The Portland Timbers had a spectacular opening to the 2024 system, with four goals in just the first half on the way to a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rapids. Eryk Williamson had the opener while Antony found the net twice, then one of his passes was knocked in by a Colorado defender. Calvin Harris had the lone goal for the Rapids.
The Timbers had good control to start the match, and it would pay off in just the ninth minute when Juan David Mosquera soft pass in front of the goal found an open Eryk Williamson, who one-touched a shot past Colorado goalkeeper Zach Steffen and into the upper left corner, and the Timbers had an early 1-0 lead.
Just five minutes later the Timbers would double the lead, when a seemingly innocent pass into the box by Cristhian Paredes was sent into the net by a nice header by Antony, and just that quickly, the Timbers lead was 2-0.
In the 26th minute the visitors would have their first good scoring chance of the night, when a nice pass to Andreas Maxsø produced a great scoring chance from close-in, but goalkeeper James Pantemis came off his line and made a nice save, with the follow-up shot slipping just wide right. Just a minute or so later, Pantemis made another great reaction save on a shot by Rafael Navarro.
Just a few minutes later, Williamson sent a nice pass into the run of Antony, who put the ball on his right foot at the top of the box and curled a nice shot into the net past Steffen. The play was originally ruled offside, but after a VAR review, the call was reversed and the goal counted, and the Timbers lead was now 3-0.
And if the first half hadn’t been magical enough, the Rapids themselves would help increase the lead when in the fifth minute of first half stoppage time, Antony sent an innocent cross into the box that was accidentally knocked home by Sam Vines, and the own goal made the Timbers lead 4-0 at the break.
In the 55th minute Colorado would get on the board when Calvin Harris headed home a corner kick, though it was not orignally called a goal as Zac McGraw cleared it off the line, but a VAR review confirmed it had crossed the line, and the Timbers lead was now 4-1.
The Rapids would have a few half-decent chances thoughout the rest of the match, but never found the net again, and the Timbers would take the season opener by a 4-1 score.
James Pantemis had two official saves for the Timbers, while Zach Steffen had no official saves for the visitors.
Antony brace leads Timbers to 4-1 win over Colorado Rapids | Timbers website
