The Portland Timbers put together perhaps their most dominating performance of the last two years tonight at PGE Park, but weren't able convert numerous near misses, and in the end fell short of scoring the crucial third goal in a 2-0 blanking of the Cincinnati Riverhawks. The Timbers outshot the Riverhawks 21-2 with McKinley Tennyson scoring both goals, and the Timbers played the last 77 minutes with a man advantage when Marcel Matis was red-carded for a nasty challenge on Brent Sancho from behind in the 13th minute. A loud and boisterous crowd of 7,612 saw the Timbers move back into a tie for 2nd place with Vancouver.

The first few minutes were not indicative of how the right was going to go, as both teams kept some control, and played very evenly. But the Timbers converted their first good scoring chance, which came in just the 9th minute. Fadi Afash took control from about 30 yards out, and when making a move to the left the ball slid out too far, but into the run of Timbers midfielder Greg Howes, who fired a hard shot that was saved Mike Ueltschey, but Howes did not give up on the ball, and eventually played a low pass across the goal mouth where an Afash shot was blocked by a Riverhawks defender, but the deflection went out to McKinley Tennyson, who buried a hard shot into the bottom left corner of the net, and the Timbers had the early 1-0 lead.

In the 11th minute, Portland's Brent Sancho received a deserved yellow for a hard tackle against Cincinnati's Marcel Matis. But Matis made the mistake of retaliating about 90 seconds later, with a two-footed cleats-up tackle from behind on Sancho, that earned an immediate red, and the Riverhawks would have to fight back while down a man.

Antongirolami fronts Jake Sagare

In the 15th minute, the Timbers suddenly doubled their lead, when a nice cross from the right side from Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar found Tennyson having lost his marker only 12 yards out, and Tennyson finished smartly with a header just inside the left post, and the Timbers had a quick 2-0 lead.

Four minutes later, Timbers midfielder Brian Winters put a hard shot from 20 yards out over the bar by no more than a yard. In the next 10 minutes, Howes nearly scored twice, attempting to place curling shots into the top left corner of the net, but the first one went barely a yard high, while the second one went just wide. In the 30th minute, Tennyson and Howes found themselves behind the last defender, but when Tennyson took a shot that was deflected up and off of the crossbar, the assistant referee interpreted the shot as a pass, apparently, as offside was called on the shot, and the easy tip in by Howes was waved off.

In the last minute of the half, the Timbers had two good scoring chances, the first stopped by Ueltschey, who saved a point-blank shot by Afash, and the second was stopped by the referee, who decided to strictly stick to his stopwatch when he stopped a one-on-one break by Tennyson when he blew the whistle when the Timbers player was about 30 yards out, and the half ended with the Timbers up 2-0.

Just five minutes into the 2nd half, it appeared the Timbers had taken a 3-0 lead when a long diagonal cross from 40 yards out found the head of Afash, who headed the ball nicely into the right side of the net, but a late flag indicated offside on the long cross, and the goal was disallowed. The Riverhawks had their only legitimate scoring chance of the match in the 55th minute, when off a corner kick, Rick Roettker got his head on the ball from 10 yards out, but his shot was right at Timbers goalkeeper Matt Napoleon, and was saved easily. The Timbers' defensive line of Keith Costigan, Gavin Wilkinson, and Sancho did an exceptional job of keeping the Riverhounds from getting any possession in the final third.

McKinley Tennyson and the Woodshed celebrate the first Timbers goal

Afash had another chance to score in the 57th minute when he nicely used a nutmeg to get around Riverhawks defender Bobby Meyer, but his shot was nicely saved by Ueltschey. In the 64th minute, Howes broke though and had a hard shot from 12 yards out that forced a diving save to the left by the Cincinnati keeper.

In the 76th minute, a third goal seemed a certainty when Alcaraz-Cuellar broke though on a breakaway, but his initial shot was smothered nicely by Ueltschey, and after several follow ups, the Timbers were still unable to find the net. In the 81st minute, it was Tennyson on the breakaway, but a charging Chris Wanamaker (who had just been substituted in as Cincinnati keeper) managed to force a bad shot by Tennyson. But three minutes later, Tennyson had another good chance, when a high chip into his patch had him getting to the ball just outside the box, and even though his header over Wanamaker was untouched, the ball trickled barely a foot or two wide left.

The Timbers had two more excellent chances to get the bonus point late in the game, but a Howes shot from 12 yards was nicely saved by Wanamaker, and a hard shot by Chris Roner (on loan from MLS) went just over the bar. And in the end, although the match had been a completely dominating performance by the Timbers from whistle-to-whistle, they had to settle for a 2-0 win, which is still good enough to move them back into a 2nd place tie in the Pacific division with Vancouver.

The Timbers finish the July schedule with a 4-1 record, and are 8-4-2 since starting the season at 0-5-1

A rowdy crowd of 7,612 celebrates the victory

MATCH INFO Time: Thursday, July 25, 2002. 7:05 pm PDT Venue: PGE Park, Portland, Oregon Weather: 82 degrees, clear, pleasant Attendance: 7,612 Referees: MATCH STATISTICS Portland Cincinnati 21 SHOTS 2 2 SAVES 11 13 FOULS 8 3 OFFSIDE 1 13 CORNERS 2 CAUTIONS Portland Cincinnati Sancho (11') Hard tackle   Matis (13') Tackle from behind   Winters (66') Hard tackle       Wilkinson (70') Hard challenge

Tennyson guarded by Bobby Meyer and Jon Pickup

STARTERS Portland (3-5-2) (Green and white stiped jersey, White shorts, White and green striped socks) McKinley Tennyson Fadi Afash (Ben Somoza 81') Jake Sagare Brian Winters Greg Howes (Chris Roner 87') Vadim Tolstolutsky (Scott Bower 46') Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar Keith Costigan Gavin Wilkinson Brent Sancho Matt Napoleon Bench Chris Smith, Chugger Adair, Bryn Ritchie, Scott Benedetti Cincinnati (3-4-3) (White with blue and gold trim, White shorts, White socks) Simon Lowey Marcel Matis Ryan Lucas (Jeff Nikocaj 59') Jon Tetirick Rick Roettker (Conally Edrozian 79') Shawn Rockey Giorgio Antongirolami (Ben Fisher 72') Joe Mercik Jon Pickup Bobby Meyer Mike Ueltschey Chris Wanamaker (81') Bench Kirk Bevington

Marcel Matis leaves the field after having been sent off

Brian Winters and Jeff Nikocaj challenge for the header

Greg Howes defending Rick Roettker

Matt Napleon with a rare touch of the ball on this night

Keith Costigan tightly marking Ryan Lucas

Howes attempts to cut the ball behind Meyer

Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar crosses

Fadi Afash prepares to turn inside against Meyer