Match Recap & Highlights: Portland Timbers 3 - 2 Columbus Crew

Timbers snap five-match winless streak against the Columbus Crew behind goals from Asprilla (2) and Blanco.

The Portland Timbers (6-8-9) inducted Diego Valeri into their Ring of Honor in style, beating the Columbus Crew (10-6-7) 3-2 on a sweltering night in the Rose City.

Diego Valeri

Timbers legend Diego Valeri - after signing a one-day contract to retire a Portland Timber on Friday - was inducted into the club’s Ring of Honor prior to the match, joining John Bain, Clive Charles, Jimmy Conway, Timber Jim, and Mick Hoban.

At halftime, Valeri received a commemorative axe from the club before offering up one of the most heartfelt, goosebump-inducing speeches you’ll ever hear. “I see my name in the Ring of Honor, but the honor was playing for you every day,” said Valeri, who then sprinted from the halfway line to the Timbers Army to celebrate with supporters.

Recap

Aside from Eryk Williamson, David Ayala, and Santiago Moreno - who was left out of the matchday squad following a contract dispute that saw the Colombian winger skip team training last week - Giovanni Savarese had the rest of his squad healthy and available for selection.

Marvin Loría got the nod in place of Moreno on the wing, Zac McGraw regained his spot as Dario Župarić’s partner at centerback after his Gold Cup campaign with Canada, and David Bingham was selected in goal for the Timbers.

Dairon Asprilla scored a first-half brace before Zelarayán matched him with a brace of his own. But Sebastián Blanco’s sunshine goal in the 80th minute sealed the result and the points for the Timbers.

Highlights

9’ Jacen Russell-Rowe missed an absolute sitter from inside the box after Farsi found him perfectly on a cut-back cross.

15’ The Timbers came close to opening the scoring through Dairon Asprilla, who wriggled away from Yeboah before getting off a shot from a tough angle. Diego Chara set up the chance with a wonderful outside of the boot ball.

28’ GOAL TIMBERS, 1-0 Eventually, Dairon Asprilla would register the game’s first goal - blasting home a right footed shot just before the half-hour mark. Columbus failed to clear an Evander corner, and after a layoff from Zuparic, Asprilla found the back of the net with a first-time finish.

30’ GOAL TIMBERS, 2-0 Asprilla tucked home his second goal in as many minutes following one of the most audacious assists you will ever see from Franck Boli. From a throw-in Boli flicked the ball over one defender’s head before curling a beautiful pass into the path of Asprilla, who only had to toe-poke his shot past a helpless Schulte 1v1.

45’ Three minutes of stoppage time were added to the end of the first half.

45+3’ GOAL COLUMBUS, 2-1 Columbus halved the deficit through Lucas Zelarayán just before the break. Russell-Rowe chipped a ball beyond the Timbers backline, and Zelarayán rounded Bingham to tap home from close range.

HALFTIME: Timbers 2 - Columbus 1

49’ Zac McGraw cleared a shot off of the line, while Bingham was in no-man’s land.

63’ SUBSTITUTION The Timbers made a triple-change, bringing Sebastián Blanco, Felipe Mora, and Yimmi Chará into the match for Loría, Boli, and Asprilla - yet again denying a Timbers place the chance for an MLS hat trick (Gio why?!).

65’ GOAL COLUMBUS, 2-2 Zelarayán followed Asprilla’s first half lead and tallied his brace just after the hour mark, thumping a right-footed howitzer past Bingham from long-range. Nothing Bingham could have done, but there was absolutely no pressure on the Crew’s most dangerous player.

73’ CROSSBAR Yimmi Chará struck the crossbar with a header following a flick from Mora.

80’ GOAL TIMBERS, 3-2 Guess who? Seba, that’s who. After a scramble in the box, a deflected shot from Yimmi Chará squirmed right into the path of Blanco, and Portland’s fiery Argentinian smashed the ball past Schulte for his first of the season. Boy oh boy was a celebrating Chucky a sight for sore eyes.

84’ SUBSTITUTION Larrys Mabiala was brought into the match for Evander to see out the end of the match.

86’ Yimmi Chará should have put the game to bed late-on, but blazed a strike over the crossbar under no pressure from the Crew. Felipe Mora played a nifty pass to set up the shot.

89’ SUBSTITUTION Eric Miller replaced Claudio Bravo at left back.

90’ Six minutes of stoppage time were added to the end of the second half.

FULL TIME: Timbers 3 - 2 Columbus

Final Thoughts

The game was a perfect night of soccer in Portland: three points and three goals to send one of the club’s most legendary players off into the sunset of retirement. The defense, and Lucas Zelarayán, made things difficult at times, but the team dug deep to pull off a much-needed win that stopped a month-long slide.

The nature of the goals, and who scored them, was also a positive. Dairon Asprilla finished a Portland Timbers counter. I repeat. Dairon Asprilla finished a Portland Timbers counter. And Blanco popped up off the bench to score a very timely first of the season in MLS to secure the three points.

But the story of the night by far was honoring Diego Valeri, who in the words of Giovanni Savarese “Is Portland.”

Up Next: The Timbers will take a break from MLS play until their August 20th match against the Houston Dynamo, with the newly introduced Leagues Cup scheduled to start play next weekend. The Timbers will host both the San Jose Earthquakes at 7 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 22, and Liga MX side Tigres UANL at 8 p.m. PT on Wednesday, July 26. Because everybody loves an 8 p.m. kickoff on a weekday.