PORTLAND, Ore. – Separation between the Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City proved an insurmountable task Wednesday night at Providence Park as the two teams jockeying for playoff position in the Western Conference played to a scoreless draw.
The share left both sides precariously above the red line tied on 41 points.
Sporting did see their three-game losing streak come to an end and do own the tiebreaker on Portland with two games in hand. They both move into a three-way tie with the Seattle Sounders for the fourth-through-sixth playoff spots in the West.
Despite the heady implications, the two teams spent a good portion of the first half feeling each other out.
The best chance for a goal from either side came in the 29th minute when Portland’s Diego Valeri freed Fanendo Adi on goal, but Tim Melia sprang into action nicely to turn away the attempt with a kick save. That would be just the first of what would be a night full of stunning saves from Sporting’s goalkeeper.
The second-half action picked up considerably – with most of the traffic headed Kansas City’s way.
In the 49th minute Adi got on the end of a Jorge Villafana cross in front of goal, but Melia was there again with a superb reaction save.
Valeri, who was a part of nearly all the Timbers’ best offensive moves on the night, created another golden opportunity for Portland in the 58th minute when he played in Lucas Melano. Once again, Melia was there to lunge off his line for the save.
Sporting got into the mix in the 64th minute when Graham Zusi pinged a side-footed shot with his left off the goalpost from a long throw in across the penalty area.
On the ensuing counter it was Portland testing Melia again – who once again was up to the task. Valeri played a perfectly weighted through ball to Melano on the break, but Melia was there in time to break up the chance.
Sporting’s Dom Dwyer nearly nicked a goal against the run of play in the 70th minute, but his spinning left-footed attempt from the top of the penalty area rolled just wide.
Melia proved Sporting’s savior once again at the outset of stoppage time, going to ground to stop a header from Maximiliano Urruti in front of goal for his career-high seventh and final save of the night. In the end, Portland finished with 18 shots (10 in the first half) – to Sporting’s eight – but lacked the finishing touch.
Sporting will fly cross-country for their next matchup, Sunday at Orlando City SC. Portland return to action two next Sunday when they play host to the New York Red Bulls.
Portland Timbers outshoot but can't outplay Sporting Kansas City: "We should have scored"
PORTLAND, Ore. – It was a different opponent, the venue changed and it was another day, but the song remained the same for the Portland Timbers.
A little more than a week after dominating long stretches of their match against the Seattle Sounders, firing off 20 shots to their opponents’ six only to lose 2-1, the Timbers saw a similar scenario unfold against Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night at Providence Park.
Portland outshot Sporting 18-8, which included a number of clear goal-scoring chances, but failed to score in a 0-0 draw. It left head coach Caleb Porter somewhat at a loss to explain his team’s finishing woes, but also happy with back-to-back performances he described as “two of our most complete games” of the season.
“We played extremely well," Porter said in his postgame comments, "did everything we wanted to do in the game, the game played out exactly like we thought it would play out, we defended well, shut down their attackers.
"From a defensive standpoint I thought we were exceptional. We had more clear chances in any game than we’ve probably had all year. We had three, four breakaways and we should have scored and we should have won.”
Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia had a hand in Portland’s finishing woes, recording seven saves, but the Timbers likely will want a number of chances back.
Midfielder Diego Valeri was especially spectacular in creating chances. He played a through ball to Fanendo Adi in the 29th minute that required a diving save from Melia. Adi alone had three shots, all on goal.
Valeri played in Lucas Melano twice in the second half for quality looks, only to see the final product go wanting. Melano had five shots, three on goal.
“We are very disappointed about that because we know the performance was really good,” Valeri said. “It was a tough game, very aggressive, very hard and we created a lot of chances.
"We know to get three points to win the game you have to score, so we know that we will keep working. We can’t say more. I’m glad about the performance. The team is playing well at a very hard moment of the season.”
Porter said despite finishing third in goals scored the last two MLS seasons his group isn’t suffering from a lack of confidence or mental block in front of goal. The Timbers are tied for second to last in the league with 29 goals from 28 games.
“These guys are confident, you can see it, anybody who watched this game you can see these guys don’t look tense,” Porter said. “I think they looked comfortable in those moments. A few of the [shots] were rushed, a few of them [needed] a better decision, going far post rather than near post type of thing, a few of them are great saves. But honestly I can’t remember this year getting that many clear chances.”
Defensively, the Timbers limited Sporting to just two shots on target, neither providing much of a test for ‘keeper Adam Kwarasey. Porter pointed to the work of reserve defensive midfieldersJack Jewsbury and George Fochive and Valeri, saying they won the “battle” with Sporting’s midfield of Benny Feilhaber, Paulo Nagamura and Soni Mustivar (who returned after missing the previous three games with injury).
“I told them it would come down to the moments and the finishing, and we weren’t able to score today and we should have,” Porter said. “That’s what I told them, and they know that. Attackers are paid to score.”
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