Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers could not be separated as they played out a goalless draw at the BBVA Compass Stadium.
Much of the play was concentrated in Portland's half during a first period that saw neither keeper really tested.
The first real effort at goal came on the stroke of half time, when Macoumba Kandji shot straight at Troy Perkins from all of 35 yards.
Brad Davis bent a left-footed free kick just wide of Perkins's right-hand post as Houston threatened to break the deadlock 10 minutes after the break.
Portland nearly took a shock lead in the 68th minute when Sal Zizzo squared the ball to Darlington Nagbe, whose shot from inside the box was blocked by Corey Ashe.
The home side came on strong in the latter stages and Calen Carr thought that he had been denied a goal-scoring opportunity when he was brought down by Mamadou Danso.
However, the referee awarded a free kick to Portland, much to Carr's dismay.
Perkins pulled off a magnificent save when Luiz Camargo raced through on goal, denying the Brazilian brilliantly with his legs.
Brian Ching and Colin Clark were both guilty of wasting late openings before Alex Dixon tested Perkins once more deep into injury time.
After cutting in from the left, Dixon unleashed at the Portland goalkeeper, who managed to quickly gather the ball after initially spilling it.
That save meant that the scores remained level and the teams had to share the spoils.
Michael Penkman
