It did not take long for the Colorado Rapids to get their first win of the season as the Timbers proved to be no match for the defending MLS Champions. Eights minutes into the match Timber defenders Wallace and Goldthwaite let Cumming’s free in the corner to set up the Rapids first goal. It makes you wonder how defenders who have a player pinned at the corner flag can let this happen. Timbers forward Perlaza had the best chance of the game to score for Portand in the 10th minute as he had only the keeper to beat. His chip over the keeper sailed high over the Colorado goal. Timbers starting keeper Perkin’s was out with an injury so the Timbers had to start their back up Brown, (who has shown problems letting balls get away from his grasp), let the Rapids second goal in. A minute latter midfielder Smith stuck a beauty past Brown making the score 3-0 for Colorado before the first half was over. Ryan Pore made his first start for the Timbers but did not show much. All in all the other players played ok. Ok does not mean you will win the match.
The second half showed Colorado letting up a bit and it was not until the 80th minute that Portland got on board. Kenny Cooper put in a nice free kick that went under the defensive wall Colorado had set.
So the match ends 3-1 in favor of Colorado. A bit of a disappointment but we are lucky it still is very early in the season.
I liked coach Spencers take on the match
I like that he did not sugar coat things that many of the Timber fans seem to do. When your team had a bad match you need to step up and say that.
On a positive note the best supporters in the United States, the Timbers Army, proved to the rest of MLS fans they are indeed the best supporters in the MLS.
Next up for the Timbers is Toronto who got trashed in Vancouver BC.
Scoring Summary:
COL — Jeff Larentowicz 1 (Omar Cummings 1) 8
COL — Omar Cummings 1 (unassisted) 29
COL — Jamie Smith 1 (Conor Casey 1) 30
POR — Kenny Cooper 1 (unassisted) 80
Portland Timbers — Adin Brown, Steve Purdy, Eric Brunner, Kevin Goldthwaite (David Horst 46), Rodney Wallace (Kalif Alhassan 66), Ryan Pore, Jack Jewsbury, Peter Lowry (Adam Moffat 46), Jeremy Hall, Kenny Cooper, Jorge Perlaza.
Substitutes Not Used: Mamadou Danso, Brian Umony, Sal Zizzo, Jake Gleeson.
TOTAL SHOTS: 5 (Kenny Cooper 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Kenny Cooper 1); FOULS: 7 (Ryan Pore 2); OFFSIDES: 3 (3 tied with 1); CORNER KICKS: 1 (Jack Jewsbury 1); SAVES: 5 (Adin Brown 5)
Colorado Rapids — Matt Pickens, Kosuke Kimura, Marvell Wynne, Drew Moor, Anthony Wallace, Brian Mullan(Wells Thompson 89), Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni (Sanna Nyassi 77), Jamie Smith, Conor Casey (Quincy Amarikwa 61), Omar Cummings.
Substitutes Not Used: Mike Holody, Ross LaBauex, Scott Palguta, Steward Ceus.
TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Omar Cummings 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (3 tied with 2); FOULS: 15 (Brian Mullan 5); OFFSIDES: 1 (Omar Cummings 1); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Jamie Smith 7); SAVES: 0
Misconduct Summary:
COL — Conor Casey (caution; Reckless Foul) 39
Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Referee’s Assistants: Craig Lowry; Peter Manikowski
4th Official: Yader Reyes
Attendance: 17,139
