Dominant Portland Timbers Couldn’t Break the Orlando Lions, 1-1

Portland Timbers managed to take just one point against Orlando Pride at home, in a match which ended 1-1. Despite dominating the pitch of Providence Park, hosts had to settle with one point against the opponent who had only two goal-attempts, one of them ending with a score.

On the other side, Timbers had 26 of them, but couldn’t score up until eight minutes before the end. It was a frustrating night for Giovanni Savarese and his boys, who simply couldn’t believe what is happening to them. So many chances were wasted, and according to the Timbers’ coach, it was all because of poor decision making.

“For us, now, this type of match we just have to find better solutions in the final third, inside the box. If I saw correctly we had like eight shots inside the box to goal, in the first half only,” stated Savarese after the match.

Portland was better right from the start, and if you check the statistics, all the important parameters were in their favor at the end of the first half. Except one, and that is the current result. While hosts dominated the pitch, not being able to execute, Orlando was defending and waiting for its chance to strike.

In the span of just a few minutes, we saw Sebastian Blanco hitting the crossbar of Lions’ goal, and Ranjitsingh denying Brian Fernandez’s fantastic shot from the nearby. For the majority of spectators at Providence Park, it was only a matter of time before Portland takes the lead.

Yet, totally the opposite happened. At first, Diego Valeri made a mistake, giving the ball to one of Orlando’s players, and after that Santiago Patino scored a goal following a ricochet in Timbers’ goalkeeper area. It was with one minute before the halftime whistle.

“You dream of this when you’re a kid,” the goalscorer said after the game. “It was a tough game for us; they had a lot of possession, we couldn’t really, it was hard to keep the ball in the field. We’re happy we leave with a point in a tough place and now recover and focus on Sunday.”

It was a shocker for the home team, and the fans also. Timbers didn’t have a chance to respond, which only made things tougher for them. Orlando had time to regroup and create a strategy on how to defend during the halfitme, making it more difficult for Blanco and the boys to execute.

Constant attacks and pressure which lasted from the very beginning of the second half led up to Portland leveling the score in the 82nd minute. After coming off the bench, Jeremy Ebobisse finally beat Ranjitsingh with a header, posting his 6th goal of the season.

“As a team, we agreed that our decision-making in the final third wasn’t as clinical as we would have liked,” Ebobisse explained, but stressed out that the team will find a way to change that.

There wasn’t any time to change things on the field, and the game ended with 1-1, making Orlando’s players much happier than the hosts. It is a massive success for the team from Florida, but they still aren’t in some great situation regarding the playoff fight.

The Lions have 26 points, three fewer than the sixth-placed Toronto. NYFC also has 29 points, but three matches in hand.

On the other side, this is a setback for Timbers. With 25 points, in 19 games, their climb on the Western Conference standings is slowed down. Savarese’s team is four points short of Dallas in the 7th position, but the club from Texas has two matches more.

Additionally, Portland is yet to have the majority of his matches played at home. Timbers spent the entire opening part of the campaign on the road due to the reconstruction of Providence Park.

Portland plays with Seattle on the road this Sunday, while Orlando hosts the Red Bulls on the same day.