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Timbers earn road point vs. Revs

Jack Jewsbury (ISIPhotos.com)

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By IAN HOLLIDAY

FOXBORO, Mass.– The expansion Portland Timbers have earned the first point of their MLS history, but the club could easily have gotten more.

The Timbers played to a 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. After spotting their hosts a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, the visitors equalized seven minutes before the break, and had multiple chances to pull ahead in the second half.

Rookie Stephen McCarthy opened the scoring for the Revolution in the 22nd minute with his first career goal. Timbers defender David Horst attempted to head a Zak Boggs cross out of the penalty area. The clearance only went as far as McCarthy, who struck a bouncing shot past Gleeson.

The sequence began in the 21st minute when Sainey Nyassi's effort from distance forced Gleeson to palm the ball onto the crossbar for a corner. After three Revs' crosses, the ball finally fell to McCarthy.

"I wanted to be in a good spot because the ball was kind of popping around," he said after the match.

Five minutes later, the Revs had a good chance to add to their lead when Zack Schilawski crashed in on goal chasing a lofted ball from Pat Phelan, but the second-year man didn't get a solid touch, and the ball skipped harmlessly over the end-line as Schilawski and Gleeson landed in a heap.

Portland drew level in the 38th minute when Kenny Cooper found Jeremy Hall at the top of the Revolution box. The midfielder took two touches with his back to goal before laying the ball off to Jewsbury, who buried a low shot in the left corner of Reis' goal.

The goal seemed to give the expansion club confidence. They began the second half much more brightly than they had the first, controlling more possession and creating a number of chances.

Portland's best chance of the second half came in the 70th minute when Kalif Alhassan drove a hard, curling freekick off the base of the Revs' right post.

Head coach John Spencer said he was proud of the way his team responded after allowing the first goal.

“We could’ve just put our heads down, and died a little bit – third game in eight days. [We had] to dig in, come back and get something out of a good and very physical team," Spencer said. "I thought we matched them very well."

New England's best chance of the half came in the 79th minute, when Gambian midfielders Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally combined to spring Nyassi on goal. He scuffed his shot, which trickled across the face of goal, eluding two Revolution players on its way out for a goal kick.

The draw keeps the Revolution (1-0-2) undefeated on the season, but head coach Steve Nicol said he was disappointed with the way his club played.

“The bottom line is we didn’t pass the ball well so it wouldn’t have mattered who we played tonight," Nicol said. "We didn’t pass the ball at all, all night, and when that happens, you’re going to struggle.”

Nicol and his team won't have too long to dwell on the result, however, as New England returns to action Wednesday at Vancouver.

The Timbers (0-2-1) will look to build on Saturday's result when they play their first-ever MLS home game on April 14 against Chicago.

Comments

  1. I bet a lot of them traveled from DC and NYC. I think most of the TA traveling from Portland will go to matches in Cascadia, CA, SLC since they are easier to get to. Almost guaranteed there will be at least 500 for Seattle/Vancouver.

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  2. As great as it appears that a couple dozen Timbers fans traveled, I think most traveled no farther than a few hours. Timbers already have scattered fans from the USL days across the nation. I saw one guy who I met at the Colorado match who is from Virginia at that game. So, doubtful there were Timbers fans all the way from Oregon. We just have ex-pats all over and others who have adopted the Timbers.

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  3. What makes you think Umony or Nagbe have “adjusted to the league”? Both have one goal, and that was all the way back in February pre-season. Granted Umony was more active in the second-half yesterday, but Perlaza was also playing his third game in 8 days. Perlaza is working hard and in previous games getting space, just not finishing… but Timbers have a whopping 2 goals in 3 MLS games, so nobody else is finishing either. Are you going to throw Nagbe under the bus if he doesn’t meet your lofty standards after only a few games?

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  4. Am a third-year Revs STH; last night was the smallest home crowd I’ve seen since I started going to Revs games. 7114 is a very generous figure. To be sure, it was cold, but it was far more unpleasant during the home opener against DC (maybe that game’s late afternoon start helped, or just that it was the first game). Last night, though, was an embarrassment, especially given the ~30 fans who traveled across the country from Oregon for the game & will be rocking their home opener soon.

    I live in Somerville, & would LOVE a SSS right here, instead of traveling across the entire metro area for every game. But I have no faith that the Krafts are taking this seriously, or ever will invest in this team for real. (You’d think they could give us STHs tickets to the Man U game for our one bonus game instead of just offering us a slight discount & an advance sale — really, how many of us Revs season ticket holders can there be?)

    Time to think about summer road trips to see games in cities with team managements who care about their fans & help foster a great soccer environment….

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  5. You know, I thought they looked good in the white tops and blue shorts. It was a little off-putting at first, though.

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  6. It’s cold here. Attendance will pick up when it warms up… maybe

    On the other hand, the Revs have given us little to be excited about. For what ever reason, they refuse to sign the talent they need to compete in this league. It frustrates the fans and hurts the gate. The league should fine Kraft for refusing to try to build a real team. I didnt make a game last year and unless they do something to give me reason, won’t attend this year either. I am however planning on attending the USA-Spain game

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  7. Re attendance. The Krafts don’t market the team at all. For all the influence they have with the Boston and Providence media, the don’t use it for the benefit of the Revs. Jonathan Kraft says they care about the Revs as much as the do the Patriots. I call BS. They don’t. I don’t blame them, as they’ve built the Pats into NFL icons, but still…give a crap. Even just a little.

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  8. Why the hell were the Revs in WHITE at home?!?!? Seriously?!? So is this NE rolling over to the league so the Timbers don’t have to wear red until a Cascadia away game?

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  9. Really proud of my boys tonight, was good to see Nagbe get some minutes. This and the chivas win give us some nice confidence builders for our home opener. I hope this is the last we see of perlaza starting. Hes gonna take time to adjust to this league. Would much rather see more of Umony or just play Nagbe in support of KfC.

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  10. I hope they do invest a little more in the club because I fell like there are some great fans in that area of the country and the club has a strong history unlike NY where they are going to have to build something to maintain solid LA type crowds.

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  11. just watched the highlights… if the revs don’t move closer to the city they aren’t going to last very long. Don’t know what the official number is but there couldn’t have been more than 5,000 people at Gillette tonight. The T just got approved to go to Somerville… the Krafts better think about building a stadium there or the attendance is going to continue to dwindle.

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