PORTLAND — The win was what mattered Tuesday for the Portland Timbers. But they had some fun and got some meaningful action for little-used players, too.
By beating Alpha United from Guyana 6-0 at Providence Park, the Timbers moved closer to winning their group and qualifying for the quarterfinal round of the CONCACAF Champions League 2014-25 tournament.
Tuesday’s win means that Portland can advance if it doesn’t lose by more than one goal when it visits CD Olimpia of Honduras on Oct. 21 to conclude group stage play.
Defender Norberto Paparatto scored twice and midfielder Michael Nanchoff had a goal and two assists.
Against an overmatched opponent, Portland demonstrated different ways of scoring.
Three goals came from corner kicks, two from run-of-play crosses and one from a post-up move.
Jack Jewsbury, Gaston Fernandez and Fanendo Adi also scored goals as Portland improved to 3-0 in group play. This is the first time the Timbers have played in the regional tournament, having qualified by finishing with the best 2013 record in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer.
“It never hurts to score a bunch of goals at home. And our spirit continues to be — from first player to the 28th player — very strong,” Timbers coach Caleb Porter said.
Sandwiched between an emotional win against Vancouver last Saturday and a visit to Toronto this Saturday, Porter rested most of the players who have started recent matches. The exceptions were Rodney Wallace who came on for Jewsbury for the last half hour, and Adi who replaced Maximiliano Urruti for the final 20 minutes.
Against an Alpha United team that lost all four of its group stage matches, it was an opportunity for other Timbers to contribute.
“We’ve done well with some different guys. So it continues to reinforce that we have depth and that’s massive,” Porter said.
In the 11th minute, Jewsbury scored from the left side of the penalty area after running past the defense to collect a left-wing cross from Michael Harrington.
“It felt good again to make some runs forward and get into the offense,” said Jewsbury, who has played in defensive roles for more than a year.
In the 36th minute, Fernandez met a Urruti cross on the counter attack and converted from close range.
The Timbers pulled away with four second-half goals.
“A lot of times these are tricky games because mentally you’ve got to make sure you’re up for it even though you’re supposed to win,” Jewsbury said.
