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Timbers top Union in season opener

Portland Philadelphia (Getty Images)

The Portland Timbers could not have asked for a much better start to the MLS season.

Playing in the final Week 1 match of the new campaign, the Timbers defeated the Philadelphia Union, 3-1, on a rainy night inside a packed Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, Ore. The hosts fell behind early in the second half, but responded with three unanswered goals from newcomers Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Kris Boyd and Kalif Alhassan.

Portland looked the better side for much of the game, including in a first half that was largely uneventful. The Timbers used speed on the wings to threaten the Union's back line, and that ultimately resulted in a win for them.

It was Philadelphia, however, that took the lead first. Panamanian midfielder Gabriel Gomez, playing in his first match with the Union, curled a free kick off Jean-Baptiste and into the back of the net in the 51st minute.

The Union's joy did not last long, as three minutes later Jean-Baptiste got some revenge when he headed home a free kick from captain Jack Jewsbury. Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath should have done better on the play, but the wet conditions saw the ball slip under him after initially getting a touch on it.

Boyd, the Scottish Premier League's all-time leading scorer, then gave the Union a 2-1 lead in the 66th minute when he got on the end of a cross from Alhassan from the right flank and headed it to the far post past a helpless MacMath.

Alhassan went from provider to goal-scorer ten minutes later, hitting what looked to be a cross into the sidenetting to cap off Portland's impressive victory.

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What do you think of Portland's win over Philadelphia? Impressed by the performances from Portland's newcomers?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Still no excuse for Toledo. He let’s that go, but then whistles Jewsbury for a phantom foul that led to the only Phil goal.

    Demote Toledo.

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  2. Watch the replay. Look at the stats. Philly got dominated by a better team, especially in the second half.

    And that was a shot.

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  3. This^

    That’s the Key Bank Club area on the east side of the stadium. Not a ultra crowd there, to say the least. TA calls it The Library, which is what they used to call the west side and sometimes still do. As far as I know all tickets were sold.

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  4. Kalif was trying to hit those shots all last season (with no success whatsoever) and put in the mirror image of it in during the preseason. That was a shot.

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  5. It’s not a tough task for most MLS teams to figure out PDX.. **Deny service to the wingers**

    Portland up the middle is not a threat

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  6. Philly looked crap, but PDX didn’t exactly look great. An accidental cross inside the far post and a goalkeeper flub-up does not make a dominant performance.

    That said, Boyd’s goal was class. That game should have ended 1-0.

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  7. yes and if that call was a pk , that would be a red card as well as he was last defender and scoring opportunity…..it’s good to see this funny team lose…..sincerely yours ,what you want to be biggest rivals Pink Cows….

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  8. Portland should have had a PK in the first half, but Toledo was 30 yards from the play and out of place to make the call. I guess the assistant referee was looking at his shoe or something. Califf was all over the forward.

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  9. I don’t find it practical to judge the Union just yet.

    They are a young team, with a swath of new players. Leadership roles probably haven’t fully sorted themselves out yet. They just opened the season on the road, in the most hostile environment in the league, in the rain on a slick/narrow playing surface that no amount of training can prepare you for.

    That being said – I am hesitant to believe that Adu can shoulder as much of the load as it looks like he will need too. They looked young and indecisive on the ball, never settled. We will see how players adjust to their roles, I didn’t think Macmath ever looked “comfortable” – yes, he made some saves and snuffed out a few crosses but he by no means looked like a settled and confident player. He got by on ability alone last night. But the confidence and comfort will come as the backline adjusts and sorts themselves out.

    Gabrielle Gomez looks like he needs to cut the late night pizza runs out of the diet.

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  10. To the person above that is complaining about Adu, your anger is misplaced. He was Philly’s most effective attacker last night. He was doing his best to distribute, he played some really dangerous balls into the box, rarely turned the ball over, earned the free kick that led to Philly’s only goal.

    He also had a very nice goal line save. Without Freddy Adu Philly loses at least 4-0. It’s no coincidence that Adu was taken off and Portland scored 30 seconds later by torching his replacement.

    As for Adu drifting out of the game… well that’s not surprising to see your winger/CAM not involved when you play long ball all game.

    I mean come on, you’ve got like 6 midfielders in the game, all really short and technical, and 50% of your passes out of the back are long, direct balls over the top. It’s no surprise that all shape was lost and nothing productive happened.

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  11. I didn’t notice any at the game. But if there were my guess is people in the big money seats where the camera points are not entirely covered from the rain. There is a terrace where they can watch from that is covered, just above those seats.A lot of people were soaked last night. Though where I was sitting I kept thinking the rain had stopped until I looked up to the lights.

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  12. the new philly uniforms are pretty sweet

    Kinda hard to ececute your game in those conditions
    Portland Made LA look amateur Last year as well
    the place is a fortress. those fans get behind the team and the players respond. Philly will look much better at their home opener.

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  13. It is tough to say he is focused on the U23s when Mwanga, JackMac and Amobi ride the bench. Amobi is the best holding midfielder the US has at the U23 level and he can’t get off the pine for the Union, he played very well last year before getting hurt then never got any time when he came back. How can young players develop when in the back of their head they know a mistake or injury could see them on the bench for long stretches of time.

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  14. Last 40 minutes of the game were a complete 180 from the first 50 minutes. Philly was lucky not to concede a couple more and they were thoroughly dominated as the game came to a close.

    Philly looked pretty much inept in attack. Adu … hardly knew he was even on the pitch.

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  15. This is funny because the Union actually played two holding midfielders last night but you probably didn’t notice them because they were playing so close to the backline and so spread out that it was tough to tell if Union had any central midfielders at all let alone attacking or holding.

    Union looked in disarry for nearly 70 minutes. The midfield was just awful. Porifico was just killed by Alahasan, probably thought MLS was going to be like China or Panama, I guess that was changed pretty quickly. The Centerbacks looked fine, Boyd is going to score goals, he is very good. Sheannon was out of position the whole second half but with such a terrible midfield in front of him it seemed he was just trying to make something happen.

    If were going to play two hold midfielders then one of the forwards needs to drop deeper and show for the ball and play closer to a #10 as oppose to a #9, the Union didn’t have that until Danny came in and then it was too late.

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  16. Particularly considering LeToux scored for Vancouver early in his opener it struck me as telling its two no-names instead of LeToux and Pescadito. The playoff version of Philly seemed worse than last year’s opener, and this seemed like a further deterioration from the playoff team.

    Nowak seems kind of pointed at picking up/focusing on U23 types except not the good ones.

    My impression is difficult coaches last roughly as long as they are successful. Better start winning games then.

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  17. Anyone know the length of Boyd’s contract with Portland? I can’t seem to find much information except for his annual salary. I hope he’s around for at least 2 or 3 years.

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  18. Nowak is the problem for Philly. He’s clueless to say the least. It’s time for Union to spend some money on DP players, but first find a manager who knows what he’s doing.

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  19. So right! Shoot the “F”ing ball already!! I almost cried when Farfan refused to shoot half way through the first half and blundered a pass attempt to Williams instead…who looked to believe Farfan should have shot too.

    Oh well, maybe they’ll do better when they aren’t playing on a tennis court.

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  20. Getting rid of Le Toux and Mapp for the benefit of Adu and Farfan should get the coach fired. The two of them dribbled too much and did not make the simple pass to free the open man. Adu is a failure that will never come good….

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  21. MacMath is very confident for a 20 y/o keeper. He showed some great stuff tonight (only Philly player to do so). He had one slippery blunder that made him angry, which is what you want. MacMath is the future of US goalkeeping.

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  22. Why the heck are people talking about goal keeping? The Union looked clueless in the second half. You’re lucky Portland only played with one center forward.

    You guys need a defensive midfielder and you need him now.

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  23. He was certainly looking fine early we he came out to stone Boyd or was getting to every cross near him. There was plenty of positivity around his performance.
    Then it all went south. For the whole team.
    As per Ives: “HALFTIME- Timbers 0, Union 0. Plenty of rain, not plenty of chances. Zac MacMath looks very poised, Union D has done well so far.”

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  24. Don’t kid yourself. MacMath looked nervous and uncomfortable all night. He made more mistakes than just the one blunder, and I’m sure the weather had something to do with it but I am completely unconvinced that he can be a prominent starter at this time.

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  25. Pretty bad match, I want to chalk it up to a hard road game in bad weather for the first game but some stuff can’t be ignored.
    Lopez was miserable, he was abused all night and couldn’t stop anything on his side.
    MacMath, besides the blunder, looked good. Him coming back and making big saves right after tells you he is ready to the be starter. You can’t blame him for the last 2 goals.
    Pajoy looked really good I thought as well.
    Still, too many tactical holes from Nowak. Does he realize it’s a good idea to control the midfield? Why was Williams out of position all second half? Why did our players look like they had no idea what to do with the ball?

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  26. Looked significantly improved from last season. Much more crisp passing, much less chuck it down the field for Kenny Cooper to fall down and beg for a foul.

    PTFC!

    Reply

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