SEATTLE — Portland coach Caleb Porter believed Ryan Johnson could take advantage of matchups and gave him a start. The Timbers’ forward went out and proved his coach right.
Johnson flicked in a header early in the first half, and Darlington Nagbe scored midway through the second half on Saturday night as Portland beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 in the first leg of their Western Conference semifinals series.
"We’ve got options up there — good options," Porter said of giving Johnson the start. "We’re going to pick the guy up top who we think fits the opponent we’re playing. To me, it made a lot of sense to go with Ryan Johnson.
"We felt his strength in the air, his physicality, his ability to hold the ball up, his athleticism and pace and power was a good matchup against (Seattle defenders) Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Jimmy Traore."
The third-year Timbers, playing in their first MLS post-season contest, need just a draw in Wednesday’s second leg at Portland to advance to the conference finals.
Osvaldo Alonso scored in the 90th minute for the Sounders, who need to win the second leg by at least two goals to win the aggregate total and advance.
If the Sounders outscore the Timbers by one goal in the second match to even the aggregate total, there would be overtime to decide the series.
Johnson’s goal was his 10th of the year for the Timbers, who went unbeaten through their last eight games of the regular season (5-0-3) to secure the West’s No. 1 seed.
