Portland's Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar had the first shot on goal in the 2nd minute, an easy save for Minnesota goalkeeper Joe Warren as the shot dropped right into his arms. But two minutes later, the Thunder nearly took an early lead, when a Dave Castellanos header off a Kiki Lara cross hit off the crossbar and rebounded back out. The Thunder were having the run of play early in the match, and had another good scoring opportunity in the 12th minute when a low cross from Lara to Castellanos was sent high over the bar from six yards out by the Thunder forward.

The Timbers had another good opportunity go wanting in the 15th minute when a cross from Alcaraz-Cuellar into the box found Scot Thompson open for the header, but his shot from 6 yards out went a yard or two wide right. In the 21st minute, the Timbers had perhaps their best chance to score in the first half when Byron Alvarez sent a nice touch pass to the feet of Alan Gordon deep in the Thunder box, but Gordon's low shot was kicked away by a reaction save from Warren.

One minute later, it was the Thunder that were once again threatening, when a header from Dustin Branan off a corner kick required Timbers goalkeeper Bayard Elfvin to tip over the bar as the ball appeared headed just under the bar towards the upper right corner. Once again, a chance at one end was followed by a quick response at the other end, this time by Gordon who made a deep run into the box from the keeper's left, but another good save by Warren kept the Timbers off the board once again.

At the 40:29 mark in the first half, the lights literally went out on both teams when after a Minnesota chance had been punched out by Elfvin, the field lights went out at PGE Park leaving the pitch it total darkness. Word was that a transformer had overloaded and for awhile it was not known if the lights would be able to be restored. But after about a 10 minute delay where both teams left the pitch, the lights started flickering again and about 15 minutes after they had gone off, the lights were back on at PGE Park. Both teams returned and played the last five minutes of the half, with neither team threatening until Godfrey Tenoff hit a curling shot just wide of the Timbers net just before the halftime whistle. The teams took an abbreviated halftime and switched ends for the second half.

The first twenty-five minutes of the second half were played more conservatively, with neither team putting a shot on net. But for the last twenty minutes of the second half, it would be back-and-forth action as each team would have several good chances on counterattacks.

Minnesota's Johnny Menyongar had a good chance in the 70th minute, but his hard shot from near the top of the box was barely wide left. Two minutes later, Portland's Lee Morrison had a cross drop right to his foot at the edge of the six hard box, but his shot was weak and wide to the left. Then in the 74th minute, a nice pass from Melvin Tarley had Jay Alberts in alone, but a nice save by Elfvin kept the Thunder off the board. On the counterattack, Alvarez hit a shot just wide left that Warren had well covered.

In the 76th minute, the Timbers had another great chance when a shot from Edwin Miranda from the top of the box was deflected just a foot or so wide left when it deflected off Minnesota's Brenan on it's way towards net. In the 79th minute, Menyongar found himself in alone on the Timbers keeper, but the Minnesota striker had trouble getting the ball off his feet, and eventually a retreating Alcaraz-Cuellar shielded him off the ball until Elfvin could collect it. Shortly afterwards, Menyongar had another chance but was stripped of the ball by a last-chance tackle by Portland defender Gavin Wilkinson.

In the 84th minute, Minnesota's Lara had a good look at net as he collected the ball near the Timbers endline and pulled it back off the line, but hit shot from close in was well wide across the goal mouth. Two minutes later, Portland's Fadi Afash had a good opportunity as well from a similar position, but put the shot right at Warren for the easy save.

Deep into stoppage time, the Thunder had a golden opportunity to win the match as a perfect pass from Menyongar was right to the foot of Tenoff, who was only five yards out with only Elfvin in front of him, but the Thunder midfielder missed the goal completely as he shot just over the bar from point-blank range. So with neither team able to score during the first ninety, the match went into golden goal overtime.

In the first overtime, each team would set up a few good chances, but no shots really threatened to find the net as any good chances were deflected on their way to goal, and either went wide, or were easily collected by the goalkeepers.

In the second overtime, Portland's Dan Antoniuk had a good chance has he pushed into the box to the keeper's left, but blasted well over the bar from 10 yards out. Afash gave the Timbers another good chance two minutes later, when his shot from the top of the box required a diving save from Warren to keep it out of the Thunder net.

The last good scoring chance of the match was for the Timbers, when in the 108th minute Scott Benedetti rose well to get his head on a cross from Alcaraz-Cuellar, but put the shot a yard or two over the bar from six yards out.

The Timbers are now unbeaten in their last nine matches, while Minnesota still needs a win to secure a playoff berth, and will be in Seattle on Saturday with a possible date with the Timbers at stake. Bayard Elfvin finished with three saves for the Timbers, while Joe Warren recorded five for the Thunder.