The Houston Dynamo are absolutely loving the spoiler role.
On Saturday night the Portland Timbers became the latest playoff-chasing team to be stung by the Western Conference stragglers, falling 3-1 at muggy BBVA Compass Stadium as Mauro Manotas bagged a hat trick in a breakthrough performance for the young Colombian striker.
Manotas opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half after a handball call on Liam Ridgewell, then netted two coolly-taken finishes in the late going after Diego Valeri had drawn Portland level.
After their woeful start to the season, Houston have improved dramatically under interim head coach Wade Barrett and have snatched important points away from Real Salt Lake, Sporting KC, Seattle, Toronto and San Jose in recent weeks.
Saturday's loss leaves Portland in an uneasy spot at the edge of the playoff places as they pivot towards another marathon CONCACAF Champions League trip for Tuesday's match vs. CD Dragón in El Salvador.
Houston Dynamo (7-11-11; 32 points) vs. Portland Timbers (11-12-8; 41 points)
MLS Regular Season
September 24, 2016 – BBVA Compass Stadium – Houston, Texas
Attendance: 19,404
Scoring Summary:
HOU: Mauro Manotas 2 (penalty) 34
POR: Diego Valeri 13 (unassisted) 51
HOU: Mauro Manotas 3 (Boniek GarcÃa 9) 73
HOU: Mauro Manotas 4 (Cristián Maidana 4) 85
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; Sheanon Williams, Raúl Rodriguez, Jalil Anibaba, DaMarcus Beasley ©; Collen Warner (Eric Alexander 85), Ricardo Clark; Andrew Wenger (Cristián Maidana 75), Boniek GarcÃa, Alex Lima; Mauro Manotas (Will Bruin 89)
Unused Substitutes: Calle Brown, Keyner Brown, Jose Escalante, David Horst
TOTAL SHOTS: 17 (Alex Lima 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Mauro Manotas 4); FOULS: 11 (Ricardo Clark 4); OFFSIDES: 1 (DaMarcus Beasley 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Boniek GarcÃa 3); SAVES: 1 (Joe Willis 1)
Portland Timbers: Jake Gleeson; Alvas Powell (Jack McInerney 84), Steven Taylor, Liam Ridgewell ©, Jermaine Taylor (Zarek Valentin 62); Diego Chara, Jack Jewsbury; Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, Darren Mattocks (Jack Barmby 90+1); Fanendo Adi
Unused Substitutes: Chris Konopka, Ned Grabavoy, Amobi Okugo, Ben Zemanski
TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Diego Valeri 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Diego Valeri, Steven Taylor 1); FOULS: 14 (Diego Chara 4); OFFSIDES: 1(Jack McInerney 1); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Jack Jewsbury 3); SAVES: 2 (Jake Gleeson 2)
Misconduct Summary:
None.
Referee: Juan Guzman
Assistant Referees: Claudiu Badea, Peter Balciunas
Fourth Official: Rubiel Vazquez
