PORTLAND TIMBERS vs SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
PROVIDENCE PARK, Portland, Ore.
Sept. 7, 2014 (WEEK 26, MLS Game #251) 1:45 p.m. PT (ESPN2/Deportes)
A pair of clubs battling for playoff positioning in the Western Conference meet when the Portland Timbers play host to the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday afternoon at Providence Park before an ESPN2 audience. The Timbers leapfrogged into fifth place in the division and the final postseason spot with a 3-0 win against Vancouver Whitecaps FC last weekend. The Quakes are eight points further back, their winless run extended to five games last weekend in 1-1 home draw with Real Salt Lake.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
The Portland Timbers rolled to a 3-0 victory against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday evening at BC Place. The Timbers are in fifth place in the Western Conference with 34 points from 26 games.
LAST MATCH
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The Timbers took the lead six minutes into the second half. Diego Valeri collected the ball on the right flank and fullback Alvas Powell was allowed to run in to the near post unmarked and head home the opener.
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The lead was doubled with a quarter-hour to play. Just seconds after coming on as a substitute, Michael Harrington pulled a ball back for fellow substitute Maximiliano Urruti at the edge of the box, and had time to turn before crashing a fantastic finish in off the underside of the bar.
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The scoreline was complete four minutes later when Darlington Nagbe combined to slip in Rodney Wallace in the left side of the area for a cool, low finish past Whitecaps FC alkeeper David Ousted.
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Timbers head coach Caleb Porter made five changes to the team that fell 4-2 to Seattle Sounders FC at Providence Park. Alvas Powell, Pa Modou Kah and Jorge Villafana all came into the back four for Danny O'Rourke, Norberto Paparatto and Michael Harrington, and Rodney Wallace and Fanendo Adi started in forward positions in place of Gaston Fernandez and Maximiliano Urruti.
- PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Alvas Powell (Michael Harrington 74), Liam Ridgewell, Pa Modou Kah, Jorge Villafana - Diego Chara (Ben Zemanski 90), Will Johnson - Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, Rodney Wallace - Fanendo Adi (Maximiliano Urruti 68).
TEAM NEWS
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The Timbers have recorded a positive result in five of their last seven matches (4-2-1), including four wins and a draw. Only two Western Conference teams (FC Dallas, LA Galaxy) have earned more wins over the last seven regular-season matches than Portland..
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“Maybe the most complete performance since I’ve been here, against a very good team on the road. It feels good to be above the red line,” said Timbers head coach Caleb Porter. “A lot of teams would have quit, a lot of teams would have unraveled, this team hasn’t. We kept fighting and we kept pushing. And here we are, above the red line where we feel we belong. But now we have to stay there.”
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Added Darlington Nagbe: “It feels good. Both of us are right there, they were right above us, right above the red line where we wanted to be. We knew this game was going to be close, and to finally get above that red line, where we’ve wanted to be all season, it feels great, and now we’re looking forward to San Jose.”
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Pa Modou Kah made his first appearance and start in a league game since June 27, coming into central defense alongside Liam Ridgewell, who made his seventh consecutive start.
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“I thought it was a real team effort defensively. Obviously the back line and the goalkeeper get the bulk of the credit and the brunt of the blame, but they need help. And I thought that they got help. But I also thought the back line really did a nice job defending some really talented attacking players,” Porter said.
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Alvas Powell made his first appearance and start in a league game since May 17, at right back, and scored his first career MLS goal, in his 13th appearance with the Timbers. Powell scored a goal in the Timbers’ CONCACAF Champions League victory against Alpha United of Guyana.
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Jorge Villafaña came in at left back for his first league start since July 13. He had made just one league appearance over the last six matches, as a substitute for 13 minutes.
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Maximiliano Urruti came off the bench for the final quarter of the match and scored his ninth goal of the season, his first since July 27. Urruti has come on as a substitute in three of the last four matches.
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Rodney Wallace scored his second goal of the season, both coming in the last four matches. Wallace has two goals and one assist over that stretch, where he’s started three times.
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“This was a real statement game. I think it was an important one to get confidence from as well. It was an important one to get a clean sheet. We had some great performances out of some guys who haven’t played quite as much. Alvas Powell, Jorge Villafaña and Kah were tremendous. And Rodney Wallace is back. It’s the first game I can honestly say he’s back, 100 percent. He showed what he’s capable of doing in terms of goal production. It was a team effort,” said Porter.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes had their winless streak stretched to five matches, reaching a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Quakes are in eighth place in the Western Conference with 26 points from 24 games.
LAST MATCH
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The Quakes had the lead in the 15th minute. Chris Wondolowski made the play, nicking the ball just outside the area before driving into the left side of the box. He then smartly laid the ball back to Sam Cronin, who ran onto it and smashed a left-footer inside the far post from just inside the area.
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Real drew even in the 36th minute. From a cross, referee David Gantar pointed to the spot for a Jordan Stewart foul on Olmes Garcia in the area. Javier Morales sent San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch the wrong way on the penalty kick to pull the visitors level.
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Quakes head coach Mark Watson made three changes to the team that fell 4-2 to Philadelphia Union at PPL Park. Shaun Francis came in at left back for Ty Harden, and Atiba Harris and Jean Baptiste Pierazzi started in the midfield for Cordell Cato and JJ Koval.
- SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-1-1): Jon Busch - Shaun Francis, Jason Hernandez, Victor Bernardez, Jordan Stewart - Atiba Harris, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi (JJ Koval 83), Sam Cronin, Shea Salinas (Cordell Cato 75) - Tommy Thompson - Chris Wondolowski.
TEAM NEWS
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The Quakes saw their winless run stretched to five matches, with three draws and two losses in that time. They’ve had a pair of five-game winless stretches this season.
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“Our defense had to play well for 90 minutes. I thought everybody played well tonight. The effort, the performance, and the application of the game plan was fantastic,” said Quakes head coach Mark Watson. “Real Salt Lake is a good team and they were pushing as well, but I feel badly for our players because I thought they deserved the full three points.”
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Sam Cronin has scored in back-to-back games for the first time in his MLS career after netting the opener vs. Real Salt Lake. Cronin has two goals this season, matching his single-season career-high set last year.
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“At this point in the season, especially at home, we need to get a win. I saw the fight in us and the comeback spirit. Whenever you give up five goals in one game and then four in another, it’s easy to lose that spirit,” Cronin said. “We need to improve our quality on the ball. It was a positive start to score the first goal, but we have to start holding on and not surrendering back-breaking goals.”
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Chris Wondolowski collected his fourth assist of the season, his first since Aug. 8. Wondolowski has a goal and/or an assist now in three consecutive games; since returning from the FIFA World Cup he has four goals and four assists in nine games.
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Atiba Harris returned to the starting lineup following a one-match absence. He will miss out on the Portland match after joining the St. Kitts and Nevis national team for Caribbean Cup qualifying.
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Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi also returned to the starting lineup after a two-game absence, his first start since Aug. 16 vs. FC Dallas.
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“We wanted to put as much pressure on [RSL] as possible – force them to kick the ball upfield and give the ball away,” Watson said. “The goal [we scored] actually came from that [type of pressure]. They tried to play out of trouble, we won the ball and scored. I thought we did a good job of that tonight. We’re disappointed with the draw and I feel for our guys because they put a lot into that game.”
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Tommy Thompson made his third consecutive start, in the underneath forward role. He was called into the U.S. under-20 national team camp, but later recalled by the Quakes for the league game with Portland.
- “I thought Tommy had another good game,” Watson said. “He’s played three games in-a-row and it’s obvious that he has talent. He’s still a young kid and has a lot of work to do, but he’s a very talented player. He’s a great kid, gives you 100-percent work rate all the time and I think he has a bright future.”
REFEREE
: Allen Chapman. AR1 (bench): George Gansner; AR2 (opposite): Paul Scott; 4th: Daniel Radford
MLS Career: 45 games; FC/gm: 22.4; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 12; pens: 14
SUSPENDED
: none
WARNINGS
:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD
: POR: Diego Chara … SJ: Steven Lenhart
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: POR
: Norbetto Paparatto, Will Johnson, Pa Modou Kah, Diego Valeri …
SJ: Victor Bernardez, Sam Cronin, Shaun Francis, Jordan Stewart
DISABLED LIST
: SJ: Tommy Muller
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES
: POR: Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica, Copa Centroamericana) … SJ: Atiba Harris (St.
Kitts and Nevis; Caribbean Cup)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME
(8 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 10 goals … Earthquakes 1 win, 9 goals … Ties 5
AT PORTLAND
(10 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 5 goals … Earthquakes 0 wins, 3 goals … Ties 2
FUTURE MATCH
: 10/4: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Portland Timbers, 7:30 p.m. PT; 10/8: Portland Timbers vs. San
Jose Earthquakes, 7:30 p.m. PT
LAST YEAR (MLS
):
4/14: POR 1, SJ (W. Johnson 78)
4/21: SJ 1, POR 1 (Jahn 92+ -- Valeri 58)
7/27: SJ 2, POR 1 (Bernardez 55; Lenhart 58 – Nagbe 83)
- This is the first of three meetings between the teams over a 31-day period. The teams will meet in a home-andhome series Oct. 4-8.
- The teams are undefeated at home in the all-time league series. When the Quakes won 2-1 last July 27 at home, it was the first San Jose victory at Buck Shaw Stadium; the first three encounters all ended in draws The
- Timbers have won two of four matches in Portland, with two draws.
- Coaches record: Mark Watson vs. POR: P1 W1 L0 D0 … Caleb Porter vs. SJ: P3 W1 L1 D1
