PORTLAND TIMBERS vs MONTRÉAL IMPACT JELD-WEN FIELD, Portland, Ore. March 9, 2013 (WEEK 2, MLS Game #15) 7:30 p.m. PT (KPTV-FOX/Estrella; TVA) Two teams which gave new head coaches buoying results in their season openers meet as the Portland Timbers entertain the Montréal Impact on Saturday evening at Jeld-Wen Field. The Timbers came back from two goals down in their opening match to secure a 3-3 home draw with New York in Caleb Porter’s professional coaching debut. The Impact kicked off their Pacific Northwest swing with a 1-0 win in Seattle, the MLS victory for Marco Schallibaum. REFEREE: Edvin Jurisevic. SAR (bench): Anthony Vasoli; JAR (opposite): Eric Boria; 4th: Daniel Radford MLS Career: 53 games; FC/gm: 22.4; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 4; pens: 7 DISABLED LIST: none INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none SUSPENDED: none HEAD-TO-HEAD ALL-TIME (1 meeting): Impact 1 win, 2 goals … Timbers 0 wins, 0 goals … Ties 0 AT PORTLAND: First meeting. LAST YEAR (MLS): 4/28: MTL 2, POR 0 (Corradi 76; Ubiparipovic 84) This is the only league meeting between the teams this season. The teams met for the first time in MLS last April at Stade Olympique in Montréal. But the teams met 15 times in the North American second division, between 2001 and 2010, with Portland winning eight and Montreal four (with three draws). Coaches record: Caleb Porter vs. MTL: first game… Marco Schallibaum vs. POR: first game PORTLAND TIMBERS The Portland Timbers once again came roaring back for a great result to open a season, getting a pair of second-half goals to secure a 3-3 draw with the New York Red Bulls on Sunday afternoon at Jeld-Wen Field. LAST MATCH The Timbers gave away an early lead after just nine minutes when Portland goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was unable to control an ill-advised back pass and Fabian Espíndola was right there to pot the easy open-net goal. But Portland responded quickly. Diego Valeri took a pass from Kalif Alhassan in the area, cleverly volleyed past Olave and slotted a perfectly placed right-footed shot past New York goalkeeper Luis Robles inside the right post in the 14th minute. The Red Bulls opened up a two-goal lead within a five-minute span. Espíndola finished off a long pass from fullback Kosuke Kimura in the right side of the area in the 24th minute, then Jamison Olave snuck in at the back post to finish off a Heath Pearce pass across the face of goal from a corner kick. The Timbers pulled a goal in the 56th minute. Valeri hit a screaming blast that forced Robles into a diving save which he could not hold, and Darlington Nagbe swooped in clean it up into the open net. Then the equalizer came in the 83rd minute when Jose Adolfo Valencia's attempted crossing pass from the right bounced off Olave into the goal. Diego Valeri was given the job to pull the strings in the Timbers midfield by Caleb Porter, with European veteran Mikael Silvestre making his MLS debut in central defense. New signings Will Johnson and Ryan Johnson were also installed in the first XI. PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-1-3): Donovan Ricketts - Ryan Miller (Sal Zizzo 72), Mikael Silvestre, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Michael Harrington - Will Johnson, Diego Chara (Rodney Wallace 82) - Diego Valeri - Kalif Alhassan (Jose Adolfo Valencia 72), Ryan Johnson, Darlington Nagbe. TEAM NEWS The Timbers ended the match with a 21-9 advantage in attempts at goal, 13 of those coming in the second half as they overcame the 2-goal deficit. “The first thing I told them is you can’t do anything about the mistakes,” Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said. “But we needed to put it behind us and focus on what we’re going to do to pull the goals back and get a result and mentally they did that. It doesn’t happen very often down two goals to come back, but this group continues to show they have the mental toughness.”
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