The unbeaten runs were bound to end at some point, and in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, one of them did. The 14-game streak without a loss that the Portland Timbers had cultivated since April 8 across all competitions was snapped at Banc of California Stadium, with Los Angeles FC advancing to the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup with a 3-2 victory in the teams’ third meeting of the season.
It was the first time LAFC had defeated the Timbers, with Portland having taken four points from the teams’ two meetings in Major League Soccer. In their Open Cup meeting, though, Los Angeles had the edge from the start, ended up out-shooting their guests, 22-12, and became the first team to get the best of Giovanni Savarese’s side since Orlando City SC did so in Florida over three months ago.