The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps seemed not to notice that it was a sweltering July evening Saturday at Providence Park.
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Revolution 1, NYC FC 0: Lee Nguyen drove a right-footed shot past Josh Saunders in the 12th minute, and New England beat New York City to snap a five-game losing streak.
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri, right, celebrates his goal with teammates during the first half of an MLS soccer game against the Vancouver Whitecaps in Portland, Ore., Saturday, July 18, 2015.
After the Whitecaps counter-attack was especially risky in the first half hour – only three blocked shots from Nat Borchers and one big save from Adam Kwarasey kept Vancouver from scoring first – it was the Portland counter-attack that broke through. Carl Robinson’s side fought hard and earned an important 1-1 draw before 21,144 spectators at Providence Park.
“We found the goal in the first half and we didn’t play our best, and they found the goal in the second half and they didn’t play their best”, he said.
Coming off a franchise-record third consecutive road win, the Whitecaps sit atop Major League Soccer’s Western Conference ahead of this weekend’s test against the lowly Colorado Rapids.
The match ended on a contentious note.
The Caps improved to 6-4-2 on the road, although they did lose Jordan Harvey to a red card in stoppage time.
“I have no idea what happened after the game”, Porter said.
This wasn’t like the first two meetings of the season, when Portland enjoyed 65 per cent possession and could claim to be unlucky.
Saturday’s hosts are winless in six (0-4-2) since the teams last met, but the Whitecaps are wary of an opponent desperate to start a climb up the table. Johnson will miss next weekend’s Timbers match away to FC Dallas. Kwarasey had no choice but to come off his line to try to challenge Manneh.
Portland went up 1-0 in the 34th minute when Fanendo Adi fed Valeri, who slotted it past Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted.
Laba’s goal was nice, but Rivero was blanked for the 13th time in 15 games and Kekuta Manneh couldn’t convert either of his two gilt-edged chances, the second of which was cleared off the line.
In signing a 22-year old, no matter his potential, over a past-his-prime legend, the Timbers are demonstrating they want to build a team to compete for the next five years, not just today. “That’s going to make or break the season for us”.
Laba’s blast sailed past two defenders and just out of reach of a diving Kwarasey to even the score. Consider the ages of Portland’s other main players: Nagbe is 25, Adi is 24, Valeri is 29, Will Johnson is 28, Urruti is 24, Ridgewell is 30, and Alvas Powell is 21. “We’ll give it our best”. Seeming to believe that no one could possibly get off a decent shot from that distance, the Timbers’ back line did not close down on Laba.
But with the Galaxy adding Gerrard and dos Santos, Portland signing risky Argentine forward Lucas Melano as a designated player, Houston getting Torres, a 19-goal scorer last season, back from a six-month loan, and Seattle surely shopping, Robinson is under pressure to bring some scoring help in before the summer transfer window closes August 8. He will join the team once his documentation is complete.
Since joining Lanus in 2013, the 22-year-old has made 42 league appearances with eight goals.
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