PORTLAND, Ore. – Every game that Brian Fernandez has started for the Portland Timbers, the team has scored at least two goals. Even in the match he didn’t start, the team averaged 3.6 goals per 90 minutes with him on the field. From the moment the team’s new Designated Player arrived in mid-May, the Timbers’ attack has been transformed.
Wednesday hinted there may be greater things to come. Though the LA Galaxy started a team that had to balance a weekend trip to Cincinnati, Providence Park saw the Timbers’ most commanding performance of the year, with a goal scored at the end of a 20-pass sequence capping a 4-0 win in front of 16,235 in Goose Hollow.