Portland Timbers fall to Atlanta United at home

On a lovely September evening, the Portland Timbers hosted Atlanta United in Providence Park. Head coach, Martí Cifuentes, made some changes to his starting lineup. Antony was in as a #9 for the first time with Ari Lassiter and Kristopher Velde to his left and right, respectively. New acquisitions, Joel Waterman and Ronald Hernández both started on the back line next to Finn Surman and Jimer Fory. Captain Diego Chara, Cole Basset, and David DaCosta filled out the midfield for Portland.

The first action of the match came in the 5th minute when Portland keeper, James Pantemis, made his first save of the night. That was Atlanta’s only real attempt in the first 28 minutes of the match. Portland, on the other hand, had multiple attempts on goal.

Cole Basset’s shot in the 7th was blocked by defender Elías Báez. Velde took a shot 2 minutes later that missed to the left of goal. He had another chance in the 11th minute that was saved by Atlanta’s keeper, Lucas Hoyos.

Atlanta midfielder, Alexey Miranchuk, took a shot in the 14th that hit the hip of his own teammate, Giuliano Galoppo, for the block. Ari Lassiter and Cole Basset both took shots that just missed the goal in the 19th and 22nd minute.

Diego Chara was the first one to find his name in head referee, Ismail Elfath’s, book for fouling Alexey Miranchuk. The caution card was given in the 25th minute and is Chara’s 126th yellow card in regular league play. As someone who has watched Chara from his first match in the green and gold, every yellow makes my heart swell with pride.

Miranchuk took advantage of the change in momentum and drew first blood in the 28th minute. A simple pass play starting with Júnior Alonso to Miguel Almirón. Almirón placed a short cross at the feet of Miranchuk on the right hand side of the goal. Pantemis dove to his right but could not reach the ball as Alexey’s shot found the back of the net.

United forward, Breel Embolo, took a shot a minute after the goal but it was blocked by Waterman. Velde had a couple attempts in the remaining 15minutes of the first half but nothing that was on target. His first shot in the 31st went wide and his other in the 40th went over the crossbar.

Only 4 minutes of stoppage time was added to the first half. It was long enough for Giuliano Galoppo and Joel Waterman to both receive caution cards. There was a struggle near the Atlanta bench touch line in the 45+1 that led to Galoppo’s yellow for physicality and Waterman’s for choice words directed to an Atlanta player.

Giuliano Galoppo got one last shot off in the 45+5 that was poetically blocked by Joel Waterman.

The Timbers started the 2nd half with multiple chances that they could not covert into a goal. They had 6 shots before the 65th minute. Antony started it off with a shot saved by the keeper in the 46th minute. Velde had 4 shots that were all blocked or saved by an Atlanta player before getting close to goal. Diego Chara had an uncommon shot on goal following a volley off a corner kick. His shot from the left side didn’t have the curve it needed and ended up in the side of the net.

Martí made his first substitution of the match during the set up for the corner kick in the 58th. Vincent Janssen came in for Antony.

Velde had another shot blocked before it could cause a threat in the 64th minute. Hernández was fouled following Velde’s shot, leading to a free kick and a yellow card for Tristan Muyumba. United used the stoppage to bring on homegrown Cooper Sanchez for Giuliano Galoppo.

Sanchez tried to get a a goal after being on the pitch for 8 minutes but his attempt was blocked expertly by Diego Chara in the 73rd minute.

Portland made a like for like triple substitution in the 75th. Ian Smith took over for Jimer Fory, Joao Ortiz replaced Chara, and Omir Fernández came in for Cole Bassett.

Miguel Almirón took a shot in the 79th that was an easy collection for Pantemis. Atlanta then made their last substitutions of the night benching Muyumba and Diaz for Fortune and Mihaj.

Ari Lassiter has become the go to man for service on corner kicks for the Timbers. His ball in from a corner in the 84th  bounced around before it found the head of Finn Surman. Surman’s shot was just a smidge high and went over the crossbar.

Ronald Hernández night was over in the 85th minute after playing a tough match against his former team. Martì replaced the defender with forward Gage Guerra, hoping to find an equalizer in the limited time left.

Unfortunately, Portland did not have a goal in them. Janssen had the last shot for the Timbers in the 90+3 but it missed to the right. The final whistle blew at 90+4 with Atlanta United talking all 3 points.