The Portland Timbers’ newest acquisition Evander is showing off his adaption to Major League Soccer with a couple of goals that gave the Rose City a big win over a red-hot and streaking Vancouver Whitecaps.
As the Pacific Northwest is having an early summer, the mood in Providence Park was at its best with the attendees enjoying how the Rose City side started playing with all-around heart and ambition netting an important win.
The Timbers got an early score in the second minute when Claudio Bravo sent a ball to Franck Boli putting the whole of Providence Park into a frenzy.
The first of two scores from newcomer Evander came in the 18th minute when a play that involved Santiago Moreno and Juan David Mosquera ended up with ricochets and ended with Evander scoring to make it 2-0.
However, a play involving Julian Gressel on the right side and putting a cross aimed for Sergio Cordova found instead Zac McGraw ‘s foot pushing the ball into the net for an own goal and pulling Vancouver within one goal in the 24th minute. Still, the Timbers were a bit dominating and never allowed the Caps to get into the game they were playing lately that has given them some success.
Portland had a lot of great plays and never allowed the visiting Caps in get into their comfort zone and develop the game they were playing in their past few matches as the absence of their striker Ryan White was visibly shown.
For Portland, defending and passing effectively over the whole course of the game that became their success they had in stopping a team coming with momentum and looking to extend their Cascadia Cup lead.
Despite that, in both halves Vancouver was slightly ahead in possession by a couple of percentage points, but in the end, Portland played a very intelligent and astute game over the course of both halves.
As the second half started, the Timbers still maintained a good level of dominance over the visitors when Aljaz Ivacic again became a vital piece in making a number of great saves under his arches finishing with five saves overall.
By far, Evander is becoming an important piece in the Timbers offensive game as well being the man that tonight defined the outcome of the game with his second goal of the night when he scored outside the area and beating keeper Yohei Takaoka.
A beautiful combination between Claudio Bravo and Yimmi Chara set up the play for the Brazilian to put the final score of 3-1 in the 54th minute with a stunning 20-yard goal to seal the win and go ahead in the Cascadia Cup standings with 2 wins, 1 loss, and 0 draws.
Next Match:
The Portland Timbers (4-5-3, 15 points) will play on the road at Rio Tinto Stadium in a match scheduled for midweek against Real Salt Lake (3-6-2, 11 points) on Wednesday, May 17 with kickoff set at 6:30 PM PST.
Goals
Franck Boli 2’ POR, Evander 18’ POR, Zac Mc Graw 24’ (OG) POR, Evander 53’ POR
Men of the Match
Evander and Aljaz Ivacic
Portland Timbers
Vancouver Whitecaps
