Trust, Risk and a Rookie: Timbers drag series back to San Diego
Portland's season was saved by a 22-year-old who was playing in college a year ago.
PORTLAND — How was Gage Guerra not nervous?
Portland’s 22-year-old, first-year forward had only played about 120 minutes this season before Saturday’s win-or-go-home Match 2 against San Diego at Providence Park.
A year ago at this time, Guerra was finishing his collegiate career at Louisville. And while he burst onto the scene in May with that thunderous equalizer against Tacoma in the U.S. Open Cup — that was the U.S. Open Cup.
This was the playoffs, where the Timbers were down 2-1 to San Diego with 13 minutes left in their season.
Again, how was he not nervous?
Well, first, there was no time: Portland manager Phil Neville subbed him into the match in the 86th minute, telling him to go score a goal — the same brief he gave back in May when Guerra stepped on against Tacoma.
And again, that’s exactly what Guerra did — his leaping header off an Ariel Lassiter cross in the game’s dying seconds tied it at 2-2, extending Portland’s season into a penalty kick round where two San Diego misses over the bar and another off the crossbar aided the Timbers in a 3-2, season-saving win.
It was the most hectic, emotional and charged match played at Providence Park since 2021 — and it set the table for a winner-take-all Match 3 on Sunday in San Diego.
And while it was veteran Kristoffer Velde scoring his second goal in as many games that first got the Timbers on the board — then season-leading scorer Antony clinching the win when he calmly approached his PK before ripping a shot into the net — it was the rookie, Guerra, who came up clutch for the best moment of the season.
“On top of the world,” Guerra said after. “That was probably the best moment of my life so far. Feels like the stars aligned.”
But, Guerra said, they only aligned because of the confidence the club has instilled in him. For 90-plus minutes on the bench — thank you, 12 minutes of first-half stoppage — Guerra said he felt something brewing. A special moment was going to happen, he thought. When Neville tapped him on the shoulder and sent him in, and once he found his feet, he said it was defender Finn Surman in his ear with minutes to go.
“‘Come on, Gage,’” Guerra recalled Surman saying. “‘Just one more chance.’”
That came in the 98th. Lassiter threw the ball in, recovered it after a defender took out Cristhian Paredes, then launched a cross destined for the right post.
Guerra was the first one in the air, charging from the top of the box to fire a header into the top corner of the net.
The crowd exploded. Guerra pumped his fists and slid on both knees. Coaches, staff members, and front-office personnel ran in all directions.
The final night of soccer in 2025 at Providence was the best night of soccer in 2025 at Providence.
“It was the Thrilla in Manila — they were just throwing haymakers the whole game, it was dog-eat-dog, and it was a fight, and we had to keep going,” Neville said. “We took some risks with our tactics. We took some risks with our substitutions. I was always told by my father when I was younger that sometimes in life, you’ve got to take risks to win.”
It might have been a risk, but for Guerra, it just felt normal. He said he got the MLS jitters out of the way earlier in his career, when after the first five minutes of his debut he had to take a moment, catch his breath and compose himself.
“I think that kind of switched something in me,” Guerra said. “This whole season has been a great learning experience. I think a lot of the confidence — rather than nervousness — comes from the belief from my teammates, from my staff and all the hours of training.
“Phil tells me the same thing every time: ‘Go do your thing. Go score a goal.’ That’s my job, and I just did my job.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor