Three-nil over New York City FC. Three-two at Seattle. The 2-1 victory in May over Los Angeles FC. The Portland Timbers have had a number of victories, this season, that felt important, but no result may have been as important as the team’s first draw of 2018.
Back then, on March 24, the Timbers had spent two weeks thinking about the pain of being punched in the mouth over the season’s first games. Losses at the LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls left them without a point, on the wrong end of a minus-5 goal difference and looking like a group who, for all the changes they had made this offseason, slipped behind the pack before the new season.