Vincent Janssen‘s hat trick puts Portland in playoff position

Prefer us on Google Anthony Capobianco In one of the most exciting matches of the Major League Soccer season, the Portland Timbers defended their home turf with a 5-4 win over Minnesota United FC on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Providence Park on Saturday night. The Timbers were led by Vincent Janssen, who recorded a hat trick in his first MLS start. Before Saturday's match, the Timbers were the only MLS team to not have a player score three goals in a single game. Janssen scored his first goal in the 11th minute on a penalty kick toward the bottom-left corner of the goal. The Timbers built a 2-0 lead after capitalizing on an own goal by Minnesota's Drake Callender in the 20th minute. Janssen's second goal of the match was set up by David Da Costa in the 26th minute, putting Portland up 3-0 halfway through the first half. Minnesota struck back with a pair of goals of their own, from Marcus Caldeira and Anthony Markanich, to cut the Timbers' lead to 3-2 38 minutes into the game. Caldeira struck again in the 50th minute for his second goal of the night to tie the match 3-3. Janssen received a pass from Ariel Lassiter and slotted a shot into the bottom right corner for his third goal of the night, putting Portland back up 4-3 in the 55th minute. The Timbers scored the go-ahead goal in the 74th minute. Antony intercepted a ball and dashed down the right sideline to send a pass to Kristoffer Velde, who fired a left-footed shot into the goal. Tomás Chancalay scored Minnesota's final goal of the match with a right-footed shot to the bottom right corner of the net in stoppage time. With the win, the Timbers (9-10-4, 31pts) jumped to eighth place in the Western Conference, with the same number of points as the seventh-place Colorado Rapids.