Duncan McGuire scored his first goal of the season shortly before halftime and host Orlando City preserved a 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
Eduard Atuesta assisted McGuire, whose tally helped Orlando (7-2-6, 27 points) win its third straight in MLS and extend its league unbeaten run to 12 matches.
Pedro Gallese made two stops to keep his seventh clean sheet after a rare generous night in a 3-2 home defeat to Nashville in the U.S. Open Cup round of 16 on Wednesday night.
Maxime Crepeau made three saves for Portland (6-4-5, 23 points), which improved after halftime but rarely translated having more possession into clear second-half chances.
The Timbers trailed 14-7 in overall shot attempts, and have scored only twice across their last five matches in all competitions. They’ve played 228 minutes without a goal on the road in league play.
McGuire was once a regular starter for Orlando, and after scoring 14 goals in his rookie MLS campaign for a time appeared to be heading for a European move.
But the play of Marco Pasalic and Luis Muriel have resulted in him being used primarily off the bench in 2025. He started Saturday for just the third time, presumably as a result of effort others exerted in the U.S. Open Cup defeat on Wednesday.
He put Orlando in front in the 39th minute after the hosts had dominated to that point.
The chance came from the second phase of an attack after the Timbers only partially cleared Ivan Angulo’s initial cross from the right.
Atuesta took the ball down with his body just beyond the right corner of the penalty area, then dribbled to his left, and then slotted a low vertical pass into McGuire near the corner of the 6-yard box.
McGuire reached it and fired a low finish past Crepeau from a somewhat tight angle.
It was McGuire’s first goal since Oct. 2, when he bagged his 10th of the 2024 regular season.
–Field Level Media
