VANCOUVER, B.C. – What a difference a week makes.
Portland Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson was a hero last weekend, after a stunning MLS Player of the Week performance against Toronto, but the Kiwi found himself on the other end of the emotional spectrum on Saturday afternoon when he let a Christian Bolanos cross squirm through his legs for what proved to be the Vancouver Whitecaps' winning goal in a 2-1 victory.
It was a tough one for Gleeson, who made 11 saves in the game, including a couple of fantastic efforts.
"We learn and move on," Gleeson told reporters after the game. "You can't dwell on it too much. It's one of those things that happens. You don't want it to happen, but it does. It happens to everyone, so it's how you react. That the big thing. For me, it's learning from it, being more consistent and putting it behind me before Dallas comes on Wednesday."
Gleeson may be beating himself up for the error, but his coach, Caleb Porter, praised his response and the "outstanding" saves he made elsewhere in the game.
Porter was more concerned with his side's failure to take their chances, giving up the lead and allowing Vancouver to storm back for the win.
"I thought we deserved something out of the game," Porter added. "At the very least, a draw. But credit Vancouver for that second half and clawing back in and scoring two goals. Goals change games and the momentum turned. They got the second goal, a little bit unfortunate on that one.
"I thought at the end we made a good push and we had some very good chances. This is one of them, if you watch the tape, you're going to see shoulda, coulda, woulda. We should have been up 2-0, and we should have at least pulled a goal back to go 2-2, which is why I feel we deserved something out of the game."
Vancouver's two goals take the number conceded by Portland this season to 18, which is currently the most goals against in all of MLS. It's an aspect Porter knows his team need to get right quickly if they want to repeat last year's successes.
"Definitely, we need to do better defensively," Porter added. "If you look back at our evolution to this point, we've had to figure out some things in the back line. Replacing Jorge [Villafana] and losing Ridgey [Liam Ridgewell] for eight games, that's a part of it as well that plays into those trends."
