Who doesn’t love three points on the road? Especially in front of one of the most daunting and intimidating fan bases in MLS.
For professional footballers, match-day environments like the one that exists in Portland are what you envision as a young player pursuing every boy’s dream.
A sold-out stadium, packed with opposing fans, wishing, hoping and praying that everything goes against you. What could be better than momentarily stunning a crowd like that?
Rookie Cyle Larin saw that dream become a reality for the first time in his career on Sunday, after scoring the deciding goal for City.
The 19-year-old Canadian International and the first overall MLS SuperDraft pick has been in quality goal scoring positions for the past two fixtures, but on Sunday, he finally found the back of the net.
The most impressive part was that his first professional goal didn’t come easy. It wasn’t a comfortable tap-in or a rebound effort that opened Larin’s MLS account.
Instead, the play was straight from the training ground. Larin’s been in this position plenty of times before on the practice field – charging at a driven ball directed toward the near post with the intent to either tuck it away or flick it on for the other City players lurking in the box.
The run is a staple in Adrian Heath’s system.
Except, this time, the first-year striker was in a slightly more difficult situation in front of over 20,000 fans in enemy territory with a golden opportunity to give his team the lead.
And the rookie didn’t disappoint, showcasing an untraditional finish – that has since been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week.
With Molino’s blazing cross streaking into a tight area, Larin’s goal-scoring instinct kicked in and the striker opted to turn and chest the ball past the goalkeeper, rather than attempting to bring it down in between defenders Liam Ridgewell and Nat Borchers.
After the match, Adrian Heath was nothing short of thrilled with his young forward’s ability to improvise quickly in a difficult situation.
“He was fantastic because if he tries to control it and shoot, there is no way he does that in that tight of an area,” said Heath. “So it was really good improvisation. I think the kid has really good talent, and I think that will be the first of many for him in MLS.”
The finish was so unorthodox that it caused some debates on whether or not the youngster actually intended to re-direct Molino’s ball with his chest, but Larin remained firm on his intentions.
“It was definitely instinct. As a striker, you have to be able to finish anything with any part of your body. The ball got to me a little quicker than I expected but I adjusted to it and it went it. It was deliberate,” said Larin.
“It felt really good. I felt good during the game and I knew it was coming,” added Larin. “It brings up my confidence and when you have confidence as a striker, you start to score more and you just go up from there.”
