An introduction to Gage Guerra, the hero of Portland's Open Cup win over Tacoma
Portland's 22-year-old rookie is not new to coming up in the clutch.
It had to feel a bit surreal for Gage Guerra.
In the moments after Portland’s 3-2 Open Cup win over Tacoma on Tuesday, Guerra was pulled in front of a Timbers banner and spoke with media for the first time in his professional career. Behind him, Timbers supporters nearly drowned out his voice with drums and chants as Guerra tried to contextualize the day he had.
It was just that morning that the Timbers announced that Guerra, along with five of his T2 teammates, would be joining the first-team roster for its Round of 32 match against MLS Next Pro side Tacoma. Maybe he figured he’d get a few minutes once the Timbers were comfortably ahead.
Instead, with Portland down 2-1 in the 79th minute, Guerra made his Timbers debut with fairly simple instructions from manager Phil Neville.
“Go get a goal. Go score. Go be the hero,” Guerra said his coach told him.
Guerra was only on the pitch for a minute before Ian Smith took a ball along the left side and crossed it into the box. Guerra took a run, he jumped and squared the ball up with his head, sending it past Tacoma keeper Andrew Thomas for the equalizer.
Thirteen minutes later, Kevin Kelsy won it for the Timbers in the 93rd with a penalty. Portland survived and advanced to the Round of 16 because Guerra did exactly what Neville told him to do.
He was the hero — not for the first time in his career.