Portland Timbers Felipe Mora celebrates his goal with his teammates during his team’s 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes at Providence Park on Saturday July 22, 2023. (Portland Timbers)

by Marko Ukalovic

The Portland Timbers took advantage of their scoring opportunities in a 2-0 shutout victory over the San Jose Earthquakes in both team’s opening match of the League’s Cup competition on Saturday evening at Providence Park.

‘Quakes Head coach Luchi Gonzalez welcomed back forward Cade Cowell and his captain Jackson Yueill back into the lineup after being away during their Gold Cup duty with the United State Men’s National Team.

Portland (1-0–3 points) drew first blood in the 33rd minute. Jaroslaw Niezgoda set up Evander in the middle of the pitch. The Brazilian midfielder then curled in a blast from 20 yards out into the upper left corner of the net, far out of the reach of ‘Quakes goalkeeper Daniel for his first goal of the competition.

Despite controlling the possession for the majority of the first half, San Jose (0-1–0 points) went into the intermission down by a goal.

“On the road you have to have that extra (killer instinct),” said Gonzalez regarding his team’s lack of scoring. “We were lacking that; we didn’t get on the score sheet. Even though we created in terms of volume, XG-shots and crosses. But we gotta put the shot on target, we gotta get the shot off. We need to put it away.”

The Timbers came flying out of the gate to start the second half with three quick scoring shots on target in the first three minutes, including a shot off the crossbar by Cristhian Paredes in the 48th minute.

“Those adjustments, I think that the guys understood very well, how to do them. And I felt we played really well in the second half. I really felt that the guys who also came in (the second half) with a good mentality and refresh the game as well,” Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese said.

Portland had a chance to double its lead in the 57th minute when Yimmi Chara made a move around a Quakes defender deep inside the box and centered a ball to unmarked Niezgoda whose shot attempt was blocked by ‘Quakes fullback Tanner Beason.

The Earthquakes best scoring chance came three minutes later when Cowell made an impressive run with the ball dribbling through multiple Timber defenders with lots of contact throughout the run. His pass for Cristian Espinoza was too far to handle to create a scoring chance.

The Timbers iced the game in the 86th minute. Marvin Loría led a pass up the middle to Felipe Mora who beat Beason to the ball inside the box. The Chilean striker chipped the ball past Daniel for his first goal of the competition.

Timbers goalkeeper David Bingham finished with a clean sheet stopping all three shots on target. Daniel made two saves on five shots on target in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had five corner kicks. Portland had zero.

Portland leads the all-time series 19-6-10.

UP NEXT: San Jose hosts Tigres UANL in its second League’s Cup match on Sunday 7/30 at 8:00pm at Pay Pal Park.