Portland Timbers at Colorado Rapids: Instant Reaction & Recap

Running out of air at altitude

The Portland Timbers fell on the road to the Colorado Rapids by a scoreline of 2-1 on Saturday night. A Jonathan Lewis opener was canceled out by David Ayala’s first MLS goal, but a winner from Rafael Navarro on a set piece — along with some woefully wasteful finishing from the Timbers — handed the Timbers their eighth away loss of the season.

Photo Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers

It was a very familiar starting XI from Phil Neville, with the notable changes being Kamal Miller sliding over to left back for the injured Claudio Bravo and Jonathan Rodriguez leading the line, while Felipe Mora, who was dealing with a minor injury this week, starting on the bench.

Portland jumped out of the gate immediately on the front foot. Rodriguez had an attempt just blocked wide (he was flagged offside anyway) and noted Rapids-killer Antony had an attempt (or perhaps a pass) flare just wide all in the opening five minutes.

After that however, the game settled into a back-and-forth rhythm. The game state was a minor surprise considering the altitude of the game and Portland’s general conservative strategy whenever they have previously traveled to Commerce City — but it wasn’t an unwelcome development.

It was a very unwelcome development though to see the Rapids find the back of the net first in the 15th minute. The Timbers backline did a poor job of challenging for and clearing the ball at the top of their box, and in a scrum of bodies the ball fell to Jonathan Lewis, who slid the ball past Maxime Crepeau and into the bottom corner to open the scoring.

It took less than ten minutes for the Timbers to respond. And if you were watching the Leagues Cup, the goal looked eerily familiar.

After a sustained bit of possession, the Timbers won a corner. Evander whipped the ball in, and Miguel Araujo flicked it on towards the back post. Just as he did against Colorado last month in the Leagues Cup, David Ayala was first to meet the ball, and headed home to level the scoreline. The young midfielder’s first MLS goal brought Portland right back into the match.

David Ayala: he scores when he wants to — and apparently he only wants to against the Colorado Rapids.

The Timbers held their own against Colorado’s attempts to roar back in the game, and a big factor in that was Crepeau. He came up big in several occasions, making the key block or touch to deny the Rapids an opportunity. The play of Diego Chara and Ayala stood out as well as they were able to deny the home side access to the middle of the park, and forced them down the wings.

On the other side, the Timbers were able to find decent scoring opportunities, mostly on the counterattack. The Rapids blocked five (!) of Portland’s shots in the first half, and the ones that they didn’t, like some strong attempts from Evander, forced good saves out of Zack Steffen.

Despite Portland holding the edge in shots, shots on goal, and possession, they couldn’t find the back of the net again in the first half, and neither could the hosts. The two sides went into halftime locked at one goal apiece.

The Timbers darned near grabbed the lead seconds into the second half, but Antony inexplicably couldn’t turn a beautiful ball in from Rodriguez on frame.

It would be a chance the Timbers would later come to regret.

But before that moment, the Rapids started to turn the screw with sustained periods of possession. And with that the game settled back into its usual rhythm: Colorado controlling the flow of the game and Portland finding its best chances on the counter.

Portland’s defense started to gradually bend closer and closer to its breaking point, so with his side in need of some greater offensive punch Neville subbed on Mora for Antony.

It was an up-and-down night for the young Brazilian: he found good spots and looked dangerous at pace, but fluffed two golden chances to score and lost the ball just a bit too easily.

Unfortunately, those fluffed chances bit Portland in the hindquarters in the 71st minute. Off a set piece (sigh, yeah — another one of these) the Timbers completely failed to track Rafael Navarro, who had an inexplicably free header at the far post, which he turned home past a frozen Crepeau to make it 2-1.

Chasing the game yet again, the Timbers took up the task of fighting back into the game in the final fifteen minutes.

However as the minutes ticked down, it did not seem as if the Timbers would generate a second equalizer. The counterattacks still lacked the crispness needed, and the final moves weren’t clinical enough to generate a clear look on goal.

And that was the story of how the game wound to a close. Despite some shenanigans ensuing at the end of the game involving Dario Zuparic and Darren Yapi which saw Yapi get shown a straight red card, Portland couldn’t find the back of the net.

The match ended with the Timbers losing by a 2-1 scoreline, and remaining in 8th place in the Western Conference.

Goals — POR: Ayala (24’) // COL: Lewis (14’), Navarro (71’)

Up Next: The matches come thick and fast for the Timbers, as they have a quick turnaround back to Portland to face the Galaxy at home on Septmeber 18. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT.

Reaction

Well darn. When presented with a great opportunity to get a signature road win, lift themselves out of the dogfight for the final playoff spots, and potentially make a bit of a statement in the Western Conference, the Timbers instead found themselves sliding further into the morass.

And they really have nobody to blame except themselves.

The Timbers left at least two goals on the table tonight due to poor finishing, and very likely more than that. Antony missed two nearly identical opportunities in the second half to put Portland ahead, and several promising counterattacks fizzled as Portland couldn’t connect in the final third.

Meanwhile, it looks like Portland still hasn’t figured out how to defend set pieces consistently (in case you were worried they magically somehow did). I really have no explanation for how Navarro was so open on the winner, and my fear is that the Timbers coaching staff doesn’t either.

The loss could potentially see Portland lose significant ground with the top six in the conference, and set up the final month of the season as a white-knuckle battle for simply making the playoffs, let alone snagging home field advantage for the first round.

Portland has shown that they are too good of a team to let results like this define them — the question is if they can make the most of the few amount of games they have left to prove it.