The Portland Timbers have talked about rounding into form in recent weeks, but few results have backed up those words quite like Saturday’s comprehensive 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
“Very important win for many, many reasons,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said. “Three points, Cascadia Cup, home game, and we performed very well. We played very well. We can still progress, still get better. But I think the first 20 minutes and the entire second half, I thought we were very, very good.”
On a toasty night at Providence Park, Portland was aggressive from the outset on the attack, playing deep in Vancouver’s third for the first few minutes of the match. On their second run into the box in the second minute, the Timbers (4-5-3, 15 points) scored on a powerful shot from striker Franck Boli.
“I thought it was a great game from us,” Boli said, “We started really well. … We have good players, we just had to push. The team was incredible today. Fantastic game from everybody.”
On the other end, Aljaz Ivacic made a pair of crucial saves to keep Portland’s 1-0 advantage. The first came in the third minute on a header by Pedro Vite, and the second was in the 14th minute on a rocketed shot by Alessandro Schopf that took a wicked deflection.
The Timbers extended their lead to 2-0 in the 18th minute on a contender for goal of the year. Santiago Moreno blooped the ball over a head to Colombian national teammate Juan David Mosquera, who played it back to Moreno, who played it back to Mosquera, who put the ball in to Evander for the score.
Vancouver pulled a goal back in the 24th minute to make it 2-1. Zac McGraw attempted a flying clearance on a dangerous cross in from right to left by Julian Gressel, but the ball went in for the own-goal.
Portland maintained its passing efficiency in the attacking third for the remainder of the first half, but it lacked that final moment to extend its advantage. Defensively, the Timbers were shaky at times but did not break, remaining up 2-1 heading into half.
The Timbers, buoyed by the dazzling play of Evander, went up 3-1 in the first few minutes of the second half. Evander spun off his defender, turned, and fired a right-footed strike with power to secure his brace in the 54th minute.
Portland brought on Dairon Asprilla and Jaroslaw Niezgoda in the 64th minute for Yimmi Chará — who made his first start for the Timbers since returning from injury — and Boli.
In the 73rd, with his team playing strong defensively to keep its two-goal advantage, McGraw picked up a yellow card.
Ivacic continued his excellent work between the wickets, recording another save in tight quarters in the 80th minute.
In the 84th minute, with Moreno ailing due to a pair of knocks picked up on his left leg, the Timbers brought on Marvin Loría for him and Eric Miller for Mosquera.
Sitting on a potential hat trick, Evander came off in the 90th minute, replaced by defender Larrys Mabiala. The Timbers held their lead the rest of the way, capping one of their strongest performances of the season.
“I was going for the hat trick,” Evander said. “I wasn’t doing crazy things, but I wanted one more opportunity to score the third goal. I knew that nobody had scored a hat trick in MLS competition (for the Timbers), so I wanted to be the first. But I’ll have to wait until the next opportunity.”
Next up: The Timbers head out on the road for a midweek tilt with Real Salt Lake. The match kicks off at 6:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday with a live stream available on the Apple TV app with a subscription to MLS Season Pass.
— Ryan Clarke, rclarke@oregonian.com, Twitter: @RyanTClarke
