{"id":4534,"date":"2018-10-21T22:04:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T05:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/?p=4534"},"modified":"2018-10-21T22:43:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T05:43:25","slug":"timbers-clinch-playoff-berth-with-3-0-shutout-of-real-salt-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/2018\/10\/21\/timbers-clinch-playoff-berth-with-3-0-shutout-of-real-salt-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Timbers clinch playoff berth with 3-0 shutout of Real Salt Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Portland Timbers earned consecutive playoff berths for the first time in their MLS history, clinching a spot in the 2018 playoffs with a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake. Larrys Mabiala<\/strong>, Diego Chara<\/strong>, and Sebastian Blanco<\/strong> all scored for the home side while Steve Clark<\/strong> earned the shutout in goal.<\/p>\n

Just seconds into the match the Timbers nearly took the lead when Diego Valeri<\/strong> made a deep run into the visitors goal area, with his high shot from a tight angle being tipped over the bar by Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It would only take until the 15th minute when the Timbers would break through, when a free kick from 30 yards out by Valeri was met by the foot of defender Larrys Mabiala<\/strong><\/a>, who had slipped in behind his defender, and Rimando was unable to keep the shot out of the net and it slipped in just past the post for a 1-0 Timbers lead. The Timbers would control this part of the match and Sebastian Blanco<\/strong> had a good look a few minutes later but his shot was stopped by Rimando<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just before the half, a corner kick from Real Salt Lake’s Joao Plata<\/strong> found the head of Kyle Beckerman<\/strong>, but his strong header was saved by a reaction save from Steve Clark<\/strong>. The Timbers would hold the 1-0 lead at the half.<\/p>\n

Just into the second half, the visitors had a great chance to level the score when a diagonal ball into the box by Sunny<\/strong> found Plata wide open near the penalty spot, but his one-timer was over the crossbar. In the 52nd minute, another corner from Plata found Beckerman once again wide open, this time with a shot from a few yards out<\/a> that Clark saved brilliantly to keep the Timbers in the lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After withstanding several good Real Salt Lake chances, the Timbers started to get a few of their own, and in the 62nd minute, Andy Polo<\/strong> backheeled a pass to Jorge Villafana<\/strong>, who slipped a low pass<\/a> to a wide open Blanco just eight yards out from a wide open net, but Blanco was unable to keep the shot down and it sailed over the crossbar.<\/p>\n

But in the 68th minute, the Timbers would finally double their lead when Blanco made a run down the right side and would slip a pass to a wide open Diego Chara<\/strong>, who knocked the ball past Rimando<\/a> then tapped into an open net<\/a> to give the Timbers a 2-0 lead. In the 84th minute, Blanco would have a good chance to widen the lead even more when he turned on a shot from just 10 yards out<\/a> but Rimando made a great save to keep the lead at two goals.<\/p>\n

But just two minutes later the Timbers would get that third goal when Lucas Melano<\/strong> found Blanco streaking into the box, and the Timbers midfielder stopped and put the ball onto his left foot<\/a> before beating Rimando from 14 yards out<\/a> to widen the lead to 3-0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steve Clark<\/strong> recorded five saves in earning the shutout while Nick Rimando<\/strong> also recorded five saves for the visitors.<\/p>\n

Timbers match report<\/a> | Video highlights<\/a><\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Portland Timbers earned consecutive playoff berths for the first time in their MLS history, clinching a spot in the 2018 playoffs with a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake. Larrys Mabiala, Diego Chara, and Sebastian Blanco all scored for the home side while Steve Clark earned the shutout in goal. Just seconds into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-match-reports","category-timbers-mls"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/DSC_0732.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4534"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4542,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4534\/revisions\/4542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxcite.net\/soccercityusa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}