Photo by Jaime Valdez/USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
Through 90 minutes, it looked like the Portland Timbers were destined to settle for a home draw with the San Jose Earthquakes before Jack Jewsbury stepped up to snatch all three points.
Scoreless through regular time, Jewsbury provided the game’s lone goal in second-half stoppage time, leading the Timbers to a 1-0 win over the visiting Earthquakes on Sunday night.
Jewsbury’s goal came in the 91st minute, lobbing home a close-range shot off of a sloppy yet effective set piece.
Having earned a free kick on the edge of the box, Diego Valeri sent a ball into the box that took a deflection off Gaston Fernandez right in front of Earthquakes goalkeeper David Bingham. Jewsbury collected on the goal’s left side by lobbing a shot up and over a helpless Bingham and into the back of the net, earning the Timbers all three points. The goal is Jewsbury’s second stoppage time winner of the season.
The finish came just five minutes after it appears that the Timbers had found their winner, only to see a Fernandez header ruled offside on a cross in from Alvas Powell.
Missing leading goal-scorer Chris Wondolowski and playmaker Matias Perez Garcia, the Earthquakes were battered by the Timbers all night. In total, the Timbers fire 23 shots compared to the visitors seven, while seven of the Timbers efforts came on target.
With the victory, the Timbers pick up the team’s sixth win in seven tries, lifting them all the way up to third in the table and just one point out of the West’s top spot.
Riding the win, the Timbers return to action Saturday against the Philadelphia Union, while the Earthquakes look to rebound Friday against the Houston Dynamo.
Brigit…need a tissue?
Saying the TImbers “battered” the Quakes is an interesting choice of words, as the Quakes had no less than 3 egregious elbows to heads/faces, almost all of which went uncalled.
Uncalled, just like the intentional Portland hand ball to save a goal?
The author left that off for you, so you can forget about not liking his choice of words.
Just call it even.
There were 3 uncalled handballs in the box. Portland had one, SJ had two. Bad reffing is bad reffing-it hurts both teams, and I will always “whine” about it. It is bad for all of us.
But at least uncalled handballs don’t lead to bloody heads and concussions.
On the plus side, at least I didn’t hear of any away fans getting arrested for assault this time…
I think Diego Valeri simulated in the foul that led to the goal.
Two clear handballs, one on Portland (Villafana) and one on San Jose (Barrera) of which I think that only Barrera’s was worthy of being called. In my view, Villafana’s was ball to hand. Wynne’s was less clear, but even if it was a handball it was not intentional.
Valeri embellished the foul that lead to the goal and was hanging onto Bernardez who was simply trying to fight free.
The really obvious blown call though was Ridgwell’s bowling over of Thompson in the box. Any honest Portland supporter would agree on this one as it seems did the entire stadium.
The blows to the head were handled well by Salazar. Ridgwell was giving as well as taking and he lost the battle with Sherrod, who eventually got a deserved yellow card for what I think was actually his wrist hitting Paparotto. It should noted that Kinnear had chewed on Sherrod hard when he came off.
Objectively, Portland got the win that they deserved and should stat climbing in the standings because they haven’t been hurt by call-ups. Without the 3 DP’s San Jose is really poor and in danger of dropping hard and fast.
The handball on the Timbers was Powell deflecting the ball from the goal line
The alleged foul on Thompson by Ridgewell was kind of funny because after Thompson felt contact from Ridgewell he tried to slow and draw contact and lost his balance after Ridgwell gave him space.
You’re right it was Powell. Either way, his hands were close to his side and there was nothing that he could do to avoid the ball not was there intent.
Either way, Ridgwell took Thompson down in the box and it was a clear penalty, just as Barrera’s hand ball was.
I agree. The Earthquakes need goal scorers. Maybe they need to hire Carly Loyd of the USWNT. They also need a much stronger midfield. The main problem, though, is their lack of accurate passing. Shea Salinas needs to know that it isn’t good enough to just put the ball somewhere near the goal and expect someone to kick it in. He actually needs to take aim and have a real target instead of hoping that somehow a higher power will manage to send the ball to someone who can score. The defense is really pretty good. But I think that letting go of Beitashour and Morrrow was a real mistake. Steven Beitashour is one of the best defenders in MLS.
Salinas drops his head whenever he has the ball at his feet. Its an aspect of his game that has never improved. Barrera is the same, but he’s younger so there may be hope. Neither should be starting on a top team, which SJ is not.
Twellman was harping on Thompson not having a good match and I agree it was not his best, but rarely did he have someone open or moving to space. When MPG and Wondo are playing though the middle the former is always looking for the latter. Alashe was a complete disaster in the more advanced role.
You’re correct about the defense and I will add that Bingham is a very good goalkeeper no how much SJ fan may hold a crush on Busch. You’re right about Morrow; he should never have been replaced by Stewart who has dropped off substantially. Beitashour is a top quality right back, but Wynne is as good or better.