Timbers players honoring Diego Valeri. Photo by Diego Diaz
Providence Park was electric as the Timbers hosted the Columbus Crew on a special night for the home fans. Diego Valeri, El Maestro himself, was inducted to the Timbers Ring of Honor in a ceremony at the 8th minute of half time. Valeri scored against Columbus in 27 seconds during the 2015 MLS Cup where the Timbers beat the Crew 2-1 and Valeri was named MVP.
The energy from the crowd transcended to the pitch resulting in a physical match from start to finish. Franck Boli took the first shot with a right footed kick in the 3rd minute that was blocked. Columbus forward Jacen Russell-Rowe’s attempt in the 9th minute missed to the left.
Dairon Asprilla’s right footed shot from the right side of the box in the 15th was saved in the center of the goal by the Crew’s keeper, Patrick Schulte. Asprilla did not have full control of the pass from Diego Chará and he wasn’t able to get much power behind the kick. Timbers’ fullback Cladio Bravo’s attempt a few minutes later went high and to the right.
Dairon Asprilla
Lucas Zelarayán, midfielder for Columbus, sent a pass to Yaw Yeboah who’s right footed shot from the center of the box was blocked in the 26th minute. Timbers’ center back, Zac McGraw, who was back from Gold Cup duty for Canada, blocked Yeboah’s shot conceding a corner and then was pivotal in clearing the resulting cross.
The Timbers earned a corner on the following play with a foul by Mohamed Farsi with Evander taking the kick. Bravo attempted a bicycle kick from the 18 yard line but his ball found its way to the feet of Dario Zuparic who passed to Asprilla. Asprilla’s right footed shot from the right side of the box went flying to the top left corner of the net putting the Timbers on the board in the 28th minute.
Dairon was energized after scoring his 30th MLS goal and continued to press hard down the right side. Two minutes after his first goal, he did it again with a deliberate and perfectly timed shot from to the bottom left corner of the goal. He was assisted by a beautifully placed ball from Boli. Portland took the lead 2-0 in the 30th minute.
Evander
In the post match interview, Dairon shared that a friend of his from his hometown passed away three days prior so the goals that night had extra special meaning to him. “It’s motivation for me and made me more energetic for my people there. It’s Ok. Now, it’s a good day for the team, for Diego Valeri, and I’m excited to continue to win.” This was the first time in his professional career that he has scored twice in one game.
The Crew had another missed attempt in the 40th minute when Zelarayán sent a cross to Christian Ramírez, who’s header from the center of the box just missed to the top right corner of the goal. Columbus continued to press, looking for their first goal. In 45+1 of stoppage time both Yaw Yeboah and Malte Amundsen had missed attempts following a set piece situation.
It was Zelarayán who put the ball in the back of the net with a left footed shot from very close range and the assist by Jacen Russell-Rowe. He managed to beat Chará defensively in a spin move and run towards a wide open space in front of the goal then out maneuver Bingham. The Crew managed to score in 45+3 to end the first half trailing the Timbers 2-1.
Columbus took the pitch for the second half with the same energy and physicality that led to their first goal. They had three solid attempts in the first ten minutes of resumed play. Marvin Loría and Diego Chará both picked up yellow cards for the Timbers during that time for bad fouls in reaction to Columbus’ push.
Yimmi Chará
Timbers coach, Giovanni Savarese, made a three man substitution in the 63rd minute. Forward Felipe Mora came on for Boli, senior midfielder Sebastian Blanco replaced Asprilla, and Yimmi Chará came in for Loría. When asked about his decision to make the substitutions at the same time, Gio said, “In my mind I had those three coming into the game not precisely at the same time but Boli, (who) played a very good game started looking a little tired. I think Asprilla put in great work, besides the goals, and we saw him put in that last big sprint before he came out of the game so he started to get tired, and then Loría also played a very good game. I thought the three put in the shift that we needed and we needed to replace them at the same time.”
The Timbers were forced into a high stakes match for the rest of the time remaining when Zelarayán sent a rocket from beyond the arch with one touch to the top right corner of the net, tying the game 2-2 in the 65th minute.
Jacen Russell-Rowe had a shot saved by David Bingham resulting in a corner kick for the Crew in the 69th minute. Malte Amundsen’s header with service by Zelarayán missed to the left of goal. Three minutes later, Russell-Rowe was shown the yellow by head referee, Timothy Ford, resulting in a set piece opportunity for the Timbers.
Evander sent a long ball in from 30 yards out that Mora collected with a header assist across the box to Yimmi Chará. Chará’s header ricocheted off of the top post, hit the ground, and bounced away from the goal.
Juan Mosquera’s shot a minute later was saved in the center of the goal by Columbus keeper, Patrick Schulte. The Timbers earned a corner kick on the following play and McGraw’s header following service from Evander went too high.
Columbus made two substitutions in the 78th minute bringing in forward Max Arfsten for Yeboah and midfielder Luis Díaz in for defender Mohamed Farsi.
During the 80th minute, while the Timbers Army was singing their traditional song, “You Are My Sunshine,” Sebastian Blanco was able to finish off a play where Paredes, Yimmi, and Mora all got a touch, by sending the ball to the back of the net at close distance. It was his first league goal since coming back from injury. He received a happily earned yellow card for excessive celebration.
Sebastian Blanco celebrating his goal.
“So happy of course. I wait for this moment a lot and I’ve been working so hard for this opportunity again. I scored in the Open Cup but it’s not the same. Today is a special day for everybody, for Timber fans and also for us. This win against a difficult team in our home with our people is the result that we needed for the following games. We have the Leagues Cup coming up and we need points. I think today was a very good day.”
Needing to close the game with the winning score, Gio substituted on defender Larrys Mabiala for Evander in the 84th minute then brought on full back Eric Miller for Bravo in the 89th. Columbus also made a substitution at the same time bringing on defender Jimmy Medranda for homegrown midfielder Aidan Morris.
Each team left everything they had on the pitch for the final 10+ minutes of play. The Crew had one final attempt in the 90+2 when Russell-Rowe’s header missed to the right. They were unable to come up with the equalizer and the Portland Timbers beat the Columbus Crew 3-2 in a match fans aren’t soon to forget.
On his thoughts after the match Coach Savarese said, “Today the team played very well and we competed well to be able to get a deserved win against a good team. A very good team. I thought if I was in the stands, this is a game that I would have wanted to watch. It was exciting. It was two teams that wanted to win, two teams with good quality now that we have some players back. For us, it’s very, very important to have been able to achieve the three points at home with a good performance. Now we see Seba ([Sebastián Blanco), Yimmi, Mora contributing more and more minutes and that was very important for us.”
Dairon Asprilla, Diego Valeri, and Sebastian Blanco holding up log slabs.
