LAFC handed first loss of 2026 by Timbers in heartbreaking fashion

Despite a short-handed starting lineup, LAFC put forth a valiant effort, but eventually fell 2-1 at the hands of the Portland Timbers on Saturday afternoon at Providence Park. The loss was their first of 2026, snapping an 11-game unbeaten run across all competitions. Kevin Kelsey scored his first goal of the season for Portland in the final moments of stoppage time, giving his squad the lead in dramatic fashion.

Kristoffer Velde's cross found Brandon Bye on the receiving end, whose header landed in front of the net for Kelsey to finish. NO WAYYYYY KELSY IN THE LAST MINUTE TO WIN IT FOR PORTLAND pic. twitter.

com/caWk3kEp0B — Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 11, 2026 Just minutes earlier, it was LAFC that thought they had scored the game-winning goal. Timothy Tillman delivered a perfectly placed cross to Ryan Porteous, who used his head to drill home. However, following a replay review, Tillman was ruled offside and the goal was wiped off the board.

"After losing the game like that so late, when we felt at a certain point we were closer to the 2-1 [win] than them, it's very disappointing," said LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos. "But when I see what everybody was involved in, the amount of rotations we had to do to think about Tuesday at the same time, I'm very proud of the push from the guys. " Los Angeles deployed five different players to make their first-ever MLS starts, with three of them playing in their first MLS game.