Game 4: Timbers 2 – Vancouver 1

Photo by Steven D. Lenhart

The first game of the Cascadia Cup series was full of fouls, yellow cards and even a sending off. But the final result was once again all about Ryan Pore (pictured) who bookended the game with goals in the seventh and eighty-sixth minutes to give Portland Timbers a 2-1 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps in front of about 5800 at PGE Park. Pore’s second goal came just one minute after Futty Danso was sent off for his second yellow card and was thus a shorthanded goal. Add that header to the early free kick and Pore now has six goals in four games for top of the table Timbers as Portland enter a two-week break.

Pore got the Timbers going with his fantastic free kick in the seventh minute. The goal was doubly exciting as almost every other set-piece attempted by Pore this year as been directly into the wall or similarly ineffective. To drop one over the wall and into the upper left corner was a positive sign for the Timbers. But the euphoria in the North End of the stadium (where a healthy percentage of the very few supporters who actually showed were located) did not last long as Martin Nash found Nelson Akwari for a free header that leveled the score in the eleventh minute. And there the game stood until the final five minutes.

In between the goal-scoring, an unending string of fouls and cards were handed out by overzealous referee Desmond Miller. The referee was only in place because of travel issues for the scheduled crew and Miller, who lives in Vancouver, Washington, was picked as a replacement. Perhaps he did not want to seem overly in favor of the home side or perhaps it was the biggest game he ever got the chance to officiate, but he was downright awful. Thirty-one fouls between the two teams kept the game from ever really developing a flow and seven yellow cards (including two for Futty) put players on both clubs at ill-ease. Had Portland lost the game it probably would not have been fair to blame the referee alone as both sides were equally hounded by the man in yellow.

That said, Portland did a nice job of containing Vancouver’s big man up front, Marcus Haber. The young Canadian is on loan to the Whitecaps from West Bromich Albion, soon to be of the Premier League, and came into PGE Park as the nemesis of the Timbers after his stellar performance in the 2009 playoffs. Instead of wowing the American second division, Haber was mostly bottled up by a combination of Futty, Quavas Kirk and in the second half, Scot Thompson and Steve Purdy. The size and height difference in the Timbers defense in last night’s game made Haber’s life much more difficult and ultimately led to his substitution without a goal or assist to his name.

Despite the jerky nature of the game, both sides had strong chances that would have changed the make-up of the game, had they gone in. Nash rattled the post on a late free kick for the Whitecaps while Zourab Tsiskaridze just missed on a first half header. Vancouver had three corner kicks in the first few minutes of action but Portland managed to repel each attempt before Akwari finally scored. Doug DeMartin and George Josten forced saves from Vancouver keeper Jay Nolly in the final twenty minutes but neither team seemed to be able to break the deadlock. Only James Marcelin’s ripping cross just four minutes from time was enough to get Pore (and actually DeMartin too) into the air and drive a header past Nolly for the win.

The three points send Portland to the top position both in the USL division and the league as a whole. 10 points from four games keeps the Timbers ahead of the much more difficult USL side of the second division while Vancouver remain atop the NASL side. Apart from a friendly on Saturday with Costa Rican side Puntarenas, Portland are off until a May 13 hosting of Crystal Palace Baltimore. On May 15 the Timbers will again host AC St. Louis. Portland knew going into this season that to have any chance at retaining the Commissioners Cup they would have to win most of their early games as the schedule is so unbalanced due to forthcoming stadium construction. Palace and St. Louis have combined for two goals in their six games and are without points so far. 16 points after six games could be just the start Portland needs.

Category: Cascadia Cup, Portland Timbers, USSF Division II