Timbers march into West final after win in Vancouver
This exercise in match management started right around the time Fanendo Adi thrashed into the back of the net. Portland procured its precious away goal just after the half hour and protected it with care and precision for the following 60 minutes. Every pass brought them closer to their objective. Every movement prevented Vancouver Whitecaps from mustering any sort of response. This methodical march paved the way for the Timbers to claim a richly deserved 2-0 victory at B.C. Place and reach the Western Conference final poised to start in two weeks' time.
Adi provided the Timbers with a foothold and underscored the importance of detail after 31 minutes. Vancouver lapsed on Rodney Wallace's throw-in and suffered immediate consequences. Diego Valeri navigated through the hard work to prompt Adi's rasping finish. Diego Chara added the gloss in second-half stoppage time to confirm the inevitable and seal this professional performance over two legs.
Portland emerged as the better team by riding through those occasional Whitecaps counters and relying on its proficency in possession. Their reliability across the board allowed them to take advantage when Vancouver faltered and permitted them to ward off any disruptions to their carefully established order. Those tenets proved more than enough in this tie and served as a cautionary note for FC Dallas ahead of the first leg of the West final at Providence Park on Nov. 22 (live, 7:30p.m. ET, FS1, FOX Sports GO).
Vancouver entered this game with a realistic assessment of the peril at hand after the tight first leg. The scoreless draw at Providence Park last Sunday placed them in a position to pursue the game without risking that potentially fatal away goal. Those measures prompted Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson to introduce Pedro Morales from the start and trust his players to strike the proper balance.
In the early stages, they managed the feat well enough. Octavio Rivero threw himself about earnestly up front. Kekuta Manneh and Cristian Techera scurried on the flanks. Morales tried to work his way into the game in the center of the park. Manneh, in particular, looked bright, but he sustained an ankle injury and limped off after 20 minutes.
Manneh’s departure left the Whitecaps to adjust with Mauro Rosales in midfield and stripped away much of the pace on the flanks. Portland managed those threats deftly with their superiority in possession and ultimately produced the necessary away goal to decide this tie.
The opportunity arrived after the Whitecaps lost concentration on a throw-in. Wallace picked out Valeri and watched Valeri twist his way to the end line. Valeri shaped to shoot, but he pulled back for Adi instead. Adi rounded off the move by leaning back and rifling into the roof of the net to give the Timbers that precious advantage.
Adi’s goal allowed the Timbers to wield possession as a means of protecting their lead. The proficiency on the ball from Valeri and Darlington Nagbe allowed the Timbers to retain the ball simply and forced the Whitecaps to chase just to win the ball back.
Once the Whitecaps managed to procure the ball, they floundered in their attempts to use it effectively. Morales and Rosales barely influenced the game even as they expertly drifted into decent spaces. Rivero increasingly struggled to receive the proper supply. There were simply no methods to provide it with the Timbers deftly managing space and preventing Vancouver from breaking quickly.
Vancouver never managed to increase the tempo to truly disrupt the status quo in the second half. The injury to Jorge Villafana prompted the introduction of Norberto Paparatto and shunted Liam Ridgewell out to left back. The back four compensated without permitting the Whitecaps to locate and find the gaps required to produce the goal required to place the tie back in doubt.
This inert Whitecaps performance somehow petered out in the final quarter of an hour as the eventual exit took hold. David Ousted produced one last impressive save to protect the perception of hope, while substitute Robert Earnshaw tried an overhead kick to jar his side to life. It induced no tangible effect as Timbers punctuated their superiority when Chara slotted home in the dying embers in the game. The final blow rounded off this march in style and underscored the Timbers' deserved spot in the last four.
