Portland Timbers 2, Columbus Crew 2, - Instant Reaction
A wild back-and-forth affair see Portland tally a well-fought draw on the road.
The Portland Timbers battled the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew 2-2 in a wild back-and-forth game that saw Portland take and lose the lead twice. Felipe Mora tallied a goal in his fourth straight game, but it was canceled out by a Cucho Hernandez strike. Santiago Moreno put the Timbers ahead once more, but a worldy from Steven Moreira brought the teams level to share the spoils.
Phil Neville started largely the same squad as he did last weekend, with three key differences: James Pantemis stepped in for the suspended Maxime Crepeau, and Eryk Williamson and Santiago Moreno got starts.
The Crew got off to a stronger start, with Portland struggling to keep possession. But despite those early warning signs, the Timbers managed to find themselves up on the road ten minutes into the game.
Williamson collected the ball at midfield, put his head down, and went for a little jog. He drove through the center of the Columbus defense, and laid the ball off for Santi Moreno. The Colombian gave it right back to Williamson, who slid in a ball for a streaking Felipe Mora to run onto. Pipe turned and fired a shot at a tight angle, and it just got past Schulte and trickled over the line.
Williamson rewarded Phil Neville for his decision to start him, Mora scored a goal in his fourth straight game, and the Timbers led in Columbus.
The goal seemed to put the Crew on their heels, as Portland nearly doubled their unexpected early advantage in the ensuing minutes. Evander had a point blank shot headed away, and Miguel Araujo sent a strong header wide after a recycled corner kick.
Despite those early moments, the Timbers couldn’t build many more sustained attacking sequences. They instead had to shift to defend waves of Columbus attacks — but the backline responded well.
Portland’s defenders did a good job of tracking Columbus’ attackers in the box, and Kamal Miller and Araujo especially did well in keeping track of Cucho Hernandez (that’s even despite Cucho finding the back of the net, in a goal that was ultimately ruled offside).
The rest of Portland’s defense made key blocks on Columbus attempts on goal, with Pantemis in particular being crucial. He tipped away an audacious Olimpico attempt and reacted well to parry away a late free kick opportunity for the Crew.
Columbus started turning the screw a bit to close the half, but the Timbers held firm, and went into the locker room with a 1-0 advantage.
The Timbers may have been buoyed by their first half performance, but they were quickly reminded that they were facing the defending MLS Cup champions who are relentless on the attack.
Five minutes into the second frame, a well worked Columbus move on the wing saw Diego Rossi make a run in behind which not a single soul wearing green picked up. Rossi cut the ball back for Cucho, and the dangerous striker made no mistake by slotting it home to level the scoreline.
It appeared as if the Crew were going to continue to press their momentum and grab the next goal — but it was in fact the Timbers who would find the back of the net next, and in very pretty fashion.
Jonathan Rodriguez, who had had a rough time finding the ball on the night, played in an entry bal for Evander. The Brazilian expertly spun to dummy the ball through to Mora, who then laid the ball off for Evander. Portland’s number ten then found Moreno streaking towards goal, and then just as he did the last time Portland was in Columbus, Santi powered home the ball into the bottom corner.
An incredible team goal had resulted in Evander tallying another assist, and Portland putting their noses in front once again.
But just as it did after Portland scored the opener, the pendulum swung back yet again and Columbus came forth with fury.
More waves of Columbus attacks came forward, and Portland once again stayed afloat by the grace of key interventions and blocks. A wild sequence even saw Claudio Bravo make a goal-saving block on the line, after Pantemis spilled a cross right to the Crew.
Alas, Portland’s defense would be breeched once more despite their valiant effort — but by an unlikely source. A quickly worked passing move from the Crew found centerback Steve Moreira in the final third, and he walloped a shot that pinged off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.
Pantemis and the Timbers arguably couldn’t have done much more to stop a wordly from a centerback like that, but the result was the same — the game was level once again.
The Timbers showed good fight by not backing down, and made attempts to go for the win. They nearly found the winner late after Dairon Asprilla bulldozed his way into the Columbus box and found Evander, but the Brazilan had his attempt saved.
After that chance though, the Timbers made a move seemingly to shore up their defense and preserve a point, as David Ayala and Eric Miller came on for Felipe Mora and Juan Mosquera.
Despite all Timbers’ fans hearts jumping into their throats after a last-minute Cucho free kick pinged just off the inside of the post, bounced on the line behind Pantemis, and out away from goal, the full-time whistle blew and the Timbers escaped Columbus with a point.
On the balance of play, a point is fair. Portland played well enough to earn something, as did the Crew. Yes, Portland took and lost the lead twice, but you could argue that that is more of a credit to Columbus as a team rather than Portland’s defensive frailties.
The big takeaway from this game: Portland just went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in MLS and the defending MLS Cup champs and didn’t back down. No, the three points aren’t here yet. But Portland is starting to show the signs of becoming a pretty darned decent ball club — and that is worth celebrating.
Scoring Summary
Portland: Mora (10’), Moreno (57’)
LAFC: Cucho (51’), Moreira (74’)
Next Up:
Portland’s three game road odyssey continues, as they face their second match against LAFC in three weeks on April 27. Kickoff in LA is set for 7:30 p.m. PT.
Alright I don’t care, I’m gonna be uber-positive. I’m extremely happy with this result. And my hottest take? This, in my opinion, was our most impressive defensive performance of the year. Yes, our defense was nowhere to be seen on their first goal, but that was a case of Evander not tracking his runner and slow reactions from Miller and Williamson to do anything about it. But I thought that was going to happen a LOT more than it did. Columbus is so good with the ball it isn’t even fair, and in the past we’ve gotten pulled apart so earlier. And yeah, they got behind our outside backs way more than I’d like, but the reality is we didn’t give up that many good chances, and they only scored one goal that wasn’t a wonder strike. On the road against the best offensive team in the league and only conceding one non-wonder goal is a pretty positive outcome.
This game played out exactly how I expected, it was always going to be a shooting gallery, and I thought our first half defense was brilliant. We were very compact and our defensive rotations were really good, which I was thrilled with because they usually suck. We were never going to see much of the ball, so we were defensively stout. Now past the 60th minute or so we got tired and didn’t look nearly as compact, but again, I’m just happy about the result. Kamal and Araujo are turning into a really solid defensive pair, I’m starting to really like Araujo. He made some good defensive plays but also had 3-4 really lovely long balls that opened up the game. As we’ve discussed, that’s key for this system that Neville wants to play. Mosquera also really impressed me, this was his best performance from a defensive and tactical discipline perspective in a long time.
Listen, when I say “most impressive,” I don’t necessarily mean “good.” There’s still lots and lots of improvements to be made. But what I’m seeing is an improvement every single game. The team is playing more together. The mentality seems to be improving. Phil is starting to get better performances out of players. Personally I’ve always seen Evander as a 10, even if he played a lot as an 8 and even played better there at points, and he’s really thriving now in that free role. He looks bought in, his defensive work rate is higher despite being in a “higher” position (except their goal lol), and it just seems like he’s gonna make something happen whenever he gets the ball. His role in our second goal was awesome, I LOVE the dummy that took out two Crew players (that was hilarious) and his patience to not hit the shot and pass it to Moreno was spectacular. Him and Mora are really cooking. Four straight games with a goal for Mora, and 6 goal contributions in 4 games for Evander, I mean good lord they are on a roll, and I don’t see it stopping.
Remember under Gio, in most of our away games we looked hopeless. We looked tired and disinterested. We looked like we had no plan and didn’t play as a team. Under Neville that has completely changed, our mentality is much better, and we’re playing together with a game plan and the game feels even. It’s a weird thing to say but previous it so often felt like we were playing with a man down during away games, at least to me.
These improvements take time, Phil is clearly still finding his best XI, and the team isn’t making it easy for him. Moreno had an awesome game, his best of the season, so now it’ll be a battle between him and Antony for the starter on the wing, and I’m happy with either. Phil has worked out the back line, it has been changed around so much but we’ve landed on Araujo and Miller. That process is currently happening in the midfield, and I expect to keep seeing rotations until one player steps up and grabs that position for themselves. Williamson was fine, again I don’t see any defensive frailties with him and Evander on the field at the same time, I don’t think it’s as much of a problem. Chara was awesome, which you just love to see after some shaky performances. Speaking of shaky, Pantemis worried me a lot. He didn’t look great, though did make some really nice saves. Crepeau definitely the starter though.
Bravo is my MOTM, mostly for that goal line save, taking that shot on the chest. My god that hurt me just looking at it. No fear whatsoever, he is a rockstar. Also I loved those two plays where he chested and headed the ball back to Pantemis, it was gutsy and really good. Call me crazy but I’m happy with how the team is progressing, if it keeps going there could be a really bright future
"Yes, Portland took and lost the lead twice, but you could argue that that is more of a credit to Columbus as a team rather than Portland’s defensive frailties."
Hard disagree on the first Columbus goal. That goal was literally all about Portland's defensive frailty. The pass into the box was into acres of space that shouldn't have been there, and there was nobody anywhere near Cucho to even try to close him down. Two very major mistakes leading to a goal that a halfway competent defense would have shut down at the entry pass.
The second Columbus goal? Yeah, that was unstoppable, nothing to be done about that at all. But the first goal was Portland Timbers 2024 defending through and through, and until that gets better, this team won't.