by Matt Hoffman
The Portland Timbers are a professional soccer team. As such, when the team practices penalties, Adam Kwarasey is often between the posts and seldom anywhere else.
” [I’ve] said it all along and I will say it again, ‘it’s a game of moments and a game of inches’ and we found those plays and we won those moments and that’s why we are moving on.”
It capped off a crazy night of back-and-forth action including a penalty shot that deflected off the woodwork almost like a Zapruder film.”That thing bounced twice, I don’t know how it didn’t go in,” Caleb Porter mused in his post-match comments.
“Our crowd, our fans, the supporters, the Timbers Army they kept the ball out of the net. It was either them or it was God … Maybe it was the air.” -Caleb Porter on the Breath of God
Urruti made the most of his opportunity and gave the Timbers a lifeline in the dying minutes.
With the win, the Timbers have now beaten ever Western Conference team at least once this season with one exeption: the Vancouver Whitecaps, Sunday’s opponent in a home-and-home series. This was not lost among the revelry.
“Tomorrow, it’s back to work,” Porter said.
“I just said to myself hit it as hard as possible and a little to the side and see what happens.”
Sporting scored in the 87th minute to knot the match 1-1 . It looked like SKC would be advancing after Krisztian Nemeth scored the go-ahead goal in six minutes into the first half of extra time. Portland would equalize with only two minutes remaining on the clock which forced the teams to penalties.
“Something keeped that ball out. I don’t know what it was.”
Rodney Wallace: “That was intense. We got out of here with a win and now we’re looking to the next round.”
Eleven players would soon come to the penalty spot in a drama drenched playoff spectacle. Specialists like Diego Valeri and Dom Dwyer had shots saved whilst erstwhile defenders like Nat Borchers and Liam Ridgewell found paydirt.
Even on score and on pks, it eventually fell to Kwarasey who powered the ball right by the outstretched Kempin who filled in admirably after the presumptive MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Tim Melia needed to subbed out presumably due to injuries sustained in a collision earlier with Rodney Wallace that netted the Portland winger a yellow card.
