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PORTLAND Tierna Davidson Jersey , Ore. (AP) — Brian Fernandez scored twice and the Portland Timbers held off Chicago 3-2 on Wednesday night with the Fire playing a man down for 60 minutes of the match.It was Portland’s second straight win at home to start a 10-game homestand. The Timbers (11-9-4) had a challenging 12-game road trip to open the season because of construction at Providence Park, but got a friendlier schedule down the stretch.Portland took an early 2-0 lead but almost saw it slip away in the second half.Article continues below ...“This was the type of game that I think that if we do the things that we can do, there’s no reason why we have to suffer all the way until the end. We need to be better,” Portland coach Giovanni Savarese said.Nemanja Nikolic and C.J. Sapong scored for the Fire (7-11-9), who did not play Bastian Schweinsteiger or Dax McCarty in the midweek match. Chicago was hampered in a comeback bid against the Timbers when Aleksandar Katai was ejected in the 30th minute.“We didn’t have as good start, definitely. We conceded two goals too early and too innocently, but I think we fought back, the reaction was good. And after the other setback, after the red card, the second half we definitely fought fantastically, I thought the team spirit was amazing,” Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said.The Fire defeated the Montreal Impact 3-2 at home on Saturday with Schweinsteiger scoring the winning goal.Portland defeated Cascadia Cup rival Vancouver 3-1 on Saturday. The Timbers have dropped just one of their last eight matches.Fernandez returned to the starting lineup after sitting out of the match against the Whitecaps because of soreness from two previous games earlier in the week.He fell on the turf but was able to get the ball past fire goalkeeper David Ousted in the 21st minute. He scored again in the 88th minute for his team-leading 10th goal. Fernandez has played in 11 league matches for the Timbers since making his MLS debut on May 15.In the 11th minute Ousted came out of his goal and collided with Marvin Loria. The ball bounced back to Jorge Moreira Christian Pulisic Jersey , who lofted it just over the head of defender Jonathan Bornstein and into the net.Katai was handed a red card for elbowing Portland’s Julio Cascante in the face in the 30th minute after a video review.A short time later, Portland’s Larrys Mabiala went down with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and he was replaced by Bill Tuiloma. Savarese confirmed the injury after the match, but did not know how serious it was.Nikolic’s goal in the 74th minute came on a header that Cristhian Paredes tried to clear with Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark down. The Fire added a goal in stoppage time on Sapong’s header off a cross from Przemyslaw Frankowski.It was Sapong’s team-leading 10th goal of the season.“We needed the points,” Savarese said. “Three points are very important, but today should have been different. We should have finished in a different fashion.”The victory pulled the Timbers above the line and into the seventh spot in the Western Conference standings with 10 games to go.Chicago, sitting at 10th in the East, has won just once on the road in league matches this year. BERLIN (AP) — After a winless month, Leipzig is back to its best.The German club came from behind to beat Russian team Zenit St. Petersburg 2-1 in the Champions League and put itself in position to progress from its group — something that was looking increasingly difficult after a poor run of results.“This was a crucial win at a crucial time,” said Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann, whose team claimed its first win since beating Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Sept. 21.Leipzig was back then at top of the league after five matches. But since then, the team lost at home to Schalke and Lyon, drew at Bayer Leverkusen https://www.thetopsoccer.com/usa/timothy-weah-jersey , and then allowed Wolfsburg to come back for a 1-1 draw last Saturday.“It feels like a defeat,” Leipzig chairman Oliver Mintzlaff had said of the last disappointment, when he criticized the team for not living up to expectations.“Not only could we have won points, but we could have boosted our self confidence. It annoys me, it was totally unnecessary,” Mintzlaff said. “We have a coach, a brilliant coach. He will draw the right conclusions and speak with the team.”Nagelsmann made four changes to his team for the match against Zenit, dropping Marcelo Saracchi, Yussuf Poulsen, Christopher Nkunku and Diego Demme for Nordi Mukiele, Kevin Kampl, Ademola Lookman and Emil Forsberg Michael Bradley Jersey , who was celebrating his 28th birthday. It was Lookman’s first start of the season.Despite an early setback when Yaroslav Rakitskiy put the Russian visitors ahead, Leipzig managed to turn the game around with Marcel Sabitzer setting up the equalizer and then scoring a sublime goal for the win.“We stayed calm despite falling behind and were rewarded in the end,” Nagelsmann said. “We did well against the high balls from Zenit, which are not so easy to defend against. If we win in St. Petersburg in two weeks, we’ll be in a very good position for the rest of the group phase.”Leipzig also has ambitions of challenging for the Bundesliga title in Nagelsmann’s first season in charge following his switch from Hoffenheim.The team was boosted by the arrivals of Nkunku from Paris Saint-Germain, Czech forward Patrik Schick from Roma, Brazilian defender Luan Candido from Palmeiras, and goalkeeper Philipp Tschauner from Hannover.Lookman’s loan move from Everton was made permanent, while British prospects Ethan Ampadu and Emile Smith-Rowe joined on loan from Chelsea and Arsenal, respectively.Perhaps the biggest transfer coups were in convincing Forsberg and Germany forward Timo Werner to stay despite attention from other clubs.The team had started the season well but injuries and also some bad luck have taken their toll.Fortunately for Leipzig, rivals have also been struggling – Bayern Munich hasn’t won either of its last two Bundesliga games – and Nagelsmann’s team is just one point behind leading clubs Borussia Mönchengladbach and Wolfsburg.Leipzig next plays at Freiburg on Saturday.