MINNEAPOLIS — Romario Ibarra scored two goals and Minnesota United beat the Portland Timbers 3-2 on Saturday night to snap a seven-game winless streak — including five losses.
Minnesota (10-16-3) hadn't won since beating Los Angeles FC 5-1 on July 22.
Ibarra, a 23-year old who joined the team on July 9 and came in with one goal in six MLS appearances, tapped home a pass from Darwin Quintero to open the scoring in the 18th minute. He ran onto a long, arcing feed from Fernando Bob, cut back to evade a defender and rolled it to Ibarra for the empty-net finish from the center of the area.
He side-netted a through ball from Quintero in the 36th and Michael Boxall put away a corner kick, that deflected off defender Liam Ridgewell, by Rasmus Schuller to make it 3-0 going into halftime.
Alvas Powell and Sebastian Blanco each scored in the second half for Portland (13-9-8). The Timbers are winless, with four losses, in their last six road games.
