Fanendo Adi’s penalty kick goal in the 54th minute on Wednesday earned the Portland Timbers a crucial 1-0 win at Real Salt Lake.
The win moved the Timbers back into one of six playoff spots in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
Portland is tied for fifth with Seattle at 47 points. San Jose is three points back of Portland and Seattle with two games remaining.
The Timbers play at Los Angeles on Sunday then host last-place Colorado on Oct. 25. San Jose hosts Sporting Kansas City and closes the season at F.C. Dallas, which is currently in first place.
Wednesday’s result leaves Real Salt Lake and Houston both playoff longshots who need two wins — and two losses from Portland — to make the playoffs.
Timbers coach Caleb Porter went with a different formation on Wednesday, playing Diego Chara as a lone defensive midfielder with Melano, Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe and Rodney Wallace in attacking positions along with Adi as the lone striker.
“We pressed up the pitch, we had a lot of the ball, and I think we were rewarded in the second half,” Porter said.
Adi’s penalty kick – his team-leading 13th goal of the season – was earned on a transition play. Left back Jorge Villafana set the ball forward and Adi slightly deflected it toward Lucas Melano.
Melano broke free behind the defense and as Melano entered the penalty area RSL defender Jamison Olave tripped him. Olave was shown a red card for a foul that denied a clear goal-scoring chance.
Despite playing down a man, desperate RSL forced Timbers goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey to make two reaction saves on Javier Morales, including a shot from 10 yards in stoppage time that took a deflection before Kwarasey swatted away the shot to preserve his league-leading 13th shutout of the season.
“He made two saves and they were big, and you need your goalkeeper to do that,” Porter said. “We don’t give up a ton of chances. We’re a very good team defensively, we’ve shown that all season long.”
Timbers right back Alvas Powell was given a yellow card in the first half, meaning he will be suspended for Sunday’s match at Los Angeles because of card accumulation.
