By IVES GALARCEP
Normally, a tie would be a result that leaves the visiting team content and the home team disappointed.
Not so for Friday night’s Western Conference clash between the Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers, which saw the Timbers rally from two goals down to tie the visiting Dynamo, 2-2, and give the home side a precious point.
Timbers newcomer Lucas Melano led the Timbers rally, setting up a Darlington Nagbe goal in the 76th minute before finishing off a Diego Valeri cross with a clever finish 10 minutes later.
The Dynamo also earned a point, but a missed chance to make up ground in their chase for a playoff spot had to leave the Texas club feeling disappointed.
Owen Coyle’s side had to like its chances of grabbing all three points after a first half that saw the Dynamo jump out to a two-goal lead. Will Bruin set up an Oscar Boniek Garcia goal in the 40th minute before scoring his 10th goal of the season just before halftime.
Timbers coach Caleb Porter inserted Fanendo Adi for Rodney Wallace in the 57th minute, helping the Timbers attack mount more pressure on Houston’s defense. The breakthrough came in the 76th minute when Melano laid off a pass to Darlington Nagbe on the left side of the penalty area and Nagbe slipped a left-footed shot through the legs of Deric to make the score 2-1.
Melano made it 2-2 in the 86th minute when he struck a volley redirection of a Valeri cross passed Deric for his first goal with the Timbers.
The draw moved the Timbers into a tie on points with third-place Sporting Kansas City (which holds three games in hand on the Timbers). The draw moved the Dynamo into a tie with San Jose for seventh place in the West, three points behind surging Seattle for the final playoff spot.
The Timbers (11-8-7) will face the Sounders next, on Aug. 30 in Seattle, but will do so without starting midfielder Diego Chara, who drew a late-game red card on Friday night for a high forearm to the face of Dynamo forward Erick ‘Cubo’ Torres.
The Dynamo (8-9-8) travel to Colorado to face the Rapids on Wednesday, before returning to Houston to play host to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Aug. 29.
I don’t know if it matters or how one strictly defines the word cross in soccer, but the entry pass from Valeri that Melano turned into a goal sure didn’t look like a cross to me. Valeri was maybe about 30 degrees angled from Melano when he made the pass in which Melano then redirected on the volley into the corner of the net. I thought it was much more difficult than converting a cross and Melano should get a lot of credit for that goal.
Last night’s match damaged my precept that the referees favor the home team. Portland had a right to feel aggrieved. Then again, Porter moans as much as Pete Carroll with the difference being that MLS ref’s have very thin skins.
Portland were the better team, Houston should be fine with the result.
Oh and Kwarasey isn’t very good.
As a Galaxy fan, I was a neutral observer. As such I question your statement that the Timbers had a right to be aggrieved by the officiating. I sure didn’t see anything to justify that remark. As the match commentators noted late in the game, referee Toledo had a good game and his red card at the end was a good call, as the replay showed. I thought it was a good game with good play on both sides.
Gary,
I’m not sure if we were watching the same match. Ricardo Salazar was the referee not Balomir Toldeo.
Strictly from memory, Salazar missed a clear hand ball in the box in the first half and the takedown of Adi in the second half. There were some others but those two stand out in my mind.
We agree on the red card.
I don’t think that Porter does himself any favors with the referees.
As for the match, I agree here as well. I thought that Houston were particularly effective in the first half in executing their plan, which was to sit back and counter fast.
The Timbers are an intriguing team. LEt’s see what they can do in the playoofs.
You’re assuming that Portland makes the playoffs. While they’re in that position now, I’m not sure if the schedule favors them, they have difficulty scoring goals at times and have a dodgy looking goalkeeper.
I can’t help but feel like the Timbers gave away a couple points tonight but the fightback for a home game was nice to see. Melano and Valeri played well and I look forward to them combining for the next few months.
As an admitted PTFC supporter, I find it tough to consider a team with 1 league win in 6 matches as a “surging Seattle” for the playoffs. See you next week, boys!
As an ssfc groupon customer I can’t help but feel out greatness coming on … in spite of your pessimism. Granted sounders might have the easier schedule. We’ll see