PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Daniel Gazdag scored in the opening minutes and the Philadelphia Union went on to defeat the Portland Timbers 2-0 on Sunday night.
Sergio Santos also scored for the Union (6-1-6), who came in with a streak of five straight draws. Goalkeeper Andre Blake finished with his sixth clean sheet of the season.
“I think this one can give us confidence for the future,” said Gazdag, who joined the Union last year after playing in his native Hungary. “I think we played very good today. So we can build on this game.”
The Timbers (3-5-6) lost their second straight after falling 3-2 to the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday.
The Union jumped in front in the fifth minute on Gazdag’s falling down bicycle kick into the bottom right corner. Gazdag leads Philadelphia with seven goals.
Santos scored on a header in the 48th minute to double Philadelphia’s lead. Shortly thereafter, Santos was subbed out for 18-year-old Paxten Aaronson.
“If you look at our last five draws that we’ve had, there’s been some good draws with really good performances and some that we weren’t ourselves, and I thought tonight we got back to being us,” Union coach Jim Curtin said.
Sebastian Blanco appeared to score in the 69th minute, beating a pair of defenders in a scramble in front of the net. But video review determined Santiago Moreno was offside prior to the goal.
“What differentiates this game from one team to the other is that Philadelphia scored two goals and we couldn’t find the net,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said. “We put a lot of work in, we created chances. But at the end of the day, they took advantage of the moments that they had.”
Timbers defender Eryk Williamson had to be subbed off in the 13th minute with an injury. He was replaced by Moreno.
It was a setback for Williamson, who was eyeing a return to the U.S. national team after recovering from a torn ACL that he sustained last August. It was also a setback for the Timbers, who were shorthanded due to a spate of injuries.
It was Philadelphia’s third win in 12 all-time games against the Timbers.
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