Teenager Christian Torres scored his first Major League Soccer goal in stoppage time to give Los Angeles FC a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers on Sunday night.
Torres, a 16-year-old homegrown player, left-footed a shot that Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark couldn't get to.
“There's so many emotions,” Torres said afterward. “It was a crazy feeling. I'm absolutely honored and thrilled to score my first MLS goal. I'm so struck by it, there's not much to say, but just look forward to many more in the future.”
He is the youngest player ever to score for LAFC and he's the youngest player to score in MLS since 2018.
“I think that he's impressed everybody. He's got a good sense of timing, he's a good finisher and I thought he took his chance really well," coach Bob Bradley said. ”It's a proud moment to see a player who has come through our academy score his first goal and score it at a time when we really needed it to get a tough point playing on the road."
Jeremy Ebobisse scored early in the second half for the Timbers (9-5-4), who continued to wrestle for the top spot in the Western Conference standings with the defending MLS Cup champion Sounders, who played to a scoreless draw with San Jose later Sunday night. Seattle and Portland were tied on points atop the table.
LAFC (7-7-4) had seven key players missing because of international duty and injury, including MLS top scorer Diego Rossi and Brian Rodriguez, who played for Uruguay and are now quarantining, and Carlos Vela, who is rehabbing a knee injury.
It was Bradley's 100th game at the helm of LAFC across all competitions.
Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese was frustrated with two early yellow cards, handed to Diego Chara and Eryk Williamson.
“To me, this game with only one point is very disappointing because I think the players deserved a lot more because of the way we played and the opportunities that we created and the chances that we had," Savarese said.
The Timbers had a scary moment early in the game when Ebobisse was involved in a hard collision and spent several moments on the turf treated by trainers.
Felipe Mora had a pair of good chances for the Timbers in the 38th and 40th minutes, but both times he was denied by LAFC goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega.
After a scoreless first half, Ebobisse's blast two minutes into the second put the Timbers in front. It was his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
LAFC nearly tied it in the 61st minute, but Clark got low to keep Danny Musovski's shot out of the net and Kwadwo Opoku's rebound attempt was off.
Ebobisse, who has played in 75 straight matches for the Timbers, limped off the field in the 86th minute after landing awkwardly.
“A little bit sad because we lost points at home at the last minute. But I think we did a good job, we tried to win the three points and at the end, we lost it,” Chara said.
Portland had won five straight before falling 2-1 at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.
LAFC, sitting in fourth place in the standings, lost 2-1 on Wednesday against the Whitecaps in Portland. Vancouver is playing its “home” matches this season at Providence Park because of travel restrictions with Canada.
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