Fanendo Adi brace downs Dallas in lone trip to Providence Park in 2017
PORTLAND, Ore. – (Saturday, June 10) – FC Dallas (6-3-5, 23 points) dropped their second and final meeting of 2017 against the Portland Timbers (7-5-3, 24 points), 2-0, on Saturday night in Oregon.
The home side didn’t waste any time pressuring Dallas’ back line as Liam Ridgewell found Fanendo Adi outside the 18-yard box, where the striker sent a quick shot on goal that Jesse Gonzalez was able to push over the bar.
The Timbers and Adi had another good look in the 15th minute as Sebastian Blanco found Diego Valeri in the middle of the park. The Argentine was able to find Adi streaking down the right side of the Dallas back line, but rookie Walker Hume was able to push the striker out wide for an off-balance shot that the Homegrown goalkeeper was able to stop.
FCD got their first scoring chance of the half in the 22nd minute as Tesho Akindele headed down a Timbers clearing attempt that Maxi Urruti pounced on in the final third. The forward held up at the top of the box before finding Michael Barrios curling behind Vytautas Andriuskevicius inside the 18. Barrios hit Roland Lamah on the doorstep, but his shot was blocked in front before redirecting back towards the Timbers goal, where it was cleared off the line by Zarek Valentin.
The home side would strike first in the 33rd minute after a Dallas clearance bounced off a body in the midfield and fell right to Blanco. The winger found Adi on a run between Hernan Grana and Atiba Harris at the top of the box. Portland’s No. 9 took the ball into the penalty area and was able to hold off a late-charging Grana to beat Gonzalez on the left side for a 1-0 lead.
Homegrown Aaron Guillen denied Adi from point-blank range in the 51st minute as the Timbers sprung a counter off a Dallas corner. Grans and Carlos Gruezo closed in on Dairon Asprilla at the edge of the box, but he was able to hit Valeri on the edge of the area, who then found the striker just inside the penalty spot. Guillen made a clean tackle to deny a look at goal.
Portland took a 2-0 lead in the 72nd minute as Diego Valeri, just seconds after having a goal of his own called back off a handball, found Asprilla down the right flank, who send a low cross into the box that Diego Chara let cross to the far side for Adi. The forward faked a point-blank chance that sent Gonzalez diving across the face of goal and then put a shot into the gaping net for his second of the night.
Mauro Diaz made his third consecutive appearance off the bench coming back from a torn Achilles’ tendon last October and showed a flash of his brilliance on the ball in the 88th minute, threading the needle with a no-look pass to find Urruti at the top of the box, but the former Timbers’ striker couldn’t cleanly split the Portland center backs inside the box.
Scoring Summary:
POR - Fanendo Adi (Sebastián Blanco) - 33’
POR - Fanendo Adi (Dairon Asprilla, Diego Valeri) - 72’
Lineups:
FC Dallas – Jesse Gonzalez; Aaron Guillen (Ryan Hollingshead - 79’), Walker Hume, Atiba Harris, Hernan Grana; Roland Lamah (Mauro Diaz - 64’), Victor Ulloa, Carlos Gruezo, Michael Barrios; Tesho Akindele (Cristian Colman - 57’), Maxi Urruti.
Substitutes Not Used: Chris Seitz, Reggie Cannon, Carlos Cermeño, Coy Craft.
Portland Timbers – Jake Gleeson; Vytautas Andriuskevicius, Liam Ridgewell (Amobi Okugo - 26’), Roy Miller (Ben Zemanski - 60’), Zarek Valentin; Diego Chara, Lawrence Olum; Sebastián Blanco, Diego Valeri, Dairon Asprilla; Fanendo Adi.
Substitutes Not Used: Jeff Attinella, Marco Farfan, Alvas Powell, Jeremy Ebobisse, Victor Arboleda.
Misconduct Summary:
FCD - Michael Barrios (caution) - 10’
POR - Vytautas Andriuskevicius (caution) - 24’
POR - Dairon Asprilla (caution) - 54’
Referee: Chris Penso
Assistant Referees: Kevin Klinger, Jeremy Hanson
4th Official: Baboucarr Jallow
Weather: Cloudy, 60
Attendance: 21,144
