Match 13: Portland Timbers 4-0 Montreal Impact

By: Bob Kellett | June 28th, 2009

The Bottom Line: Mandjou Keita scored a pair of goals and George Josten tallied a pair of assists to lift the Portland Timbers to a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Impact in front of 7,783 at PGE Park on a gorgeous summer Sunday afternoon. Keita started the scoring in the 9th minute when headed home a David Hayes corner kick. In the 47th minute, he picked up another goal on a give-and-go with Josten that resulted in a Keita shot that deflected off an Impact (5-5-2, 17pts) defender and into the goal. Josten set up the third Portland (7-1-5, 26pts) goal of the match when he played a through ball to Brian Farber who beat Montreal ~~Brian~~ Matt Jordan in the 56th minute. The scoring was capped off by an own goal by Montreal in the 64th minute. The victory extends Portland’s unbeaten run in league play to 12 games. It is the second time this season the Timbers have defeated Montreal at PGE Park.

Timbers Lineup
POR: GK Cronin (Visser, 78), D Hayes, D Knowles, D Keel, D Thompson, M Farber, M Claesson (Higgins, 67), M Savage (Cameron, 81), M Suzuki (Nimo, 66), F Keita (McLaughlin, 67), F Josten

Did you notice…

Nine goals in two games. Gavin Wilkinson has become an offensive mastermind.
The Timbers took it to a pretty decent Montreal side that entered the game riding a three-game winning streak and that had won five of its past six games. Montreal played most of the match on its heels and collapsed after the second goal.
I’d say that Keita is ready for prime time. He has found his scoring grove with five goals in three matches. Imagine what he could do if he could stay onside.
Josten is one of the slowest, least physically capable players on the team, but he has a knack for setting up other players. He is developing into a very handy play maker and strike partner for Keita.
Heading into a big US Open Cup games against Seattle, it was nice that Wilkinson was able to go to his bench early and save some of his players for Wednesday. I didn’t even mind seeing Shaun Higgins for the first time in 2009. The new rule is that he can only enter the game when there is a four-goal lead.
Scot Thompson and Cameron Knowles are two USL-era Timbers’ legends. It is easy to lose track of that.
The next time you watch David Hayes you might want to note where he passes the ball. Almost every time he opts to make the simple pass rather than do something spectacular. That is why he is so effective. It is also why I’d take him lining up over a free kick rather than a guy like Andrew Gregor any day of the week.
Thumbs up to the dude in the stands wearing an authentic Takayuki Suzuki 2002 Japan World Cup jersey.
Thumbs down to the dude wearing the Michael Nsien jersey. Can’t we outlaw anything to do with 2006?
The Timbers won seven games in 2008. They are already there this year with more than half the schedule still in play. There’s a good chance they’ll reach the number of wins in 2007: 14.
Third in the table with games in hand.
270 minutes of soccer makes for a long day but between the U.S. nats almost pulling off an upset, the U23s winning in the 88th minute (Bobby!), and the chainsaw on repeat mode for the senior team, it was a fine way to spend a Sunday.
Wednesday can’t come soon enough.