The Portland Timbers tallied their first postseason win since 2021 and punched their ticket for Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs by a 3-1 victory at Providence Park over Real Salt Lake in the Wild Card Round. Felipe Mora came alive and scored a first half brace, and Kamal Miller added an insurance goal in the final ten minutes to banish 2024's Wild Card demons that lingered at Providence Park, as Portland advanced to face San Diego FC in the MLS postseason.
Lineups & Prematch
Facing his first real do-or-die match of 2025, Phil Neville was blessed with the return of many of his familiar starters to fitness. Finn Surman started alongside Kamal Miller in a back four, with mainstays Juan Mosquera and Jimer Fory manning the traditional fullback spots. Diego Chara brought the experience to the midfield, and Felipe Mora brought the same to the starting striker spot.
After playing with a back-three last weekend, Neville lined up his squad in a more familiar 4-2-3-1 shape.
Facing the prospect of watching their club play in an elimination game just four days after getting obliterated at home on Decision Day, one might not be surprised to hear that the stands at Providence Park were looking sparse at kickoff. Mitigating factors of a midweek game aside, it was still mightily disappointing to see the stadium not filled to the brim for a postseason match.
But at the moment, the Timbers are not inspiring much confidence. And the stands surely reflected that sentiment.
Recap & Highlights
The Portland Timbers came out much more composed and determined than they did against San Diego last Saturday. There was a greater sense of familiarity and rhythm to their movements with the ball, helped on by the fact that the Timbers saw much more of the ball in the first half than they did on Decision Day.
9' Missed handball? – RSL
The first flashpoint of the match came after a cross into the box was deflected by the flailing arm of RSL defender Alexandros Katranis – but the referee whistled Antony for a foul after he was adjudged to have pushed the defender on the entry. It was certainly... a decision that the referee made.
That moment, while not going Portland's way, was still an encapsulation of how aggressive the Timbers were in the first half. Back in their familiar 4-2-3-1 setup, Portland looked much more comfortable with the ball.
Real Salt Lake responded the best way they could: with some physicality and good ol' fashioned tacklin'. The visitors wound up committing eight fouls in the first half compared to Portland's five, underscoring the disruption the claret – er, white & cobalt sought to bring to the match.
One of those fouls was from our old friend, former Timbers draftee Noel Caliskan, who put a hard tackle into Diego Chara. The German kicked the ball away in frustration, and was shown a yellow card for his efforts.
Just a handful of minutes later, Caliskan went sliding through on Chara in the attacking third. There was an argument that the foul should have warranted a second yellow, but a simple free kick was all Portland was given.
They made the most of it, courtesy of a man who has made postseason magic before.
24' GOAL TIMBERS! – Felipe Mora (1-0)
Velde's free kick in glanced off the head of Felipe Mora, drawing a well made save from Rafael Cabral. But Mora followed his own shot, and was in the perfect spot to put his own rebound home and open the scoring for the Timbers.
It was as if all of Providence Park, including Mora himself, let out a giant exhale after Mora's goal. After the futility of Decision Day which saw Portland get shut out at home, the Timbers capitalizing on their early match momentum to score the match's first goal was a massive relief.
It must have felt like a massive relief for Pipe, too. Mora had gone ice cold down the stretch, and that goal was his first in nearly three months since he scored in the Leagues Cup on July 30, and his first goal against an MLS opponent since May.
PIPE ON THE SPOT 🗣️ 🎯
— Portland Timbers (@timbers.com) 2025-10-23T03:17:04.106Z
As good as it felt, nobody was satisfied with a simple one-goal lead. Not the fans, not Phil Neville, not the Timbers players, and especially not Pipe Mora. So what did they do? Go and score a second one, of course.
34' GOAL TIMBERS!! – Mora (2-0)
After a period of good and quick buildup from Portland, Kristoffer Velde whipped in an absolute beauty of an in-swinging cross for Mora. The Chilean met it with force from his head, and again drew a point-blank save from Cabral. But in an eerily similar way to his first goal, Mora was once again first on the spot to meet his own rebound.
Second verse, same as the first, as Pipe scored his second goal of the match.
You, alongside everyone in Providence Park and the man writing these words, might have been wondering where in the world these Timbers have been for the past two months. Whether it was a performance buoyed by an inferior quality 0f opponent, a familiar lineup and tactical setup, or just the pressure of the playoffs, Portland looked like a completely different team than on Decision Day, in the best possible way.
But that wasn't to say that Portland couldn't shake off all of their malaise. They had to make it harder on themselves (and us), because of course nothing can come easy.
It must have have been "turn back the clock" night at Providence Park, because the Timbers were showing all of the hallmarks of their 2024 selves. Good-looking attacks, Mora scoring multiple goals – and the Portland being incredibly poor at set piece defending.
39' Goal RSL – Glad (2-1)
Off a corner kick, Justen Glad worked his way off of his defender and met the ball with a glancing header that flew over the outstretched palm of James Pantemis and into the back of Portland's net. Despite the Timbers dominating the first half, they still went into the locker room at halftime with just the one goal lead.
Still, their starting striker had a brace and the team was in the ascendency. Which is a sentence that I don't think I've been able to write about the Timbers in many months.
HALFTIME: Timbers 2, Real Salt Lake 1
The Timbers came out of the locker room on the back foot, which unfortunately meant that Real Salt Lake started to put their foot to the gas. With Portland sitting deeper and absorbing pressure, the visitor's were happy to oblige with gaining more and more possession.
It resulted in RSL putting the ball in the back of the net in the 54th minute, but it was ruled off due to an offside flag. Still, that moment showed how Portland was playing with fire and RSL weren't going to go quietly.
Good thing that Timbers had a pair of gloves named Pants between the sticks.
62' Saves POR – Pantemis
James Pantemis first got down quick and decisively to deny Deandre Yedlin at the near post off a hard shot from the top of the box. It was a good moment for Pants, who was coming off of one of his worst outings as a Timber against San Diego. One minute later, he came up big again as he made a flying kick save to deny Emeka Eneli at the same post.
Solid goalkeeping aside, Portland had fully lost their hold on the match. RSL's pressure was relentless, as they threw themselves forward in waves. Portland's strategy was apparent in sitting back and trying to attack on the counter, and while a couple moves looked to have some promise, the final ball or move was lacking and Portland was unable to slam the door.
With the door ajar, RSL did everything they could to pry it open. Willy Agada put an overhead kick off the crossbar on a corner routine for the visitors, while Brayan Vera put a free kick into the net – only for it to be called back for the most hilarious of fouls committed by Rwan Cruz.
The RSL attacker ran straight into the Timbers defensive wall and Mora prior to the kick. Because this is soccer and not American football, you actually in fact cannot run a blatant pick play in the middle of the field in clear view of the referee (wild, I know). Portland was saved by the whistle of the ref, and the moment of incredulity of Cruz.
Still, Timbers fans spent most of the second half with their hearts in their mouths. They had to endure watching their side protect a one-goal lead by enduring wave after wave of RSL attacks, with last-ditch interventions from Pantemis and the referee's whistle being the only respites.
The game was screaming for one more Portland goal to put affairs to bed. Well you can just call Kamal Miller the Sandman, because he said "nighty-night" to the Wild Card round and RSL's season.
82' GOAL TIMBERS!!! – Kamal Miller (3-1)
Velde won a corner, and then whipped it into the scrum. The ball was cleared to Ariel Lassiter, who lofted in a beaut of a cross into an incredulously unmarked and wide-open Kamal Miller at the back post. The defender didn't effing play with it, and powered home a header into the bottom corner to add the insurance goal for Portland.
After restoring their two-goal advantage, the result started to become academic for Portland. RSL tried their best, Pantemis had to make a handful of comfortable saves, but the visitors didn't come close to threatening or making the final minutes of the match any more stressful.
After seven minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle blew and the Timbers could claim something they haven't been able to since 2021: a win in the MLS postseason.
FULLTIME: Timbers 3, Real Salt Lake 1
With his teams' backs against the wall in a must-win postseason game, Phil Neville turned to experience to carry the day. And it came through beautifully.
Felipe Mora put on a vintage performance, showcasing the lethality and wily nose for the goal that has made him such a dangerous striker in his Timbers tenure. To put it plainly, he just wanted it more than the defenders next to him, and so he scored his first goals in almost three month.
Diego Chara also reminded us that age is nothing but a number as he too put in a classic shift. The Godfather was everywhere at seemingly all of the right times, and provided a badly needed anchor in the center of the pitch for a Portland team that couldn't get out of their own way last week.
The win doesn't ameliorate all of the ills of 2025 – this is still the same team that shipped four goals to San Diego, and the way they let RSL back into the match in the second half was worrying. But the win did banish the demons of 2024, where Portland fell 5-0 in this same round on the same pitch.
Now, Portland is where they wanted to be at the end of the season: in the thick of the playoffs. But the road gets drastically more difficult from here as they must face San Diego FC yet again. Game one of the best-of-three series is set for Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30pm PT. Onward.
