Recap: Portland Timbers 1, San Jose Earthquakes 1

Jason Le Miere

First-half goals from Javier "Chofis" Lopez and Felipe Mora saw the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes finish all square in a 1-1 draw at Providence Park on Wednesday night.

The result keeps both sides below the playoff line in the Western Conference, though it extended San Jose's unbeaten streak to six matches, five of which have now ended in draws. Portland's frustration at failing to take all three points was added to in second-half stoppage time when Diego Chara was sent off after picking up two yellow cards in as many minutes.

The opening goal came with the first real opportunity of the match – and it was a moment that Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark will quickly hope to forget. Receiving a long diagonal pass out of the back, Cristian Espinoza delivered a cross that should have been claimed with relative ease by Clark. The experienced 'keeper instead spilled the ball straight to Lopez, who had the simplest of tasks to put the ball into an empty net.

Clark's night soon got worse when he was forced off with an injury, to be replaced by Alijaz Ivacic. The backup goalkeeper was almost immediately called into action when he was forced to make a low save to deny Espinoza.

But Portland grabbed a crucial equalizer with the last kick of the first half to change the complexion of the match going into the interval. From a Yimmi Chara corner, Bill Tuiloma flicked on at the near post and Mora showed his striker's instincts to poke the ball home from close range in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

While Portland had the better chances throughout the evening, both sides will feel they could have won the game in the second half. For Portland, Yimmi Chara shot just over the bar after being played through by Sebastian Blanco, while for San Jose, the lively Espinoza should have done better when left all alone in the box but saw his shot well saved Ivacic.

Goals

24' - SJ - Javier Lopez | WATCH
45'+6' - POR - Felipe Mora | WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: Just as they're finally starting to get healthy, wins have deserted the Portland Timbers. The quality is clearly there on this roster, but just two wins in their last eight outings leaves them below the playoff line in the West for the time being. San Jose are also below the line looking up, but they've steadied the ship in recent weeks and a draw on Wednesday means they have taken four points from back-to-back road trips to Seattle and Portland, which is no mean feat.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH: In a game Portland will feel they should have won, Steve Clark's unfortunate error to gift San Jose the opening goal proved costly.

MAN OF THE MATCH: While Clark endured a night to forget, his replacement Alijaz Ivacic can be proud of his performance. It's never easy for a goalkeeper to come off the bench, but Ivacic did everything that was asked of him and finished the game with five saves.