Match Recap & Highlights - U.S. Open Cup: Timbers 3, RSL 4
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup fourth round match between Portland Timbers and RSL had a lot of fireworks, but it was the visitors who advanced in the tournament.
The Portland Timbers’ journey in the U.S. Open Cup ended at the hands of of Real Salt Lake, as Portland lost 3-4 in a wild shootout at home.
Sebastian Blanco tallied his first goal of 2023 for Portland, and Justin Rasmussen and Jaroslaw Niezgoda added goals to get Portland back in the game after they fell behind.
But it didn’t prove to be enough as goals by Danny Musovski, Andres Gomez, and a brace by Maikel Chang powered the visitors to a victory, and a spot in the Open Cup round of 16.
Recap
The Timbers played a similar lineup as they did against Orange County SC.
With Tega Ikoba out, Gio decided to start Nathan Fogaça. Noel Caliskan and Tyler Clegg also received their second consecutive Cup starts, respectively.
David Bingham made his first start since his early season injury against LA Galaxy.
In the first half, it was a slow start for both teams and the passing was sloppy. Neither side could get the upper hand and it showed throughout.
In the 4th minute, Caliskan stole the ball near RSL’s box and slipped a pass to Seba who finished to put the Timbers ahead.
However, Andrés Gómez started taking over this game with his dribbling, passing, and shooting.
In the 30th minute, the soccer higher-ups started playing pinball and they gave the ball to Musovski who finished past Bingham who had no chance.
Gómez gave RSL another with a laser in the 41st minute to give the visitors the first lead of the game. They would go into the half up 2-1.
Portland had numerous chances before the half to equalize, but RSL ‘keeper Gavin Beavers came up big each time.
This was an ugly half of football that favored RSL, and set up an action-packed second half.
In the 49th minute, Caliskan put his defender on skates with a stop-and-go move. He found Rasmussen at the top of the box who smashed it home for the momentary equalizer.
Portland was not done, and they took the lead in the 52nd minute when Jarosław Niezgoda found the back of the net off a long ball from Tyler Clegg.
But minutes later, RSL’s Gómez, who had his way with the Timbers backline all night, got passed Rasmussen and found Maikel Chang for the equalizer.
Chang would score again in the 59th minute when Musovski found him with a perfect low driven pass in the box.
After what seemed like a lack of action for nearly 15 minutes, Gio Savarese put in his aces, Asprilla and Moreno in the 73rd minute. Juan David Mosquera would enter in the 86th minute.
Unfortunately, the Portland Timbers could not get the equalizer and had to swallow a tough 3-4 home loss. They kept pressing, fighting, and playing, but it wasn’t enough.
They are now out of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Highlights
First Half
3’ Damir Kreilach is unmarked in the box, but misses the open header
4’ 1-0! Caliskan intercepts the pass and slots it to Seba who calmly finishes past Beavers.
16’ Gómez drives the right side of the Portland backline but his finish is wide of Bingham
25’ Nathan looked to have drawn a PK, but the official changed the call to a corner kick.
30’ 1-1. Portland has multiple chances to clear, but the ball somehow bounces to Danny Musovski who easily puts it away past Bingham. What an unfortunate bounce for Portland.
36’ Dangerous free kick given up by Portland at the top of the box. Gómez has had heck of a half so far.
38’ Caliskan plays a beautiful through ball into Seba who hits a cross into the box. He finds Rasmussen who skies it over the bar. Nice passage of play for home side.
41’ 1-2 Gómez hits a rocket from outside the box and has the visitors in front for the first time.
42’ Marvin Loría draws a dangerous free kick by the end line just outside the box.
43’ Gutierrez with the beautiful cross off the recycled corner that results in a Loría’s blast that nearly ties it up, Beavers denies.
44’ Several Portland corners, including a Nathan header but no goal. Beavers continues to come up big.
45’ Parades unloads a blast from outside the box, but is denied by the RSL GK.
Second Half
Niezoga in for Blanco at the start of the half.
49’ 2-2! Caliskan puts on a nice move and lays it off to Rasmussen who finishes with authority.
52’ 3-2! Niezgoda slots it home after Clegg played a long ball in.
55’ 3-3 Gómez easily gets past Rasmussen and drives to the heart of the defense and finds Maikel Chang for the goal.
57’ Victor Griffith on for Paredes
59’ 4-3 RSL on the counterattack with another easy goal, this time Musovski to Chang.
63’ Gómez is subbed off, which created an opportunity for Portland to attack with RSL’s biggest threat off the field.
73’ Moreno and Asprilla on for Gutierrez and Nathan
76’ Gorgeous ball in from Marvin into Dairon who nearly heads it home.
77’ Griffith with a screamer, but it sails over the bar.
83’ Griffith with another effort just outside the box that goes over the post.
86’ JDM on for Rasmussen
Five minutes of added time weren’t enough, as the full-time whistle blew with Portland exiting the U.S. Open Cup by way of a 3-4 loss to RSL.
Final Thoughts
If you are a fan of offense, was this the game for you. There was 7 goals and end to end action. However, if you are a fan of defense, you would have hated this game.
Neither team really deserved to win this game with the amount of sloppy play and terrible defending on display. But in a tournament, one team had to advance. It may have ended 3-4 in RSL’s favor, but the only winners were the fans (the ones who enjoyed goals, at least).
The Portland Timbers have a huge Cascadia clash at home against Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, and will need to have a short memory if they are going to take three points on the weekend
In all honesty, last night is what I thought every Timbers game would be this season - tons of offense and no defense anywhere within several blocks of PP. I just didn't expect it to come from such a heavily rotated lineup!
Not going to spend a ton of time analyzing or thinking about this game, there were some decent individual moments and it was nice to see Blanco play a half and score a goal, but otherwise, well, T2 guys are T2 guys for a reason. They showed some promise, but also showed that they still need some cooking time as it were. I'm looking forward to seeing a few of those guys in a year or so after some regular playing time, for sure.
Yep, that sure was an open cup game. With that midfield and backline there’s not much you can expect. If we had a fully healthy midfield we’d be rocking with a rested Paredes and Ayala in there most likely, maybe Caliskan. Bingham likes to hit it long too much, we were very impatient after the 75th minute. Two of our goals came from some nice play though, Caliskan looked alright in the middle and did quite well for the Rasmussen goal. Outside of that... yeah, it’s whatever really. Griffith had two good chances, Paredes would’ve had a banger if it weren’t for a spectacular save, and Loria had a shot also saved from close range. We had the better of the chances overall. Really wish McGraw would’ve come on for Mabiala at halftime, or at least at the 60. I also think Mosquera could’ve come on earlier, but I understand resting our starts. Oh well, it’s the open cup
Seattle lost to a terrible Galaxy side. Just how the competition goes. The important games are still to come, we can focus on those. Correction, we NEED to focus on those. Big month and a half stretch coming up for the team