It may not have been their best hour-plus of play – and they certainly dodged some early bullets – but the Portland Timbers felt they were in prime position late in the match to earn a solid road result Saturday night against the Philadelphia Union.
Then Andrew Wenger struck, and so did Vincent Nogueira – twice – and all of a sudden, the Timbers were on the wrong end of a 3-0 rout that put an end to their solid run of form, having won six of their previous seven MLS matches coming into the game.
Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said the most disappointing aspect of the defeat was the reaction to Wenger’s 69th-minute opener, Portland conceding again just two minutes later.
“For the most part it was pretty even, and after 68 minutes we’re in a position to win the game or at least get a point,” Porter told media after the match at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. “Disappointed that we gave up the two counterattack goals within a minute or a minute and a half of each other. We’re better than that. And for me that’s probably the takeaway; we need to show more discipline and have a better response, certainly after giving up the first goal. We’re still in the game. But our reaction wasn’t good.”
Both teams had rattled the woodwork – the Union on Sebastian Le Toux and C.J. Sapong shots and the Timbers on a Diego Valeri free kick, all in the first half. But the Union, the aggressor through the first 15 minutes of the game and then at the end, proved to be the more dominant side. They fired off 17 shots to the Timbers’ eight.
And while six wins in eight games is never anything to scoff at, the Timbers have been outscored 8-0 in the two losses in that stretch – 10-0, taking into account their round-of-16 US Open Cup loss.
“We played fairly well after the first 15 minutes up to when they got the first goal,” Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury said. “Again though, disappointing that this is a few games in a row on the road where we’ve give up a goal right after the first one. So we have to definitely do a better job in that sense, especially on the road. We have to tighten up a bit, maybe not throw so many numbers forward and maybe be a little more conservative.”
The Timbers’ depth was also tested for the cross-country road trip, despite receiving the first full week of preparation with no midweek match in three weeks. Outside backs Taylor Peay and Jeanderson received their first league starts in place of Alvas Powell (international duty) and Jorge Villafana (rest). Also out were starting winger Darlington Nagbe (shoulder), midfielder Diego Chara (ankle) and goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey (quad strain).
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“It’s not an excuse. Over the last month, month or two we’ve used a lot of different guys and have had a lot of rotation in the lineup,” Jewsbury said. “So at the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough for us tonight.”
The Timbers now face a critical stretch of three straight matches against Western Conference opponents starting next Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
