Portland Timbers 1-1 San Jose Earthquakes: Timbers still fighting for playoffs berth – MLS News
Major League Soccer franchise Portland Timbers locked horns with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/San-Jose-Earthquakes-c40434 at Jeld-Wen Field on Wednesday, September 20. Although, the match ended in a 1-1 stalemate, the Timbers superseded New York Red Bulls for the playoffs spot with one point.
With 37 points from 30 games, the Timbers are one point clear of RBNY and two points clear of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/DC-United-c38901.
The Timbers did not play their best game and conceded 63 percent possession to the Quakes. However, the despite the lack of possession, the team managed to take the lead in the 9th minute with a goal from Kenny Cooper.
The Quakes played a possession game after conceding and put anchors down in the Timbers half for the rest of the match. The visitors notched a whopping 74 percent of the ball possession in the first half.
“I think San Jose came with a great game plan,” head coach John Spencer said. “They played very well tonight, and they didn’t manage to get three points.”
Timbers goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Troy-Perkins-c35554 played a vital part in helping his side pickup the draw. However, it was very unfortunate of him to not keep a clean sheet for a fourth consecutive game.
In the 70th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Khari-Stephenson-c20911 finished Rafael Baca’s pass with an ensuing shot that pierced through the Timbers defence and past Perkins. This goal did just enough to help the Quakes draw their game against the Timbers.
The Timbers’ custodian still has his career-high nine clean sheets in the current season. He could have extended his streak to ten, but failed to do so in the latter stages of the game. After making nine brilliant saves in the game, Perkins let the opponents’
tenth effort on goal slip into the back of the net and hence ended the brilliant streak that he had going.
“Fantastic,” defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mike-Chabala-c25693 said of Perkins’ performance in the game. “The guy really stepped up big tonight. He’s been big for us all year. He’s definitely had his fair share of keeping us in the game this year.”
Despite picking up the draw, the Timbers are on a five game undefeated run. At the same time, they have five games in hand, in order to cement their position in the playoffs’ standings over DC United and Red Bulls.
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