Diogo Goncalves' late goal sends RSL past depleted Timbers

Diogo Goncalves scored in the 83rd minute to lift Real Salt Lake to a 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers on Wednesday night.

Goncalves' third goal of the season and second in the last three matches helped Salt Lake (8-10-4, 28 points) win its third straight and extend its unbeaten run to five matches.

Rafa Cabral needed to make just one save to keep his and RSL's sixth clean sheet of the campaign while dealing the Timbers their first home loss since a 4-1 defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps on opening weekend in late February.

Portland (9-7-6, 33 points) struggled to create chances on a night when team assists leader David Da Costa was a pregame scratch due to groin tightness.

The Timbers came into Wednesday's fixture having already lost 2024 leading scorer Jonathan Rodriguez to a season-ending knee surgery, and with 2025 top producer Antony still out with a hamstring issue.

Despite three stops from Maxime Crepeau, the Timbers have now lost three of their last four, and they suffered their first home defeat to RSL since 2017.

While chances were sparse throughout the encounter, Salt Lake had the better ones and deserved their lead when Goncalves finally broke through.

The Portuguese attacker helped create the chance himself, playing a pass to Ariath Piol just above the top of the penalty box from the right, then continuing his run into the penalty area to receive the return pass.

From there, he drove a low, hard finish past Crepeau just two games after he scored at home in RSL's 3-2 win over St. Louis City on July 5.

It was the culmination of a string of RSL chances. William Agada had the best one in the first half in the 23rd minute, and probably should've tested Crepeau more severely with another chance two minutes into the second.

Then, in the 76th minute, Goncalves' previous low effort forced Crepeau into his best stop of the night, diving low and to his left. Diego Luna knocked in the rebound but was clearly offside.

--Field Level Media