The Portland Timbers are in a bit of a scoring drought, with only two goals in their past four games heading into their match against FC Dallas. To make matters worse, left back Claudio Bravo was out due to yellow card accumulation, and the Timbers had fallen to 12th in the Western Conference standings.
Dallas, on the other hand, came into the game in tied for third in the west.
Portland needed three points, badly.
The Timbers showed their hunger early and often, forcing Dallas to play the majority of the game on the back foot. The visitors looked nothing like their usual selves, and the Timbers picked them apart all game.
The one issue for the Portland Timbers has been their finishing—a story that held true early on in the match. They could not punish FC Dallas for their lackadaisical defending and turnovers.
In the 36th minute, that all changed. Evander hit a perfect cross onto the head of Franck Boli, who put it away to make the scoreline 1-0.
Defensively, the team remained stout and up for the challenge all evening.
The biggest controversy came in the 71st minute, when FC Dallas’ Geovane Jesus and Portland’s Diego Chará got tangled up. Referee Ted Unkel’s original call was a straight red for Jesus, but that was later overturned in favor of a yellow to both players.
Unkel’s officiating all night was inconsistent and led to frustration from both sides.
Still, the Timbers were able to pick up their first home win in nearly a month to move back into eighth place in the table.
Credit: Kris Lattimore
Moving forward
Right now, Boli is the Timbers’ best option as the No. 9. His work rate gives the team so many opportunities.
Although he has not always been the most clinical, he has deserved every start and minute he’s played this season.
After being benched at Seattle, Boli made a huge difference at home against FC Dallas—most notably scoring the lone goal of the match.
After starting at right back ahead of Juan David Mosquera at Seattle, Eric Miller earned another start against Dallas, this time at left back. Miller has not seen a lot of playing opportunities, but has been solid when given the chance.
His understanding, communication, and leadership with the backline has been superb the past two matches. The role and responsibilities the coaching staff has given him has been simple and effective.
Head coach Gio Savarese was pleased with Miller’s performances. “We got really lucky that he became available” said Savarese. “I think every team needs players like him that can provide so much discipline on the field. I thought he was phenomenal today.
“Not only today,” he said, “also in Seattle. Playing on the right side in Seattle, playing now on the left side and didn’t miss a beat. His leadership, his communication, his way of not only playing but his presence on the field was very, very good. He faced different guys today. He managed all of them very well… He managed everyone the way he had to and helped the team make sure that we had a very solid defensive type of game today.”
Miller’s experience in MLS—he’s played in the league since 2014—has paid dividends for the Timbers and will serve them well for the rest of the season.
Makes perfect sense that Eric Miller, a consistent and visible ally of the LGBTQ+ community, is the model for tonight’s #Pride warmup shirts.
After an hour and a half-long weather delay the game finally started. Head coach Giovanni Savarese put on the the same starting XI that he used last Saturday in the game against Vancouver, with the goal of getting three points on the road.
We’re not gonna lie: the Timbers didn’t create as much as they should’ve in the final third in this match. Maybe it was due to the weather delay, or maybe because this is the second game they played in four days.
Whatever the cause, the home team was the one that dominated the match, but Portland defended well. They worked as a unit, blocking a total of six shots out of the 17 Real Salt Lake produced.
All of RSL’s blocked shots. Source: Opta
After the game, Savarese praised the work done by his defense, especially his fullbacks Juan David Mosquera and Claudio Bravo. “I think Mosquera and Bravo had a great game,” he said. “They gave us a lot of balance with two very difficult players that are very fast.”
RSL “had a fast team at the beginning,” Savarese said, “with [Anderson] Julio, [Maikel] Chang, and [Andrés] Gómez, with [Jefferson] Savarino inside—players that are very fast. We managed those moments that they tried to find in transition very, very well.”
Speaking of Mosquera, he was the player with the biggest percentage of passing accuracy on both sides of the field, with 90% overall and 85% in the opponent’s half. That means he only missed three passes out of a total 30.
Juan David Mosquera’s passes. Source: Opta.
Bravo was really good in this game, too. He was second in duels won with eight, created the most chances with two, made the most tackles with six, and was third in clearances with four.
Besides the fullbacks, the team could count on defender Zac McGraw, who was available again after missing a game due to yellow card accumulation. He was good as always, except maybe for his new look.
What Gio thinks of Zac McGraw’s blond hair. Source: Timbers FC
Jazzy with the big saves, again
Aljaz Ivačič finished the match with four saves and one catch. Maybe it was not the most saves he has made in a game, but those were crucial to collect his first clean sheet of the season and help Portland get a point on the road.
“Finally, no? Who would have said in Salt Lake?” said the goalkeeper when asked about his first clean sheet of the year. “I’m very happy about that, but as I said: we need to be more hungry. We could’ve won this game, so we need to work now and look forward to the next one.”
Ivačič might be right about the team not being hungry enough because the Timbers produced some worthy looks, although not many.
Not many quality chances
Portland looked a little out of ideas in the attack, maybe because they were burned out after playing on Saturday.
After two standout performances, Evander didn’t impact this game much. He didn’t create a single chance and was unsuccessful with all seven of the crosses he attempted. Nonetheless, he was the player who attempted the most shots with four, three of them on target.
Out of all the Timbers, it was Franck Boli who had the most promising chance of the entire match—an xG of 21.05% in minute 57’. Too bad RSL goalkeeper Zac MacMath made a great save, denying him what might’ve been the winning goal.
Other than Boli’s chance, the Timbers didn’t create much. Evander had a free kick on frame, but it was an easy catch for MacMath. And it was a true shame that Dairon Asprilla’s shot in the 75th minute hit the post; it was a nice low shot.
The Timbers finished this match with an xG of 0.45, while Salt Lake’s was 1.01. Given the better and more chances the home team had, we have to be grateful that they couldn’t put the ball in the back either.
What the coach said
As always, coach Savarese spoke to the media and shared his thoughts after the match.
“We created some very good moments that, if we maybe would’ve managed a little bit better, we could’ve gotten out from here with three points,” he said. “The point is a good point. It is always difficult to play at Salt Lake. And as I said to the guys, I thought we did a lot of good things in the way we managed the game and move the ball. With the possession probably at the beginning, we were strong in the first few minutes and then we started to play very, very well.”
Last but not least, we gotta give a special mention to Christhian Paredes. The midfielder put on a great performance, contributing everywhere.
He was first in duels won with 12, first in tackles with six, was tied with Bravo for second in recoveries with seven, made three clearances and one interception, and created one chance.
Here is an example of one of those seven recoveries he made. He was brilliant!
The Timbers will be back in Providence Park on Saturday, May 20th, when they play Minnesota. The kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT.
After losing to the Whitecaps 0-1 in Vancouver in April, the Portland Timbers had revenge on their mind when they hosted one of their Cascadia rivals Saturday.
In the previous matchup, the Timbers were outmatched, overwhelmed, and shorthanded. But this time, Portland got their sweet revenge, with a 3-1 win in their most complete performance of the year.
Timbers head coach Gio Savarese was very pleased with his team’s performance.
“Very important win for many, many reasons,” said Savarese. “Three points. Cascadia Cup. Home game. Then we performed very well.”
Still, he said, “I think we can still progress, we can still get better. There’s areas that we have to continue to work, but I think the first 20 minutes and the entire second half, I thought we were very, very good.”
In the second minute, Franck Boli broke out of his scoring drought to put Portland on the board first.
The Timbers continued to create chances after the opening goal, with combination play between Juan David Mosquera, Santi Moreno, and Evander putting another one away in the 18th minute.
This team has been clicking offensively for weeks, and it showed off big time. Portland outshot and had more shots on target than Vancouver, putting up 13 and seven to the Whitecaps’ seven and four, respectively.
Unfortunately in the 24th minute, Zac McGraw went for a clearance that turned into an own goal.
In the 54th minute, Evander put on a insane move to freeze his defender and then ripped a shot for Portland’s third goal for the final score.
This was his best game as a Timber, and he has let the entire MLS know, too.
The Evander Show
Photo Credit: Kris Lattimore
After early struggles with form and injury, Evander has played his best ball the past few weeks. He is playing with tons of confidence, his decision making is so much quicker, and his passing has been very crisp. This is the exact player general manager Ned Grabavoy and Savarese wanted to sign.
Evander is one of the most in form players in MLS right now, and the Timbers are steadily climbing the table thanks to his contributions.
The Portland Timbers are playing their best football of the season, which happens to coincide with his best run of play.
Is that a coincidence? Absolutely not.
After scoring twice tonight, Evander became the first player in @TimbersFC history to produce a multi-goal game following a multi-assist game. pic.twitter.com/yZpqL1j1Ob
“I was going for the hat trick,” said Evander. “Of course, not doing crazy things, but I wanted one more opportunity for a goal. I knew that nobody [on the Timbers] has scored a hat trick in an MLS competition, and I wanted to be the first, but I’ll have to wait till the next opportunity.
Still, he was pleased with his team’s performance. “I think this shows us how good we are” he said, “how good we are when we play together and as a team… When we play together, when we are compact and play soccer and enjoy the game, things become much easier. The win today gives us more confidence for the rest of the season.”
All You Gotta Do is BOLIeve
Photo Credit: Kris Lattimore
Boli scored his first goal for Portland in his Timbers debut. Since then, he has been hungry for his second.
His work rate and comfort level has been steadily climbing in the past couple weeks.
“I am a striker. I create goals. Last game I wanted to score so bad, I missed some goals and got angry,” said Boli. “But you’ve got to try again.
“I’m very happy to score today and also that the team won,” he said. “That’s even more important than my goal. As a striker, you want to score every time and I’m happy about that.”
Boli has continued to be get more comfortable with the team and league.
“He’s getting to understand the league,” said Savarese. “He’s getting to feel more chemistry, and he’s getting fitter as well.
“You saw his movements today,” Savarese said. “Now he knows how to move around the defenders because they’re physical here in MLS. He needs to understand how to find good areas in order to make sure to be in good places to get the ball. He created some very good moments, attacking-wise.”
Fun stats
xG: Portland 1.15, Vancouver 0.59
Evander led the team in shots, shots on goal, and goals.
Santiago Moreno paced the team in chances created, successful dribbles, and completed passes in the final third.
Juan David Mosquera had the most touches, crosses attempted, completed passes on the team.
Dario Zuparic was stout in defense with 10 recoveries and seven aerial duels won.
Dairon Asprilla's bicycle kick goal in the 71st minute is a candidate for MLS goal of the year.
Elite Photo Credit: Matthew Wolfe
Heading into Saturday’s game, the Seattle Sounders were first in the table and were the top scoring team in the West. The Portland Timbers, meanwhile, were 12th in the table and had not won a game since their regular season opener against Sporting KC on February 27. The Timbers were winless in their last six matches.
After losing Eryk Williamson to season ending injury, this team could of continued their downward spiral.
After playing one of their best halves of football, the Portland Timbers looked down and out.
In the 58th minute Sounders superstar Raúl Ruidíaz scored to put the visitors up 1-0.
But all it takes is one moment to change all the momentum. In the 71st minute, Dairon Asprilla scored the MLS goal of the year to tie it at 1-1 with a brilliant bicycle kick.
That goal gave the Portland Timbers a sense of belief and ignited the attack for the first time all season.
Nathan Fogaça gave Portland the 2-1 lead with a beautiful dribble and two touches to get around Sounders defender Yeimar. Seattle Goalkeeper Stefan Frei managed to get a hand on Fogaça’s shot, but it wasn’t enough to stop the ball from going into the back of the net.
Jarosław Niezgoda has struggled to find his form all season and was subbed in the 72nd minute for Franck Boli. Less than 10 minutes later, he put away a rebound to score his first goal of the season.
Juan David Mosquera put the game away in the 89th minute, with a rocket on a quick counter.
The Portland Timbers completed the comeback to win 4-1, with all of their goals scored in the last 20 minutes.
These are the games where we are reminded why we love this game and these players.
Best lineup of the season
Since the season started, Portland has not had their strongest XI. Although Williamson is out for the year, the Timbers had a majority of their first choice squad for the first time.
This starting XI came out on the front foot and outshot Seattle 7-4 in the first half. Unfortunately, they lost control of the game early in the second half.
Once Portland head coach Gio Savarese made substitutions, they regained the upper hand. Many of the Timbers starters for the game are still coming back to full fitness.
When Yimmi Chará returns, they will have all of their first choice starters except Williamson.
The starters played well in the first half, and the substitutes’ fresh legs will give this team a lot of positives moving forward.
Franck Boli starts
Franck Boli made his first start for Portland as they took down Seattle 4-1. Credit: Matthew Wolfe
The Timbers signed Ivorian forward Franck Boli from Hungarian top-flight side Ferencvárosi on March 13.
Boli has been getting up to speed, learning the system, and building a rapport with his new teammates over the past month.
In two sub appearances, he had played 28 total minutes before the Seattle game—including time in which he scored the game tying goal at FC Dallas.
Boli made his first start against the Seattle Sounders.
After the match, Savarese said he was impressed with Boli’s performance and extremely excited to see him with more opportunities. “He started to figure things out,” Savarese said. “You can see the special things that he has. In some moments, you saw how quick he was to get in front of the Seattle defender… He can get in good areas.”
The Timbers head coach believes Boli’s only going to get better with more time to learn the system.
“He has a good understanding of the way we want to play,” said Savarese. “Now it’s about generating the chemistry with the guys. He just arrived. Evander just started to play with him. Some of the guys started to get to know the two of them more and more.”
Forwards can score, too!
Nathan scored his first goal of the 2023 season against the Seattle Sounders. Credit: Matthew Wolfe
The Timbers had only scored six goals in their first seven games. Out of those, each line had contributed two each. The only forwards who had scored prior to the Seattle game were Boli and Tega Ikoba.
That all changed in this game.
Asprilla, Fogaça, and Niezgoda all opened their scoring accounts for the season. If their frontline can continue to produce, this team is going to be scary the rest of the way.
David vs. Goliath
The first place team facing off against the 12th place team. The Sounders went into the game with a +12 goal differential, while Portland was at -6.
Still, the Timbers started off the game on the front foot, outshooting the Sounders in the first half.
At the start of the second half, Seattle could not have started much better. They found the opening goal in the 58th minute and nearly scored again on several occasions.
Seattle’s attacking soccer and ruthless barrages continued, and they kept chasing a second goal.
The Timbers being down a goal with 20 minutes left in the game, things were not looking good to even get a result.
Portland has been beat up all season, but they got up and fought like heck the rest of the way.
Thanks to their forwards, Santi Moreno’s assists, and the return of their dangerous counterattack, Portland was able to take down Goliath.
Shoutouts
JDM celebrates his second goal of the season versus the Seattle Sounders. He continues cement himself as one of the best right backs in MLS. Credit: Matthew Wolfe
Juan David Mosquera scored his second goal of the season and continues to put in the effort on the defensive end. He led the team in touches, shots, shots on goal, crosses, and possessions won.
Claudio Bravo made a goal-saving intervention in the 39th minute before Jordan Morris could put it in the back of the net. Bravo was near the team lead in a bunch of stats.
The first three goals had SantiMoreno‘s signature all over them. He assisted on the first two goals to Asprilla and Fogaça. On the third goal, he followed up Fogaça’s shot, which allowed Niezgoda to finish it.
Fun stats
Portland has now beaten Seattle four consecutive times
Dario Zuparic led the team with seven aerial duels won
Dairon Asprilla also had eight dribbles and six successful dribbles to lead the team.
Coaches’ corner
Savarese on the win: “When you don’t get too many good results, and you’re putting in a lot of work, and you’re trying to manage a lot of things in a difficult way, the way we started—a win like today’s is incredible. It’s amazing, because we needed it. We needed it. We needed the three points; we needed a win like this to feel that we’re capable of competing at the highest level. And we still have some players that need to come back.
“I think with that said, I felt tonight the guys wanted to win. You felt it. And I think, as I said, a goal like Asprilla’s just gives that energy at the end to make sure that the guys just felt that we can win this game.
“Now we have to continue to work. It’s not staying on one game and that’s it. It’s about all the games that are coming, and we need to prepare very well, because now we have Cincinnati. We have the U.S. Open Cup. Then we have to go to St. Louis. We have a difficult schedule, but now with players coming back and finally getting a bench that is full, we can compete to a better level.”
Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer on his postgame message to the team: “I told them I don’t feel that it’s a rivalry. That’s my initial gut thought. At 1-0, we have to have that killer instinct against a team that has beat us three games in a row, that’s had our number. At their place, stick the knife in, kill the game. I don’t give a shit if it was the second goal or extending possession. After the game, some of our staff members, everybody talking, laughing. It’s like another loss. It’s not another loss; it’s against the Timbers.
“We have to get back to understanding that this is a rivalry. And that’s what I said to everybody. That’s the reflection that I have. It’s not good, it’s not good. We don’t have the killer instinct to put them away. We gave them life; we talked about it, messaged it before the game. They were using this game as a springboard. They have to go to Cincinnati next week. They get a bad result here and have to go to Cincinnati, that could doom them. But we give them life.”
Quote of the night
Asprilla, on if practicing bicycle kicks during practice attributed to his goal: “Yes. I talked to [David] Ayala before the game. ‘You wait for [the] bicycle’. It’s my confidence.”
