Diego Valeri’s first half curler and Rodney Wallace’s first goal since 2013 put the Portland Timbers up 2-0 over Chivas USA. The win keeps the Timbers in seventh place, tied on points with Colorado and two behind the fifth place Vancouver Whitecaps.Portland’s early attack put Chivas on the back foot from the start. It took just ten minutes for Diego Valeri to open things up. Diego Chara won the ball in the midfield and immediately played it to Valeri. The Timbers’ Maestro sprinted towards the Goats’ box, beat his man with a beautiful juke to open up space, and curled a right footed shot straight past Dan Kennedy. Valeri is now tied with Darlington Nagbe for the most goals in Portland’s time in MLS and has scored in each of the last four matches.
Uncharacteristically, Portland kept up the pressure and it worked wonders for them. This time, Fanendo Adi and Rodney Wallace combined for the second and last goal of the match in the 39th. Valeri put a ball into the box which Adi latched onto with his back to goal and somehow passed off to a wide open Wallace before being brought down. Wallace calmly shot first time and beat Kennedy to the near post. Portland went into the half up 2-0.
While the attack did its job in the first 45’, the Timbers’ defense was the highlight of the evening. Liam Ridgewell and Norberto Paparatto paired together for the first time and earned the club its second shutout of the year. Beyond this, Portland held Chivas to just a single shot on target, even while the club failed to control the second half. Plus, for a team with Cubo Torres on it, that’s pretty darn good. I really hope to see more of this pair in the future.
(image courtesy of Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)
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