Timbers keep their playoff hopes alive

The Portland Timbers’ playoff hopes are still alive after a 1-0 win over the second-place Colorado Rapids on Sunday.

The Timbers are 12-13-8 on the season and now tied for sixth place with Sporting Kansas City – with just one game left. They have now won five straight home games and still hope to squeak into the playoffs, trying to win back-to-back MLS championships.

Kansas City currently holds the tiebreaker over Portland, in case of a final tie in the standings, because they have a better goal differential. The Timbers have a goal differential of minus 2, and Kansas City, minus 1. But because fourth-place Real Salt Lake and the fifth-place Seattle Sounders both dropped points last weekend, all the Timbers have to do is beat the Vancouver Whitecaps on the last game of the season Sunday, and they’re guaranteed a playoff spot.

The exciting Portland victory Sunday afternoon saw its key moment in the 35th minute when the Timbers scored the lone goal on a penalty kick by forward Fanendo Adi, team leader with 16 goals this season. Adi slid the shot past goalkeeper Tim Howard. Minutes later Adi would get a second penalty kick, but this time Howard would block the shot. It was a defensive battle from that point on. At the half, the Timbers had earned 60 percent of the game’s possession and led, 1-0.

The Rapids came out much stronger in the second half. They maintained possession for just over 53 percent of the second half, but it didn’t translate into goals. The Rapids had a chance to tie early in the second half when Marco Pappa led Kevin Doyle into the box. Doyle attempted to head it in, but his try hit the crossbar. A minute later, Portland tried to score on a Darlington Nagbe open shot but Howard came up with another big save.

In the end, the Timbers barely held on, but they did. Now they have a chance to finish with a spot in the playoffs. It’ll be tough, considering the final game will be in Vancouver, and the Timbers are winless this season on the road in 16 games so far.

Portland will be facing more struggles than just their away problems. They will be without starters Ben Zemanski, Liam Ridgewell, and Diego Chara. Zemanski is out with ongoing calf and hamstring problems. Ridgewell and Chara are out due to yellow cards accumulated.

Still, if the Timbers sneak their way into the playoffs, it’ll be exciting to see what they can do.

Advocate Staff