The Portland Timbers came from behind to beat Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Providence Park in Felipe Mora's last game as a Timbers player. The visitors struck first in the first half, but aided by a man advantage via a red card Portland fought back in the second, winning all three points courtesy of the head of their departing hero.
Lineups & Prematch
With Jack Cassidy in charge for his third game as interim manager, he had to manage his side playing their third game in ten games. Therefore, rotations were necessary. Diego Chara rotated in for Jose Caicedo, who started on Wednesday. Kristoffer Velde, who came off the bench Wednesday, got the start on the left wing over Antony.
But the biggest change was of course Felipe Mora starting up top. It was announced earlier in the week that tonight would be Mora's last match as a Timbers player ahead of a reported move to Liga MX side Atletico San Luis.
Portland was thankful that the transfer came later and not sooner, as injuries have wrecked the striker position. Gage Guerra was still hurt, and the red-hot Kevin Kelsy unfortunately suffered an ankle injury earlier in the week against FC Dallas. So it was Pipe leading the line for his last ride as a Timber.
Mora took the field accompanied by his children for the national anthem, and in honor of Pride night the Timbers Army unveiled a beautiful tifo display reminding everyone that "We All Belong In This World After All".
Under a gorgeous Pacific Northwest sky, the match got underway.
Recap & Highlights
Unlike Wednesday's foes FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake pushed their initial line of confrontation higher, pressuring Portland's defensive line early and often. It both forced and took advantage of sloppy giveaways from the Timbers, giving RSL early opportunities to attack the Timbers.
The result was a shaky opening 15 minutes where Portland couldn't seem to keep the ball or build any kind of rhythm. Cole Bassett was shown a yellow card in the 10th minute, and the Timbers' goal in the south end faced early danger.
14' Save POR – Pantemis
James Pantemis was forced into an early strong save as he leapt to get a hand to a strike from Zavier Gozo from the edge of the box. Jimer Fory, who was under fire from Salt Lake's press frequently in the first half, kept conceding the space and failed to put a challenge in before the shot.
For as good as Pants is, and was on the shot, he wasn't good enough to block RSL's next effort, which opened the scoring.
18' Goal Real Salt Lake – Sanabria (0-1)
Portland could not deal with RSL's press and failed to generate any ideas of how to play through it. After another period of sustained Salt Lake pressure on Portland's goal, the ball worked out to Juan Manuel Sanabria on the left wing. Finn Surman darted over to try to win the ball back, but a neat one-two between Sanabria and Guilavogui released the former into the box past Surman. Sanabria slotted far post past the outstretched boot of Pantemis, and for the second game running the visiting side took the lead first in Providence Park.
You could smell the goal coming for at least the 15 minutes leading up to it. Portland was caught on their heels and struggled to get into the game early – the third straight game that such a concerning opening to a match unfolded for the Timbers. Seattle wasn't able to capitalize, and FC Dallas wasn't either until much later in the half.
RSL was, and so they took a deserved early lead.
Conceding lit a bit of a fire under the Timbers, as they became much more aggressive in the following ten minutes. Playing more direct, they were able to work the likes of David Da Costa and Kristoffer Velde in behind RSL's defense to create more moments of promise. Velde picked up where he left off on Wednesday, and seemingly every time he touched the ball he looked to be a threat to score.
But score, the Portland Timbers could not. Velde and Fory both came close, but despite recording six shots through 30 minutes Portland could not get any of them on target to threaten the RSL goal.
But in the 31st minute, they were extended a lifeline – by way of a boneheaded move by the opponent and our deal friend VAR.
34' RED CARD – RSL (Guilavogui)
Fory tangled with Guilavogui while trying to win the ball, and they both went down in a heap on the sideline. Guilavogui then kicked out at Fory, catching him in the face with his boot. The referee blew for a foul and initially showed Guilavogui a yellow card for the incident. But a recommendation from VAR sent the ref to the monitor, and after reviewing the replay it was clear as day: Guilavogui's kick out was stone cold violent conduct. And so, the RSL forward saw his card get upgraded to red and was given his marching orders.
Although still trailing by a goal, the Timbers would have the reassurance of knowing that they would enjoy playing the remaining hour or so of the game up a man as Salt Lake was reduced to ten men.
As one would expect, the Timbers came forward in waves with their new numbers advantage. It nearly paid off quickly as Felipe Mora had a dream goal blocked on the doorstep in the 39th minute. And then it nearly paid off again six minutes later in first half stoppage time, as Cole Bassett had a header saved. Velde was there to knock the rebound home, but he was well offside, negating the equalizer.
The Timbers came oh so close on oh so many occasions to tie the game, but you know how the adage about ifs and buts and candies and nuts goes. The fact remained that they couldn't break through, and despite generated nine shot attempts they only put one of them on target.
Portland went into the locker room at halftime up a man, but down a goal.
HALFTIME: Timbers 0, Real Salt Lake 1
The concerning trend of Portland failing to show up for the start of matches continued, and this time it truly bit them in the butt as Salt Lake deservedly took the lead early. The Timbers came alive after, but generating just 0.64 expected goals (FotMob) after having a man advantage for almost 20 minutes while trailing by a goal was a disappointing return.
The Timbers knew how disappointing it was, and so they came out in the second half with a reckless abandon, determined to make good on their chance to play 11 v 10. And so came a trio of chances as Portland inched closer and closer.
49' Shot POR – Da Costa
Velde found DDC at the top of the box, and the cheeky little chappy cut back and sent his flying. He sighted up a shot with his left and let it fly – right into the breadbasket of Rafael Cabral.
50' Shot POR – Velde
Da Costa returned the favor for his fellow DP as he was played in on the left side of the box. Velde hit a shot low and hard from a tight angle and nearly snuck through the legs of Cabral, but the RSL 'keeper did enough to keep it out.
52' Shot POR – Bassett
Cole Bassett got in on the shot party and came the closest so far, as he slammed a shot off the inside of the post and out after Portland capitalized on a Salt Lake Turnover.
The Timbers were banging on the door, but just as it was in the first half, all they could get was close. It felt like Portland was doomed to suffer through wasting their man advantage, and would run into a resolute Salt Lake wall in their efforts to get back into the game and win three points.
But there was some magic in the air at Providence Park on Saturday night. And it's name was the man of the hour: Felipe Mora.
56' GOAL TIMBERS! – Mora (1-1)
The Timbers won a corner kick, and Lassiter stepped to the flag to serve it into the box. With what would wind up being his last kick of the game, Ari lobbed a ball right in front of the goal. As he has done countless times in his Timbers career, Felipe Mora ghosted off his defender to find a pocket of space and levitated in the box to meet the ball. He sent his header off the turf and bouncing into the back of the net past the bevy of frozen defenders.
You just knew it was going to him. On this night of all nights, his final match as a Timbers player, Mora was going to have his moment. And as he has done for six years in a green & gold shirt, he answered the call right when his team needed it.
It was a signature Mora goal, and it finally leveled the match for Portland.
But Pipe wasn't done. He would have one last act at Providence Park lifting his team one final time.
67' GOAL TIMBERS!! – Mora (2-1)
On a corner from the opposite side, Velde now launched a ball into the scrum. Mora did Mora things and worked his way into space yet again, and while running towards the service glanced a header towards the far post. It flew past the helpless Cabral, and Mora recorded his second goal of the night.
An 11 minute sequence that was nothing short of magical saw Felipe Mora stamp his final appearance for Portland the only way he could – by rescuing the Timbers. Both goals were of the finest vintage that Timbers fans have come to expect from Pipe, and they served as the nearly perfect sendoff for a club legend.
I say "nearly", because the absolutely perfect sendoff would have been Mora becoming the first player to score the fabled MLS hat trick for Portland. Despite being in the league for 16 seasons now, the Timbers remain the sole MLS team to record a hat trick in league play. To see Mora be the one to finally do it in his final match as a Timber would have been nothing short of Oscar-worthy, and everybody wanted to see it happen.
Everyone I guess, except Jack Cassidy.
72' Substitutions POR
ON: Jose Caicedo, Alexander Aravena // OFF: Diego Chara, Felipe Mora
Yes, you read that right. Mora, sitting on a brace in his last game as a Timber, was subbed off in the 72nd minute in favor of a player who isn't even a striker. So no, the mythical MLS hat trick was not achieved tonight, despite how deserving it would have been for Mora to achieve it.
Still, Pipe walked off the pitch for the last time for a roaring ovation from the Providence Park faithful, as they serenaded the departing hero with a wall of noise.
Outside of the emotional moments, the Timbers still had a soccer game to win. Now enjoying a goal advantage to go along with their man advantage, the Timbers kept their foot on the gas to try to truly put the match out of reach.
Aravena nearly did so with an effort that sailed wide of the goal in the 88th minute. A minute later Velde had a curler palmed wide by Cabral. And a minute after that Aravena came close again when a knocked down corner kick found him wide open at the far post, but also unawares as he sent his header high and wide.
You'd be forgiven for just thinking that the Timbers were playing with their food too much at the death, and if you were like me your stomach dropped into your toes when Victor Olatunji sent the ball past Pantemis and looked to have equalized in stoppage time. But the grace of the offside flag saved Portland, and they sent off Mora with a wholly earned and justified win.
FULL TIME: Timbers 2, Real Salt Lake 1
The story of the night is of course Felipe Mora. Just as Dairon Asprilla and Fanendo Adi did before him, Mora signed off on his final night as a Timber with a signature performance and played the hero.
For his entire career in Portland, Mora was the man who stepped up when the Timbers needed someone to rescue them from the depths. That he could do so one final time was his parting gift to the club, of which he has put in years of loyal service.
And the Timbers did need some rescuing. Portland is developing this nasty habit of starting matches slow, and they were very nearly doomed by that tonight. But the red card happened, and then Felipe Mora happened, and so Jack Cassidy continues his unbeaten run as interim coach for the Timbers.
This team is still flawed and badly in need of some quality, whether that is from within or without. But with Marti Cifuentes' arrival imminent, they have a tidy little "seven points from three games" platform to build off of.
And for one night, the magic continued to be real inside Providence Park as Mora rides off into the sunset a hero.
Gracias, Pipe.
