The Portland Timbers took on Real Salt Lake on a clear beautiful night in Providence Park. The atmosphere in the Timbers Army was still contentious with, “You Knew,” two stick banners, in response to the handling of Andy Polo and Paul Riley’s abuse allegations, visibly standing behind the north end goal. RSL was coming off of their worst loss in club history with their 0-6 defeat against New York City FC last Sunday, April 16th. The Timbers played without Diego Chara, who is out with a groin injury potentially able to return for the next match. Eryk Williamson got his first start with the Timbers since an ACL tear sidelined him last August.
Sebastián Blanco got an early shot on goal for the Timbers in the 2nd minute that sailed over the net. In the 15th minute, the Timbers would get another chance with a Bill Tuiloma header that was caught by RSL keeper, Zac MacMath. RSL had their first attempt on goal with two consecutive attempts by Maikel Chang in the 16th minute with no results. Timbers goalkeeper, Aljaž Ivačič, had a big save in the18th minute when a foul on Santiago Moreno led to a set piece for RSL. Blanco was fouled in the 24th minute that resulted in a free kick shot by Tuiloma directly to MacMath. The Timbers had a few other opportunities to get a point on the board without luck. The first half ended with neither team being able to find the back of the net.
The second half started much the same as the first. The Timbers continued to press RSL with little to show for it. RSL had multiple players go down due to head collisions as the play on the pitch became more physical as frustration among the players grew. In the 54th minute, Moreno made a quick turn shot on goal that was caught by MacMath. The Timbers made their first substitution of the match in the 58th minute bringing Jarosław Niezgoda in for Sebastián Blanco.
In the 65th minute, Pablo Ruíz sent a shot off the bar for RSL’s first goal attempt in the second half and they were unable to deliver on the following corner kick. The Timbers tried to capitalize on their momentum in the 68th minute with a counter attack resulting in a left footed shot by José Van Rankin that sailed over the goal. The Timbers earned three yellow cards towards the end of the match: Claudio Bravo in the 76th minute, Larrys Mabiala in the 85th, and Cristhian Paredes in the 91st. The Timbers out shot RSL 15 to 5, maintained possession 66% of the time, and had an 82% pass accuracy but couldn’t convert that dominance into a goal. Neither team was able to capitalize on the 6 minutes of stoppage time and the final whistle at Providence Park blew on a 0-0 draw.
Timbers coach, Giovanni Savarese, said in the post match press conference, “We completely dominated the match…the only thing that was missing today…is the goal. If today we scored a goal then we are talking completely different about a game that we completely controlled and played amazing… and the only thing is for us to make sure we stay focused on the things we are doing really well.” The Timbers will be in Colorado next Saturday, April 30th.
One of the many banners protesting the way the Timbers leadership handled abuse allegations.
