Entering Friday’s Round of 32 knockout match against St. Louis City SC, the theme of the Timbers ’ Leagues Cup run had been, unquestionably, their ability to win without direct contributions from their stellar trio of DPs. When the Portland Timbers needed to scrape by for a late win in the opening round of Leagues Cup, it was defender Zac McGraw who played the role of hero, delivering two critical set-piece goals with his head.
Then, just last week, it was a quartet of the Timbers’ supporting attackers which combined to score four goals in a lopsided win, helping Portland secure the top spot in the West 5 Group . The somewhat unexpected contributions were all well and grand, but Friday’s win-or-go-home match appeared the right moment for those stars to grab hold of the game early and leave no doubt against an inferior Western Conference foe. Yet on a night in which Portland needed a lift from its goal-scoring dynamos, it didn’t get it.
The Timbers bowed out of the Leagues Cup in a 3-1 loss to St. Louis in CITYPARK, conceding two goals from the 84th-minute onward, dooming Portland on a slow offensive night in which star midfielder Evander exited early with an injury and his teammates never picked up the slack in his absence. City SC had golden opportunities to dot the scoreboard in both the second and 25th minutes, but both shots dinged off the right bar.
Two minutes later, in the 27th, a header off a set-piece once more ended in a near-miss. It was Portland’s turn.