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Timbers rebound twice to win

Portland goalkeeper converts during wild PK shootout for win

By Paul Danzer, Columbian Soccer, hockey and Community Sports Reporter
Published: October 29, 2015, 11:15pm
8 Photos
George Fochive (5), pictured celebrating with former Timber Maxi Urruti, on Tuesday was transferred to Viborg FF in Denmark, ending two years in Portland for the young midfielder.
George Fochive (5), pictured celebrating with former Timber Maxi Urruti, on Tuesday was transferred to Viborg FF in Denmark, ending two years in Portland for the young midfielder. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) Photo Gallery

PORTLAND — No one who saw it will soon forget it.

It took an unlikely goal in the dying minutes of overtime and an 11-round penalty-kick shootout on Thursday for the Portland Timbers to vanquish Sporting Kansas City in a MLS Cup knockout-round donnybrook at Providence Park.

The win – secured when goalkeeper Adam Kwarsey converted his PK and stopped the effort of SKC’s Jon Kempin — advances the Timbers to the Western Conference semifinals, where they will meet the Vancouver Whitecaps in a two-leg series that starts on Sunday in Providence Park.

That scenario seemed unlikely when Krisztian Nemeth scored early in overtime to put the visitors up 2-1.

It also seemed unlikely when Saad Abdul-Salaam stepped to the spot with a chance to win it for Sporting in the ninth round of penalties. But his shot bounced off the inside of both goalposts without crossing the goal line.

“I turned my head straight away and I was afraid it was going to touch my back and go in,” Kwarasey said. “My heart stopped for a couple seconds there.”

The goalkeeper said the penalty kick he made to win the game is the first he’s attempted since his youth soccer days. “I never practice penalties. My job is to stop them,” he said.

Kwarasey made two saves in the shootout, denying Dom Dwyer in the second round and denying Kempin to clinch it. In the end, the roulette that is a penalty tiebreaker went Portland’s way because the Timbers converted six of 11 PKs and SKC made only five. Kansas City missed chances to end it in both the sixth and seventh round.

“This is the kind of stuff you just dream about when you’re a kid,” Timbers defender Nat Borchers said.

Each team scored once in the 30-minute overtime, with Maximiliano Urruti getting the Timbers to penalty kicks with a blast from 6 yards out off a Dairon Asprilla cross with less than three minutes of life left in the overtime.

Nemeth’s sharp-angle shot in the seven minute of overtime put Kansas City ahead 2-1. The shot from deep on the left side of the 6-yard fox spun just inside the far post.

“It was an incredible goal. He’s a great player and he’s cut us up a couple of times now,” Borchers said. “That’s a goal that nobody in the world is going to be able to stop.”

The extra time was needed after each team scored a second-half goal. Rodney Wallace gave Portland the lead 12 minutes after halftime, but Sporting Kansas City equalized with a Kevin Ellis header in the 87th minute – which was actually about 10 minutes from the conclusion of the a regulation period that stretched to 98 minutes.

Wallace took a shot from 12 yards to the right of goal that found its way just inside the left post. Nat Borchers won a header near the top of the box and the ball fell to Diego Valeri, whose touch in traffic gave Wallace his shot for the 1-0 lead.

The tying goal came on a header by Kansas City defender Kevin Ellis, who was able to sky at the 6-yard box for a header off a deep cross from Graham Zusi after the Timbers cleared a Zusi corner kick to start the sequence.

The breakthrough came after 326 minutes of scoreless play this season over three-plus matches against Sporting KC, and moments after starting Sporting Kansa City goalkeeper Tim Melia made a spectacular sprawling effort to tip away a low drive through traffic by Darlington Nagbe.

But Melia was unable to finish the match because of a head injury.

In the 68th minute Wallace nearly had another chance but Melia beat him to the ball and, as Wallace tried to jump over the keeper he caught Melia in the head. The KC keeper stayed in the match until the 84th minute, when he went took a knee and had to be replaced by Kempin.

The rest, for Timbers faithful, was wild and unforgettable.

Timbers 2, Sporting Kansas City 2

(Timbers win 6-5 on penalty kicks)

Up next: The Timbers face the Vancouver Whitecaps in a two-leg, total goals conference semifinal. Vancouver visits Portland on Sunday with the second match in British Columbia on Nov. 8.

Timbers vs. Whitecaps: Vancouver had the only win in three matches this season between the Whitecaps and Timbers, a 2-1 win in British Columbia on March 28 in a match the Timbers felt was one of their better early-season performances. Both matches in Portland were draws: 0-0 on May 2 and 1-1 on July 18.

Sunday tickets: Go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Timbers.com, the Providence Park box office, or by calling 503-553-5555.

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Columbian Soccer, hockey and Community Sports Reporter