The Portland Timbers faced the Colorado Rapids at Providence Park on Saturday night and after a strange match that saw an emphatic own goal, five yellow cards and a red for Portland’s Julio Cascante, a Timbers penalty kick, and several spectacular saves by Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark, it was all even the end in a 2-2 draw. Diego Valeri had the penalty kick for the Timbers while Jonathan Lewis and Sam Nicholson scored for the visitors.
The first 25 minutes of the match saw few chances for either team, but in the 27th minute, off a corner kick by Portland’s Diego Valeri, it was Colorado defender Tommy Smith who had an open header he bizarrely put into his own net with pace to give the Timbers a 1-0 lead.
But less than a minute later a poor Timbers clearance of a Kei Kamara cross gave Colorado’s Jonathan Lewis an open look from ten yards out, and he buried the shot to level the score at 1-1.
Late in the first half, the Rapids had a golden opportunity to widen the lead, but Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark had back-to-back saves that are among his best of the season, first on an open shot by Andre Shinyashiki, then a follow-up header by Kamara.
Then in the 56th minute, seconds after Timbers fans were shocked by a non-call when Sebastian Blanco went down from a Colorado challenge just as he was about to shoot from just outside the Rapids box, the Timbers went down a player when Julio Cascante was red-carded for a hard tackle on Kamara.
But even though the home side was down a player, they took the lead in the 63rd minute when Colorado’s Lalas Abubakar committed a handball in the penalty box, with Valeri putting home the penalty kick to put the Timbers up 2-1.
But the lead would not last, as in the 76th minute, Colorado’s Sam Nicholson made a nice cutback after a long pass into his run, and put a hard shot into top right corner from the top of the box to level the score at 2-2, which would be the final score on this night.
Steve Clark had six saves for the Timbers, while Tim Howard had four saves for the Rapids.
Timbers Match Report | Video Highlights
