With the final minutes of the first half ticking away on Sunday night, the New York Red Bulls looked like they just might suffer their first loss at Red Bull Arena this year. Two early goals by the Portland Timbers had the Red Bulls on the ropes and looking ripe for defeat.
The Red Bulls had other ideas.
Goals from Kenny Cooper and Tim Cahill just before halftime erased Portland's 2-0 lead, then Heath Pearce provided the capper, heading home the game-winning goal in the 85th minute to give the Red Bulls a 3-2 victory.
Bright Dike and Darlington Nagbe opened the scoring for Portland off assists from Sal Zizzo, but the two-goal lead wasn't enough against a stacked Red Bulls attack. Cooper started the comeback by heading home a Jan Gunnar Solli cross in the 42nd minute. Tim Cahill equalized just three minutes later when he pounced on a redirected Dax McCarty shot and fired it home to make the score 2-2.
Pearce delivered the winner when Solli curled in a cross into the penalty area that Pearce skied up to head past Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
The win pulled New York to within two points of Sporting Kansas City atop the Eastern Conference before the two teams embark on a stretch of three meetings in the next seven weeks. The victory improved New York's record at Red Bull Arena to 9-0-3, and marked the first time the Red Bulls had come back to win after trailing by two goals in almost eight years.
Here are the match highlights:
What did you think of the match? Impressed with the Red Bulls' comeback? See New York winning the Eastern Conference?
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