It was an agonizingly long wait as it took two games and 84 minutes for the Major League Soccer Portland Timbers to effectively register their first official victory. The Timbers snared a 2-0 win over Chivas USA with two late goals from Jack Jewsbury and Eric Brunner at Merlo Field Tuesday evening in the opening round of MLS qualifying for the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
| 2011 US Open Cup qualifying (MLS) Chivas USA 0:2 Portland Timbers SCORING SUMMARY POR: Jack Jewsbury (Unassisted) – 84th POR: Eric Brunner (Unassisted) – 86th Portland advances to play at San Jose, date/time TBA MLS qualifying schedule VIDEO (PortlandTimbers.com) Game highlights Jack Jewsbury post-game interview PHOTOS from Prost Amerika | RECAP |
After suffering losses on the road to the MLS Champion Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC, the club’s path to its first win came in small steps. First was returning home, playing in the rain of the alternate venue at the University of Portland. Then it was getting a little help from the referees, who gave the club a man advantage just before halftime when the visitors saw Andrew Boyens sent off for a second yellow card in the 43rd minute.
Chivas USA managed the setback well in the second though, creating opportunities and keeping Portland largely at bay. When it seemed the California club, which reached the tournament’s semifinals a year ago despite finishing eighth in the league’s Western Conference, was going to break through in the 83rd minute, the match instead broke in favor of the Timbers in a mad four minute frenzy.
A long ball over the top created a breakaway for Justin Braun in the 83rd minute when he collected the ball behind the Timbers’ defense and drove toward goal. Back-up goalkeeper Jake Gleeson charged outside the edge of the box and stuffed Braun’s attempt at close range, denying the visitor’s best opportunity of the night.
The Timbers caught Chivas USA off guard just seconds later at the other end when second half substitute Jack Jewsbury let loose a low shot from 35 yards out that skipped on the wet grass and found its way into the lower left corner through the outstretched hands of Dan Kennedy.
Braun nearly answered back for Chivas USA a minute later, turning with the ball at the edge of the box only to see it poked away at the last second.
The missed chance proved critical. With the crowd still electrified from the club’s first-ever lead as an MLS team, a loose ball in the box was put away from eight yards by defender Eric Brunner in the 87th to secure the win. The play was created from a corner Brunner headed into a falling Chivas USA defender, ricocheting directly back to him for the second attempt.
The Timbers advance to the second round of the league’s US Open Cup qualifying tournament. They will travel to play the San Jose Earthquakes – details to be determined. It was the first time Chivas USA had to go through the qualification process adopted in 2007. The loss marks the first time the club failed to qualify for the tournament since their debut in 2005.
The match started off with the home club buzzing about the Chivas USA goal. Kenny Cooper put a header over the goal in the first half-minute of play. He had another chance in the sixth minute when a long ball up the middle found him shoulder-to-shoulder with a defender 30 yards out, but he was unable to gain full control for a chance at goal.
Jorge Perlaza kept the visitors busy with his work most of the first half. In the 10th minute he darted toward goal on the left side, but Kennedy came out of the box to break it up. Three minutes later he tried to turn with the ball 25 yards out, but was knocked off the ball for a free kick. In the 28th, he got the ball on the right side and drove toward goal before sending the ball wide left.
Chivas USA had a few sniffs at the Timbers goal in the first half, mostly courtesy of the play of Marcos Mondaini. His best chance came in the 34th minute on an excellent through ball that put him alone in the box only to see his shot from 16 knocked away by the rookie Timbers netminder. Four minutes later Braun made a long run down the middle of the pitch before dishing it off to Mondaini, whose shot with a defender on his inside shoulder from just inside the left corner of the box was also denied.
Just prior to the game-changing red card to Boyens, a 42nd minute free kick 35 yards out led to a fantastic shot. Peter Lowry rolled the dead ball about 12 yards to his left for a wide open Rodney Wallace, who ripped a line-drive rifle that zipped just wide of the left upper corner.
Despite playing a man down, the visitors came out and played well in the second half before a series of tough tackles around the hour mark seemed to show the unraveling that was to come. An ensuing free kick from one foul led to a 30 yard rocket from Cooper that tested Kennedy, who was forced to knock the wet ball away haphazardly in the 62nd minute.
Six minutes later Cooper nearly set up the opening marker when he tried to turn and shoot inside the box. Seeing he couldn’t get the shot off, he dished it back to Lowry, who put his uncontested shot over the goal from 19 yards. And just moments before the madness, Perlaza also nearly created the first strike when he stole the ball in the right corner and sent it to Jeremy Hall, who delivered a dangerous cross from the right flank into the area only to see hit headed away.
The Portland Timbers now travel to play the New England Revolution in league play Saturday, April 2 while Chivas USA takes to the road for the first time this season to face Toronto FC earlier in the day.
2011 US Open Cup qualifying (MLS)
Chivas USA 0:2 Portland Timbers
March 29, 2011 – Merlo Field in Portland, Ore.
Scoring Summary
POR: Jack Jewsbury (Unassisted) – 84th minute
POR: Eric Brunner (Unassisted) – 86th minute
Misconduct Summary
CHV: Mondaini (Yellow), 14
CHV: Boyens (Yellow), 35
CHV: Boyens (Yellow), 43
CHV: Boyens (Red), 43
CHV: Braun (Yellow), 49
POR: Purdy (Yellow), 74
POR: Hall (Yellow), 89
Lineups:
Portland — GK Gleeson, D Wallace, D Brunner, D Horst, D Purdy, M Alhassan, M Marcelin, M Lowry (Jewsbury, 71), M Pore (Hall, 65), F Cooper, F Perlaza
Substitutes Not Used: GK Guppy, D Goldthwaite, D Taylor, M Braun, M Nagbe
Chivas USA — GK Kennedy, D Pearce, D Zemanski (Bowen, 89), D Boyens, D Owusu (Jazic, 63), M Lahoud, M LaBrocca©, M Mendoza (Flores, 46), F Mondaini, F Braun, F Estupiñan
Substitutes Not Used: GK Thornton, GK Arias, M Trujillo, M Mayen
Referee: Juan Guzman
Assistant Referees: Jeff Hosking, Desmond Miller
4th Official: Ronald Lagraff
Attendance: 5,061
Weather: Rain, 50 degrees
MLS US Open Cup qualifying schedule
Automatic qualifiers: Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders FC
First Round
(8) Chivas USA 0:2 (10) Portland Timbers
Tuesday, March 29 – 10 p.m. EST | Merlo Field (Univ. of Portland) in Portland, Ore.
(7) Philadelphia at (9) DC United
April 6, 7:30 p.m. | Maryland Soccerplex (Germantown, Md.)
Second Round
(10) Portland Timbers at (2) San Jose Earthquakes
Date/Location TBA
(6) New England at DC United/Philadelphia
Date/Location TBA
(1) Colorado Rapids at (4) Chicago Fire
March 30, 7:30 p.m. EST – Shea Stadium (Bradley Univ.) in Peoria, Ill.
Click here for a preview / live blog
(3) Sporting Kansas City at (5) Houston Dynamo
April 6, 8 p.m. EST – Aggie Soccer Stadium in College Station, Tx.
Third Round*
Colorado/Chicago winner at Portland/San Jose winner
DC United/Philadelphia/New England winner at KC/Houston winner
*Winner of each third round game qualify for the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup