TORONTO – Nick Hagglund scored his first two professional goals in Major League Soccer against the Portland Timbers in a last-minute 3-2 come-from-behind victory that saw the club’s playoff hopes renewed once more.
Though Hagglund finished the match with a brace under his belt, he had a very different start to the match. A poor giveaway resulted in an opening goal for Portland’s Fanendo Adi, a mistake Hagglund says he knew he had to reverse.
“My first half was bad,” Hagglund admitted, after the match. “Simply from my first pass, it was a give away to them scoring a goal. I knew that I had to dig the team back out. I made a mistake and it was my job to make up for it. I was going to do everything in my power to make that happen.”
Hagglund’s redemption came in the 62nd minute when Dan Lovitz swung in a cross into the box. Hagglund rose high and connected with the cross, placing the floating header past the arms of Donovan Ricketts. It was a play the two had long been waiting to pull off.
“Well, Dan’s my roommate, so we talked about this,” Hagglund told MLSsoccer.com. “I saw his eyes, our eyes made a connection and boom, I knew it was coming back post. There was no other place for it, no other runners in the near post and there was me sitting back there. He knows to find me there.”
But, Hagglund had to wait before allowing himself to celebrate.
“I knew we were down 2-1 still so it wasn’t a real opportunity to celebrate,” Hagglund said. “If we were winning or it was the tying goal, it would be a different thing. I knew I had to get focused on winning this game.”
He didn’t have to wait long, though. The rookie central defender found a second goal not 10 minutes later, this time off a free kick from near the left corner spot. Michael Bradley sent the ball into the box, and the ball bounced between the legs of a mass of players. Hagglund, waiting at the far post, had an open header on goal, and he made no mistake with the chance, burying his second into the back of the net.
This time, having equalized the score, Hagglund allowed himself to soak it all in.
“Second goal, I took it in,” Hagglund said. “I scored it, just looked around, all the guys came running over and we knew we had them in our pocket now, we were going to score that third goal and finish them off.”
A third goal was exactly what Toronto FC got, too. Bradley was the hero on the day with a free kick goal scored in the 89th minute from 30 yards out. Hagglund’s prediction of a third goal proved true.
“It was like I knew this was going to happen,” Hagglund said. “After that, we had to lock down D. Here we go. Everything out. Let’s stay together. We’ve got to win. We’ve got three points under our belt now!”
