Match Recap & Highlights: Monreal Impact 4 - 1 Portland Timbers
The Timbers' seven-match unbeaten run ends in dismal fashion, conceding four goals in Montreal with a play-in berth on the line.
The Portland Timbers (11-10-12) had faceplant up north against Montreal (12-5-16), allowing the Impact four unanswered goals in a 4-1 blowout.
Recap
Cristhian Paredes’ hamstring injury picked up against the LA Galaxy was significant enough to keep him out of the lineup entirely, but both Evander and Diego Chara were available for selection having missed time through injury in recent weeks. Zac McGraw was also kept out because of a knee injury, meaning Larrys Mabiala was given the start next to Dario Zuparic.
Montreal opened the scoring through Sanusi Ibrahim in the 28th minute, and doubled their lead seven minutes later through Kwadwo Opoku. Mathieu Choinière tacked on a third goal in the 64th minute, and the hosts completed the rout in the 76th minute with a goal from Mason Toye. Franck Boli did pull one goal back for the Timbers, but it was far too little too late to impact the match.
Highlights
28’ GOAL IMPACT, 1-0 Choinière played a ball down the line that found Opoku beyond the Timbers’ backline, who then squared the ball across the face of goal to Ibrahim for the game’s opening goal.
35’ GOAL IMPACT, 2-0 A poor clearance from Juan Mosquera and a lost tackle from Claudio Bravo allowed Ibrahim to win the ball back outside the box, and set up Opoku for a powerful shot that took a deflection off Zuparic and past David Bingham.
45’ Two minutes of stoppage time were added to the end of the first half.
Halftime: The first half ended Montreal 2 - 0 Portland.
46’ SUBS The Timbers made two halftime changes, replacing Evander and Antony with Boli and Diego Chara.
53’ YELLOW CARD Bryan Acosta picked up the game’s only yellow card for a foul.
61’ SUBS The Timbers’ second substitution window bring Sebastian Blanco and Eric Miller into the match for Acosta and Bravo.
64’ GOAL IMPACT, 3-0 Mosquera gave the ball away cheaply up the pitch which set Montreal off on the counter attack through Romell Quioto. Quioto ran at the backline and played one pass across the pitch to Choinière, who was allowed the freedom of Stade Saputo to line up a powerful strike from distance that caught Bingham out at the near post.
72’ DISALLOWED GOAL Franck Boli had a goal called back for offside after finishing off a headed pass from Blanco in the box.
69’ SUB Portland’s final change saw Yimmi Chara come on for Dairon Asprilla.
76’ GOAL IMPACT, 4-0 A nightmare night for the Timbers got even worse in the final quarter of an hour, as Toye added a fourth for the Impact from close range. David Bingham pushed a shot from Ariel Lassiter straight into the path of Toye, and the striker made no mistake in front of goal.
86’ GOAL TIMBERS, 4-1 Franck Boli scored a consolation goal for the Timbers with a clever backheel off the feed from Yimmi Chara in the closing minutes. On replay it looked like Yimmi Chara played the ball off his own hand in the buildup, but the handball wasn’t called.
90’ Eight minutes of stoppage time were added to the end of the second half.
Full time: The match ended Montreal 4 - 1 Portland.
Final Thoughts
It was a really poor result for the Timbers and an even worse performance knowing that a win would have secured a place in at least the play-in position. From the very beginning of the match it looked like Montreal was going to run away with the win, and they did exactly that in emphatic fashion.
In the first half the Timbers’ midfield duo of Evander and Acosta, and McGraw-less backline, were completely bypassed by the speed of the Impact’s forwards, allowing chance after chance for the home team. Paredes’ box-to-box presence was sorely missed in the Portland midfield.
The Timbers’ defense, which has now conceded 17 goals in nine games under Miles Joseph, was back to its worst as well - All four of Montreal’s goals came from Portland mistakes. The result means that the Timbers will need a loss or draw from both Sporting KC and Minnesota United, or a win in their final match against Houston to clinch a playoff spot.
UP NEXT: The Timbers host a dangerous Houston Dynamo team that has the chance to finish as high as second in the West on decision day. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT on Saturday Oct. 21.
Even though the impact of their cleats on the Timbers' faces is still visible, Montreal is no longer called the Impact. They're now CF Montreal.
Definitely a missed opportunity, and the LA game kind of gave a hint that the team wasn't clicking. It seemed like a coaching error led to this shellacking. Four goals is just ------- fill in the blank. I think it comes down to an identity thing. It's tough to be a counter pressing team when there are certain players who just aren't going to make it work. Given the lineup last night, it would have been better to just be possession based, keep the team in front of you on defense, and control the game. IF - and it's a big if right now, the Timbers make the playoffs, they got to get two DMs in there and just lock down the defense. I hope they learn from this, but it could be too late. It is setting up for an exciting game against Houston. Too bad they couldn't take advantage of some decisions that went our way and at least got a draw.