On a hot and muggy mid-Ohio day, the Portland Timbers’ hot streak of 15 unbeaten was finally snapped by the Columbus Crew Sunday in front of 15,051 fans. Portland played down a man for nearly 80 minutes after an early Pa-Modou Kah red card and already 1-0 down dropped the Timbers in their only match against the Crew this season.
Timbers (7-3-9) stay on 30 points after 19 matches and the Crew jump to 26 points with a 7-8-5 record.
It was an Ohio showcase as nine Ohioans were featured in the match, including Portland Timbers manager Caleb Porter, who was the coach of the University of Akron soccer program during their successful run in the NCAA (183-17-18 in seven seasons under Porter).
“It was a rocky start for us, but it was admirable the effort we put into the match,” Porter said after the loss. “I don’t think I have ever seen a team go that long without giving up a goal.”
Portland would quickly see keeper Donovan Ricketts’ 401 minute shutout streak snapped just five minutes into the match as the Crew jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a Bernardo Anor header of the corner. Portland then went down to 10 men in the 12th minute after Kah made a challenge with a high boot in the penalty area and collected the straight red card.
Despite the man advantage for the Crew, the Timbers survived the Higuain penalty from the red card and controlled the possession throughout the first 45 minutes. No shots on goal, but the Timbers did hold nearly 60 percent of the ball and at times looked to have the advantage.
“Maybe it was a wakeup call,” Timbers captain Jack Jewsbury said. “We were disappointed in our star (Kah). I think we are a team that likes to posses the ball, whether we have 10 or 11, it’s not going to change much for us.”
In the second, Andrew Jean-Baptiste nearly hit the equalizer in the 55th minute as he headed a corner just off the post and had the Timbers closer to the goal they needed.
“It’s not a bad thing to taste defeat,” Porter said. “We haven’t for 15 games.”
Akron product Darlington Nagbe, playing in front of friends and family, nearly had the equalizer in the 87th minute and forced Crew keeper Matt Lampson to make the diving save and keep the clean sheet.
“It was fun to play against guys that I played with growing up,” Nagbe said of the event of Ohioans dominating both rosters. “It’s always fun coming to play in front of family and friends, you don’t get to play in front of family when playing across the country.”
Although Porter didn’t see the result he was looking for, he did have the accomplishment of having many of his players from Akron playing in the match, including the Timbers’ Ben Zemanski, Michael Nanchoff, and Nagbe as the Crew featured Wil Trapp, fresh from his time with the USA U-20 World Cup squad, in his first start in the Black and Gold.
When asked if there was joy in his return to Ohio the Timbers’ manager replied, “I enjoy every road trip. I love my job. This is a great group of guys and they are disappointed we lost. It was great to see the guys that I worked with (at Akron), and I’m happy for any of the guys that I coached, obviously I want to be on the winning side of things.”
The Timbers host the Los Angeles Galaxy next Saturday night (July 13, 8 pm PT) for their next MLS matchup.
50 Match Photos (Photo Credit: Kevin Cross/ISNSoccer.com)
