Caps can’t beat short-staffed Portland
Sebastian Blanco scored early in the second half as the undermanned Portland Timbers snapped a six-game winless streak with a gutsy 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday afternoon at B.C. Place Stadium.
Jeremy Ebobisse had Portland’s other goal and also set up the winner, while Andrew Jacobson replied for Vancouver.
With injuries, suspensions and the CONCACAF Gold Cup wreaking havoc on the Timbers’ roster, Ebobisse opened the scoring in the 14th minute in his first start in Major League Soccer before Jacobson tied things up in the 45th.
Blanco then gave his team its second lead in the 49th minute when the Argentine midfielder sliced through the Whitecaps defence before getting a back-heel return pass from Ebobisse and rolling the ball past a helpless David Ousted to send the Timbers’ boisterous travelling supporters into a frenzy.
“I’m disappointed, obviously, losing a rivalry game,” Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson said. “I think first half we played very well — exceptionally well. We got the equalizer just before halftime but I don’t think it was probably a fair reflection of the first half. I thought we were the better team.
“Second half, it was always going to come down to a mistake, a wonder goal or something like that. When you give a good team like Portland the lead five minutes, 10 minutes into the second half, you have to give them credit.”
Vancouver (8-8-3) was coming off consecutive wins — 3-2 over New York City FC at home on July 5 and a 1-0 road triumph over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday — while Portland (88-6) entered play on a 0-3-3 run.
The Timbers, who started the season 5-2-1, picked up their first victory in MLS since June 10. Portland now sits three points up on Vancouver for fourth in the Western Conference, but the Whitecaps have three games in hand.
The Timbers grabbed an unexpected lead thanks to some sloppy Vancouver defending. The Whitecaps cleared a corner only as far as Blanco, who fed Dairon Asprilla on the right. Asprilla in turn fired a shot across the face of goal that Ebobisse got a piece of to beat Ousted for the rookie’s first in MLS.
The teams traded a couple of chances as the half wore on before Vancouver finally got an equalizer in the 45th minute.
“I thought getting that goal in stoppage time in the first half was huge,” Caps defender Jake Nerwinski said. “We had the momentum going into the second half but we couldn’t finish that off.”
Losing at home in the Cascadia Cup was painful, Nerwinski said.
“It’s always a bad thing to drop three points at home,” he said. “We’re very disappointed. We just have to bounce back after this. We go away for three weeks, so hopefully we can get some points on the road and make up for this loss.”
Whitecaps defender Tim Parker, wearing the captain’s armband with Kendall Waston not yet back from the Gold Cup, got his head to a Cristian Bolanos corner at the near post, and Jacobson redirected the ball over the line for his second goal of the season.
Looking for a spark after Blanco gave Portland the lead, Robinson brought on midfielders Yordy Reyna and Alphonso Davies, who scored three times for Canada at the Gold Cup, in quick succession near the hour mark looking to get something out of the game.
Brek Shea also subbed on soon after and had a great chance in the 80th minute, but Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson was there to make a great save.
Gleeson was at it again in the 85th when he stopped Parker’s header on a Vancouver free kick. Ousted made a good stop on Jack Barmby at the other end moments later, but the Whitecaps couldn’t muster much more in what can only be described as a bitterly disappointing performance — a game that seemed there for the taking against a weakened but determined opponent.
Ousted was clearly disappointed with the performance of his team following the loss.
“I think frustrating is a good word for it. We weren’t good enough, as simple as that today,” Ousted said. “I think we lacked composure on the ball in the final third. I think we lacked what got us the win on Wednesday, that defensive side of the ball.
“There is nothing left to do but get back on to it.”
Portland head coach Caleb Porter and Robinson, who have butted heads in the past, had a less-thanfriendly exchange moments after the game ended.
“I just said ‘congratulations’ to him. That was it,” Robinson said.
“It’s between Carl and I,” Porter said. “We shook hands … there’s a comment and I didn’t care for it.”
Portland strikers Fanendo Adi and Victor Arboleda were suspended for Sunday’s match after getting sent off in Wednesday’s 4-1 home defeat to Real Salt Lake, while midfielders Darlington Nagbe and David Guzman, defender Alvas Powell and forward Darren Mattocks were on Gold Cup duty.
The Whitecaps were minus Waston, but had all four of their Canadians who participated at the Gold Cup back in the fold.
Vancouver plays its next three games on the road, beginning Saturday against FC Dallas.