NEW YORK (Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026) Portland Timbers forward Vincent Janssen was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob ULTRA for Matchday 24 of the 2026 MLS Season.
Janssen scored three goals to lead the Portland Timbers to a thrilling 5-4 victory over Minnesota United FC at Providence Park (Watch Highlights From His Performance Here). The former Dutch international made club history in his first MLS start, becoming the first Timbers player to record a hat trick in an MLS match and snapping Portland’s streak of 522 regular season matches and 29 postseason matches without a player scoring three goals. With the performance, Janssen became the third player in MLS history to score three or more goals in his first start, joining Didier Drogba (CF Montréal vs. Chicago Fire FC, Sept. 5, 2015) and Milan Iloski (San Diego FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC, June 25, 2025), and the second Dutch-born player to score a hat trick in MLS, joining Roland Alberg (Philadelphia Union vs. Chicago Fire FC, June, 22, 2016).
Portland’s win was the eleventh time that they scored five goals or more in an MLS regular season match, last doing so on May 9, 2026 against Sporting Kansas City. It marked the third time in Timbers history that Portland played in an MLS match with nine or more combined goals, joining a 7-2 win over Sporting Kansas City on May 14, 2022, and a 6-3 win over the LA Galaxy on Oct. 7, 2020.
After midfielder Cole Bassett was brought down in the box in the ninth minute, Janssen stepped up and coolly converted the penalty kick into the bottom left corner to open the scoring (Watch Here). Janssen found the net again in the 25th minute, finishing a well-worked team move off David Da Costa’s pinpoint cross to put Portland ahead 3-0 (Watch Here). After Minnesota United scored three unanswered goals to bring the match level, Janssen delivered again, receiving Ariel Lassiter’s pass on the turn before firing home to complete his historic hat trick (Watch Here).
Janssen joins Evander (Matchday 33 of 2024) as the only Timbers players to be named MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob ULTRA since the start of 2024.
The Portland Timbers will look to build on the impressive victory when they host St. Louis CITY SC on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (10:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV), before traveling to face FC Dallas on Saturday, Sept. 12 (8:30 p.m. ET).
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob ULTRA is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an Instagram fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
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