The Portland Timbers advanced to the semi-final round of the MLS is Back Tournament Saturday evening, defeating New York City FC, 3-1. The quarterfinal knockout match saw Portland come from behind after an early mistake, only to launch an impressive rally of three unanswered goals of their own.
NYCFC’s high press lead to encouraging results early in the match. Jesus Medina forced an NYCFC penalty kick in the 25th minute after colliding with Portland defender Larrys Mabiala in the box. Medina took the penalty himself and put NYCFC up 1-0 in 26th minute.
The Timbers’ response came shortly before the first half whistle blew by means of another big Sebastian Blanco moment. Blanco continued his excellent tournament form by picking off a poor NYC clearance and calmly putting a right-footed shot past keeper Sean Johnson in the 43rd minute. The Timbers had to feel good about the 1-1 score line heading into the locker room at halftime, especially after resting a key starter in Diego Valeri in the first half.
The second half saw the momentum tilt back to Portland with Valeri subbing in and the rest of the squad looking much more cohesive in their build-up play.
“Remember, we didn’t have that much time to recover, only three days from the last match so we had to be smart about the way we went about this match and everyone really contributed to make sure we got a great win” said Head Coach Giovani Savarese.
By “everyone”, Savarese really meant everyone in a complete team performance in the second half. The Timbers found their go-ahead goal in the 65th minute after some clever back-and-forth play between Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Diego Valeri lead to a stellar finish inside the box by Valeri to put the Timbers up 2-1.
Andy Polo subbed in for Eryk Williamson in the 75th minute and had his best moment in green and gold shortly after taking the pitch. His curling, right-footed shot from distance found the top right corner of the goal to put Portland up 3-1 in the 76th minute and slammed the door shut on NYCFC.
It’s a final four few could have predicted in the upcoming semi-final matches of the MLS is Back Tournament. Heavily favored LAFC crashed out against Orlando FC in PK’s, which means the host team will play Minnesota United on Thursday, August 6th. The Timbers have another quick turnaround and will face the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday, August 5th at 5 pm PST (TV: FS1).
