The Portland Timbers played a hard-fought match against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday night at Providence Park, ultimately coming away with a 1-0 win over their Canadian rivals. A stunning second-half goal from Yimmi Chara was enough to secure all three points for the Timbers and lift them into first place in the Western Conference.
The Timbers’ first chance of the match came in the 14th minute when Pablo Bonilla clipped a diagonal ball into the box where Larrys Mabiala, still forward from an earlier restart, was waiting. Finding room in between the Vancouver centerbacks, Mabiala took Bonilla’s service on the volley, making solid contact with the ball and sending a stinging shot on goal that forced Evan Bush into a reaction save to parry it away.
Mabiala’s chance was one of only a handful in the first half as the Whitecaps packed the box with defenders, keeping nine men behind the ball at all times and giving the Timbers no room in which to work in the attacking third. Outside of a sparing few short passing combinations, the Timbers were largely limited to sending hopeful crosses into the Vancouver box for much of the half.
As the half-time break approached, however, the Timbers seemed to be having some luck in breaking down the Whitecaps’ defensive block. In the 45th minute, a spell of possession around the Vancouver box led to a volley from Diego Valeri that spun wide of goal, begging to be touched home, but the visitors were able to knock it clear and go on a break of their own, threatening the goal but ultimately getting no more than a corner kick as the Timbers defense recovered.
Yimmi Chara managed a chance in the 54th minute of the match. Receiving the ball from Valeri on the Timbers’ left, Yimmi took a touch forward past one defender, then cut the ball back to wrong-foot another. With a tight angle to goal, Yimmi snapped off a near-post shot, but Bush was on top of it, getting his body in front of the ball and holding on.
In the 61st minute, Yimmi got his goal. Off a slick series of passes across the top of the Vancouver box, Valeri found Yimmi once again on the left wing. Rolling a ball toward the end line for the overlapping run of Jorge Villafana, Yimmi cut inside toward goal. His run was rewarded with a thigh-high cutback from the fullback and Yimmi took the chance on the run, hitting a side volley that skipped off the turf and inside the near post for the opening goal of the match.
The Whitecaps nearly grabbed an equalizer in the 80th minute as they pushed numbers forward. A low ball into the Timbers box from fullback Ali Adnan found the run of Lucas Cavallini in the center of the box. As the ball slid in front of him, Cavallini lunged forward, making contact with the ball and sending a skipping ball on goal. The shot came from close-in, but Steve Clark was able to get down quickly and make the save to preserve the Timbers’ 1-0 lead.
From there the Timbers were able to see out the match, although not without some late worries. Three minutes into stoppage time, both Valeri and Jarek Niezgoda went down with injuries. Valeri was ultimately able to continue after shaking off a rolled ankle, but Niezgoda had to be stretchered off the pitch following a knee to knee collision with a Vancouver player.