Tag: Sebastian Blanco

After four months without a match, the Portland Timbers returned to play last night in the MLS is Back Tournament. Before the opening whistle, cameras at the ESPN Wide World of Sports caught Diego Valeri in a smiling conversation with an LA Galaxy player.

Moments later, the Maestro and every other player on the pitch were kneeling in silence.

And moments after that, the whistle blew and the Timbers were once again playing soccer.

Despite a 75th minute red card to center back Dario Župarić, the Timbers were able to snatch all three points in Monday night’s up and down affair against the Galaxy––taking down the Californian side 2-1 in their first action since the suspension of the MLS season back in March. The match itself played out in four phases:

1. First, the Timbers came out strong, taking control of the match and smothering a listless Galaxy side with purposeful possession.
2. The Timbers took the foot off the gas late in the first half, giving the Galaxy a chance to re-enter the game but ultimately riding out the half and finding a chance to catch their collective breath.
3. The Timbers, through skill, industry, and simply keeping their heads up when the Galaxy were not, grabbed a two goal lead.
4. Finally, the Timbers managed to hold on for the win despite giving up a red card and, later, a goal.

It was that third phase that gave us the most exciting moments to hold on to when the Timbers opened the scoring in the 59th minute and quickly followed that up with a second goal in the 66th.

The first goal was a pure distillation of this Timbers side. Yimmi Chará started the moment with an impressive snap header on goal off a cross that looked over-hit, forcing David Bingham to palm the ball away with a quick reaction save. Then Diego Valeri and Sebastián Blanco combined brilliantly as the Maestro received the ball at the top of the Galaxy box and patiently picked out a long, curving run from Blanco in behind the Galaxy back line. And, finally, Blanco was able to turn on the ball and pick out Jeremy Ebobisse in front of goal, threading a pass through a handful of defenders for Ebobisse to knock home despite a defender firmly attached to his back.

The second goal was simply down to the sheer cussedness of Blanco. After a shot from Ebobisse was deflected off his foot and sent looping away from goal, it seemed certain that the Timbers attack was broken and the Galaxy would have a chance to clear. As the ball fell back to earth out on the wing, however, Blanco refused to let it die. Rushing forward, he got a head to the ball, catching a defender unaware and skillfully touching it toward goal where another Galaxy defender was waiting to make the tackle. Instead, Blanco was able to somehow push the ball through that second defender and into space in front of the Galaxy goal where he wrapped up the move by hamming home a shot from close range that left Bingham waving hopelessly at the ball as it flew by.

While Blanco and the Timbers attack grabbed the win for the side, the defense nearly gave the game away on two occasions before clamping down and securing the three points for the side.

In the 11th minute, on one of the first attacking moves from the Galaxy as they tried to escape a protracted period of possession from the Timbers, a deflected ball fell to Cristian Pavón twenty yards from goal. Approaching the top of the box, the Galaxy No. 10 let loose a shot that flew directly into the torso of Župarić, clattering off his arms and immediately drawing a whistle and a yellow card from referee Ramy Touchan.

Chicharito Hernández stepped up to the spot and, with Timbers hearts sinking, struck his attempt on goal. Steve Clark, however, had other ideas and, reading the Mexican international legend’s run up, dove the correct direction and stopped his shot. Then, scrambling, Clark did the splits to stop the follow-up from Sacha Kljestan before diving on the ball to end the Galaxy hopes of an easy opener.

Although he was bailed out by Clark, that yellow card would come back to haunt Župarić in the 75th minute when he took down Pavón just outside the Timbers box, prompting an easy second yellow from Touchan and leaving the Timbers down a man for the rest of the game.

While the Galaxy would eventually find the back of the net in the 88th minute when Chicharito momentarily showed off some of the predatory instincts that made him such an effective player throughout his career, they were stymied time after time by the Timbers backline stepping up for an offside trap or swarming the ball to take advantage of a loose touch, or simply knocking away cross after cross that the Galaxy sent hopefully into the box.