Timbers fall at Kansas City 1-0

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Jacob Peterson scored and Benny Feilhaber had an assist to help Sporting Kansas City beat the Portland Timbers 1-0 on Sunday.

Peterson flicked a header, off a free kick by Feilhaber, to the bottom-right corner in the 50th minute.

Alec Kann made a diving stop of a strike by Darlington Nagbe — Portland’s only shot on goal — in the 10th.

“I think we created a lot of chances. We didn’t finish,”  Portland coach Caleb Porter said. “We had five clear, open chances. Five or six. So, I don’t think it had anything to do with chance creation at all. It had to do with the finishing.”

The Timbers (7-8-8) had chances in stoppage time. Jack McInerney blasted a right footer from the left side of the box off the crossbar in the first minute, and Fanendo Adi’s header, off a cross by Vytautas Andriuskevicius,  from the right side of the 6-yard box missed wide right about three minutes later.

“There are a lot of positives things that you can get from the game, but obviously the result is not what we want,” Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri said. “We needed the points, but looking forward we have a (CONCACAF) Champions League game, and I think we are in good shape to start winning games. We have to find a way to win games. I think scoring the first goal would be very important for us in the next game against KC.”

Sporting (10-10-4) has won two in a row and five straight at home.

Portland has lost two straight after an nine-match unbeaten streak.

“I think you’re always concerned about points because points matter in the grand scheme of things in terms of where you sit,” Porter said. “Obviously, the Western Conference is tight. We knew this was going to be a difficult game.”

Kansas City’s Jimmy Medranda earned and fifth yellow card and will be suspended for Sporting’s next match, Aug. 7 at Portland.

SPORTING KC 1, TIMBERS 0

Portland 0 0—0

Sporting Kansas City 0 1—1

First half—None.

Second half—1, Sporting KC, Jacob Peterson, 3 (Benny Feilhaber), 50th minute.

Goalies—Portland, Jake Gleeson; Sporting Kansas City, Alec Kann.

Yellow Cards—Fanendo Adi, Portland, 10th, Jimmy Medranda, Sporting KC, 72nd, Jermaine Taylor, Portland, 74th, Diego Charra, Portland, 86th, Roger Espinosa, Sporting KC, 87th.

Referee—Ricardo Salazar. Assistant Referees—Peter Balciunas, Cameron Blanchard. 4th Official—Sorin Stoica.

A—19,098 (19,098)

Lineups

Portland—Jake Gleeson; Alvas Powell (Jack Barmby, 88th), Amobi Okugo, Jermaine Taylor, Zarek Valentin (Vytautas Andriuskevicius, 69th); Ben Zemanski (Jack McInerney, 75th), Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, Lucas, Melano; Fanendo Adi.

Sporting Kansas City—Alec Kann; Saad Abdul-Salaam, Lawrence Olum, Ike Opara (Chance Myers, 94th), Jimmy Medranda; Benny Feilhaber, Soni Mustivar, Roger Espinoza; Connor Hallisey (Kevin Ellis, 93rd), Dominic Dwyer, Jacob Peterson (Cameron Porter, 71st).