falls in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Galaxy sits atop the Western Conference standings, but the team left the door ajar on Wednesday night and allowed its closest pursuers to gain some ground.

Evander scored a pair of goals and the Portland Timbers kept their own postseason hopes alive with a 4-2 victory over the Galaxy.

Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora also scored for the Timbers (12-10-7, 43 points), who are currently in eighth place in the conference with five games remaining.

The Galaxy (16-7-7, 55 points), which clinched a playoff spot with its 4-2 “El Trafico” victory over LAFC last weekend, can ill afford many pointless nights with its closest pursuers holding games in hand. Second-place Real Salt Lake (14-7-8, 50 points), which defeated FC Dallas on Wednesday, has a game in hand on the Galaxy, and third-place LAFC (14-7-7, 49 points), which tied Austin FC, has two games in hand on the leaders.

The Galaxy never led in its match, as Portland’s Rodriguez scored in the 18th minute on a header off a cross from Evander to give the Timbers an early lead.

Evander nearly added another goal in the 33rd minute but his shot went just wide. He was just a step too slow on another chance in the 37th before finally breaking through two minutes later to put the Timbers ahead 2-0.

Gabriel Pec scored for the Galaxy in fist-half stoppage time to cut the margin in half, but Evander scored again in the 51st minute for a 3-1 lead. He leads MLS with 32 goal contributions.

The Galaxy closed within one again when Joseph Paintsil scored in the 59th minute – a goal that was originally ruled offside but awarded after a video review.

Mora pulled down a ball from Antony with his chest at the far post and scored to make it 4-2 for Portland in the 80th. It was the Timbers’ conference-leading 60th goal of the season.

The teams that finish eighth and ninth in the conference will play a single-elimination wild card match.

More to come on this story.