Diego Rubio scored his fifth goal of the season early before getting sent off, Mark-Anthony Kaye added his third late and the 10-man Colorado Rapids completed a 2-0 win over the depleted Portland Timbers Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Rubio struck on an excellent free kick in the 30th minute, then received his marching orders in the 63rd minute for his second bookable offense.
But even afterward, the Rapids rarely looked threatened against a Timbers side missing veteran stars Sebastian Blanco (thigh) and Diego Chara (hip) while running their home unbeaten run to 21 regular-season matches.
Lalas Abubakar had an apparent early goal disallowed, and Jonathan Lewis saw his excellent 1-on-1 opportunity to extend Colorado's lead after Rubio's dismissal get denied by goalkeeper Ajaz Ivacic.
In the end, Portland were held scoreless for a third consecutive match despite their late numerical advantage. Dairon Asprilla came closest to leveling when he did well to turn his defender but fired over the goal four minutes before Kaye doubled the hosts' advantage with a lovely curled effort into the bottom left corner.
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: Between Colorado's home record, Portland's injury situation and the chance for revenge after the Timbers beat the Rapids here in last year's Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, this was always going to be a tall task for the visitors. But what may concern Portland manager Giovanni Savarese most is his team's form after going up a man. The Rapids led the Timbers in expected goals, 0.75 to 0.38, in the portion of the match following Rubio's dismissal.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: While Rubio was reckless in getting sent off, he still struck a heck of a free kick in the first half. He's now averaging 0.65 goals per 90 minutes, which if it holds up is his strongest level of production since he scored eight goals in 20 appearances for Sporting Kansas City in 2018 while averaging 0.92 per 90 minutes.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Mark-Anthony Kaye. He was already in contention for the honor because of his exceptional work disrupting Portland's attack all evening. Then he scored this beauty to seal all three points for the home side.
Up Next
- COL: Saturday, May 7 at San Jose Earthquakes | 10 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US, DAZN in Canada)
- POR: Saturday, May 7 at New York Red Bulls | 7 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US, DAZN in Canada)
