The Portland Timbers have been knocked out of the 100th Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. Real Salt Lake scored both early and late to defeat Portland 2-1 at Rio Tinto Stadium. RSL now moves on to face D.C. United in their first ever USOC final round appearance.
Real Salt Lake exploited Portland’s two biggest weaknesses to get the first goal of the match. First, they played uptempo right out of the gates while the Timbers, as they are known to, looked slow and confused in the first 10 minutes. Next, RSL earned a corner and then exploited the already confused set piece defense by sending the poorly-cleared ball back into the box. Alvaro Saborio was left completely unmarked in front of goal and headed it in straight past Donovan Ricketts in the seventh minute.
The Timbers were able to take back possession and started working towards an equalizer. Will Johnson near found the back of the net in the 40th minute, but Nick Rimando made an amazing save to put it out for a corner. Ryan Johnson and Carlos Salcedo both received yellow cards after the taken corner for arguing after a Rodney Wallace foul on RSL keeper Nick Rimando.
Caleb Porter subbed in Jose Adolfo Valencia, Kalif Alhassan, and Alvas Powell in the second half to up the attack. Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis brought on Joao Plata for Robbie Findley to put away the game, he did. Plata took a shot from 25 yards out and beat the diving Donovan Ricketts and put RSL up by two.
One man never gave up all game: Diego Valeri. He played fantastically all night and was a constant threat on goal. Valeri was able to bring a goal back in the 90th minute by heading a Rimando save of his own shot back into goal. Diego Chara played a long pass up to Valeri who beat two defenders and took a shot on goal. Rimando popped the ball back into play and Valeri jumped up and knocked it right back.
Referee Mark Geiger gave 4 minutes of extra time, but it wasn’t enough. Even with the Timbers playing with an enormous sense of urgency they couldn’t tie the game. Portland now finds themselves winless in four straight games.
Game Notes
● Rodney Wallace is missing. I’m not sure what happened in Costa Rica, but he hasn;t looked the same since returning. He only take one shot against RSL and didn’t get into the attack at all. Solid, outside attacking play is key for Portland to score.
● Even though Portland lost, they looked a lot better than they have in last two weeks. Yes, they still played terribly in the first 10 minutes; I’m kind of used to it by now. They also continued to leave defenders unmarked on crosses and set pieces. Still, the Timbers showed that they can keep possession in Rio Tinto stadium and outshoot the home team in shots both on and off goal. Possession was 60-40 Portland and Shots 13(6)-9(4).
(image courtesy of USA Today Sports Images)
