The Timbers waited a month to come back to Portland and waited all season to finally face the Colorado Rapids, and it was sure worth it Wednesday night.
After going down to 10 men in the first half, the Timbers came back twice from goal deficits to finish with a thrilling and gritty 2-2 draw against one of the top teams in the Western Conference. It wasn’t a win, but it nonetheless felt like a statement performance from a Timbers team that has finally hit its stride this season.
“It shows that this team has character,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said. “It shows that the guys are working for each other and there’s unity, and everyone on the bench was ready to step in -- everybody wanted to come in and help us achieve what we did tonight -- so I’m extremely proud.”
In stoppage time, Sebastian Blanco scored the last-gasp equalizer on a breakaway, finishing a cross from Dairon Asprilla into the box with a one-time finish in front of the Timbers Army at Providence Park.
Only four minutes earlier in the 87th minute, the Rapids had scored what seemed like it would be the brutal final blow in a Timbers loss where everything was going wrong. Michael Barrios sent a long errant cross toward the box that somehow found its way inside the far post, out of goalkeeper Steve Clark’s reach, for a fluke of a goal.
“We talked on the field, Dairon, Felipe (Mora) and me,” Blanco said. “We said we’ll stay forward and stay there. No more coming back to defend -- we’ll wait for the ball. We had nothing to lose. It’s 2-1, and we can lose 3-1 or 4-1, but sometimes you tie the game, like today. That’s we talked about, that commitment because we believe in us and know we’ll have another opportunity to score a goal.”
With the draw, the Timbers (34 points, 10-10-4) remain in fifth place in the Western Conference and extend their unbeaten run to four games. The Rapids (43 points, 12-4-7), meanwhile, remain in third place and extend their own unbeaten streak to nine games.
The Timbers went down to 10 men in the 43rd minute after defender Bill Tuiloma earned his second yellow card for a late and reckless challenge on midfielder Braian Galvan. His first yellow also came from a sloppy challenge on Galvan 10 minutes earlier.
Savarese said the Timbers considered three different ways to mitigate it, but wanted to be cautious. They organized themselves in a defensive-oriented 4-4-1 formation instead of a 4-3-2, which would give the Timbers an extra forward but the coaching staff felt would expose their fullbacks. They also considered five in the back, but worried it would make the midfield too easy to break through.
“We made their game predictable and we had to have patience while they moved the ball into the areas that we want, and then be a little more aggressive in the wide areas to win those balls,” Savarese said.
The Rapids opened scoring in the 65th minute with a well-worked team goal that finished with Andre Shinyashiki putting the ball in front of goal at the feet of Jonathan Lewis, who took a touch and fired past Clark. The goal ended a Timbers club-record 395-minute shutout streak in MLS play.
It took only about two minutes for the Timbers to come roaring back with a surprise equalizer -- their first of the night, despite being down a player. On a free kick, Blanco launched the ball into the box and it unwittingly knocked off Dario Zuparic’s shins toward the back post, where Felipe Mora nodded it past goalkeeper William Yarbrough.
“For me, it’s never give up,” Blanco said. “It’s always fighting. In some moment, you will have a chance to score, to assist, to win the game.”
For Blanco, his 91st minute equalizer, scored in front of the Timbers Army, was emotional, he said. Blanco, who tore his ACL last September, took longer than expected to recover and only reclaimed his starting spot last month -- and with his return, he brought technical skills and a relentless attitude that the Timbers have certainly been missing.
“I lost one year playing football, so now I try to enjoy it more than before,” Blanco said after Wednesday’s game. “I think football gives me some gifts, like today, for enjoying the football again.”
The match had a frantic feeling even before the red card, with Tuiloma playing a starring role in the tension. A shoving match broke out in the 30th minute after a collision between Tuiloma and Shinyashiki, and Blanco earned a yellow card for rushing in and escalating the confrontation.
“It’s unfortunate,” Savarese said of the red card at halftime. “We knew it was going to be a physical game but before that I thought it was a pretty even game with both teams having opportunities.”
Indeed, the Timbers and the Rapids finished the first half level in shots and shots on goal, although the Rapids held onto far more of the ball.
Lewis had an open chance in the 19th minute that left him clutching his own face afterward, seemingly in disbelief. On a quick counterattack, Shinyashiki raced up the left flank and got behind the Timbers back line before crossing to Lewis at the back post. Clark couldn’t get there in time but Lewis skyed his shot over the bar.
The Timbers’ best first-half chance came in the 11th minute when Blanco got the ball inside the box. After a give-and-go with Asprilla, Blanco tried to chip Yarbrough, who had come off his line, but Yarbrough stopped it.
Wednesday was a long-awaited homecoming for the Timbers after a month away from Portland. But the road had been relatively good to the Timbers for the first time this season -- they collected 10 points in five games and arrived to Providence Park on a three-game winning streak.
But the Rapids have been a more consistent team all season, conceding just 21 goals in their 22 prior games before Wednesday. The Rapids also came into Wednesday with the second-most points-per-game in the Western Conference -- they were third in the standings, but have played a handful fewer games than the teams above them.
Now on a four-game unbeaten streak, the Timbers have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround from their struggles earlier this year, when the Timbers matched their record for the most three-goal losses in a single season and suffered a historically bad loss to the Seattle Sounders.
Some of those early-season difficulties were explained by an unprecedented number of injuries that left the Timbers without several starting players, but the Timbers still played poorly for weeks after reaching full strength. Now, however, the Timbers look like a different team, with defender Larrys Mabiala calling it “a new wind.”
“We are embracing that and I think it’s gonna take us far,” Mabiala said.
Asked about building off this signature performance, Savarese said it’s part of a bigger stretch that shows the Timbers are already hitting their stride.
“We’ve been building up for four matches already -- this is not the only one in which we have shown a tremendous performance and determination in a united way to get a result,” Savarese said. “This is our fourth match in which we can say the team is hungry to fight all the way through and try to get into the playoffs.”
Savarese made two changes to the lineup that got an important road win five days earlier in Vancouver against the Whitecaps. Tuiloma slotted into right back to replace Josecarlos Van Rankin, who came on at halftime for Yimmi Chara, and Cristhian Paredes replaced George Fochive in the central midfield.
Savarese said Tuiloma started to free up left back Claudio Bravo to get forward while the other defenders stayed behind as a unit of three to stop the Rapids’ counterattack.
“I thought Bill did a good job in the moments he was there to be able to help us deal with the counters,” Savarese said. “The unfortunate part is that he was late in two tackles, two yellow cards that maybe -- I don’t know if the referee could’ve avoided it. But because his challenges were late in those two moments, he was out of the match. But the thought was very specific in why we wanted him in that position and I thought he gave us what we needed besides being late those two times.”
Wednesday’s match was the Timbers’ first since the club required fans to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to be allowed into the stadium. The Timbers had 162 consecutive sellouts before the pandemic shutdown MLS play in March 2020, but haven’t seen the same turnouts since reopening to full capacity. Wednesday’s attendance was 16,808, the Timbers said.
The Thorns had played matches at Providence Park since the vaccination policy took effect, but notably had to cancel one game against the Washington Spirit due to a COVID-19 outbreak on that team, which reportedly has several unvaccinated players.
Up next, the Timbers have a quick turnaround but get to stay put as they host LAFC on Sunday.
-- Caitlin Murray for The Oregonian/OregonLive
Twitter: @caitlinmurr
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