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Portland Timbers

Diego Valeri had missed three straight passes in the attacking half of the field when he stepped up to a central free kick won by Timbers substitute Samuel Armenteros, just more than 20 yards from goal, with the clock ticking towards 90 minutes and the game on his right foot.

You know what happened next. Valeri took three steps, and sent his shot flying around the wall and bending inside the right post before San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell's dive brought him anywhere near it.

Portland 1, San Jose 0. Ballgame.

A great game this was not. It was in turns slow, predictable, and bereft of quality. But Valeri's missile of a free kick cut through the mediocrity that proceeded it. It's the Maestro's world, just as much as it ever has been, and we're only lucky enough to be able to enjoy it.

This latest moment of magic, an 87th minute dagger in a stadium in which the Timbers were winless, might just be the moment of the season so far. After opening the year without a victory in five games, Portland has now won three straight β€” and, perhaps most significantly, taken its winning act on the road.

The Timbers were close at the end of their season opening trip β€” especially in its last two games against Chicago and Orlando β€” but were burned by their inability to handle scramble situations in and around their penalty area.

But on this night, just as they did against New York City two weeks ago, they were able to avoid those scramble situations altogether. San Jose's utter lack of attacking competence notwithstanding, this Timbers team is settling in. Giovani Savarese is finding a rhythm, both with his personnel and his setups.

Make no mistake: nothing we saw from the Timbers, save for Valeri's bullet, was of a vintage quality. It wasn't that kind of contest. Both teams hit the post in the opening phase of the game, the 'Quakes β€” fittingly β€” via a mishit cross, Portland through Fanendo Adi, but the first half was a fairly even and uneventful affair.

Both teams warmed slightly to the task at hand after the restart, with the Earthquakes more or less controlling the game territorially but stranded by their lack of central playmaking and total inability to challenge a coasting Timbers' backline.

It was always going to take something a cut above to grab a winner, and, provided the opportunity through the work of Armenteros, Valeri showed his class. The 'Quakes went quietly from there, and are now on their longest winless run in more than a year.

For the Timbers, alongside Valeri, the biggest contributions came from familiar sources.

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Portland Timbers

Diego Chara, for one, wrung every ounce of soccer he possibly could have out of the evening. He lead the team in recoveries, interceptions, fouls won, and fouls committed, while connecting on all but four of his pass attempts. For a number six, it was a textbook performance.

Behind Chara, the Timbers were solid. Jeff Attinella has been, just as he was when he took over in goal last year, a breath of fresh air. He made several smart stops, namely on a bending Vako effort midway through the first half, but his confidence in and around his six yard box alone was a significant boost.

Attinella is a pro. He was aided, as he was last time out, by an engaged Liam Ridgewell β€” whose return to the lineup has gone a long way in organizing and stabilizing a defense that, all of the sudden, has climbed statistically into the middle of the pack in MLS.

Ridgewell had not been part of a road clean sheet since the Timbers and New York Red Bulls played to a 0-0 draw in Harrison in July of 2016, and the Timbers hadn't kept clean sheets in consecutive games β€” no matter the personnel β€” since last June.

It should come as no surprise that this San Jose team was one of the two shut out during that run as well. The 'Quakes are, in fact, the only club that the Timbers have blanked at least once in every season since 2012.

And while San Jose has had some ugly, regressive teams in recent years, this outfit could give any of them a run for their money. Under new manager Mikael Stahre, the 'Quakes are winless since Opening Day, bottom of the league in points-per-game, and as abject going forward as any in MLS.

Questions are already mounting regarding the capabilities of Stahre, whose first move was to lift Chris Wondolowski for USL import Chris Wehan β€” a player who hadn't appeared in a game all season. Wehan's contribution in his twenty minutes? A blocked shot and two completed attacking half passes.

Florian Jungwirth, who Stahre had insisted play in central midfield before an injury forced him back to his more natural center back on Saturday night, said after the game that his team's performance "was youth soccer".

So while the rest of the league moves forward, San Jose again appears to be heading in the wrong direction. The club's supporters, who are no longer filling the 18,000-seat Avaya Stadium, have taken notice.

The Timbers, on the other hand, praised by Savarese for their "unity", are trending the right way β€” and at the right time, too. Next weekend, the struggling Seattle Sounders come calling at Providence Park.