MATCH RECAP | Portland Timbers 3, Real Salt Lake 2

PORTLAND, Ore. – Goals from Dairon Asprilla, Yimmi Chara and Felipe Mora along with a career-high seven saves from goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic gave the Portland Timbers an important 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake Saturday night at Providence Park.

• MATCHCENTER: Stats and Boxscore

Match Moments

10' - PK GOAL (POR) - Timbers midfielder Dairon Asprilla converted a penalty kick to the lower right corner of the goal to give Portland a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. Referee Rosendo Mendoza had pointed to the spot after a consulting with video assistant replay and ruled a hand ball offense was committed by RSL defender Toni Datkovic.

29' - GOAL (POR) - Portland doubled their lead in the 29th minute with a gorgeous bit of team play. Defender Josecarlos Van Rankin galloped down the right channel with the ball before he slipped it ahead to Marvin Loría just outside the 18-yard box. Loría then diagonally sent the ball to Asprilla but he back-heeled it to Yimmi Chara who was darting in. Chara deftly placed his shot into the upper 90 of the Real Salt Lake goal for a 2-0 Portland lead.

31' - SAVE (POR) - Timbers goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic made a finger-tip save on the ground on an attempt in the box from Real Salt Lake forward Rubio Rubín. While still on the ground, Ivacic then denied a follow-up shot from Damir Kreilach.

40' - GOAL (RSL) - Albert Rusnak pulled one back for the visitors when his skipping shot went past a diving Ivacic in the 40th minute.

53' - CHANCE (POR) - On a 40-yard free kick from the near side sent in from Yimmi Chara, midfielder Sebastían Blanco – who came on at halftime – looped his header narrowly over the crossbar.

58' - SAVE (POR - RSL's Rusnack sent a outswinging corner kick to RSL's Pablo Ruiz, Ivacic made a diving save to parry away Ruiz's arrowed shot.

62' - GOAL (POR) - Felipe Mora scored when he snuck through the Real Salt Lake backline to receive a scooped cross from Blanco. Mora took the ball down with his right foot, spun and tucked his shot inside the far post for a 3-1 Timbers lead.

67' - SAVE (POR) - Ivacic came up huge when he dove across the face of goal to palm away a snapped down header from RSL's Kreilach.

80' - GOAL (RSL) - A ball over the top found Kreilach who split the Portland defenders and scored to make it 3-2.

90+6' - SAVE (POR) - Aljaz made a game-saving reaction stop when he quickly sprang to his right and pushed away a quick shot from RSL's Rusnak.

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The Portland Timbers finish their three-game homestand on Aug. 15 when they host Seattle Sounders FC (5:30pm PT, TICKETS, FS1)

Portland Timbers (7-8-2, 23pts) vs. Real Salt Lake (5-6-6, 21pts)
August 7, 2021 – Providence Park (Portland, Ore.)

Scoring Summary:
POR: Asprilla (penalty kick), 10
POR: Chara (Asprilla, Loría), 29
RSL: Rusnák (Menéndez), 40
POR: Mora (Blanco), 62
RSL: Kreilach (Ruiz), 80

Misconduct Summary:
RSL: Glad (caution), 6
RSL: Menéndez (caution), 13
RSL: Luiz (caution), 45+1
RSL: Herrera (caution), 48
RSL: Chang (caution), 87
POR: Valeri (caution), 89

Lineups:
POR: GK Ivacic, D Van Rankin, D Tuiloma ©, D Zuparic, D Bravo, M Fochive, M Y. Chara (Mabiala, 81), M Paredes, F Loría (Blanco, 46), F Mora (McGraw, 89), F Asprilla (Valeri, 65)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Sulte, D Bonilla, M Bodily, M Zambrano

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Fochive, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (three players tied, 1); FOULS: 14 (Bravo, 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 7

RSL: GK MacMath, D Toia (Powder, 76), D Datkovic, D Glad, D Herrera, M Rusnák, M Luiz (Wood, 76), M Ruiz, M Menéndez (Chang, 86), M Kreilach, F Rubín

Substitutes Not Used: GK Putna, D Morgan, D Silva, M Besler, F Meram, F Julio

TOTAL SHOTS: 23 (Rusnák, Kreilach, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Kreilach, 4); FOULS: 15 (Kreilach, 3); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 14; SAVES: 0

Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Assistant Referees: Cameron Blanchard, TJ Zablocki
Fourth Official: Elijio Arreguin
VAR: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 23,577
Weather: Sunny, 74 degrees

Notes

• Portland is 10-8-8 against Salt Lake, and 5-2-6 when playing at home.
• The Timbers extended their unbeaten streak at home to four (3-0-1).
• Portland is 6-2-1 this season at Providence Park. 
• The Timbers are tied with Minnesota for second-most home wins in the Western Conference (6), behind LA Galaxy (7).
• Felipe Mora scored his team-leading sixth goal of the 2021 campaign.
• Mora has registered a goal in three straight home matches.
• Across the Timbers’ last five games, Mora has scored in four of them. 
• Dairon Asprilla scored his fourth goal of the season, ranking him second on the team just behind Mora (6).
• Across seven seasons with the Timbers, Asprilla is four for four from the penalty spot.
• Asprilla tallied his second assist of the regular season. 
• Yimmi Chara recorded his second goal of the 2021 campaign.
• Y. Chara is the sixth Timber to record two or more goals in this year’s regular season.
• Sebastián Blanco registered his second assist this year. 
• Blanco is the ninth player on the team to record at least two assists this season.
• Marvin Loría tallied his team-leading fourth assist of the 2021 campaign. 
• Across all competitions this year, Portland is 7-1-1 when scoring first.
• When scoring two or more goals, the Timbers are undefeated across all competitions this year (7-0-2). 
• Aljaz Ivacic earned his first start at Providence Park.
• Ivacic recorded a career-best seven saves. 
• Loría registered his 50th regular season appearance.
• Asprilla, Josecarlos Van Rankin, and Diego Valeri are the only Timbers to appear in all 17 regular season matches in 2021.
• Providence Park recorded its highest attendance (23,577) since March of 2020.