It's thanks to Boniek Garcia and Will Bruin, and their goals that put the Houston Dynamo 2-0 up on the Portland Timbers at halftime on Friday night, that a little life came back to Providence Park.

Up until those goals, two lapses from the Timbers defense punished clinically by a Houston team trying to get the win of their season, there was hardly a sign of life from a Portland team that looked, again, like it was playing through sludge.

But after halftime, staring an ugly, borderline humiliating home defeat in the face, the Timbers decided to show everyone that they still have it. Desire, intensity, and a ferocious will to stay in every game. Once Darlington Nagbe scored the first goal, it was impossible that they Timbers weren't going to get the all-important second. That Lucas Melano scored made the game-tying moment all the sweeter.

That first half meltdown, and the surrender of two home points against the Western Conference's eighth best team, was a long time coming. Poor lineup decisions, stodgy, unimaginative, languid offense, and a general lack of intensity have been clinging to this team for over a month. But in that second half, the Timbers broke through. They played with passion. Their best players produced. The stadium rocked.

The road from here just gets harder — even more so now thanks to mind-bendingly dumb red card elbow from Diego Chara. But unlike those pragmatic 1-0 wins that the Timbers seemed all too content with, this controversial 2-2 draw gives the team something much more meaningful to take with them: Belief that this season might not end as predictably as everyone thinks it will.

The breaking point came after a dreadful first 45 minutes. Caleb Porter, who is continuing his methodical march towards becoming one of MLS' least-liked figures, decided to stick with Rodney Wallace over a fit Fanendo Adi to start the match. It was a mistake.

Wallace, who at this point is indistinguishable from any other average MLS player, provided nothing offensively — while the lack of a big body up top to occupy Houston's David Horst meant that the former Timber could dominate the match from his center-back spot. Melano looked bright in his first home start, but he didn't have the freedom to really get stuck into the match until Adi finally emerged in the second half.

The Timbers played into Houston's hands early, lathering the ball around the field without much purpose. They Dynamo weren't doing anything revolutionary, but they were allowed to absorb pressure, keep the game in front of Horst, and cash in on their set-piece and counter-attacking opportunities.

First Garcia was slipped in by Bruin and finished from a tight-angle through the legs of a slowly approaching Adam Kwarasey. Bruin made it two just minutes later after Portland turned the ball over in midfield.

That's when the Timbers woke up. Unshackled from having to manage the game, the home team finally found some real verve — the kind of harnessed recklessness that we saw plenty of the last two seasons, but have seen little of this season.

It was Adi's entrance that really marked the beginning of what would be an onslaught. His presence predictably kept Houston's central defense busy, which allowed Melano space to find the game, while providing shape and a true outlet that the team lacked early on. Adi remains a vital player, even with Melano now in the fold. He should be an automatic starter the rest of the way.

It was Darlington Nagbe, though, who most raised his game. There was a determination to his movement and his passing range that has mostly been missing since the spring. He took the game by the scruff of its neck, and the team followed.

Nagbe's goal was well-deserved if not well-taken, while Melano's equalizer — off a terrific pass from an otherwise quiet Diego Valeri — checked both boxes. Melano's work-rate and commitment to playing real defense, not Maxi Urruti faux defense, will win him plenty of fans alongside what will surely be an impressing body of strikes in the future.

Chara's late red card dimmed the joy — and considerable relief — of the fight-back. The Columbian's elbow on Cubo Torres was an idiotic moment from a player who knows better. Liam Ridgewell, a man who is handsomely paid to be Portland's second-best central defender, may be hearing from the MLS Disciplinary Committee too for a different elbow to Torres' cranial structure towards the end of a chippy, frequently ill-tempered game refereed with the composure and precision of a newborn puppy by Ricardo Salazar.

On the basis of the result, it's hard to be too happy with a draw at home — especially considering that the Timbers have, for all intents and purposes, a clean bill of health, while Houston was without four international-caliber starters.

But there's no denying that this match eventually ended up bringing the best out of a Portland team that we were entirely unsure the kind of second gear that every playoff contender possesses. The comeback was inspiring, and at the end of the day, all any fan wants from their football club is a little reason to believe.

It's felt recently like the Timbers, apart from Nat Borchers, at least, have been in a trance — scraping by at a level of play that is little more than fool's gold. Now, though, that's changed. Better things might not be right around the corner for this team, but the knowledge that this team is capable of better is heartening to say the least.

The prospect of a front four of Valeri, Nagbe, Melano, and Adi is mouthwatering. Portland was shocked into action against Houston, and the result is that there's more hope today for the Timbers today than there ever was after the wins of previous two weeks. In soccer, as in life, a little ambition can go a long way.