Portland Timbers were able to achieve a much needed win with a thrilling four-goal second half come back in tale of two polar opposite halves. Timbers and Earthquakes were locked in a 2-2, till a VAR decision in the 90th minute gave Mora a penalty kick and made the score 3-2, and Rodriguez would lock the win finishing a counter attack in the 10th and last minute of stoppage time. The Timbers haven’t won after trailing by two or more goals since June 26, 2016, in a 3-2 win against Houston Dynamo FC.
The Portland Timbers arrived to the match in full crisis mode after the loss against Seattle in last Sunday’s Derby. Sitting last in the standings with only 10 points, and with fans openly questioning the coach, and some asking for a change; the Timbers haven’t won a game of football since March 9th’s 2-1 away victory against New York FC. In front of Portland, San José Earthquakes, a team that has yet to win match at Providence Park in their history, and also a team fighting for its life sharing the floor of the standings with the Timbers.
A tight schedule of three games in seven days was surely in coach Neville’s mind as he picked last night’s line up. He decided to bench Jonathan Rodriguez, and started Larrys Mabiala in a three-man center defense with Dario Zuparic and Kamal Miller. Dairon Asprilla in dual role left wing back, left midfielder, and Juan Mosquera as a right wing back, in theoretical 3-4-3 formation.
Diego Chara repeated in the midfield with Evander pulling the strings on the attack just behind the forward trident of Anthony on the left, and Santiago Moreno on the right, and Felipe Mora and the center forward. A very fluid formation, that could easily act as a 4-3-3 with Mosquera staying back, or even as a 4-4-2 with Moreno dropping as a right midfielder, should the team needed to have a more defensive stand.
The first half opened with Portland lunging forward, but getting lost in a well positioned defensive web of San José. In turn, the Earthquakes exploited the Timbers defense shortcomings in swift attacks, a disallowed goal in minute 5 for a narrow offside by Peregrino, then again in 12, Espinoza forced a save from Timbers keeper Maxime Creppeau. In minute 30, on a corner kick, Peregrino picked a rebound, onside by a thread, from a header by Ebobisse and scored the first goal of the night. San José was growing in confidence while the Timbers were loosing it.
Three minutes later, Larrys Mabiala sitting in his own half would get outsmarted by Hernán López pressing high, after a terrible control of an easy pass back by Asprilla. Lopez chipped the ball over Creppau for the Earthquakes second goal. The Portland Timbers were mortally wounded, thirty minutes in and behind two goals on the scoreboard. Up to that second goal, Timbers were still that team looking removed from the urgency of the occasion, disconnected, giving the ball away too easy, and missing leadership and decisiveness.
The Earthquakes defending with nine men behind the ball, left very little space, and were able to easily disrupt the attacking game of the nervous, unconfident, increasingly desperate Timbers. Nothing was clicking. The half was called and the fans loudly booed their team as they were walking in their way to the locker room. This certainly looked like rock bottom.
And then came the second half. Besides what fire coach Phil Neville must have given that team at half time speech, he also introduced a couple changes. Mabiala, author of the gross mistake that cost the second goal, and Dairon Asprilla stayed in. Eric Miller was brought in to shore up defense and DP Jonathan Rodriguez to add numbers to the attack.
The first minutes of the second half, however, still found the Timbers feeling the heat, and the Earthquakes felt comfortable in he game, and had the first chance to extend their advantage. But something was different, as they Timbers settled, they were pressing high, and pushing forward with conviction, they were starting to play as a team and taking the initiative of the game. The might have were growing in confidence, or they had nothing left to loose.
Evander took the reigns of the team and started to distribute the ball with criteria, the ball wasn’t given away by apathy, but lost as the team was attempting plays growing in complexity. Mostly, Timbers gained possession and the opportunities started to come. Minute 60, Felipe Mora’s headed after as corner, Rodriguez right footed attempt in the 64th minute assisted by Moreno, and Mosquera from the right side of the penalty box in minute 68.
Timbers had brought Cristian Paredes in for Anthony in the 63rd minute to shore up the midfield. The game was being played mostly in the Quakes last third. They were doing everything right, even defending, they were just missing that last touch on goal, as they were still two goals down with 20 minutes to go.
Then in minute 70, Felipe Mora strike from the center of the penalty area beat Earthquakes keeper William Yarbrough and was cleared by defender Bruno Wilson with the help of his right hand. Although Wilson did not use his arms to make him self bigger and block the ball, it helped him clearing the shot. His arms were judged to have been open enough from the body for the referee to judge it as a penalty. A tough call, also as the last man actively denying a goal using his arms, Wilson got a red card, and was ejected of the game. After protests and reviews, Evander exchanged the penalty for a goal, and the Timbers finally got in the score card at minute 74.
Now the Earthquakes were one man down, shaken, and Portland was back in the game, backed up by good play and the roar of 20 thousand fans giving it all for the team. Literally an Army behind them.
The equalizer came in minute 80, when Jonathan Rodriguez scored a shot from the center of the penalty box, in his signature outside-inside diagonal run, after controlling a short short pass by Evander inside the penalty box. Evander had been able to shake his mark and receive a ball in the left side of penalty area from Kamal Miller from midfield. Rodriguez shot pass Yarbrough, then picked the ball from the net him self and run it to the reset point at the center of the field. There was no time celebrations.
There were eight minutes to go in regulation, the atmosphere was electric, fans chanting, Phil Neville pacing the technical area, and the Timbers full of momentum pushing forward. Rodriguez, this time from right to left diagonal, picked a magnificent clinical pass from Evander from just past the midfield. Rodriguez got to the ball just before Quakes goal keeper, William Yarbrough got full man. Referee Pierre Luc-Lauziere, took a long time reviewing and exercising new MLS rules, explained the call via mic connected to the stadium loud speakers. In a noticeable Quebecois accent, the Canadian referee announced his decision “after review, goal keeper commits a penalty inside the penalty area, final decision is a PENALTY kick”.
Felipe Mora shot center high and registered his fifth goal of the season. Timbers were up 3-2 and the stadium was exploding with the noise of the fans.
The game now was in a 10 minute stoppage time extension, and the Timbers attempted to practice game management as the Earthquakes attempted to flex forward down one goal and one man. Timbers did not pull back, they kept the pressure to Neville’s despair shouting the team to control the match with possession. Evander came out for Nathan Fogaça, and Felipe Mora came out for midfielder David Ayala.
In minute 99, with the score almost settled, a long ball by the Earthquakes filtered through half a dozen heads in the penalty area and found Niko Tsakiris on the left side of the goal. His touch found Carlos Akapo whose shot rebounded on a falling Paredes flanging his arms as he went down, when Portland’s keeper, Maxime Creppeau was already beaten. The rebound was cleared by Erik Miller who send the ball forward to Santiago Moreno. Moreno launched a counter attack that left him and Rodriguez in a two v two with the Earthquakes defense. Moreno’s sixth assists for the season was converted by Rodriguez’s strike. it was Portland fourth goal, and his personal fourth of this 2024 season.
San José players protested the decision, also reviewed by the referee. While the repetition of the play reveals that Paredes arms were all over the place you still need contact of the ball with the hand to be a handball, there was none and Portland’s fourth goal stood. With no more time left, Timbers won on a night to remember.
In the post match traditional delivery of the slab trophies, coach Neville had all the players line up to thank the fans, as he was himself very effusively looking at the stands clapping in gratitude. At the post match remark,s Phil Neville stressed how important this win was “there is many emotions going through my mind in terms of… we throughfuly deserved to win the game, with the control we had, so many silly mistakes as we had”, following up with “We had to make very brave decision today, and players responded with those decisions, I am super proud of the players.”
He also echoed the criticism received after losses at Nashville and “A lot of people probably inside and outside the club probably lost a bit of faith in the team, but more importantly probably in me, and one thing I would say is that I always fronted up criticism throughout my career. When we came to this club we knew that we had a hell of a job to do, and we’ve seen that in the first twelve games, I think what we have added to this football club is an incredible spirit regardless what people say inside and outside the club, the spirit we had in that second half was bigger then anything I’ve seen in football, and I have seen an awful lot of football”.
About the incredible atmosphere that night, Neville kept thanking the fans, “Those supporters wielded the team, wielded the ball in the back of the net, and that’s what makes me proud of being the manager of this football club”, then departed, “we’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do, it is a big, big job but one that I have fallen in love with, and one we will have success in, and that I can promise, because I back my self, and the players, as you saw in that second half, have full confidence in what we are doing, and that makes me super proud, and in two days time, we go again, to Minnesota!”
