The Portland Timbers will look back on this as a chance missed, in more than one way. In a night which gave them a golden opportunity to solidify their hold on first place in the Western Conference, the Timbers couldn’t put any of their 11 shots on the night on target, and then gave up a late Colorado Rapids goal and end up on the short end of a 1-0 final.
The Timbers started a heavily rotated roster and first half saw little attacking soccer from either team. In the second half the Timbers inserted some attackers, and in the 58th minute Marco Farfan found an open Yimmi Chara in the Rapids box, but his one-timer was wide. In the 75th minute, the Timbers had another great chance when Diego Valeri backheeled a pass to a charging Jorge Villafaña, who’s hard shot was into the side netting.
Then in the 83rd minute, Colorado made a good scoring chance pay off, when Kellyn Acosta found himself open at the top of the box, and he placed a perfect shot into the top right corner past a charging Steve Clark, and the Rapids had a 1-0 lead.
In the last minute of stoppage time, the Timbers looked like they were going to level the score when Dairon Asprilla, seeing his first action since near the start of the season, jumped on a loose ball just yards from the Colorado net, but his toe-poke rang off the left post and went wide. Seconds later the final whistle blew and the Timbers lost to Colorado by a 1-0 score.
Steve Clark had three saves for the Timbers, while William Yarbrough did not need to record a single save for the Rapids.
MATCH RECAP | Portland Timbers 0, Colorado Rapids 1 | Timbers Website
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS | Portland Timbers 0 Colorado Rapids 1 | Nov. 4, 2020 | Timbers Website