The Colorado Rapids defeated the Portland Timbers 1-0 at Providence Park, clinching a playoff spot in the process. Kellyn Acosta made the decisive strike in the 84th minute to seal Portland’s fate.
Lineups
Our Starting XI vs. Colorado.#PORvCOL | #RCTID pic.twitter.com/Ls2V5BZzvy
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) November 5, 2020
The group to face @TimbersFC tonight.#PORvCOL | #Rapids96
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) November 5, 2020
Lots of rotation tonight—gonna be a midfield 3 of Chará/Paredes/Eryk as the 10. Polo/Flores on the wins and Tuiloma in for Larrys. Also love to see Dairon back on the bench after being out all year! #RCTID #PORvCOL https://t.co/7shbLawf8S
— 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@doublepostpod) November 5, 2020
Match Recap
The first serious action of the match came in the 9th minute when Eryk Williamson had an immaculate touch to bring down a long ball, but he couldn’t cut it back to Paredes in time.
The Timbers had a golden chance to counter-attack a minute later and had a numerical advantage, but Chará couldn’t find Polo on the far side.
Fifteen minutes in, Colorado were awarded their first penalty of the season after Bill Tuiloma had a simple deflection snap off his foot and up to his arm in the box. What began as a harmless giveaway from Colorado turned into a penalty.
Or, at least, we thought so. Referee Joseph Dickerson overturned what we all thought was a handball. One explanation offered was that the handball was unintentional, but that still seemed like a pretty easy one to call.
POR vs. COL
The penalty kick awarded to COL was under review for a handball committed by POR player number 25.
After further review, the penalty kick awarded to COL was overturned due to no handball.
— MLS Video Review (@MLSVAR) November 5, 2020
Portland nearly capitalized quickly on the other end, but Williamson couldn’t turn and get a cross off while William Yarbrough was off his line.
Portland tried to press high a few times with little-to-no success. Colorado were breaking and switching to find space, although they still kept trying long balls for some reason, too.
Polo broke down the right hand side off a beautiful through ball from Paredes, but his final pass wasn’t there.
The rest of the half was wildly uneventful. Župarić headed a ball away that Clark came to punch, but not much else happened.
HT thoughts:
If you were looking for an election de-stresser, this might be it, but not because it’s exciting. Not much is going on, and the Tuiloma handball was the only real action. Still can’t believe that wasn’t called. One shot on goal tells the story.#RCTID #PORvCOL
— 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@doublepostpod) November 5, 2020
Diego Chará picked up a very normal Diego Chará yellow card in the 49th minute, which means he will be suspended for the LAFC match this weekend.
Portland picked up the intensity the instant Valeri entered the pitch. Yimmi Chará got his leg up to his head for a volley from a Marco Farfan cross, but his effort was just wide.
In the 64th minute, Polo nearly replicated his Goal of the Week volley from the same spot, but his shot was wide of the post.
Marco Farfan went down without contact in the 67th minute and was clutching his torso. It took a few minutes for him to get up, and he was replaced by Jorge Villafaña when he finally did.
Valeri’s influence couldn’t be overstated. Portland kept creating great chances in the box, and no one was able to make the decisive final touch.
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Mora failed to turn and shoot, electing to play it back.
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Valeri’s back-heel found Villafaña in space, who hit the ball with the outside of his foot into the side of the net.
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Mora floated a ball to the back post for…the shortest player on the team. Yimmi Chará couldn’t get to it.
Two poor passes from DC21 in his own half led to a Kellyn Acosta surge towards goal. Paredes tried to tackle him, but the path to goal was too easy. Acosta slotted the ball home with ease to make it 1-0 Colorado 84 minutes in.
.@kellynacosta is back and he’s given us the 1-0 lead!!! pic.twitter.com/VikICRfahk
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) November 5, 2020
Portland actually looked significantly worse after the goal. The Timbers nearly gave up another goal from a Nicolas Mezquida shot and Colorado ran the clock out easily.
The Timbers did get one more chance as Yimmi Chará dribbled the ball to Asprilla in the box, and his toe-poke from very close range smacked off the post.
Portland had chances to win this match, but Colorado took theirs better. I would say the loss was deserved.
FT thoughts:
Meh. Super meh. Portland has gone from having 3 starting-caliber strikers to maybe 1? Mora hasn’t scored in his last 7 and Jebo is nowhere to be found. There are improvements to be made.
That being said: this is still a dangerous playoff team.#RCTID #PORvCOL
— 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@doublepostpod) November 5, 2020
