Lee Nguyen strikes late to salvage the Revs a point vs. Portland

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:46 am

Lee Nguyen scored in the 85th minute to pull the New England Revolution into a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers on Sunday night.

Nguyen's goal, his third of the season, was the first ever for the Revolution at Providence Park.

Diego Valeri scored his fifth goal of the year early in the opening half to give Portland a lead that lasted until Nguyen scored on a rebound when Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson was down.

The Timbers had won three of their first four matches of the season going into the game. They lead the league with 13 goals overall.

Valeri scored on the volley in the 12th minute, eluding leaping New England goalkeeper Cody Cropper. After the goal, Valeri pumped his fist for the Timbers Army supporters' section before kissing the crest on his jersey.

Valeri was side-tackled in the 25th minute by Xavier Kouassi and was prone on the field for several minutes but returned. Kouassi was handed a yellow card in the final minute of the first half for a foul on David Guzman.

New England's Kelyn Rowe was issued a yellow card because of a foul on Marco Farfan early in the second half.

After wins in its first three matches, Portland dropped a match at Columbus last Saturday. It was one of just three matches last weekend because of international play. The Timbers had two players on international duty: Darlington Nagbe with the U.S. national team and Guzman with Costa Rica.

Lee Nguyen
Lee Nguyen
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Revolution were coming off a 5-2 victory over the expansion Minnesota United last weekend, the team's first win after opening the season with two losses. Juan Agudelo scored a pair of goals in the victory and won MLS Player of the Week honors.

The Revolution are opening the season with five straight matches against Western Conference teams. New England's game against the Orlando Pride on March 11 in Foxborough was postponed because of weather until Sept. 2.

Portland was without injured defenders Liam Ridgewell (foot) and Vytas Andriuskevicius (calf). Both were missing their fourth straight game.

The Revolution lost rookie defender Josh Smith late in the game with what appeared to be a right leg injury.

Timbers forward Fanendo Adi still needs one more goal to pass John Bain as the franchise's all-time leading scorer. Bain scored 45 goals for the Timbers from 1978-82, when the team was part of the North American Soccer League.