It didn't come easily, but Portland Timbers got the result they absolutely had to have.
The Timbers beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 on Friday night at Providence Park. They got two goals from Diego Valeri, and, at long last, busted out of a slump that saw the team go without a win and without a multi-goal game for more than a month.
Playing San Jose at home has long been a remedy for what ails the Timbers. Portland beat the 'Quakes at Providence Park to bust out of an identical five-game winless streak last April, and got their first clean sheet against them after fourteen games of the 2016 season last June.
That game, as luck would have it, bore plenty of similarities to this one — right down to a questionable first half red card. First though, just as they did in Seattle, Portland would begin the game with its hair on fire and frustratingly fail to find a goal.
From minute one, the Timbers dominated the game. They pinned San Jose in defensively, created odd-man situations at will, and forced ‘Quakes goalkeeper David Bingham into several excellent early saves — one on a Dairon Asprilla header, the next on a David Guzman volley.
But the game's turning point would come late in the first half, when 'Quakes midfielder Darwin Cerén, not a minute after being booked for bundling over Guzman, slammed into Sebastian Blanco and was sent off.
It was something of a wild decision by referee Kevin Stott, but it was a wildly rambunctious challenge for a player who had been cautioned on the previous play. A better referee would have given Cerén a reprieve, but such a character was not in charge.
Despite San Jose’s furious protestations, the game had boiled down to a simple state. Either the Timbers were going to find a goal, or they weren't.
The early returns were foreboding. The worst miss of the first half came after the red card. Diego Chara lofted a cross towards Blanco at the back post, which Blanco towards Fanendo Adi – who, from five yards with the goal gaping, managed to hit the post.
But the frustration wouldn’t last much longer. Four minutes after the restart, Zarek Valentin fired a cross-field pass that Valeri chested into the space in front of him between San Jose center backs, sprinted onto, and slipped off the post and in past by Bingham.
Given San Jose’s condition, the goal was always likely to stand up as the winner – and it was a goal good enough to win any game. After a mostly sputtering return from injury for Valeri, this was the player we’ve come to expect: incisive, instinctual, and capable of the outstanding.
The Timbers took their foot off the gas just slightly with the lead, but San Jose was barely able to get out of its own half – let alone mount a credible push. Of the visitors’ best chances, Chris Wondolowski saw a shot hit one of his own players on the line, while Valentin came up with an excellent flying block on a good Tommy Thompson chance in the box.
The Timbers had a myriad of opportunities to add an insurance goal on the counter late on, with Bingham miraculously not getting called for a penalty for bringing down Adi on a breakaway as the game ticked towards its conclusion.
In the end, though, the Timbers would get their second. Adi had another shot ring off the far post, but, this time, Valeri – on the end of a sixty-yard run – arrived to stuff in the rebound and bring the curtain down. It was the final kick of the game, and a satisfying conclusion to a worthy performance.
Even with Darlington Nagbe away on national team duty, there was no weak link for the Timbers on Friday night. The defense, led again by strong duel performances from Liam Ridgewell and Roy Miller, was clean. More importantly, Portland finally got a worthwhile performance from Dairon Asprilla in Nagbe's place.
This was the first time that Asprilla has played 90 minutes for the Timbers in an MLS game since , and he earned every minute. He ran hard, kept the game simple, and played with purpose. It was a showing a world away from the lost, staggering outing Asprilla had in his last start three weeks against Atlanta.
In that Atlanta game, Asprilla was linked up with Alvas Powell on the right wing. In this match, however, with Powell benched, Asprilla had the cool feet of Valentin behind him. He was better for it.
Valentin is a sharp, capable player, and he’s leapt at the chance to — at least for the time being — lock down the right back job. This was a fabulous performance from the Akron product. He got the game-breaking assist and was typically assured in possession, but was also quick defensively — no quicker than on that Borchers-esque flying block.
Against Atlanta, with Powell and Asprilla on the right wing, the Timbers controlled just 30 percent of possession. In this game, with Valentin and Asprilla, that number shot up to 66 percent.
It certainly helped that San Jose played sixty-plus minutes with ten men. But even before the red card, the 'Quakes offense looked decrepit. The state of things was such that Wondolowski, with his phenomenal goal-scoring record against Portland, had just four touches in the attacking third of the field.
In fact San Jose was so clueless going forward, it didn't matter how many players they had on the field. Despite playing almost the entire first half with eleven, they couldn't manage a single shot. You have to hand it to the 'Quakes: It's something to watch a team become a worse version of itself year after year after year.
This is a club that hasn't won a league match in Portland since the Reagan administration. Since the San Jose last made the playoffs, the Timbers have played for a Western Conference championship and won MLS Cup.
This year looked, at its onset, like it might compare to those two. Tonight we got a reminder of why: The Timbers played San Jose off the field. They were imposing.
All MLS seasons, for all teams, have peaks and valleys. The Timbers have not yet seen out their first storm of 2017. This result though, at the start of June, was a strong signal that they will.
