PORTLAND — Two scrappy goals by center backs and a wonder strike from Dairon Asprilla have the Portland Timbers on solid footing after the first game of the MLS Western Conference Championship series.
A 3-1 win on Sunday means Portland will have a bit of a cushion when the total-goals series concludes next Sunday in Texas.
Liam Ridgewell and Nat Borchers each finished a corner kick scramble, and Asprilla rifled home a shot from 22 yards away as the Timbers made memorable their final Providence Park appearance of 2015.
“The two-goal margin puts us in a good spot,” Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. “But we know how explosive and dangerous that Dallas are. So we’ll stay very humble and grounded and get back to work for this next game.”
The series-defining moment might just turn out to be Borchers’ working to poke home a loose ball on a corner kick in the 91st minute.
Norberto Paparatto was able to head down the corner delivery from Darlington Nagbe, and Borchers beat goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez to the loose ball.
“(Paparatto) headed the ball down and I just wanted to make a run to see if the goalkeeper would give me a chance,” Borchers said. “He left it for me, and I think I had a couple bites of the apple and fortunately it went in.”
It was an auspicious finish for the Timbers to a match that started with Portland dominating and turned into a tension-filled second half.
Portland appeared to be in the driver’s seat when Asprilla curved a perfect shot from the right side that found the inside of the left post in 53rd minute. It was a spectacular goal from a player who until recently was used sparingly by Porter.
But moments after Ridgewell was forced out with a calf injury and replaced by Paparatto, Dallas got a key away goal off a beautiful combination play. Playmaker Mauro Diaz sent a ball to overlapping Je-Vaughn Watson whose cross found striker David Texeira a step in front of Paparatto.
“There were some tense moments there after they scored,” Borchers said. “It was a good goal. It was a great ball across, a good run from Texeira, and we’re obviously under (pressure) a little bit.”
Porter said his team demonstrated its maturity by settling back down after a few anxious moments following the Dallas goal.
Ridgewell scored his first goal of the season in the 23rd minute from a Nagbe corner kick. The defender was in the right spot near the back post to put home a ball that was directed across the goal mouth by Asprilla.
“The last couple of games I’ve been having chances and getting in the right positions,” Ridgewell said. “Finally one fell to me and I wasn’t going to let it slip by, I wasn’t going to let the keeper save it. … Head, knee, toe — everything just to get it in.”
Converting twice from corner kicks was big, Borchers said.
“This time of year you need something special, something extra,” Borchers said. “The service has been great, the runs have been very good. I think on the flip side the we defended set pieces pretty well also.”
In addition to taking on corner kick duties with Diego Valeri out of the lineup, Nagbe was his dynamic best from the start. Three times in the first seven minutes he dribbled at the defense and sprung Lucas Melano for chances from the right side of the penalty area. Gonzalez came up big in the first minute of the game, cutting down the angle and blocking Melano’s attempt.
The Timbers were dominant in the first half, and Porter said he expected that. The coach didn’t want his team playing conservative soccer in its final home match this season.
“That was always going to be the plan, to come out aggressively and attack. But I knew we could do that because of how organized we are at the back,” Porter said. “We felt we needed to capitalize on our home game and score goals and we did.”
Notes
Path to the final: The second leg of the series will happen at 2 p.m. next Sunday in Frisco, Texas. Dallas can advance by winning 2-0, but if Portland scores an away goal, FCD must win by three goals in the second leg to advance. Only if Dallas wins 3-1 next week will a 30-minute overtime be needed.
In the East, Columbus won its home match 2-0 against the New York Red Bulls.
Ridgewell’s injury: Ridgewell said he expects to play next week. He was bothered by a tight right thigh in training last week and said he felt it tighten up an hour into the game. “I felt it go and I just had to try and manage it a little bit and not make it any worse,” he said.
Suspensions: Portland was without Diego Valeri and Rodney Wallace because of yellow-card accumulation in the playoffs. Both are eligible to return next week. With Valeri out, Jack Jewsbury returned to the Timbers starting lineup alongside Diego Chara in defensive midfield and Lucas Melano started in place of Wallace on the left wing.
