PORTLAND, Ore. – Jaroslaw Niezgoda tallied a second half brace, Sebastián Blanco converted a first half penalty and the Portland Timbers defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-0 Saturday night at Providence Park.
- MATCHCENTER: Stats and Boxscore
Portland dealt with 19 shots in the shutout with goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic making five saves as he picked up his fourth clean sheet of the season.
Match Moments
3' - CHANCE (POR) - Defender Claudio Bravo started an attack upfield quickly before springing Yimmi Chara into the box with a throughball. Y. Chara cut back to his right foot and fired a shot towards the near post that forced a diving save from Rapids goalkeeper William Yarbrough.
13' - CHANCE (POR) - The Timbers carefully worked the ball into the area with Y. Chara and Santiago Moreno combining on the left side. The ball squirted to Sebastián Blanco in the area who spun and shot but his attempt went wide of the left post.
32' - CHANCE (POR) - Blanco sent a corner kick towards goal that Jaroslaw Niezgoda flicked on from the near post and Bill Tuiloma then headed towards the net but high.
34' - CHANCE (POR) - Niezgoda, down the right channel, rolled a ball across for Blanco and Y. Chara. Chara got the ball back to Blanco who hit a shot that Yarbrough made a kick-save to deny.
37' - SAVE (POR) - Portland goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic sprang to his left to parry away a low-driven shot from Colorado forward Jonathan Lewis.
45+8' - PK GOAL (POR) - Portland took the lead just before the half on a Blanco penalty kick conversion. A throughball found Moreno near the top of the box but Yarbrough came off his line and collided with the Timbers midfielder, injuring the Colorado goalkeeper. Following VAR, referee Rosendo Mendoza ruled that it was denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and awarded a penalty to Portland. Due to his injury, Yarbrough was subbed out for Abraham Rodriguez but Blanco calmly slotted his shot to the left side to convert and give the Timbers a 1-0 lead.
49' - DOUBLE SAVE (POR) - Ivacic made two spectacular saves in quick succession in the 49th minute. Colorado's Diego Rubio hit a swerving free kick that the Timbers 'keeper pushed away to his left but right into the path of Rapids midfielder Michael Barrios. Barrios' quickly shot point-blank but Ivacic got down low to make the save with Barrios then shooting wide on a follow-up.
54' - GOAL (POR) - Portland doubled their lead in the 54th minute when a ball from Tuiloma, deep in his own end, connected with Niezgoda on a perfectly timed run. Niezgoda chested it down to himself in the box and shot it past a sprawling Rodriguez to make the score 2-0 for the home side. Referee Mendoza checked VAR for a possible hand ball but the goal stood.
62' - GOAL (POR) - Niezgoda earned a brace eight minutes later to make the score 3-0 for Portland. Seconds after being stopped by a wild save from Rodriguez, midfielder Eryk Williamson collected the ball outside the box on the right side. He cut in to the box and threaded a ball right on the doorstep for Niezgoda to tap in.
73' - CHANCE (POR) - Tuiloma curled a 25-yard free kick around the Rapids wall destined for the lower right corner but Rodriguez made a finger-tip save.
80' - SAVE (POR) - Ivacic held on to his clean sheet when he stopped a point-blank shot from Colorado's Max. Barrios then fed a rebound in to Gyasi Zardes but he sent his attempt over the bar.
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The Portland Timbers have a quick turn as they next host Houston Dynamo FC next Wednesday, June 29 at Providence Park (7:30pm PT, TICKETS, FOX 12 PLUS).
Notes
- The Timbers played their first home match today (eighth of the season) in a 34-day span.
- In their 27th regular season matchup, the Timbers took the lead in the series against Colorado with a record of 11-10-6.
- Portland has a mark of 9-2-2 against the Rapids at Providence Park in regular season play.
- The 3-0 victory was the Timbers’ second largest margin of victory this season.
- The Timbers posted their fourth clean sheet of the season.
- Portland is one of five teams in MLS that have three players with four or more goals scored this season (Y. Chara, Niezgoda, Tuiloma).
- Niezgoda scored a second-half brace to tally his fourth and fifth goals of the season.
- It was Niezgoda’s second career brace with the Timbers.
- Taking four shots in the match, Niezgoda landed three on target and two in the back of the net.
- Averaging 0.46 goals per 90 minutes this year, Niezgoda leads Portland in accurate shooting percentage (44.4%) and shot conversion (27.8%) this season.
- Niezgoda and Tuiloma are tied for a team-leading five goals in the 2022 campaign.
- Blanco scored his third goal of the 2022 campaign (3G, 5A).
- The penalty-kick goal was Blanco’s first career penalty-kick attempt with Portland.
- With his assist against the Galaxy on June 18, Blanco has made goal contributions in back-to-back games (1G, 1A).
- Blanco has tallied four goals and six assists in eight all-time regular season appearances against Colorado.
- Tuiloma registered his first assist of the season.
- Eryk Williamson recorded his fourth assist of the season.
- The Timbers recorded a season-high 19 of shots in the match.
- Six different Portland players have recorded at least a goal and an assist this season.
- Diego Chara received his 100th regular season yellow card.
- The Timbers are unbeaten in their last eight league matches when leading at halftime (W6, D2) dating back to October in 2021.
- Portland has scored 9 goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, more than any other team in the league this season.
Portland Timbers (4-6-7, 20pts) vs. Colorado Rapids (5-7-4, 19pts)
June 25, 2022 – Providence Park (Portland, Ore.)
Scoring Summary:
POR: Blanco (penalty kick), 45+8
POR: Niezgoda (Tuiloma), 54
POR: Niezgoda (Williamson), 62
Misconduct Summary:
POR: D. Chara (caution), 27
COL: Yarbrough (caution), 45+6
COL: Esteves (caution), 84
COL: Toure (caution), 90
Lineups:
POR: GK Ivacic, D Van Rankin, D Tuiloma, D Zuparic, D Bravo, M Paredes (Williamson, 21), M D. Chara © (Ayala, 89), M Y. Chara (Asprilla, 70), M Blanco (McGraw, 83), M Moreno, F Niezgoda (Fogaça, 83)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Bingham, D Bonilla, M Loría, F Mora
TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Blanco, 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Niezgoda, 4); FOULS: 16 (Bravo, 3); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 4
COL: GK Yarbrough (Rodriguez, 45+8), D Beitashour, D Trusty, D Wilson, D Rosenberry, M Rubio, M Warner, M Lewis (Toure, 89), M Kaye (Esteves, 67), M Barrios (Max, 80), F Zardes
Substitutes Not Used: D Vallecilla, D Anderson, D Markanich, M Mayaka, F Yapi
TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Barrios, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Lewis, 2); FOULS: 9 (Toure, Warner, 2); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 10; SAVES: 2
Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Kieso, Eduardo Jeff
Fourth Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
Attendance: 23,448
Weather: Sunny, 90 degrees
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
