(Photo by Diego G Diaz)
The Portland Timbers took on the Colorado Rapids for their first home match of the summer in a sweltering Providence Park on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Colorado is winless on the road coming into the match and playing without Lalas Abubakar and Bryan Acosta due to yellow card accumulation. The first half started with both teams looking well matched as they shared even possession and comparable shots on goal.
Timbers’ midfielder, Cristhian Paredes, went down with a hamstring injury in the 17th minute and was substituted out with Eryk Williamson replacing him. Diego Chara earned a yellow card in the 27th minute for a bad foul leading to an unproductive free kick for Colorado. The Timbers earned their first corner kick in the 30th minute with service from Claudio Bravo for a Bill Tuiloma header that sailed just high of the goal. Timbers goalkeeper, Aljaz Ivacic, made a diving save in the 36th minute followed by three consecutive unsuccessful corner kicks by the Rapids.
A collision at the top of the box in the 45th minute between Rapids keeper, William Yarbrough, and Timbers midfielder, Santiago Moreno, left Yarbrough down with a head injury and a yellow card. He was able to walk off the pitch after intensive attention from the Colorado medical team and was replaced by 19 year old homegrown keeper, Abe Rodriguez, who made his MLS debut tonight. Sebastian Blanco gave Rodriguez a lesson on penalty kicks and earned the only goal of the first half for the Timbers.
The Timbers capitalized on the momentum gained by their first goal and took possession of the second half of the match. In the 53rd minute, Bill Tuiloma served a beautiful ball to Jaroslaw Niezgoda for the Timbers second goal. Niezgoda earned a brace with a follow up goal in the 62nd minute. The Timbers continued to control the pace of the match while making smart substitutions in the last quarter of play.
When Diego Chara was substituted out in the 89th minute, he passed the captain’s band to defender Tuiloma.
Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said after the match, “Chara, he’s the one that decided at that moment to give it to Tuiloma because, you know, he deserved it.”
Colorado struggled to slow the Timbers momentum and earned two yellow cards in the 84th and 90th minute.The Timbers’ defense did their job well and maintained a clean sheet despite Colorado’s five shots on goal. At the final whistle, the Portland Timbers beat the Colorado Rapids 3-0 in front of a celebratory Timbers Army dancing to the Tetris chant.
On his thoughts after the match Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said, “I thought the second half was just very good all around. We played very well, we kept the ball, we were dangerous from behind, we created opportunities, and we scored the goals and defensively, we handled a lot of things that they threw at us. So, I’m very proud today of the group and we needed this win in this fashion in order to feel comfortable – I don’t want to use that word..to feel engaged even more and know we can continue to grow in this part of the season.”
