Rodney Wallace and Darlington Nagbe scored in RFK stadium to lead Portland over D.C. United for the first time. Portland extended their unbeaten streak to 11 games after their win on Saturday. The Timbers remain the only club unbeaten on the road in 2013.
Portland was led by Rodney Wallace who continued his stellar form by scoring the Timbers first goal in the 20th minute. Jack Jewsbury plays Frederic Piquionne off a throw-in who then moves through three defenders to the right and passes to a wide-open Wallace. Wallace had enough time to take a touch, check where Bill Hamid was, and switch to his dominant foot before pounding the ball to the near post.
Six minutes later Kyle Porter had a chance to equalize for DCU, but put his shot over the crossbar. Neither team received another scoring opportunity in the first half with most of the action contained in the midfield. Portland went into the locker room one goal up.
D.C. came out looking for blood in the second half. Chris Korb sent in a cross to Kyle Porter who got a head to the ball but put it over the bar. Their next attempt came shortly after in the 54th minute off a free kick. Porter drove the ball into the box where Perry Kitchen who headed it straight to Donovan Ricketts.
Two minutes later Portland opened up their lead to two when Darlington Nagbe finished a beautiful lob from Ryan Johnson. Nagbe headed a deflection down to a trailing Johnson at the DCU side of the center circle. Johnson then immediately lobs the ball over United’s back line while Nagbe streaked past them and brought the ball down right at the top of the box. Nagbe then calmly slips the ball through Hamid’s legs and into the goal for his fourth goal of the year.
After this goal the game slowed to a stop. DCU’s attacks were few and far between, the ref missed an obvious handball in the box by Portland’s Andrew Jean-Baptiste, and the Timbers seemed content to hold on in the midfield and take the 2-0 win. Two Timbers were carded for time wasting in the second half, the end of this game dragged on endlessly. Portland kept clean sheets and attaining their first ever win over D.C. United.
Game Notes:
● Both Timbers goals came off of assists from a forward to a winger, first Piquionne to Wallace and second Johnson to Nagbe. Porterball is made to use the larger forwards to draw defenders and then play off to streaking wings and midfielders. Surprisingly, Caleb Porter’s tactics work in both his traditional 4-3-3 formation and the 4-4-2 that was utilized against D.C. United. If Porter can get the Timbers to play his style across several formations and rosters, Portland has a great shot at making a playoff run.
● Portland is now tied with the New York Red Bulls for the most “goals for” with 22.
● The Timbers are now the league leaders in road goals with 12.
● D.C. United has scored just six goals with only one on the road.
Open Cup Victory
The Portland Timbers scored five times to advance past the Wilmington Hammerheads in the 100th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Frederic Piquionne tallied four goals in the first 45, becoming just the second player in USOC history to do so. Futty Danso and Wilmington Hammerhead Paul Nicholson each scored once in the second half as Portland took a 5-1 victory.
After Wednesday night’s game at Jeld-Wen Field, Caleb Porter said, “At the end of the game there should be no doubt which team is the Major League Soccer team.” There was no doubt which team was the Major League Soccer team by halftime.
It took Frederic Piquionne just two minutes to beat Wilmington keeper Troy Hernandez off a Will Johnson corner kick. Piquionne was about a foot and a half higher in the air than the Hammerhead defender. Wilmington couldn’t do anything about it but get aggressive and try to equalize.
Portland passed and passed for 15 minutes until Piquionne headed a second ball into the back of the net. This time he was assisted by a lob pass from Michael Harrington. Piquionne was running diagonally across the left side of the goal and headed the ball over his shoulder into the bottom-right corner of the goal. Timbers up 2-0 in the 17th minute.
The inevitable hat trick came in the 34th minute. Piquionne caught a pass at the edge of the east touch line and played it in to Alhassan. Alhassan held, then clinically chipped the ball right in front of a streaking Piquionne at the top of the box. Piquionne took one touch and slides it far post with his right foot.
Wilmington, down 3 goals, didn’t give up. Portland keeper Milos Kocic was nearly beat in the 36th minute from a perfectly weighted corner kick. The ball was headed down and right through the legs of Kocic. Luckily, he fell and ended up sitting on the ball.
Piquionne notched his fourth goal of the night and season off a Will Johnson free kick in first half stoppage time. Johnson floated the ball into the center of the box and found the head of Frederic Piquionne who just had to direct it on goal. Portland walked into the locker room with clean sheets and a four goal advantage.
The second half played out as one might expect when up 4-0 as Portland controlled possession and passed out the game. My neighbors in reserved section 114 began to disappear as time dwindled. The Timbers were able to control the game completely for 15 minutes before Wilmington got their first, and only, goal of the night.
Hammerhead Paul Nicholson scored what should be goal of the week when he juggled the ball once with his right foot and side volleyed it with his left into the top corner. The Portland defense looked a step slow and Kocic couldn’t get anywhere near the shot.
Portland’s fifth goal came off another Will Johnson corner in the 73rd minute. This time he found Futty Danso who put the game away for good.
Sebastian Rincon, Jose Adolfo Valencia, and Sal Zizzo led the attack for the last 15 minutes of the game. While none of them were able to get a goal, they did show off their individual abilities to create space for themselves and teammates.
