Bright Dike (19) scores for the Timbers to earn a 1-1 draw vs. San Jose

The Portland Timbers finished off their 2012 regular season on a rainy Saturday night in the Rose City with a 1-1 draw with the league-leading San Jose Earthquakes in front of another sold out crowd of 20,438 at Portland’s JELD-WEN Field. San Jose would take a first half lead on a penalty kick by Chris Wondolowski, but the Timbers would earn the equalizer in the second half on a goal by Bright Dike.  With the draw, the Timbers remain undefeated against San Josein their brief MLS history.

Neither team seriously threatened until the 14^th minute, when San Jose’s Shea Salinas made a good run into the box down the right side, forcing a sliding save by Portland defender David Horst.  On the ensuing corner kick, San Jose’s Steven Lenhart headed nicely towards net, with Salinas attempting to redirect the shot with his header, but sent it well over the crossbar.

In the 21^st minute, San Jose’s Rafael Baca would have a good look from near the top of the box, but his low shot along the wet turf was smothered easily by Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.  The home side would finally threaten in the 23^rd minute, when Sal Zizzo’s cross from the right side was dangerous but punched out by San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch.

Seconds later, San Jose would end up with Timbers fans considered a questionable penalty kick when Ricketts found himself out of position when charging out of the box to challenge Lenhart, and appeared to play the ball before any contact with the San Jose player, but center referee Mark Geiger disagreed and pointed to the spot.  Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski, at this point one goal behind the all-time league record of 27 goals in a season would step up to take the shot, and slipped the ball just inside the left post to tie the league record, and give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

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The Cascadia Cup

The Portland Timbers extremely disappointing 2012 season will also bring home their first trophy of their Major League Soccer era, as a 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps brings the Cascadia Cup back to Portland after a one-year absence.

By taking the cup this year, the Timbers have now won the cup 3 of the last 4 years, though this is the first time they have won it with all three northwest teams competing, as only Portland and Vancouver competed for the cup in 2009 and 2010.  Seattle won the Cascadia Cup last year, and with the Timbers winning it this year, each team has now won the cup three times in it’s nine-year history.

The Timbers had not won on the road since a 1-0 victory in Vancouver over a year ago, and this game would be a surprisingly similar result, with Jack Jewsbury scoring in the 39th minute on a spectacular goal from 25 yards out after Franck Songo’o dropped the ball nicely into his run.

The Timbers would outshoot Vancouver 9-6 in the match and though the Whitecaps knew they could secure a playoff berth with the win (which they did later in the day anyway when FC Dallas lost), the Whitecaps never really threatened after the Timbers scored, so the Timbers remain undefeated in play against Vancouver in their MLS era, and have now swept both games north of the border.

The Timbers finish their 2012 season at home next weekend against 2012 Supporters Shield winners San Jose.

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/10/recap-jewsbury-timbers-stun-whitecaps-take-cascadia-cup

Bill Hamid pulls the equalizer by Bright Dike out of the net

The Portland Timbers have now gone well over a calendar year since seeing their last penalty kick awarded, which was July 30, 2011 against Toronto.  But Timbers opponents still seem to be able to get those calls and an odd penalty kick for DC would put the visitors up in the second half, but Bright Dike would jump on a loose ball and score the equalizer to give the Timbers a 1-1 draw in front of another sold out crowd of 20,438 at Portland’s JELD-WEN Field.

There weren’t a lot of early chances, with both teams putting shots wide on their first few good looks at goal. Action really didn’t open up until the 28th minute, with Portland’s Franck Songo’o having the first shot on net, a low shot from 20 yards out that was smothered by DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The DC netminder would be called into action just a minute later when a low cross by Portland’s Sal Zizzo was knocked towards the goal by his own defender, with Hamid able to save the near own-goal.

DC had a great chance on a counterattack in the 34th minute, with Nick DeLeon cutting wide to get a good look from a tight angle, but put the shot well wide across the goal mouth. Portland’s Bright Dike had a great chance in the 41st minute when he intercepted a bad DC United back pass, and though he was able to position himself to get a good shot off his left foot, he slid the shot a yard wide past the right post.

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The Timbers remain winless on the road in 2012 after a 2-1 loss on Saturday at Real Salt Lake.

After Fabián Espíndola and Javier Morales put Real Salt Lake up 2-0 at the half, the Timbers did get back within a goal in the 61st minute on a goal by Bright Dike, but could never find the equalizer.

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/09/recap-timbers-show-pluck-lose-playoff-bound-rsl-2-1

Once again the Portland Timbers looked on the edge of a big road win, as they did last month when they led the New York Red Bulls 2-0, but once again they couldn’t hold onto the lead, giving up goals late in the second half by Chris Wondolowski to counter a brace by Danny Mwanga.

The Timbers are still undefeated against San Jose in MLS play with a record of 1 win and 3 draws, but have yet to win on the road in 2012, their last road win being a 1-0 win in Vancouver on October 2, 2011.

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/09/goals-timbers-quakes-buck-shaw-stadium-sept-19-2012

Rodney Wallace's header cannot be cleared by the Seattle defense and this goal would earn the Timbers the 1-1 draw

The Portland Timbers hostedSeattlein an early afternoon match at JELD-WEN Field, with a chance at clinching the Cascadia Cup with a win.  In a very physical match that saw three Timbers knocked out with injuries, orcing the Timbers to finish the match down a man, the Timbers would rally from a 1-0 deficit for a 1-1 draw on a goal by Rodney Wallace, and only the woodwork kept a late Timbers shot from stealing the win in front of another sold out crowd of 20,438 in Portland.

It was apparent from the start that Seattle brought a very physical strategy down I-5 for this match, which would result in a tight early contest, with few chances until the tenth minute when Seattle’s Oswaldo Alonso had a good look after the Timbers failed to clear, hitting a shot just wide left from 15 yards out.  Four minutes later, a Seattle free kick was not well cleared by the Timbers, with Alonso getting an open look from 30 yards out but blasted it well over the crossbar.

In the 17^th minute it was Seattle’s Steve Zakuani producing a great chance with a cross from the left side, with Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts just getting enough to foil a header by Brad Evans, with Evans getting a chance to turn on the rebound from a tight angle but blasted it wide right.

The physical play had eased up through the middle of the first half, with a more free-flowing style but few scoring chances, until the 35^th minute when Portland’s Franck Songo’o made a nice curling cross from near the corner of the box that just eluded the lunge of midfielder Diego Chara.  Songo’o would produce another great chance three minutes later as his strike from 25 yards out was only kept out by a nice dive save from Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning.  On the ensuing corner kick, defender Hanyer Mosquera got his head to the ball but it bounced off the turf and harmlessly up and over the crossbar.

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The Timbers can pretty much pencil in 3 goals for the Rapids as Colorado has scored exactly three goals in each of the three trips the Timbers have made there.  Unfortunately the Timbers have only netted a single goal in their three trips there, and not since the opener last year, so another 3-0 Timbers loss was in the cards.

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/09/recap-timbers-fall-3-0-rapids-colorado