World News – CA – Timbers 1, Whitecaps 0: No blowout, but familiar themes run through Portland loss

The Whitecaps found themselves lagging early once again and couldn’t find the back of the net in a second straight loss on Sunday night

It sounded sadly familiar – an early goal against the Vancouver Whitecaps before they had a chance to sweat

Felipe Mora put the Portland Timbers in the lead with a header five minutes into the game, but unlike Wednesday’s outright surrender in a 6-0 loss to LAFC, the Caps dug defensively, produced great opportunities to score, but ultimately fell from 1 to 1 0 at the Timbers at Providence Park Sunday night

It was the second straight loss for the Whitecaps (5-9-0), as the Timbers (7-4-3) won a second straight game, both against their Cascadia Cup rivals The Caps have been shut out in two straight games and their scoreless streak is now 186 minutes

The Whitecaps were the home team for the game at the Timbers’ home stadium, and while the sounds of Boundary Road may have made it feel like home, Portland made sure they were felt the visitors

Improvement set for #RCTIDFelipe Mora scores on Eryk Williamson’s free kick to put @TimbersFC ahead! #VANvPOR picTwittercom / 4ja1Zjqorj

The Whitecaps ended up losing 2-0 on abandoned goals against LAFC, and Sunday’s game started off on the same tone

An Eryk Williamson free kick to the left side was badly challenged by Caps left-back Cristian Gutierrez, who didn’t even attempt to put a header into the ball Mora stood up without a challenge and redirected the outswinger in front of Bryan Meredith to open the scoring

The area-scoring system used by the Whitecaps has fallen victim to several times over the past two years, and they have given up six set-pieces this season While the goals in MOON came after corner kicks, Sunday’s score came on a free kick from the box, a game Marc Dos Santos does not remember his team conceded before this season

« It’s disappointing to start the game with that goal conceded from a free kick I thought it could have been better defended by all of us Unfortunately, it did, but I think in the moments that followed, the team reacted well, ”said Whitecaps coach “It was a close game. Is that a step forward from what we did in Los Angeles? Yes absolutely There were a lot of good things Is this the outcome we want? No of course not

« This is the first time in months that we have conceded a goal from a side free kick The two in LUNE were corner kicks; these are two different phases of the game (But) we have to be better than that… It’s a flexible goal in my opinion « 

The Whitecaps had been outscored in all but one game this season – they were tied (12-12) with LUNE Galaxy in Game 2 of 2020 – with most of those totals tilted heavily in favor of their opponents

Sunday’s game saw them lead in this category until the last five minutes of regulation, when a flurry of fire from the Timbers gave them a 12-8 advantage

The combination of Fredy Montero and Lucas Cavallini, with the Colombian playing in more than a No 10 role in a 4-2-3-1, produced some good times for the Whitecaps, with the two closing in on attempts to The header They lead the team with three shots apiece, with two of Montero’s forced saves from Portland goalkeeper Steve Clark

Hesitant to launch Montero because he had doubts about his defensive activity, Marc Dos Santos saw his 33-year-old striker trigger the press and make three tackles, second in the Whitecaps only behind Ali Adnan’s eight on the Whitecaps

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The Whitecaps won the possession battle, with 53% of the ball, but the Timbers slumped down and played to protect the head were a big part of that In the first 35 minutes, Portland was holding nearly 60 % of the ball

“The only time Portland was dangerous was in counter-attack situations where we took a lot of risk,” Dos Santos said “We were in the last third, we pushed, we had numbers, but just the last pass, the decision making we have not been able to create clear opportunities

There are a number of games that were in the last third, and that last pass, that went through it just didn’t get there. We had four big chances in the 90 minutes and one of those that we had Unfortunately, this is not the case

These chances are great You don’t come to Portland and generate 20 chances Nobody does that in the league It’s hard

Whitecaps forward Lucas Cavallini has scored twice in seven starts and as a substitute this year, a mediocre outing for a Liga MX forward that cost Vancouver US $ 6 million in transfer fees Both goals he scored – against Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake – resulted in perfect crosses from Adnan and Montero, respectively Cavallini had two more perfect crosses on Sunday, one from Jake Nerwinski and one from Cristian Dajome, but missed both headers He smashed the bar on Nerwinski’s cross in the first half and sent the second off as he plunged into the six-yard penalty area

A player of his pedigree and status should convert those chances, especially for a team that has scored the second-fewest goals (17) in the Western Conference

50th official Vancouver Whitecaps game in Marc Dos Santos era: ⚽️Won 13 ⚽️Drew 11⚽️Lost 26⚽️Goals scored 55⚽️Goals against 92 Scoring 1 goal or less in 34 of those 50 games

Dos Santos has confirmed pre-game reports that the Caps have acquired Impact goalie Evan Bush, the former No 1 who has yet to participate in a game this season for Montreal. said details were being worked out, but a deal was imminent

Max Crepeau – who couldn’t topple Bush as a starter in Montreal, leading to his trade in Vancouver – and Thomas Hasal are injured The decision to acquire Bush suggests Hasal’s injury was far more serious than ‘we didn’t think so initially

« These are just details (left), » he said « You can’t play with fire with just two goalkeepers It’s very, very difficult to see Thomas and Max again this season The odds are extremely slim So we can’t be here playing with fire « 

The 21-year-old goalie took a boot to the head of Kyle Beckerman in their game last week, the second time in as many games that he suffered a blow to the head He missed two games so that the Caps subjected him to a concussion protocol, not wanting to roll the dice on the health of their young goalkeeper Dos Santos said earlier this week that they would hold him as long as needed

“Regarding Thomas… I’m going to tell you this: we take this injury, very, very seriously We take this injury seriously,” Dos Santos said on Friday “What I could tell you is that it’s in the head It’s not his first time We’re not going to play with him because he’s a young kid, and we believe in his career and we don’t want to put him in a position where he could end this career very early There is no way we take this situation lightly « 

Bryan Meredith started Sunday’s game and was backed by Isaac Boehmer, who the Caps signed to a Homegrown contract in August Bush, a nine-year-old vet, played for Dos Santos and also knows the coach of the Caps Youssef Dahha goalkeepers

Meredith made six saves on her second start for the Caps – her first straight starts since July 2012 – while her Portland counterpart Steve Clark made three saves for her third clean sheet

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Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, MLS, Providence Park