PORTLAND, OR (June 10, 2023) – North Texas SC (5-5-4, 19 points) fell 2-0 to Timbers2 (5-7-0, 15 points) Saturday night at Providence Park.
UNBEATEN STREAK ENDS
North Texas SC saw its six-game unbeaten streak come to an end with the 2-0 defeat to Timbers2. The club had earned two wins and four draws since its previous defeat on April 30 to Colorado Rapids 2.
CARRERA’S RETURN
FC Dallas Homegrown goalkeeper Antonio Carrera earned his first sixth start of the season and first since May 1. The 19-year-old was absent for six games while on international duty with the U-20 U.S. Men’s National Team at the U-20 FIFA World Cup.
UP NEXT
North Texas SC hosts Earthquakes II on Friday, June 16 at 7:30PM CT at Choctaw Stadium. Match will be available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Lineups
North Texas SC — Antonio Carrera; Manuel Caicedo (Jared Salazar - 89’), Tyshawn Rose, Henri Santos, Alex Araneda; Alejandro Urzua (Theo Henrique - 79’), Diego García, André Costa (Diego Hernandez - 78’); Anthony Ramirez (Yeicar Perlaza - 62’), Nayrobi Vargas, Tomas Pondeca (Pablo Torre - 61’).
Substitutes not used — Julian Eyestone, Luke Shreiner.
Timbers2— Ryan Bilichuk; Julian Bravo, Tyler Clegg, Keesean Ferdinand; Dawson McCartney (Selmir Miscic - 75’), Alex Moreno, Victor Griffith, Blake Pope; Josh Penn(Victor Enriquez - 83’), Tega Ikoba (Tristan Weber - 83’), Florián Monzón (Noah Santos - 90’+1’).
Substitutes not used — Carver Miller, Diego Elizalde, Volodymyr Kubrakov, Michael Dunne, Sawyer Jura.
Scoring Summary:
POR: Josh Penn – 18’
POR: Josh Penn – 59’
Misconduct Summary:
POR: Dawson McCartney (caution) — 15’
POR: Victor Griffith (caution) — 25’
NTX: Alejandro Urzua (caution) — 25’
POR: Julian Bravo (caution) — 67’
Weather: Sunny, 73°F
Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Javier Cano
On the team’s performance…
“I’m not happy with this result. We knew this team is playing a style that we’re not used to and we knew how difficult they could be. Sometimes you get unlucky. The first goal touched the post and the second action was at the feet of the player. The second goal was a tough foul that the referee called and they executed it well (from the free kick). But we never lost the pace of the game. We adjusted our system, our players and we tried to put pressure on them. We had chances and maybe if we’d scored we’d be back in the game.”
On the return of Antonio Carrera…
“I’m happy to have him back after his experience at the World Cup. We like having his experience. Maybe he didn’t play too much over the last month so that may have been a handicap for him but we’re happy to have him back.”
On keeping the team focused despite the defeat…
“Every time we play on the road, it’s not easy. We know that. We have young players on our roster. We need to have this experience. Having these young guys, sometimes they’re fearless and we can play any team. Sometimes it goes the other way and we need to learn lessons. Maybe we need to be more conservative in our press and close our lines, like we adjusted in the second half. We put two strikers, two wingers and closed with a back three. We tried everything we could do to win. Sometimes we've won games we didn’t deserve to win and sometimes we lose when maybe we didn’t deserve it. Losing 2-0, there’s no excuse. We just need to learn this lesson, I need to learn this lesson and that’s it.”
Goalkeeper Antonio Carrera
General thoughts on the match…
“Sometimes football does not go your way. We should have been a bit more clinical in the box at both ends of the field. It’s on me too because there are goals I conceded. If I could have gotten a touch on the second goal or even recovered quicker in the first one, it would have made a difference. But like I said, football is unfair and it does not go your way. We are going to recover and learn from this for the next one.
On his experience in the U-20 FIFA World Cup…
“A World Cup experience is something you don’t get to be a part of always. Going to one is possible, but going to two, you must be lucky and very good. You don’t get to go often. I came back with a feeling of proudness yet sad as well. It was heartbreaking not being able to make the semifinal nor the final. It feels good to be back and working with the boys.”
