PORTLAND – A masterful finish by a talented attacker and another strong performance from goalkeeper Tim Melia added up to a second consecutive home loss for the Portland Timbers on Saturday at Providence Park.
Krisztian Nemeth came off the bench to weave his way past a pair of defenders for the goal that gave Sporting Kansas City a meaningful 1-0 win, a result that keeps Portland on the cutting edge of playoff participation.
The Timbers are now tied with San Jose for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The one advantage the Timbers have is that they have three games remaining to the Earthquakes two.
But Saturday’s loss could be a season shifter. Portland dominated possession and went after a win that would have meant a bit of a cushion in the standings. But against a tired and short-handed Kansas City unit that was willing to slow down play as much as possible, the Timbers couldn’t score and came away with nothing.
“From minute one they were wasting time. They came here to get a draw and they eked out a win. You want to punish teams like that. It’s really frustrating when teams come in and play that kind of negative soccer,” Timbers defender Nat Borchers said. “We had the bulk of possession, we had the bulk of the shots, the bulk of the chances, the run of play – everything. But we just couldn’t get that goal to force them to come out.”
It appeared that Portland and Kansas City might be headed for a third scoreless draw in as many meetings this season until Nemeth, the Hungarian international, charged forward from the center circle with the ball, eluded Diego Chara and Borchers and found space on the right side of the penalty area to drive a low shot into the left side netting in the 83rd minute.
“Credit to him. He pulled off a play,” Porter said. “A couple of guys I think slipped, but you leave the game again going: ‘How did that happen? How does their guy pull off a play and score out of nothing? And with all the play that we had, all the dominance that we had, how do we not find a goal?”
Borchers took responsibility for his breakdown on the play, but said – frustrating as the loss is, it wasn’t a bad performance. “We played good soccer. We pressed the issue. We wanted to win, but it just didn’t fall for us.”
Not scoring is the story of 2015 for the Timbers, who 31 goals from 31 games is second worst in MLS.
“We had plenty of opportunities to score, and we didn’t,” Porter said. “Whether it was the goalkeeper, whether it was the finish, we didn’t score. And you can’t win unless you score.”
Nemeth’s effort was one of only two dangerous moments from the visitors, who were willing to slow down play and let Portland have most of the ball. Sporting was again organized and difficult to break through, forcing the Timbers to take their chances from around the perimeter of the 18-yard box.
And when the Timbers did find a chance to shoot, Melia was right on the spot, making six saves to blank the Timbers in a performance reminiscent of his seven-save shutout here on Sept. 9.
Melia’s toughest stop was a kick save in the 65th minute on a low shot from Lucas Melano, who was sent behind the defense by Darlington Nagbe who won the ball in midfield and raced forward. Melia later stopped another hard shot from 18 yards by Nagbe. In the first half, Melia made solid stops on two well-struck shots from Diego Valeri and one from Nagbe.
“This one will hurt. It’s not going to be easy to get over,” Porter said. “The reality is we can’t do anything about it. All we can do is focus on the next game.”
Sporting Kansas City 1, Timbers 0
Where they stand: The Timbers have 12 wins, 11 losses and 8 draws for 44 points. They are tied with San Jose for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, though San Jose has only two matches remaining, Portland has three. Sporting Kansas City (13-9-9, 48 points) is third in the West.
Sunday soccer: Three matches that could impact Portland’s playoff fate are on the Sunday schedule, all on television. Houston visits FC Dallas (2 p.m., ESPN2), Real Salt Lake visits Colorado (4 p.m., FS1) and Los Angeles visits Seattle (6:30 p.m., FS1).
Lineup notes: Porter went with the same starting XI as won in Columbus last week. In the 62nd minute, Lucas Melano came off the bench for Rodney Wallace and in the 80th minute Dairon Asprilla replaced Jack Jewsbury, two moves looking for added attacking presence. Sporting Kansas City, on the other hand, had six different starters than in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final at Philadelphia. Three key attackers were on the bench: Dom Dwyer, Graham Zusi (who came on at halftime) and Nemeth. Fullback Seth Sinovic and midfielders Soni Mustivar and Paulo Nagamura were not in uniform.
First goal tells all for Timbers: The Timbers fell to 0-11-1 when allowing the first goal. They are 12-0-2 (second best in MLS) when scoring first. … The Timbers are 7-3-6 at home this season and have won only one of their last six home matches.
Up next: The Timbers play their final two road matches of the regular season, visiting Real Salt Lake on Oct. 14 and the L.A. Galaxy on Oct. 18. The final regular-season game is Oct. 25 when Colorado visits Portland.
