Timbers’ home winning streak ends
Photo of Kenny Cooper by Craig Mitchelldyer, Portland Timbers
Galo Legarda
El Hispanic News
Portland, OR — The unbeaten home streak for the Timbers ended with a loss to D.C. United on Sunday. In what Timbers’ captain Jack Jewsbury, called “a weird game”, D.C. United did one of the two things they had said they were going to do. They beat Portland at home, but they were not able to silence the Timbers Army.
The final score of 2-3 in favor of D.C. United will bring about a lot of controversy due to the many unusual situations. The refereeing played a very important role in the actions and result of this game. Two goals were disallowed for the Timbers. A questionable penalty kick was called in favor of Portland Timbers, and was ordered to be retaken twice after Kenny Cooper failed to score in both attempts. Another penalty kick in favor of D.C. United that could have been considered an unintentional hand ball by Timbers’ Diego Chará.
The trio of referees went to the locker rooms at half time booed by the whole stadium, minus the about 100 D.C. United fans that were present at Jen-Weld Field.
In the first half, the match was for the most part an even game. The Portland Timbers had more chances than D.C. United but they could not score. D.C. United scored first after a throw in from the left side of the field; forward Blake Brettschneider headed the ball towards the small box so Perry Kitchen would touch it, sending it to the back of the net at the 13th minute.
Then Portland put more pressure on offense, creating more chances to score. In the 42nd and 58th minute, Kenny Cooper was called offside, in what he and the Timbers fans thought were legitimate goals.
Then in what was one of the rarest events in MLS, the Timbers were awarded a penalty shot due to a foul on Copper by D.C.’s defender Dejan Jakovic. Cooper took the shot and without too much of a run, paused before shooting; D.C. goal keeper Bill Hamid then saved the goal by diving towards his right side. The line referee raised his flag indicating that the goalie had stepped forward before making the save, giving the Timbers a do over. Copper took the second shot and again without too much of a run, took the shot. The goalie this time dove to his left and stopped the goal again, but the assistant referee raised his flag again. A second do over was awarded. Jewsbury took the shot and scored to give the Timbers a momentary tie.
In the 74th minute, a penalty shot was awarded in favor of D.C. United. Midfielder Chris Pontius took the shot and scored to give D.C. the lead again. The Timbers then went on the offensive with more guts than with ideas. This led to their defense to be caught off guard, and in a counter-attack Josh Wolff received the ball from Brettschneider and with a soft touch sent the ball to the back of the net with only six minutes remaining.
Timbers’ defender Jeremy Hall next sent a ball to the six-yard box with a throw-in, and Jorge Perlaza connected with a header and scored the second goal for the Timbers in the 89th minute.
In stoppage time Perlaza again tried to score with a long shot from outside the 18-yard box and the ball went barely outside the base of the goal’s left post.
At the post-game press conference, Timbers head coach John Spencer said, “We got from the game what I thought we deserve, no points.”
Regarding the refereeing, Spencer said it “is a tough job. I cannot criticize them, and you can’t make excuses.”
The Portland Timbers will go on the road this week and will visit Chivas USA on June 4.
Este artículo también está disponible en / This post is also available in: Spanish
Related posts:
Short URL: http://www.elhispanicnews.com/?p=2013
Posted by 