Even without Chris Wondolowski, Alan Gordon, and Clarence Goodson the Timbers were unable to secure any points last Saturday night in San Jose. After a high-pace first half Portland fell flat, allowing two goals in three minutes. While Darlington Nagbe was able to bring one back in the 83rd, the Timbers couldn’t muster a tying goal and fell to the Earthquakes for the first time 2-1.
San Jose came out of the gates looking to disrupt Portland’s possession game and exploit Jack Jewsbury, they did both. The first 30 minutes belonged to the Earthquakes and while they didn’t score, there were ample opportunities. Shea Salinas and Rafael Baca focused almost exclusively on beating Jewsbury on the wing and were successful at sending in crosses to feed Steven Lenhart. This is where Diego Chara’s presence was sorely missed. His tenacious defending and link-up play between the backline and everyone else usually covers for Jewsbury’s lack of speed and lets him safely drift upfield. With Ben Zemanski in his place the Earthquakes had a far easier time in the midfield than they should have and had more of an advantage on counter-attacks.
After the 30th minute Portland started putting up a fight and took back a bit of possession. Michael Harrington sent in a lovely cross to a streaking Ryan Johnson, but the ball was blocked by a diving Jon Busch before RJ could get anything on it. The Timbers had two great chances to take the lead at the end on the half, both involving Diego Valeri.
First, Valeri earned a free kick several yards outside the box. He stepped up to shoot and put the ball just over the crossbar. Two minutes later Valeri chipped a ball over the defense to Will Johnson who tried to volley it from the left side with his right foot. Jon Busch once again rushed off his line to block the shot.
The Timbers carried their late-half momentum into the second half. They were able to implement their possession and passing game until a terrible pass by Jack Jewsbury was stolen by Shea Salinas. With Portland on the back foot, Salinas sprinted up-field until he was fouled at the top of the box by Andrew Jean-Baptiste.
AJB made his tackle right on the line of the box and while the contact looked like it happened outside the line, Salinas fell inside it and referee Drew Fischer signaled for a penalty kick. There was quite a bit of controversy over Twitter about this call and I think it was made correctly. Both angles shown from the MLS Live feed make it look like Salinas was about a foot inside the 18. Victor Bernardez stepped up to take the PK, Ricketts dove to his left while Bernardez shot to his left, 1-0 Earthquakes.
Three minutes later the Earthquakes struck again, this time thanks to an offside shot from Steven Lenhart. Shea Salinas curled a free kick into the box right to a wide open Lenhart. Lenhart slid, knocking the ball into the ground and up over the head and hands of Donovan Ricketts. He finished this up with the most ludacris dance/celebration that I have ever seen, some sort of demon-possesed shimmy. Looking at the replay, Lenhart was offside when the free kick came in. Even Simon Borg agrees, Lenhart was leaning past the defensive line when the ball was kicked. Regardless, ref Fischer allowed the goal, 2-0 Earthquakes.
Porter went fully on the attack and brought on Jose Valencia and Frederic Piquionne for Ben Zemanski and Ryan Johnson. Valeri played Piquionne who spun and passed to a wide-open Darlington Nagbe to bring one goal back in the 83rd. Two yellows for Marvin Chavez gave Portland a glimmer of a late comeback with several minutes remaining. Kalif Alhassan was brought on to add energy, but the Timbers couldn’t make use of the chance.
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