PORTLAND, OR – Vancouver Whitecaps FC opened the Portland preseason tournament with a hard-fought 2-1 defeat against the host Portland Timbers on Sunday.
The ‘Caps nearly opened the scoring with a fine passage of play on 17 minutes. Yordy Reyna played the ball out left to David Milinkovic, who then fed an overlapping Ali Adnan. The Iraqi international crossed far post to Lucas Cavallini only to see it bounce just past the opposite post.
Against the run of play, the Timbers earned a penalty kick in the 34th minute. Diego Valeri finished it to make it 1-0.
Five minutes later Cavallini would get on the scoreboard after another brilliant build-up from the ‘Caps. After a nice spell of possession, Milinkovic nutmegged a defender and found Hwang, who then spun and played Adnan out wide. This time his cross was finished with a brave diving header by Cavallini to bring the match to 1-1.
Portland would retake the lead just seconds into the second half. Andy Polo received the ball down the right wing and lofted a fortunate cross to the far post and into the back of the net, putting the Timbers ahead 2-1.
In the 55th minute Derek Cornelius had a chance in front of goal, but his volley went over the net.
Adnan was buzzing again for the ‘Caps in the second half, forcing two saves from Steve Clark in a matter of minutes to prevent the match from drawing level.
In the 74th minute Maxime Crépeau showed his form with an excellent diving save on Jorge Moreira.
A wave of substitutions would finish out the match as the score ended 2-1 for the hosts.
The ‘Caps are back in action on Wednesday when they face New England Revolution in the Timbers preseason tournament. A live stream will again be available to most of British Columbia and Portland’s regional broadcast territory, as per MLS guidelines, at whitecapsfc.com.
For ticket information to the February 29 season opener at BC Place, visit whitecapsfc.com/tickets.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Attendance: 13,882
Scoring Summary
34' – POR – Diego Valeri (penalty kick)
39' – VAN – Lucas Cavallini (Ali Adnan, Inbeom Hwang)
46' – POR – Andy Polo (Diego Valeri)
Cautions
26’ – VAN – Jasser Khmiri
27’ – POR – Larrys Mabiala
40' – VAN – Ali Adnan
Statistics
Shots: POR 10 – VAN 12
Shots on Goal: POR 4 – VAN 3
Saves: POR 2 – VAN 2
Offsides: POR 1 – VAN 2
Corners: POR 6 – VAN 5
Portland Timbers
12.Steve Clark (31.Aljaz Ivacic HT); 2.Jorge Moreira (28.Pablo Bonilla 77'), 33.Larrys Mabiala (76.Chris Duvall 77'), 13.Dario Zuparic (18.Julio Cascante 77'), 4.Jorge Villafaña (32.Marco Farfan HT); 22.Cristhian Paredes (19.Tomás Conechny 77’), 21.Diego Chara (40.Renzo Zambrano 77'); 23.Yimmi Chara (7.Andy Polo HT), 8.Diego Valeri (30.Eryk Williamson 77'), 10.Sebastián Blanco (27.Dairon Asprilla 77'); 9.Felipe Mora (17.Jeremy Ebobisse 77')
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
16.Maxime Crépeau; 28.Jake Nerwinski, 20.Jasser Khmiri (15.Andy Rose 61'), 13.Derek Cornelius, 53.Ali Adnan (3.Cristián Gutiérrez 81'); 6.Inbeom Hwang, 31.Russell Teibert (32.Patrick Metcalfe 81'); 11.Cristian Dájome (14.Theo Bair 77'), 29.Yordy Reyna (12.Fredy Montero 77'), 7.David Milinković (27.Ryan Raposo 77'); 9.Lucas Cavallini (87.Tosaint Ricketts 77')
