Vincent Janssen Pulls the Strings as Timbers Beat Dynamo 3-1 and Climb Above the Playoff Line

PORTLAND, Ore. — For most of October, the Portland Timbers looked like a team that would spend the postseason watching on television. Then came three straight wins, three straight three-goal nights, and on Sunday a 3-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo at Providence Park that finally dragged them above the playoff line with one game left.

Vincent Janssen was the man pulling the strings. The Dutch striker scored once and set up the other two goals, and David Da Costa and Kristoffer Velde each finished with a goal and an assist. Agustín Bouzat pulled one back for Houston in the 71st minute, but Janssen's header seven minutes later shut the door.

Portland (12-14-7, 43 points) climbed into eighth place in the Western Conference, per the club. Houston (14-10-9, 51 points) stayed level with St. Louis CITY SC heading into Decision Day, a setup we laid out in our match preview before kickoff.

A late goalkeeper switch and an early test

The Dynamo's night got complicated before the opening whistle. Blake Gillingham replaced Jonathan Bond in the starting lineup during warmups, according to Houston's official recap. Bond had been the story of Houston's last two outings, from the clean sheet against Minnesota United to the saves that carried the Dynamo past Seattle on Oct. 28.

Gillingham was tested immediately. Shortly before the opener, Da Costa charged through on goal and the American keeper made himself big to block the point-blank attempt. It was the first of his three saves on the night, and it bought Houston only a few more minutes.

Da Costa finds the roof

In the 25th minute, Janssen slid a pass through the Houston back line into the left side of the box. Da Costa took a touch onto his left foot and roofed it from a tight angle. 1-0 Timbers.

It was Da Costa's seventh goal of the season and his second straight match with a goal, per the Timbers. Houston nearly answered in first-half stoppage time, when Lawrence Ennali hammered a shot from the left of the six-yard box that deflected and sailed just over the crossbar. That was as close as the Dynamo came to going into the locker room level.

Janssen turns provider again

Gillingham kept Houston in it early in the second half, reacting quickly to hold a left-footed shot from outside the box by Ariel Lassiter in the 47th minute. But the Timbers kept probing, and in the 65th minute Janssen found the decisive pass again.

This one came from the center of the pitch: a long ball over the top into the run of Velde, who dribbled into the box and finished into the bottom right corner. The goal was Velde's team-leading 11th of the year, with Lassiter credited with the secondary assist. At 2-0, Providence Park was rocking.

Bouzat gives Houston a pulse

The Dynamo didn't go quietly. In the 71st minute Diadié Samassékou picked off a pass in Portland's half and moved it to Duncan McGuire, who laid it off to Bouzat at the top of the box. The Argentine midfielder curled a left-footed strike inside the far post for his second goal of the season, and McGuire collected his first assist of the campaign, per Houston's recap.

For seven minutes, it felt like a game again. A point would have mattered enormously in a crowded race for the top four in the West.

The header that sealed it

Then came the set piece. In the 78th minute, Da Costa whipped in a corner from the left and Janssen rose in the middle of the six-yard box to head it home. 3-1, and the building exhaled.

Janssen's night ended with five goals on the season and, according to the Timbers, the first two assists of his MLS career. He now has seven goal contributions in 13 appearances. Da Costa's assist was his team-leading 11th of the year. The rest was game management. Gillingham got low to deny Omir Fernandez on a Portland counter in the 89th minute, and Diego Chara picked up a caution in stoppage time, the fourth yellow card of a physical night.

VAVEL's live match data had Portland outshooting Houston 16-7, with six of those on target to the Dynamo's one.

Portland's late-season surge

Numbers from the Timbers tell the story of the turnaround. Sunday marked Portland's third straight win, the first time the club has managed that since June 2024. The Timbers are unbeaten in four (3-0-1) and have scored three goals in three consecutive matches.

Their 60 goals rank second in the Western Conference and tie for the third-most in a single season in club MLS history. Portland finished its 17-game home slate at 9-4-4, outscoring visitors 37-28 at Providence Park and finding the net in 15 of those 17 matches. The club also noted that Finn Surman was named Supporters' Player of the Year for a second straight season.

That's a long way from mid-October, when a scoreless draw at home left Portland five points below the line. Three wins later, the Timbers control their own fate entering the final weekend.

Houston's Decision Day math

For the Dynamo, the loss was a missed chance rather than a disaster. Houston's recap says the club is level with St. Louis on 51 points, holding fifth place on tiebreakers and sitting a point off the third seed. Houston and Portland split their season series at one win apiece.

Conveniently, the race now runs straight through Houston. The Dynamo host St. Louis on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Shell Energy Stadium in a Decision Day matchup with real seeding consequences. Win, and Houston can still climb. Lose, and it could slide down the bracket on the final day.

The close

Portland spent most of the season chasing the line. On Sunday it finally crossed it, behind a striker who turned playmaker and a pair of attackers who keep finding the net. One game remains, and the Timbers are playing like a team nobody in the West wants to see in a short series.

For our photographer Aaron Leopold, who shot the night at Providence Park, it was also his final MLS assignment for Undrafted this season. He sent the set with a note of thanks for the chance to cover the league all year. He picked a good one to go out on.

Photo Credit: Aaron Leopold/Undrafted