Chicago Fire came from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw against Portland Tumbers in their MLS clash.
The visitors could have been ahead as early as the first minute as Frederic Piquionne's shot was tipped onto the bar by Sean Johnson, who then did brilliantly to deny Diego Chara on the rebound as he palmed his effort onto the woodwork.
The Timbers were denied by the woodwork yet again minutes later as Michael Harrington raided down the left and crossed for Will Johnson, whose looping header was tipped onto the post by Sean Johnson.
At the other end, Milos Kocic kept the scores level as the Fire went close through Chris Rolfe, who saw his shot turned over the bar by the Portland keeper.
Portland finally took the lead in the 33rd minute when Diego Valeri latched onto Piquionne's flick-on and placed a shot past Johnson off the post and into the net.
After the break, the Timbers doubled their lead when Ben Zemanski placed a low effort into the bottom corner of the net from Piquionne's pass on the edge of the box.
However, Chicago got a goal back within a minute as Mike Magee capitalised on an error from Kocic as he let the ball slip through his grasp and the striker placed his shot into an empty net.
The Fire pushed on for an equaliser and got it nine minutes from time when Dan Paladini curled a free kick from just outside the box into the top corner to earn his team a point.
Simon Sinclair
