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Portland Timbers

For the first time since Opening Day almost three months ago, Timbers manager Caleb Porter was able to select his first-choice starting eleven.

They lasted just eighteen minutes.

That's when, with the Timbers already down 1-0 to the Montreal Impact thanks to a dubious early penalty call, Diego Chara was sent off for slamming his forearm into Ignacio Piatti's face. It was an inexcusable moment from Chara, and, for all intents and purposes, the end his team's afternoon.

The Timbers battled in spades, and got another headed goal from Diego Valeri, but were handily beaten. Montreal, who entered the day dead last in the Eastern Conference, ran out 4-1 winners a week after being booed off their home field.

The loss means that Portland will go to Seattle next Saturday with just two wins in their last nine games and none in their last four. Entering a crucial stretch with seven straight games against Western Conference opponents, the fate of the Timbers' season feels more uncertain than it has all year.

This was, after all, supposed to be a promising day for the Timbers. Darlington Nagbe's return from injury reunited the team's prolific front four, and the back seven remained unchanged coming off of a solid performance last weekend against Atlanta. There would be no excuses.

But after just twelve minutes, the Timbers were behind. New Montreal DP Blerim Dzemaili took the ball off Sebastian Blanco, worked a one-two with Piatti, and raced into the Timbers penalty area where a retreating Blanco made slight contact with Dzemaili and was whistled for a penalty.

It was an extremely soft call by referee Jair Marrufo, but if the Timbers were hard done by the penalty, they could have no complaints about what happened six minutes later with the Impact up 1-0.

Chara was bodied off the ball by Piatti in front of the Montreal bench, and a beat after Piatti played his pass, Chara smashed him in the face.

It was a stone-cold red card and a moment of unbelievable stupidity from the Timbers veteran, who is now suspended β€” again β€” for a game in Seattle. Chara couldn't even claim provocation. Piatti had done nothing even remotely wrong in winning the ball.

No matter how good he's been for the Timbers for how long, these incidents β€” Chara has now been given a straight red card for violent conduct in three straight seasons β€” will mar the final telling of a great career. This was another selfish lapse in judgement from Chara. He hung his team out to dry.

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Portland Timbers

The Timbers did fairly well after going down to ten men, but they would concede again just before halftime when second-year Impact defenseman Kyle Fisher rose up over Alvas Powell to plant a long header off a corner past Jake Gleeson and into the back of the net.

That goal drew a terrific response from the Timbers, with Powell hitting Valeri to make it 2-1 in first half stoppage time, but Portland wouldn't be back in the game for long. Five minutes after the restart, Piatti scored a signature goal β€” cutting inside of Powell and firing past Gleeson from twenty yards out.

It was a fabulous finish from Montreal's star, and it capped another subpar outing for the Timbers' right back. Powell would limp off injured to be replaced by Zarek Valentin just three minutes later.

In Powell's defense, Piatti is easily the best right-sided attacker in the league. Slightly more troubling was the torrid time that Vytas was having on the opposite flank with eighteen-year-old Impact winger Ballou Tabla, who drove into the penalty area and set up the fourth goal for Ambrose Oyongo with thirteen minutes to go.

It was an ugly scoreline, and it could have worse not long after if Valentin hadn't sold completely out to block an open Patrice Bernier shot after an excellent Montreal buildup.

The Timbers worked plenty hard, but this was lost day at the office. The most notable outcome of the second half was Lawrence Olum getting minutes in central midfield, ahead of what will likely be his starting debut for Portland in that position against the Sounders.

That's the kind of day it was. Montreal is far better than their early-season record suggests β€” especially with Dzemaili in the fold β€” and they were always bound to respond after losing at home last weekend. Portland, defensively, couldn't cope.

That was, for the large part, thanks to Chara. Without the Colombian, and despite a dogged performance from Guzman, Portland struggled to break Montreal's rhythm going forward. The Impact completed 80 percent of their passes in the attacking half, the best mark any team has had against the Timbers this year.

This was a team playing with a hand tied behind its back. There were limited opportunities going forward β€” even though Valeri seems to be turning himself into some sort of heading savant β€” which is a problem for a team that almost always has to score multiple times to win.

If the Timbers were in a funk before, they're in a tailspin now β€” and just at a time in the season when they should have been looking forward to playing a run of games with their strongest team.

Saturday was supposed to be a get well day for the Timbers. It wasn't. Now, the going gets even tougher.