Presented with a chance to get back into the MLS playoff picture against one of four teams below them in the Western Conference standings, the Portland Timbers instead saw their season take another dour turn in a 4-1 road loss to Minnesota United.
The Timbers (5-9-7, 22 points) conceded two goals in the waning moments of the first half at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota — the first an own goal by Diego Chara — and two more in quick succession in the second half as Minnesota (6-7-6, 24 points) jumped Portland in the standings. The Timbers have yet to defeat Minnesota United on the road in six tries all-time (0-5-1).
Franck Boli’s team-leading sixth goal of the season gave the Timbers life in the 60th minute, but a pair of Minnesota tallies in a three-minute span later in the half turned the game into a rout.
Playing without offensive catalyst Evander due to a one-game suspension, in addition to injured attackers Dairon Asprilla, Yimmi Chara and Sebastian Blanco, Portland struggled to generate high-quality offensive chances. Minnesota outshot the Timbers 18-7 and put 10 attempts on target. Timbers goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic made seven saves but his effort wasn’t nearly enough.
Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese did not mince words in his postgame comments, asserting that he felt some players did not give their best effort on the field.
“I think it’s a very frustrating day, losing 4-1 when we wanted to compete and needed three points,” Savarese said. “If we don’t have everyone pushing and putting in the effort in the same way, it’s always going to be difficult.”
“For 43 minutes it was even,” he continued. “Then we concede a goal because of stubbornness and some disconnect with our players. All of a sudden it’s 1-0 and then a second goal comes right away. It should’ve been tied and we find ourselves trailing 2-0.”
The Timbers put two shots on goal off free kicks in the first half, but attempts by Santiago Moreno and Marvin Loria were saved easily by Minnesota goalkeeper Clint Irwin.
The hosts broke through in the 44th minute. Diego Chara slid into the path of a dangerous pass to Minnesota’s Mender Garcia but deflected the ball backward into his own net past a helpless Ivacic.
Minnesota doubled its advantage five minutes later when Emanuel Reynoso scored directly from a corner kick. Reynoso’s curling ball caught Ivacic leaning the wrong way, and he couldn’t keep it out of the net despite getting his hands to it near the goal line.
The Timbers pulled one back a minute after Nathan Fogaca came on as a substitute. Fogaca’s one-time pass hit Boli in stride and the forward outran the Minnesota defense to slot a left-footed shot past Irwin.
Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored on a counterattack in the 74th minute, outracing Chara to a long pass over the top of the Portland defense and beating Ivacic between his legs. In the 77th minute, Hlongwane delivered a pass across the face of the goal to an unmarked Reynoso for a simple tap-in for his second of the night.
It was that fourth goal that drew Savarese’s strongest rebuke.
“The fourth goal was a gift,” Savarese said. “It’s a gift of some guys being disconnected and the same usual guys that are giving everything they have all of a sudden have to work for everyone else.”
“The player is completely free; he had no one with him,” he continued. “That can’t happen on a simple cross when we have enough players in the back. We cannot allow that, and those little moments accumulate.”
In addition to Chara, Savarese praised the efforts of defenders Claudio Bravo, Eric Miller and Dario Zuparic, and midfielder Noel Caliskan.
Those players “gave everything they had,” according to Savarese. He hinted that others needed to make better use of their playing time while some regulars are out of the lineup.
Savarese ultimately said “I’m the one responsible for the group” and did not want to use the absences as an excuse for the team’s poor play.
“We have the guys that we have and they could have won,” he said of those healthy enough to play. “If you only rely on talent, that’s not enough. You have to give performances sometimes that are about effort more than quality. The only way they’ll progress is by knowing that they didn’t do a good job today.”
With Sporting Kansas City winning Saturday, the Timbers fell to 12th place in the 14-team West, but still sit just three points out of ninth place, which is the final playoff spot. Portland will get another chance to pull out of a funk that has yielded one win in nine games when the team plays at last-place Colorado on Tuesday.
The shorthanded roster allowed 22-year-old Caliskan to get his first MLS start for the Timbers. The German who played collegiately at Loyola Marymount played all 90 minutes in a central midfield role.
Portland’s Loria suffered a bloody nose in the seventh minute when his attempt at a cross bounded off the feet of Minnesota’s Wil Trapp and hit him directly in the face. Loria missed seven minutes of play as he received medical attention and changed his uniform. He was replaced in the 59th minutes by Cristhian Paredes.
Evander missed Saturday’s game due to a one-game suspension handed out for slapping NYCFC forward Matias Pellegrini in the Timbers’ last game.
— Scott Sepich for The Oregonian/OregonLive
