Portland Timbers 0 - 0 San Jose Earthquakes: Match Recap & Highlights

Portland tallies their third straight clean sheet as they earn a point on the road.

The Portland Timbers battled the San Jose Earthquakes to a scoreless draw in California on Saturday night. Both sides came close to scoring, with shots hitting off the woodwork at either end and Evander missing a golden opportunity with a header just out of halftime. But in the end, nobody could find the back of the net, as the Timbers tallied their third clean sheet in a row and picked up a road point.

Photo Credit: Portland Timbers

Recap

The Portland Timbers rolled out a very similar lineup to their past two games, with David Bingham continuing his stretch in goal with Aljaz Ivacic still on international duty. With Juan Mosquera away with Colombia as well, Eric Miller shifted over to right back and Claudio Bravo returned from yellow card suspension to man the left side.

Media Credit: Portland Timbers

Both sides were evenly matched in the first half, with Portland doing a commendable job to hold San Jose’s offense at bay. The closest the hosts came to scoring was a booming free kick from Jeremy Ebobisse at the top of the box that smashed off the crossbar and out.

For the Timbers, Franck Boli was the one who nearly produced the magic in the first half, as a sycthing run from the Iviorian produced a save from San Jose goalkeeper Daniel. Evander also came close with a shot from distance, and the Brazilian was also very active and dangerous with his passing yet again.

The teams went into the locker rooms at halftime scoreless, and on the balance of play you could probably call that fair. The Timbers were perhaps the happier of the two sides, as San Jose mustered just one attempt on target from open play in the opening frame.

Portland was almost even happier still right out of the gates in the second half, when Evander had a golden opportunity to head the Timbers in front off of a great find on a cross from Boli. Evander put his header right at the scrambling Daniel however, and the chance went begging.

The Timbers had the better of the run of play in the second half, but couldn’t find the back of the net despite some decent offensive buildup. As the game wore on, it became more stretched as legs started to tire.

Dairon Asprilla had a chance out of seemingly nothing in stoppage time to win it for the Timbers, but his attempt cruelly hit off the post.

In the end, it was fatigue who won the day, as both sides ran out of gas. The match finished 0-0, with the Timbers picking up their third consecutive clean sheet. Portland will likely be pleased with the road point and continued defensive resurgence, but they leave the Bay Area with perhaps a small question in the back of their heads wondering what might have been.

Highlights

9’ First real danger of the game, as Judson curled an effort just over the bar. The chance came about after some solid hold-up play from our old friend Jeremy Ebobisse, who now wears the black and blue of San Jose.

18’ Santiago Moreno was shown the game’s first yellow card for a late tackle on Judson.

20’ Franck Boli got on his horse and drove right into the heart of the San Jose defense on a slaloming run, and bursted in behind the backline with a sight on goal. He couldn’t get quite enough on his shot however, and the ‘keeper made a good reaction save.

32’ Timbers fans everywhere had their hearts in their mouths as Diego Chara stayed down after a sliding challenge in some pain. After walking off the field on his own power, he made his way back onto the field, and everyone exhaled a huge sigh of relief.

38’ After the Timbers gave away a free kick at the top of the box, Ebobisse banged a thunderous free kick off the crossbar. David Bingham must have been thankful for the frame — if the ball were just a inch or so lower, the former Timbers striker would have opened the scoring against his former team.

43’ Evander uncorked a knuckler from distance that appeared to be tipped wide by the ‘keeper. The referee signaled for a goal kick afterwards however, for… reasons?

44’ Dairo Zuparic was shown the game’s second yellow card for a foul to break up a promising San Jose attack.

45’+2 With the last kick of the first half Dairon Asprilla got his head to a looping cross right in front of goal, but he sent his attempt high and wide.

HALFTIME: Earthquakes - 0, Timbers - 0.

The Timbers and ‘Quakes were even at five shots apiece, with Portland putting two of theirs on frame to San Jose’s one.

47’ The Timbers nearly opened the scoring right out of halftime, as a nice flowing move from the Timbers saw Boli ping in a perfect cross for Evander. The Brazilian had a point-blank chance to head Portland ahead, but his header was right to Daniel, who had done well to scramble over, and somehow pushed it away right on the doorstep.

64’ Eric Miller went into the book for Portland, for tugging back a San Jose attacker.

68’ A wild sequence in Portland’s box saw San Jose hit the near post, and Bingham make a great leaping save to block the follow-up header. The chaos ended with a San Jose foul, and the Timbers’ defense exhaled.

72’ Portland made their first two subs of the game, as Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Sebastian Blanco entered the fray for Boli and Santiago Moreno.

90’+3 With a chance of out of basically nothing, Asprilla flicked a ball towards goal from outside the box. It pinged just off of the post, agonizingly wide of its target.

FULL TIME: San Jose - 0, Timbers - 0.

A back and forth game ended scoreless, as the Timbers picked up a road point in the house of a Western Conference rival.

Final thoughts

I can’t whine too much about a point on the road, right? Especially one in the house of a team the Timbers will likely be fighting against for a playoff spot at the sticky end of the season.

And still… I come away from this game with the same sense of longing that I left the scoreless draw in Seattle with: what might have been if the Timbers had been just a touch more clinical and ruthless?

Portland’s defense is, for perhaps the first time all season, playing well enough to win them games on their own. Three straight games of shutout soccer is unequivocally very good, especially as it all comes after a game where Portland shipped four goals. If there is any major positive to take from this game, it’s that the Timbers defense shut down a pretty decent San Jose team, limiting the hosts to just two shots on target on the night.

But if there’s any major area of worry to take away, it’s the fact that the Timbers have now scored just twice in their last six MLS games. Portland seems to be lacking that “killer instinct” — both in finding that high-quality shot and in finding that high-quality pass to unlock a defense. Evander is going to want his header back in this one, and many Timbers players are going to want back the long-range efforts they settled for that didn’t really come anywhere close to scoring.

Road points in MLS, especially against an in-conference foe, are the key to making the playoffs. But so too is winning games when you control the play and deserve three points. Portland did the former but not the latter tonight, and as we enter into the second half of the season we are still left to wonder how close they are to running out of time to put it all together.

Portland returns home for a quick turnaround, as they face the struggling Chicago Fire at Providence Park on Wednesday, June 21 at 7:30 p.m. PT.