Rapids, Timbers play to scoreless draw

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Tim Howard made two saves in his Colorado debut and the Rapids played to a scoreless draw with the Portland Timbers on Monday night.

Howard dove to his right to stop Darren Mattocks’ right-footed shot in the 54th minute and made a kick save to deny Lucas Melano in the 63rd.

Colorado (9-2-6) dropped out of first place in the Western Conference as FC Dallas earned three points in a 4-0 victory over Orlando City on Monday night.

Portland (6-6-6) goalkeeper Jake Gleeson had four saves for his second shutout of the season.

Howard, who played for the MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls) between 1998 and 2003, returned to MLS after 13 years in the Premier League with Manchester United and Everton. Colorado acquired Howard through allocation after the Rapids secured the No. 1 spot in the ranking order.

TIMBERS 0, RAPIDS 0

Portland 0 0—0

Colorado 0 0—0

First half—None.

Second half—None.

Goalies—Portland, Jake Gleeson; Colorado, Tim Howard.

Yellow Cards—Miller, Colorado, 15th minute. Chara, Portland, 50th minute.

Referee—Ricardo Salazar. Assistant Referees—Mike Kampmeinert, Cameron Blanchard. 4th Official—Daniel Radford.

A—18,759 (19,680)

Lineups

Portland—Jake Gleeson; Alvas Powell, Zarek Valentin, Nat Borchers, Jermaine Taylor; Diego Chara, Ben Zemanski, Lucas Melano (Jack Barmby, 78th) Darlington Nagbe, Darren Mattocks (Ned Grabavoy, 87th); Fanendo Adi.

Colorado—Tim Howard; Eric Miller, Jared Watts, Axel Sjoberg, Mekeil Williams; Sam Cronin (Dillon Powers, 82nd), Michael Azira, Marlon Hairston (Dominique Badji, 69th) Jermaine Jones, Shkelzen Gashi (Marco Pappa, 67th); Kevin Doyle.