It didn’t take long for the Timbers to take command of the match when in the third minute, midfielder Chris Brown would play the ball wide to Scot Thompson on the overlap, and the Timbers defender would hit a perfect dipping cross that found Byron Alvarez open near the penalty spot, and Alvarez would head the ball into the Miami net just inside the right post, and right off the mark, the Timbers had scored their first goal against Miami in three matches this year, and took a 1-0 lead.

Miami would have their first threat in the fifth minute snuffed when a dangerous low cross from the left side by Walter Ramirez was smothered by Timbers goalkeeper Chase Harrison. Just one minute later, the Timbers were threatening again when Brown had an open look outside the top of box, but his blast was well wide to the right.

Miami was not producing many good goalscoring chances in the first half, but would manage another dangerous deep run in the Timbers box in the 17th minute, this time by Ansu Toure, but Scot Thompson was able to block the deep cross with a last-minute lunge. Six minutes later, the Blues would have a dangerous free kick just outside the Timbers box, but the free kick was blocked by the Timbers wall.

Three minutes later, the Timbers had a great chance when Chris Bagley made a deep run into the Miami box off an Alvarez header, but his shot from close-in was blocked by a retreating Cristiano Dias. In the 30th minute, the Timbers had a great opportunity from close-in when a free kick from Brown found the foot of Justin Thompson only a few yards out, but his rising shot was snagged by Miami goalkeeper Josh Saunders.

Miami would then have a run of better control of play, and in the 36th minute it nearly paid off when a series of nice passes had Toure deep into the Timbers box, but he lost control of the ball, and after the Timbers were unable to clear, a deep cross into the box was easily controlled by Harrison.

In the 41st minute, the Timbers would break through again, set up by a shot by Leonard Griffin from 18 yards out that Saunders tipped wide left. But on the ensuing corner kick by Brown, defender Cameron Dunn split two Miami defenders to get his head on the ball at the near post, and headed in strongly from six yards out and just under the bar, and the Timbers had a 2-0 lead on two headed goals.

Miami would get another good chance just before the half when after a corner kick, the ball would rebound around to the foot of Dias near the far post, but his shot from eight yards out was well over the crossbar, and the half would end with the Timbers holding a 2-0 lead.

One minute into the second half, the visitors made things much harder for themselves when Eric Vasquez knocked down a corner kick with his arm, and referee Richard Heron pointed to the spot, and the Timbers would have only their second league penalty kick of the season. Brown stepped up to take the kick, but Saunders guessed correctly as he dove to the right to block Brown’s low shot, but the ball came right back out to Brown, who buried it into the right side of the goal, and the Timbers opened up a 3-0 lead, their first three goal lead of the season.

The next good chance for either team would be in the 64th minute when a free kick by Portland's Brown from 25 yards out slipped just a yard wide left. Five minutes later the Timbers had another good chance when Lawrence Olum had an open look from 30 yards out but his high blast was snagged easily by Saunders.

But less than a minute later, Takayuki Suzuki played Griffin through into the Miami box and he was taken down by Cauê da Mata, giving the Timbers their second penalty of the game. This time Brown would make no mistake as he buried the shot inside the right post, and the Timbers had a four goal lead for the first time since September, 2005.

But Miami would have a great chance in the 74th minute when a Toure header appeared headed in at the far post off a corner kick, but Tommy Poltl headed the ball out off the line the end the threat.

In the 76th minute, the Timbers appeared ready to widen the lead to five goals when Saunders was pulled out of his net by a wide run by Miguel Gunate, but Brown was unable to find the open net after the ball was dropped back to him, on a tough angle from outside the box. Ten minutes later, the Timbers nearly put a fifth goal into the net once again when Brown’s flick-on header into the run of Jamil Walker had the Timbers striker in alone on Saunders, but the Miami goalkeeper was able to block the point-blank shot wide off his knee.

In the 89th minute, Miami would have one last good scoring chance when a nice chip pass from Alex Alfonso to Toure gave him a good chance from eight yards out, but his shot was just over the crossbar, and that would be the last dangerous threat in the match and the Timbers would hold on for an important 4-0 win, moving them to within a point of Atlanta for the last playoff post with a match in-hand.

Chase Harrison was credited with one save in the win, while Josh Saunders had seven saves for Miami.