MLS: Timbers stun rivals Sounders, teenage sensation Pepi stars for Dallas

Portland Timbers upset Western Conference leaders Seattle Sounders to win Sunday’s derby 2-0 after two defensive blunders to round out the rivalry week in the MLS.

Second-half strikes from Sebastian Blanco and Felipe Mora earned the Timbers the points, ending Seattle’s three-game winning run and ensuring they missed the chance to extend their lead to five points.

Portland had failed to win in their past three games, with the result lifting them from 10th in the west, up to sixth.

Blanco’s goal was particularly special, having torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at the same venue nearly a year ago.

Mora pounced on a poor Yeimar Gomez Andrade back pass, swooping in and setting up Blanco for a 58th-minute tap-in.

Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark made numerous saves, including from a rocket 61st-minute Joao Paulo volley, before Mora capitalised on an error from Sounders keeper Stefan Cleveland, sealing the points with a classy lob in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Felipe Mora, have yourself a game. #RCTID pic.twitter.com/gfpQzniqAA

— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) August 30, 2021

Eight goals were scored in an entertaining Texas derby as Dallas got the better of Austin 5-3 – teenager Ricardo Pepi and Jesus Ferreira both netting braces for the winners.

Dallas raced to a 4-1 lead at the break before Jader Obrian added a fifth shortly after half-time, with Austin pulling goals back via Diego Fagundez and Alexander Ring as Ferreira hit the post late in pursuit of a hat-trick.

Pepi, who turned 18 in January and last month became the youngest player in MLS history to score a hat-trick, has netted 11 times this season for Dallas.

Pepi’s brace, and 11th goal of the season, brings us to a 4-1 lead #DTID pic.twitter.com/dIL9IrpkZ9

— FC Dallas 🙂 (@FCDallas) August 30, 2021

Meanwhile, Vancouver Whitecaps continued their resurgence under interim head coach Vanni Sartini with a 4-1 rout of Real Salt Lake.

The Whitecaps piled on three goals inside 16 second-half minutes after Marcelo Silva’s own goal had given them a 1-0 lead at the interval.

Cristian Dajome was dangerous down the right flank, as Brian White, Ryan Gauld and Florian Jungwirth netted before Anderson Julio’s consolation for RSL.