Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia Union
Portland, Ore. – Philadelphia Union fell to Portland Timbers 2-1 on Saturday in front of a crowd of 21,144 at Providence Park. The loss drops to the Union to 11-11-8 on the season. Philadelphia will continue their road trip next Saturday when they travel north of the border to take on Eastern Conference rival Toronto FC.
Portland and Philadelphia both created their share of goal scoring opportunities in the first half. Portland’s Fanendo Adi challenged Union goalkeeper Andre Blake in the 19th minute of the match with a powerful shot from inside the box. Blake dove to his left to make the stop. The ball trickled in front of Blake, but defender Richie Marquez cleared away the danger.
Just moments later in the 21st minute, Philadelphia created their big opportunity. Rookie Fabian Herbers found himself all alone with Timbers’ goalkeeper Jake Gleeson. The Portland keeper slide towards Herbers and deflected the shot attempt off his face to keep the match scoreless.
The Union had one more big scoring opportunity in the first half when striker C.J. Sapong sent an attempt towards the net, but banged off the post and the two sides were scoreless after the first 45 minutes of play.
Portland wasted little time in the second half getting on the board. Diego Valeri scored 20 seconds into the first half after connecting on a Darren Mattocks pass in the box. Mattocks finished a pair of assists on the night.
Just 80 seconds later Philadelphia’s leading goal-scorer Chris Pontius tied the match at one. Pontius was set up by rookie Fabian Herbers and notched home his 11th goal of the season. Herbers is now the club leader in assists with six. Pontius’ goal was number 300 in Union club history.
Portland would ultimately strike in the 53rd minute thanks to Adi. The game-winning goal was set up by Mattocks who played the ball perfectly for Adi. Despite several attempts to equalize the match the Union were unable to tie the match leaving Portland with a 2-1 loss.
Philadelphia will return to action looking to break the club record for wins in a season this Saturday when they travel to Toronto to take in their Eastern Conference rival. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. (ET) and will be televised on The Comcast Network.
MATCH RECAP
Portland Timbers 2, Philadelphia Union 1
Providence Park
Portland, Ore.
FINAL MATCH STATS
Shots: 18-15 Portland
Shots on Target: 8-6 Union
Possession: 50.3 – 49.7 Portland
Passing Accuracy: 77-74 Portland
Fouls: 18-11 Portland
Corners: 8-3 Union
Duels won: 57-44 Portland
Tackles won: 15-14 Portland
SCORING SUMMARY
POR – Diego Valeri (Darren Mattocks) 46′
PHI – Chris Pontius (Fabian Herbers) 47′
POR – Fanendo Adi (Darren Mattocks) 53’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
PHI – Josh Yaro (Yellow) 25’
PHI – Alejandro Bedoya (Yellow) 35’
PHI – Brian Carroll (Yellow) 78’
PHI – Josh Yaro (Red) 85’
PHILADELPHIA UNION STARTING XI
Andre Blake; Fabinho, Richie Marquez, Josh Yaro, Keegan Rosenberry; Brian Carroll (Roland Alberg 79’), Alejandro Bedoya; Chris Pontius, Tranquillo Barnetta ©, Fabian Herbers (Ilsinho 67’); C.J. Sapong (Charlie Davies 74’)
Substitutes not used: John McCarthy, Ken Tribbett, Ray Gaddis, Warren Creavalle
PORTLAND TIMBERS STARTING XI
Jake Gleeson; Alvas Powell, Steven Taylor, Liam Ridgewell ©, Vytautas Andriuskevicius; Diego Chara. Jack Jewsbury; Dalington Nagbe, Diego Valeri (Ben Zemanski 90’), Darren Mattocks; Fanendo Adi
Substitutes not used: Chris Konopka, Jack McInerney, Jermaine Taylor, Zarek Valentin, Lucas Melano, Jack Barmby
OFFICIALS
Chris Penso (referee), Mike Rottersman (assistant referee), Adam Garner (assistant referee), Daniel Radford (fourth).
ATTENDANCE
21,144
