In what’s becoming a regular theme for the team, the Portland Timbers allowed visiting Toronto FC to steal a draw at home at JELD-WEN in the late stages of the match. What looked like a dominate, ball-controlled game for the boys in green, turned into another missed opportunity for 3 points in the table.
The Timbers scored their first goal in the 23rd minute when attacking Midfielder Sal Zizzo pushed the attack and crossed a shot to Colombian Diego Chara who assisted to forward Eddie Johnson on a beautiful low laser past Toronto goalie Stefan Frei. The name of the game for the first half was possession for the Timbers as the mid’s where holding the ball and distributing it to the front 3rd for most of the half. Throughout the first half, Portland uncharacteristically held a 60/40 possession advantage which played well against Toronto’s strange decision to play a two defender lineup. The Red’s seemed to be playing a 2-5-3 all night with the midfielders dropping back to help.The Timbers had multiple chances on goal before the half with at least two shots hitting the post.
The second half was a whole different story; the game looked put away when Chara pushing toward goal in the 18 yard box was brought down for a penalty kick. Captain Jack Jewsbury, fresh off the MLS All-Star game in New Jersey, slammed it home for what should have been a decisive score, making it 2-nil. Another chance in the half that had the crowd screaming was a corner kick by newcomer Mike Chabala that defender Eric Brunner put a head on and deflected off the left post. The Timbers would have no more serious threats on goal the rest of the game.
The story of this match was the Timbers inability to once again hold a lead in the last twenty minutes of a match. Whether it is a problem of conditioning or Coach John Spencer’s decision to sub out Kenny Cooper and Jorge Perlaza for Kalif Alhassan and Darlington Nagbe, the team just ran out of steam chasing Toronto’s forward back on counterattacks that lead to large areas of the pitch for their players to roam.
Team Notes:
- New players from Houston, Mike Chabala and Lovel Palmer started in place of ineffective early-season starters.
- The MLS points leaders LA Galaxy come to town on a short week Wednesday to play a game seen nationally on ESPN at 7:30 PM Pacific.
(image courtesy of Steel Brooks)
