Timbers, Whitecaps tie in red cards, scoreboard

PORTLAND — A match that started with plenty of offensive zest and ended with plenty of acrimony resulted in a 1-1 tie between the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps on a steamy Saturday night at Providence Park.

It is a result that is disappointing for the Timbers, who limped to the finish after watching a 1-0 halftime lead disappear. They also won’t have captain Will Johnson for their next match. He was shown a red card during a post-match confrontation featuring several players on each team.

“I don’t think we can be satisfied at all with the result,” Timbers defender Nat Borchers said. “One-one at home is not a good result for us. It just puts an extra amount of pressure on the next game.”

Timbers coach Caleb Porter noted that each team scored in the half that was controlled by the other team.

Diego Valeri scored in the first half for the Timbers, but despite playing better as the game progressed Portland couldn’t find a second goal against a Whitecaps team playing with two young center backs in Christian Dean and Tim Parker. Matias Laba scored midway through the second half to earn the draw for Vancouver.

Vancouver finished with 10 players after Jordan Harvey was shown a red card for a reckless tackle on Valeri late in the match. Diego Chara suffered a series of fouls late in the game and several times was hobbling badly by the end of the match. Chara expressed displeasure with his treatment to several Whitecaps as the game ended, and Johnson wound up seeing a red card from referee Juan Guzman.

“I think that it’s a lot of different things, for sure,” said Borchers about the post-match hubbub. “But it’s two teams that are battling who are rivals. In the Western Conference, points are very hard to come by, and I think that both teams are competing you’re going to get those type of things at the end of games.”

The fiery finish was in contrast to a first half that saw both teams attacking with zeal.

The Whitecaps attack was especially dangerous in the first half hour — only three blocked shots from Borchers and one big save from Adam Kwarasey kept Vancouver from scoring first. But it was the Portland counter-attack that broke through first.

In the 33rd minute, Chara forced a turnover and Fanendo Adi stormed into the 18-yard box then pushed a pass into space on his right side for Valeri. Valeri, while stretching for the ball, was able to put the ball between David Ousted’s reach and the right post.

Vancouver tied it in the 58th minute when Matias Laba took advantage of space in front of the Timbers defense and hit a rocket from nearly 30 yards that whistled into the right side of the goal. Portland goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey appeared to be screened by players between him and Laba’s shot.

Borchers said the first half involved more emergency defending than should be needed.

“I thought we were just sloppy with the ball,” he said. “We’re usually really, really good at possession and with the ball. We were just a half-second too long on the ball and not making the right decisions and playing quickly.”

Valeri credited Vancouver for playing a smart, aggressive game to limit time with the ball for Timbers attackers.

“They are a physical team, but they played well,” Valeri said of Vancouver. “They were tough, aggressive. The ball was in the air a lot. They did a great job defensively. They were compact and aggressive.”

Match notes

Where they stand: Portland (9-7-5, 32 points) is tied with Seattle for fifth in the Western Conference. Vancouver (10-8-3, 33 points) is fourth in the Western Conference.

Up next: The Timbers play their next two games on the road, at Dallas on July 25 and at San Jose on Aug. 2. The next home match is Aug. 7 against Chicago.

Cascadia Cup standings: Seattle 2-1-0, 3 games left; Portland 1-2-2, 1 game left; Vancouver 1-1-2, 2 games left.

No all-stars: No Timbers are among the 22 MLS players who will take on Tottenham Hotspur on July 29. Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted and Sounders Clint Dempsey and Chad Marshall are on the team.

Timbers 2 and Under-23s play Sunday: T2 will host Whitecaps 2 at 7 p.m. Sunday at the University of Portland’s Merlo Field. T2 (6-9-2, 20 points) are 11th in the 12-team United Soccer Leagues Western Conference. Whitecaps 2 (6-8-5, 23 points) are seventh. At 2 p.m. at Merlo Field, the Timbers U-23s play the Sounders U-23s in a Premier Development League Northwest Division playoff match. The Timbers U-23s, who feature several players from Clark County, finished second in the division at 6-2-4. The winner on Sunday advances to next week’s four-team Western Conference Championship tournament.

Newcastle United visits Tuesday: Barclay’s Premier League club Newcastle United plays Timbers 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Providence Park. The T2 roster figures to include some first-team reserves. The match is part of the Timbers season-ticket package.

Scorecard: TIMBERS 1, WHITECAPS 1

Vancouver 0 1–1

Portland 1 0–1

First half–1, Portland, Valeri 2 (Adi), 33rd minute.

Second half–2, Vancouver, Laba 1 (Manneh), 57th.

Goalies–Vancouver, David Ousted; Portland, Adam Kwarasey.

Yellow Cards–Parker, Vancouver, 22nd; Ridgewell, Portland, 36th; Chara, Portland, 47th; Wallace, Portland, 90th+; Johnson, Portland, 90th+.

Red Cards–Harvey, Vancouver, 90th+; Johnson, Portland, 90th+.

Referee–Juan Guzman. Assistant Referees–Chris Strickland. Marco Arruda. 4th Official–Edvin Jurisevic.

A–21,144 (20,000)

Lineups

Vancouver–David Ousted, Christian Dean, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey, Steven Beitashour, Gershon Koffie, Matias Laba, Mauro Rosales (Russell Teibert, 84th), Nicolas Mezquida (Cristian Techera, 67th), Octavio Rivero, Kekuta Manneh (Kianz Froese, 90th+).

Portland–Adam Kwarasey, Alvas Powell, Nat Borchers, Liam Ridgewell, Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe (Gaston Fernandez, 83rd), Jorge Villafana, Diego Valeri, Will Johnson, Dairon Asprilla (Rodney Wallace, 67th), Fanendo Adi (Maximiliano Urruti, 76th).