The Portland Timbers and Timbers Army Defeat Sporting Kansas City 2-1

The Portland Timbers took on Sporting Kansas City on Veteran Appreciation Night at Providence Park. The atmosphere was tense in the stadium with the Timbers desperately needing a chance to create some positive momentum and confidence that would come from consecutive home wins.

Timbers head coach Phil Neville made some interesting changes to the line up moving Kamal Miller from center back to left back with Araujo and Zuparic as the two center backs. Juan Moquera played on the right to fill out the back line. David Ayala got the start next to Diego Chara and put in a solid 70 minutes of hard work. 

When asked about these player decisions after the match Neville said, “Kamal is a center back and I brought him in as a center back, he’s my boy really, in a way, but there is no way leave out Miguel Araujo or Dario Zuparic who I think have been playing really well and they give us some maturity on that back line.” 

On Ayala he said, “I thought David had his best game. He’s a talented boy. He came in against Kansas away and played really well and then he had difficult moments at home against LAFC and it dented his confidence…tonight before the game I told him I don’t want any, I’m sorry for  the language, I didn’t want any bullshit tonight. I wanted him to go for it and to show his character…he has a coach that believes in him so much. I saw a player that played with freedom and we got him to 72 minutes and I told him I’m not subbing you at 60 minutes anymore. If you can’t play 90 minutes, you can’t play at this football club.”

The first half started off slow and seemed like it took the team a while to find their stride and connection to one another. Evander was playing high side by side with Mora and it was obvious that they were finding their rhythm and looking for chances. 

Portland’s first opportunity came in the 16th minute when a pass from Aaryo found Rodriguez close to goal. Jonathan’s shot was a banger that hit the post. After the play, SKC had to make an unplanned substitution after Erik Thommy went down after grabbing the back of his leg. He was replaced by Felipe Hernádez.

Evander took the first corner of the game in the 27th minute that connected with Mora for a header that went wide of the goal. The following minute a foul was called on the Timbers and in the chaos, Diego Chara went to ground. The Timbers Army was on fire and amped up the energy in the stadium. No one takes down Chara at Providence Park without igniting the full wrath of the Army.

Zuparic went over the back of SKC’s Johnny Russell at the 30 minute mark resulting in a free kick for SKC from about 27 yards out. Russell took the shot but it did not make it past the Timbers wall. 

The first yellow card of the match was given in the 40th minute by head referee Drew Fischer to Sporting’s Memo Rodriguez for a foul against Evander. 

Jonathan Rodriguez had another shot on goal in the 44th minute that was the result of some beautiful teamwork by the Timbers. Unfortunately for Portland, the shot was caught by SKC keeper Tim Melia.

There were 2 extra minutes of stoppage time added to the first half. Rodriguez had a stunning mid air strike on a cross from Juan Mosquera that went over the crossbar and the half ended scoreless. 

The Timbers are notoriously a second half team and this was no exception. The energy in the stadium was still amplified from the momentum that the Timbers created at the end of the first half and the team took the pitch with a determination that showed they knew this was their match to win. 

Evander showed off his skills on a play in the 52nd minute, holding on to the ball and maneuvering to a position where he could serve a cross to Felipe Mora, who’s header found the back of the net! Portland was up 1-0.

Kansas City replied in the 60th minute with a goal of their own by Memo Rodriguez, who took a shot from about 20 yards out.. Timbers keeper Maxime Crépeau jumped and got a hand on the ball but it wasn’t enough. The match was tied at 1-1.

SKC had a chance to take the lead in the 65th minute when a shot from forward Alan Pulido went just wide to the left. There was a scramble on the next play with both Mora and Mosquera taking shots from inside the box in the 68th minute. Mora’s header was off target and Juan’s shot hit the post.

Evander went for an Olympico off a corner in the 70th minute but it was caught by Melia. His set up and service was incredibly quick and almost caught SKC by surprise. Sporting earned a free kick off a foul by Chara on the next play but it was expertly cleared by Kamal Miller.

Portland made their first substitution of the night in the 75th minute bringing on Christian Paredes for Ayala. Kansas City replaced Leibold and Sallói with Bassong and Tzionis. 

Diego Chara started a goal scoring play in the midfield with a running jump at the ball to gain possession and push the ball towards Antony, who ran the ball upfield and passed to Rodriguez. Jonathan collected from the left of the box and got a right footed pass into Mora at the center of goal. Mora’s header went backwards and landed perfectly on the right boot of Evander and then down to the back left corner of the goal. A perfect team goal that was called offsides at the pass to Mora.

The Timbers Army was on their feet and in a total uproar after a replay in the stadium showed no obvious offsides. Their chanted demands for a review of the play and protest on the pitch from the Timbers players were justified when the call was overturned and the goal allowed after VAR review. 

Portland had another scoring opportunity in the 85th minute when Evander’s service off a free kick connected with Miguel Araujo for a header. It was saved on the ground by a dive to the right by Melia which resulted in a corner kick for Portland. 

Evander had service on the corner and this time found Kamal Miller. His left footed shot was just high and to the left of goal. 

Coach Neville made two more substitutions for Portland in the 88th minute. Birthday boy Dairon Asprilla came in for Mora and Eric Miller replaced Mosquera. Sporting also made two substitutions replacing Memo Rodriguez with Agada and Jake Davis with Afrifa. 

Cladio Bravo came in at the 90th minute for Evander to play the 8+ minutes of stoppage time. Bravo is returning from injury and is slowly building up his playing minutes. 

Crépeau made the save of the game in the 97th minute when he made a diving jump to the left to block Johnny Russell’s header from getting the equalizing goal. Kansas City had one more chance off the resulting corner but missed. 

Portland finished on top to take all 3 points at home beating Sporting Kansas City 2-1. Diego Chara said of the win, “It was a difficult game, honestly, but I think at this moment we had the urgency to win games.”