Match Recap: Timbers vs. Whitecaps

... At least Portland scored this time?

The Portland Timbers started the 2025 season nearly just as poorly as they ended the 2024 season, as they fell at home to the Vancouver Whitecaps 4-1. A comedy of errors in the first half left the Timbers down a man from the 11th minute on, and then the Whitecaps took advantage and put Portland to the sword.

Antony tallied late in the second half, but on the whole the Timbers couldn’t muster any kind of offense — they were outshot 6-23(!) on the afternoon.

Photo Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers FC

Lineups & Prematch

It was appropriately gray, raining, and cold before the match — absolutely perfect conditions for the first match of 2025 in Portland.

Numerous Timbers players were unavailable, including Jonathan Rodriguez, Santiago Moreno, Dario Zuparic, and Miguel Araujo. Therefore, Timbers head coach Phil Neville rolled out a 3-5-2 lineup, featuring Finn Surman in the back-three, and Jimer Fory, Joao Ortiz, and Kevin Kelsy all being handed starts for their Timbers debut. New DP David da Costa was available off the bench.

The legend Diego Chara celebrated his 400th MLS appearance, a milestone only a handful of players had achieved. And even fewer of them have done it with the same club, as the Godfather has done.

The swirling and wet weather kept it late, but as the players walked out Providence Park awoke from its slumber and rumbled to life. Punctuated by an as expected excellent tifo from the Timbers Army celebrating Portland’s 2024 Cascadia Cup victory and declaring “There’s a Party in Portland, It’s Gonna Last All Year” the 2025 season commenced.

Match Recap & Storyline

The Timbers, sporting their absolutely fantastic looking Forever Green & Gold primary jerseys, attacked towards the south end in the first half. As one might have expected from what was a fairly standard 3-5-2, the Timbers struggled to create much attacking thrust in the opening ten minutes.

And then any kind of organization or intended impact went straight out the window as Kamal Miller was shown a straight red card for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity

11’ RED CARD POR — Kamal Miller

As Finn Surman and Zac McGraw overcommitted into the midfield, a dinked ball over the top beat all of Portland’s backline and sent through Brian White. K. Miller was the last defender, and he tried his best to keep pace. He came across the back of White on the edge of the box, who went down in the box somewhat awkwardly and not without a little embellishment on White’s part. Victor Rivas then reached for his back pocket and gave K. Miller his marching orders.

All of the intent behind having three centerbacks and three central midfielders was lost as Portland was forced to adjust to having to play nearly 80 minutes down a man, with very little offensive firepower on the pitch. That meant that if Portland wanted to have a chance to get a result, they needed to do all they could to lock in and limit their individual errors.

Which made the horrid goal kick from Max Crepeau that led to the game’s opening goal in the minute all the more brutal.

24’ Goal VAN — Ryan Gauld, 0-1

A badly misplayed restart from the ‘keeper went right to the feet of the Whitecaps’ Jayden Nelson, who squared the ball to Ryan Gauld in the box. Just as he did four months ago, Gauld knocked home to give the visitors the lead.

The pain was compounded eight minutes later, when Pedro Vite launched a screamer from distance that soared past Crepau and into the bottom corner to double the visitors’ advantage.

32’ Goal VAN — Pedro Vite, 0-2

What was once a tentatively optimistic occasion rapidly devolved into what it was the last time these two sides met: a frustrating and depressing affair that was entirely of the Timbers’ own doing.

Phil Neville made his first substitution in the 37th minute, introducing Eric Miller and pulling Felipe Mora, shifting Antony to his more natural advanced winger position in an attempt to find a little more balance in his side.

It seemed to work, as Portland was able to stop the bleeding as the first half drew to a close — but just barely. The Timbers went into the locker room trailing by two goals, and facing the challenge of chasing the game in the second half down a man.

Halftime: Timbers 0, Whitecaps 2

Seeking to try to do something, anything, to get his side’s offense to y’know, exist, Neville turned to his new Designated Player David da Costa. And he quickly showed why Portland shelled out so much money for him, as he seemed to bring an immediate spark offensively in the early minutes of the second half.

It was a shame then that it amounted to not much as Vancouver burned Portland on the counter-attack and scored yet again to go 3-0 up.

53’ Goal VAN — Sam Adekube, 0-3

With numbers pushed forward on a corner kick, Nelson absolutely burned the Timbers going the other way. He raced past the entire Timbers defense and squared the ball for Sam Adekube to slot home.

On the goal all of the Timbers were up in arms over an apparent handball committed by Vancouver at the other end, and from a certain angle it sure looked like they had an argument. For whatever reason though, the play was not reviewed by the center official and the goal stood.

By this point, even the most hopeful of fans could see that the result was academic. Down a man still mostly bereft of offensive ideas, the first match of 2025 was shaping up to feel eerily similar to the last match of 2024.

That was of course made worse when Nelson completed his boogeyman arc, and scored a goal of his own to bring the score within one goal of being exactly like that infamous loss back in October.

61’ Goal VAN — Jayden Nelson, 0-4

But in a moment that gave fans at least one moment to stand up and cheer, the Timbers were able to make this defeat marginally less bad by actually scoring this time.

73’ GOAL TIMBERS — Antony, 1-4

Antony tallied the first goal of the season when he collected a scuffed shot from Antony and beat Yohei Takaoka in front of the North End. To put some more shine on the moment, the sequence was started by Zac McGraw nutmegging Ryan Gauld and launching the ball forward into the attacking third.

Vancouver still tried to grab a fifth, and the Timbers did just enough to prevent them from getting it, if that’s any consolation. With the rain still falling and everyone soaked to the bone, the Timbers’ 2025 campaign started in just about the worst fashion it could have: by reminding everyone how awful the end of the 2024 campaign was.

Full Time: Timbers 1, Whitecaps 4

If 2025 is to be the season Portland starts to punch at the level of the rest of the Western Conference, they have to get off the dang mat first. They were immediately struck down at home by their Canadian rivals in humiliating fashion, and you would be forgiven if this game did nothing to wipe the pain of last year from your mind.

There’s been a lot of change to the Timbers in 2025, but you wouldn’t know it by the first game. The mountain to relevance that Portland has to climb is still steep. And we still don’t know if they have the tools to do it.