Coming into their first Cascadia clash of the 2015 season, Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said his side would have to be well aware of the Vancouver Whitecaps’ newfound propensity to employ a defensive, counter-attacking style.
The Timbers got that – maybe to a point that surprised even them.
Portland had better than 65-percent of the possession, outshot the ‘Caps and yet were left explaining their fourth game without a victory to start the season after Vancouver struck for a set-piece goal and counterattack winner in stoppage time in a 2-1 victory Saturday evening at BC Place.
“It was one of our most dominant performances that I’ve ever seen out of this group when you look at the possession, you look at the amount of final-third entries,” Porter told the media after the game. “You know, I don’t know how we don’t win that game, honestly.”
If he had to point to one thing, according to Porter, it came down to “moments.”
Vancouver’s opening goal came on a 15th-minute free-kick goal from Nicolas Mezquida set up by a Portland foul on Octavio Rivero just outside the box. And then, after Timbers striker Fanendo Adi came through with an 82nd-minute equalizer, Vancouver came through with “moments” at either side of the field.
First, goalkeeper David Ousted picked up his fourth save of the night on a close-range shot by Adi. And on the restart, Pedro Morales played it through to second-half substitute Robert Earnshaw, a late substitute making his 'Caps debut after signing with them earlier this week, for the stoppage-time winner.
Portland center backs Nat Borchers and Liam Ridgewell both appeared to have an opportunity to cut out the pass but neither managed to get to the ball.
“Second half, we completely dominated and deserved to score the tying goal, and we deserved to score the winning goal as well,” Porter said. “And as I always say, the game comes down to moments, and it comes down to the boxes. And their goalkeeper makes a save at one end, and we give up the unfortunately losing goal on the other end.”
Portland will also likely take a long hard look at their play in the final third. They managed to fire off 15 shots, five on target, and 47 crosses – to Vancouver’s seven.
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“I think a part of it was how aggressive we played,” Porter said. “If you’re forced to sit back, then you have to sit back. We had so much of the ball. I thought our possession and passing game was outstanding. We could have been maybe a little bit more precise at times and more clinical in the final third, but to play as well as well we played is a positive.”
Still, there are echoes of the Timbers' slow start last season (when they managed just five points from their first eight games beginning to ring out this season. The Timbers have just three points – all on draws – from their first four games, granted all against Western Conference playoff teams from last year.
“We have to move on from this,” Porter said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow. Certainly it hurts; we don’t accept losing. But the way that we played, you know, I thought was very dominant. And that’s a good trend to see out of this team.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
