In one of their strongest defensive performances of the season, featuring some exciting moments on the attack as well, the Portland Timbers beat FC Dallas 1-0 on Sunday at Providence Park.
The Timbers (5-7-5, 20 points) ascended back into the playoff picture with the win, sitting in eighth place at the midpoint of the 2023 season. FC Dallas (7-6-5, 26 points) put in a flat performance and was outshot, 14-5.
Portland was aggressive from the first whistle, on the front foot against a FC Dallas side that came out sluggish.
In the seventh minute, Cristhian Paredes had a curling take saved. One minute later, Zac McGraw and Diego Chará made strong plays at the back to prevent a viable counterattack.
Evander got involved in the 9th minute with a feed to Juan David Mosquera, whose powerful shot was saved. In the 11th, Evander fired a shot of his own that was saved as well. In the 14th, Evander’s pass met Dairon Asprilla’s head, but it was saved by Maarten Paes.
It was a hotly contested affair early, and Evander received a yellow card for dissent in the 16th minute after vociferously disagreeing with official Ted Unkel.
In the 28th, Cristhian Paredes — a constant, disruptive presence in the midfield for Portland all night — played a knifing ball ahead to Franck Boli, whose redirect just missed the frame of goal at the far post.
After nearly 35 minutes of strong work on the attack, the Timbers were rewarded with a goal. Evander played a perfect, curling cross into the box, and Boli headed it home to make it 1-0. Portland carried that lead into the halftime break.
Evander maintained his involvement, playing a ball in to McGraw in the 49th minute that the center back couldn’t quite get down. In the 60th, Evander slid a ball across to Paredes, who lost the ball before Santiago Moreno’s eventual shot, which was saved. Evander had a shot of his own in the 61st, fed ahead by Moreno.
A straight red card was initially issued to FC Dallas’ Geovane Jesus in the 67th minute after he appeared to stomp on Chará’s foot following a collision, but after a lengthy review, it was determined to be a yellow card on both players.
The Timbers brought on Jaroslaw Niezgoda for Boli in the 71st minute and Marvin Loría for Moreno. Loría had a powerful shot miss just wide in the 80th minute. Niezgoda had one hit the keeper in the chest in the 84th.
Portland replaced Evander with Sebastián Blanco in the 90th minute and brought on Larrys Mabiala for Asprilla in stoppage time, hanging on to a 1-0 lead the rest of the way. But the team had an injury concern in stoppage time as Mosquera went down with a left ankle injury and immediately called for trainers. He was able to walk off under his own power and returned to play.
Next up: Portland travels to San Jose for a matchup with the Earthquakes. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday with a live stream available on the Apple TV app with a subscription to MLS Season Pass.
— Ryan Clarke, rclarke@oregonian.com, Twitter: @RyanTClarke