By Niall McCusker

After coming through 120 minutes of tough football on Thursday night with the added emotional turmoil of eleven rounds of penalty kicks, Portland still went with the same starting line-up, at least in the out-field, just three days later against Vancouver. At times in the first half some tiredness seemed to be showing as the Whitecaps carved out several dangerous chances in the box. But their shots did not match the quality of the approach play and the home side were able to get into the locker room level at half-time.

At that stage it appeared that a nil-nil tie would be a good result for the home side if it held up for the ninety minutes. However, in the end, it was disappointing, as the Timbers lifted their game magnificently in the second half. Vancouver’s opportunities dried up with Portland owning possession and creating several chances to take the lead, most notably when Urruti struck the post with a couple of minutes left.

The Timbers have a good record in BC Place and will fancy their chances of getting a crucial away goal next Sunday.

Here are the individual ratings:

Jake Gleeson 6.5: The New Zealand custodian was not old enough to buy himself a pint of IPA the last time he started an MLS match for Portland back in their inaugural 2011 season. He did well for a few games back then when former fan favorite Troy Perkins and current goal-keeping coach Adin Brown were out injured, but has since only featured in a handful of US Open Cup and CONCACAF champions league games. He got a chance since Adam Kwarasey was out with flu (vaccinate people!) and kept a clean sheet as Vancouver failed to get decent shots off from promising positions in the box in the first half. In the second half he could do what Kwarasey has done in many games this season – pull up a lawn chair and watch the game.

Alvas Powell 7.5: In their last visit the Whitecaps interchanging of positions in their forward four was top quality and really stretched Portland’s defense. In this game they were missing Rosales and Mezquida, but Manneh and Rivero were still able to cause confusion down the left side. Manneh drifted inside bringing Powell with him, while Rivero took the space on the left – with Borchers reluctant to get sucked out of the center the Uruguayan had space to cause danger.

Powell had a tough opening twenty minutes but could maybe have used some help from his center-backs in figuring out Vancouver’s game plan. In the middle of the first half he got in a nice tackle at the edge of the box and blocked a goal-bound shot right afterward, that seemed to give him a confidence boost and he was excellent for the rest of the game. His good defensive work continued in the second half and he also swung a super low cross in for Adi and played an excellent ball down the wing late on for Asprilla.

Nat Borchers 7: He mostly picked up Romero while Ridgewell sat behind, he did a good job apart from a few occasions in the first twenty minutes. He is a master at blocking shots, saving Powell after a third minute mistake and then again right at the end on a Whitecaps counter after Portland hit the post.

Liam Ridgewell 7: The Englishman called the position of the defensive line clearly on all the Whitecaps free-kicks, they started high and dropped back in a well organized manner as the delivery came in – this worked very well. The left side of the defense had an easier time than the right in the first half, but a couple of mistakes just before halftime could have been costly. Ridgewell recovered from his own bad pass nicely, but just after that re-directed Manneh’s cross right onto Koffie’s feet. A few of the Portland players would be looking at much more disappointing games but for the Whitecaps poor finishing.

He got some good headers on late set-pieces, but a goal still eludes him this season.

Jorge Villafana 7.5: The left-back now looks more like a real defensive player than a converted winger. He had a technically competent and confident first half when his colleagues looked a little jittery. Manneh did get past him to get in one dangerous cross, but a good winger is going to do that a couple of times a game. He got forward more in the second half to get in some good crosses of his own.

Jack Jewsbury 6: It was a big ask to put the veteran in again after a short turnaround and while tidy in possession as ever, he did not seem to give the back four as much cover as they would have liked. Koffie popped up unmarked at the edge of the box on numerous occasions. But in the second half, Jewsbury got much tighter and more physical with him. Vancouver replacing Koffie with Rosales was a good substitute – for Portland. He was much more Jewsbury’s speed on the day.

Lucas Melano (off in 61′) 6: The Argentine came off his wing to make a nice blindside run onto Wallace’s cross in the 8th minute, but could not get quite enough power on his sliding effort. After that he mostly played like a conventional winger, close to the touchline and getting in some crosses. He could definitely have done with getting more service out there as he looked quite lively.

Diego Valeri 8: The majority of Portland’s players took some time to work out the kinks in the this game but Valeri’s touch was on from the start. He was sharp to pick up some second balls from Adi and tried to get things going for Portland. But it wasn’t until the other players stepped up their game in the second half that the home side started to look dangerous. Valeri was still at the center of matters, now linking well with Wallace and Nagbe. His free kick on 70 minutes drew a great save from Ousted and his set-piece delivery was again very good.

It was no surprise that he began to look tired in the last ten minutes, but what were the options? Portland’s bench is now starting to look like it needs another attacking midfielder on it. When only playing with one defensive midfielder does it make sense to have both Fochive and Johnson in there?

Darlington Nagbe 8: While Valeri looked Portland’s best attacker in the first half, Nagbe really came into his own in the second. He had been pulled back helping out Jewsbury, but when Portland started to own the ball he got forward more and the attack started to look more cohesive. One of his runs from deep at the end of the first half was ended prematurely by Koffie who entered the referee’s notebook. Robinson may have borne that in mind when replacing Koffie after an hour, which played its part in keeping the momentum in the home team’s favor.

As Portland started to build pressure near the end it was driven by Nagbe getting closer to Valeri with some nice interchanges deep in their opponent’s half. He also brought Asprilla into the game down the right side on several occasions. His run back into his own box with a few minutes to go to stop a Vancouver counter attack was as good as anything he had done on the attacking side.

Rodney Wallace 7: His low cross to Melano at the start of the game was well measured into a dangerous area and he continued to work hard in the first half. Waston was forced to give up a corner after some typical Wallace tenacity in the 20th minute. He had a nice flick to release Valeri down the left in the second half, but his side was little quieter in the attack late on, though he was involved in the move that set up Urruti’s late shot off the post.

Fanendo Adi (off in 71′) 6.5: He had a tough battle with Waston and he was on his own in the box too often in the first half as hopeful crosses came in. He continued to work in the second half, laying off some nice ball, but he wasn’t making the hard runs for the return ball as often as he usually does. He got a toe poke onto Powell’s cross in the 54th minute but it didn’t get past Ousted. A minute later Valeri’s cross found him at the edge of the box, but his control let him down. A little tiredness in this game was understandable from the big man.

Substitutes:

Dairon Asprilla (on in 61′) 6: This was a positive move and a sign that the home team were going to go for the win in the final thirty minutes. Asprilla got up highest for a corner just after coming in but sliced his header wide. He caused Vancouver problems with direct, powerful running down the right and cut into the center to lay-off the ball that ended in Urruti’s shot.

Maxi Urruti 6: Ousted didn’t give him much to aim at, his shot a was good effort, he just didn’t get quite enough curl on it.