Photo by Diego Diaz
The energy was palpable in Providence Park as the Portland Timbers played host to the Houston Dynamo Wednesday, June 29th, 2022. The first half started with chants of, “Dodgy Keeper,” directed at Houston keeper Steve Clark from the Timbers Army and an energized Portland team looking to capitalize on the momentum from Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Colorado. The Timbers’ Sebastian Blanco started the match in the 2nd minute with a long shot on goal that went wide. Blanco went down in the 10th minute from a sharp elbow to the chest that was followed by Blanco getting a yellow in the 16th minute.
The yellow cards continued to accumulate for both sides as the play on the pitch got heated. Houston’s Memo Rodriguez earned their first yellow in the 20th minute followed by a yellow given to Zeca that led to a penalty kick for the Timbers in the 32nd minute.
Santiago Moreno went one on one with Houston’s Clark to take the penalty kick and put the Timbers up 1-0. He followed that goal with a brace two minutes later for a 2-0 lead for the Timbers and an eruption of joy and green smoke from the Timbers’ Army. In the 42nd minute Moreno’s name was added to the referee’s book as he earned the fifth yellow card of the match. A hard full body collision by Dynamo defender, Teenage Hadebe, with Timbers’ Moreno drew another yellow for Houston and ended the first half.
The energy and aggression on the pitch increased after the break with the Timbers looking to maintain their lead and Houston looking to salvage a point on the road. Yellow cards continued to accumulate with the Timbers’ Bill Tuiloma earning his first in the 54th minute. Houston dominated possession during the second half and put one point on the board in the 65th minute. Houston’s Darwin Quintero took a shot from outside the box to the center of the goal with the assist fromThorleifur Úlfarsson.
In the 74th minute Tuiloma was given his second yellow card and removed from the game with on red card. The Timbers played a man down for the remainder of the match relying on their talented bench to hold on to the lead. Overall 9 yellow cards were given with 5 of them going to the Timbers. The final whistle blew after five tense minutes of stoppage time with the Timbers beating the Dynamo 2-1.
