Two road wins for a team that had none
Austin FC went ten away fixtures this season without a win. They have now taken two in a row, the second of them last night in Portland, where Oleksandr Svatok forced the ball over the line in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time for a 2-1 result.
The Verde sit 14th in the Western Conference at 6-10-6 and 24 points. That looks like nothing until you place it against the table. Two points separate them from the LA Galaxy and Seattle. Five separate them from ninth-place Minnesota and the playoff cutoff. A club that spent the spring in freefall, and fired Nico Estevez in May because of it, has drifted back into range without anyone paying much attention.
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The goal itself was not pretty
Joseph Rosales swung a corner in. Portland cleared it partially. Besard Sabovic headed the ball back into the crowd at the top of the six-yard box, a Portland defender deflected the goal-bound effort with his thigh, and Svatok arrived to poke the loose ball off the sprawling James Pantemis and across the line.
It was the Ukrainian defender’s second MLS goal across portions of three seasons. Two goals in three years, and this one arrived in the 94th minute of a match his side had to win. The celebration that followed said more about the state of the dressing room than any of the statistics do.
Torres had opened the scoring in the 25th minute, finishing a passing move through the middle that also ran through Rosales and Sabovic, chipping the ball over Pantemis as the goalkeeper charged out.
Portland lose at home for the first time under Cifuentes
Antony had levelled from the penalty spot five minutes before Svatok struck. The substitute worked into the left side of the area and drove a cross into the right arm of Brandon Hines-Ike. Referee Guido Gonzales Jr. waved play on, then went to the monitor and reversed himself. Antony placed the kick into the bottom right corner for his first goal since late May, having lost his starting place in July under interim manager Jack Cassidy.
Portland stay 11th at 8-10-4 and 28 points. This was the first home defeat of Marti Cifuentes’s tenure, and it came from a set piece his defence half-cleared three times before conceding.
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