PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Timbers are above the playoff line, with goals from Dairon Asprilla, Yimmi Chara and Felipe Mora lifting the team to a 3-2 victory over visiting Real Salt Lake and into sixth place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
Asprilla and Chara had the Timbers up 2-0 by the match’s 29th minute only for RSL’s Albert Rusnák to pull his team back within one before halftime. Just past the hour mark, Mora produced one of Portland’s best finishes of the season to give the Timbers their winning goal.
“It’s been a year in which, basically, every single day we have a surprise,” head coach Giovanni Savarese said afterward. “But I think sometimes that makes you stronger … Today was a huge, very important win.”
The victory was a coda to four newsworthy days for Portland. In the last moments of Wednesday’s draw against San Jose, midfielder Diego Chara was shown a second yellow card, leaving him suspended for RSL’s visit. The Timbers then traded forward Jeremy Ebobisse to the Earthquakes on Thursday while midfielder Eryk Williamson missed Saturday’s game after it was announced he is in MLS’s health and safety protocols.
As is often the case in sports, victory may have nudged the team back on course. Within the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s game, Portland was up, with Asprilla’s penalty conversion allaying fears the week’s bad news might roll into the match. When Asprilla setup Chara with a backheel at the edge of the penalty box 19 minutes later, the Timbers were flashing a panache that’s been missing for much of the summer. The early 2-0 lead felt like the start of an explosion.
That explosion never came. Instead, the Timbers provided an opening for RSL before halftime and went into intermission up one. “I felt that we lowered our intensity,” Savarese said. That Portland got that goal back, though — and did so with Blanco’s assist, after his halftime substitution — showed the type of attacking threat we expect from Portland’s roster. It was the first time in 2021 that RSL had conceded more than two goals, and the Timbers had their third by the 62nd minute.
The attack continued to generate good chances over the match’s final half-hour, but at the other end of the field, Salt Lake was having success generating opportunities, too. Portland goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic, making the first home start of his Timbers career, was called on the make seven saves, at least three of which were diving stops. In part because the Timbers spent much of the night up two goals, RSL outshot their hosts 23-13 while holding 64.8 percent of the game’s possession. That the teams finished the night even in terms of expected goals, 2-2, showed RSL was capable of keeping up with the Timbers’ attacking output.
“Our chances, if we were a little more clinical, we could have capitalized on a little bit more,” Savarese said. “Their chances, I think we defended well. Ivacic had a strong game, as well, to make sure that they didn’t succeed in those moments they were able to find.”
More than anything, the Timbers just needed to get back into the win column. Though it’d only been three games since Portland had won, the team needed something positive to build on. Without a win, the Timbers would spend its week between games considering the four-game winless streak they’d take into a derby against Seattle.
Instead, that derby is an opportunity to fully change the team’s momentum. That Seattle won the teams' only other meeting this season means it’s an opportunity for redemption, too. The teams played a relatively even match on May 9 at Providence Park before the last half hour broke the way of the Sounders. If Portland can reverse that result next Sunday, the season will feel back on course.
Until then, the Timbers will need to continue their incremental improvement, from Wednesday’s draw against San Jose through tonight’s win, to whatever the coming week might bring. If that’s more major news, the team needs to find a way to maintain its course. It did so on Saturday against RSL.
