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Portland, Ore. » The Timbers launched a season's worth of late collapses, disappointment and ultimately desperation at its opponent Friday night at a rainy, raucous Providence Park.
It wasn't enough. Barely. It barely wasn't enough. In dire need of a win in order to keep postseason hopes alive, Portland threw everything it had at Real Salt Lake. But each time, somehow, RSL answered the call. Through dangerous slides or point-blank defending just feet from the goal, the Timbers tried their mightiest.
They pulled out all the stops, but couldn't finish it off as the two sides concluded a 0-0 draw. In part to some astounding defending. It helps having Major League Soccer's all-time shutout king between the posts when under constant duress. Thanks to some incredible saves by RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando, a necessary three points for Portland slowly morphed into a measly point for the home team and a massive road result for a club preparing for a 2014 MLS Cup postseason run.
"They were a desperate team, a team we knew that was going to throw everything at us," Rimando said. "Our goal was to be organized, fight together and use this to prepare for the playoffs and the guys in front of me did a great job and I was able to come up, force some saves to help the team."
Not many teams are tasked with thwarting a club's postseason hopes, but RSL came pretty darn close in its masterful defensive effort Friday night in downtown Portland. The Timbers no longer control their postseason destiny if fifth-place Vancouver wins or draws its next match.
To no surprise: RSL's task started early Friday.
Lacking needed possession against a team pressing numbers, RSL opened itself up to the counter-attack often against the Timbers and relied on Rimando to make several key saves. In his first game back from national-team duty, Rimando bursted off his line in the 18th minute when Diego Chara sent in a cross toward forward Fenando Adi. Rimando tipped the ball, but it rolled to winger Rodney Wallace who took too a left-footed shot, but Rimando snagged it.
Rimando's counterpart between the posts, Donovan Ricketts, also had to bail out his team in the first half. When RSL forward Robbie Findley met Tony Beltran's cross into the box with a head, it drifted toward the far post, but Ricketts read the spin and pushed it away.
From then on, it was the RSL defense consistently tested.
"They're going to send the kitchen sink," RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. "For the most part, I thought we dealt with it incredibly well. Obviously when you're playing a good team at home, at their place, they're going to get their chances. And we got ours, too. It was not easy in the rain, on the turf, there's going to be some bad hops, there's going to be some things that don't go your way, but we stuck together and dealt with it."
Rimando and Beltran put on a five-second masterpiece of defending when the Timbers seemed destined for a goal in the 63rd minute. Beltran slightly deflected a cross, but when the ball fell to wide-open Darlington Nagbe, Rimando stayed big and deflected the ball out. Wallace had a go, but Beltran put himself in front of goal in a wacky sequence.
"I think a lot of that just comes down to natural instinct and reading the play - and positioning," Rimando said. "Being in the right place at the right time. Tonight, that's what happened."
The wackiness continued as Portland dominated second-half possession.
Midfielder Luis Gil saved a sure goal from Portland defender Norberto Paparatto with his goal-line clearance off a corner kick in the 69th minute. The Timbers pressed and pressed some more late in the match. And again, Rimando was there waiting. Paparatto rose off the ground when Diego Valeri sent in a corner kick, but the header drifting toward the far post was pushed away by Rimando.
For all the insanity the Timbers tested RSL with Friday night, they couldn't put one away. Not in the dying seconds of the match when the ball zipped every which way around the RSL box but the back of the net. The match was eerily similar to last Oct. 19, when a 0-0 draw played out to Rimando keeping RSL in the game and Portland supporters filing for the exits with playoff hopes dimming.
"It seems like we always have a fun game with Portland," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "They come out to play, we come out to play and even 0-0's are pretty exciting."
Twitter: @chriskamrani —
Storylines
O RSL preserves a road shutout thanks to several impressive saves by Nick Rimando.
• RSL earned its first road shutout since an Aug. 2 1-0 win at Colorado.
• The final regular-season match for RSL is Oct. 22 at home against Chivas USA
INSIDE
It's uncertain which team Real Salt Lake will face in its playoff opener. > C7 —
RSL 0, Portland 0
RSL 0 0 — 0
Portland 0 0 — 0
First half » No scoring.
Second half » No scoring
Goalies • Real Salt Lake, Nick Rimando; Portland, Donovan Ricketts.
Yellow Cards • Beckerman, Real Salt Lake, 55th; Valeri, Portland, 55th; Ridgewell, Portland, 58th; Paparatto, Portland, 90th+.
Referee • Mark Geiger. Assistant Referees—C.J. Morgante. Joe Fletcher. 4th Official—Ricardo Salazar.
A • 20,814 (20,000)
Lineups
Real Salt Lake • Nick Rimando, Tony Beltran, Carlos Salcedo, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Ned Grabavoy, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Luis Gil (Cole Grossman, 90th), Sebastian Jaime (Joao Plata, 65th), Robbie Findley (Alvaro Saborio, 66th).
Portland • Donovan Ricketts, Liam Ridgewell, Norberto Paparatto, Alvas Powell, Ben Zemanski, Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe (Gaston Fernandez, 82nd), Diego Valeri, Jorge Villafana, Fanendo Adi (Maximiliano Urruti, 79th), Rodney Wallace. —
MLS standings
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
x-D.C. 16 9 7 55 49 35
x-New England 16 13 4 52 50 46
x-Sporting K.C. 14 11 7 49 47 37
x-New York 12 9 11 47 52 47
Columbus 12 10 10 46 47 40
Toronto FC 11 14 7 40 43 52
Houston 11 16 6 39 38 56
Philadelphia 9 11 12 39 48 48
Chicago 5 9 18 33 38 48
Montreal 6 18 8 26 36 56
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
x-Seattle 19 10 3 60 61 48
x-Los Angeles 17 6 9 60 67 33
x-Real Salt Lake 14 8 11 53 52 39
x-FC Dallas 15 11 6 51 54 43
Vancouver 11 8 13 46 41 40
Portland 11 9 13 46 59 52
Colorado 8 16 8 32 43 60
Chivas USA 8 18 6 30 28 59
San Jose 6 15 11 29 35 49
x- clinched playoff berth
Thursday's Game
New England 2, Houston 1
Friday's Game
Real Salt Lake 0, Portland 0
Saturday's Games
Montreal at Toronto FC, noon
FC Dallas at Colorado, 1 p.m.
Sporting Kansas City at Philadelphia, 5 p.m.
Chicago at D.C. United, 5 p.m.
Vancouver at San Jose, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday's Games
Columbus at New York, 1 p.m.
Seattle FC at Los Angeles, 6:30 p.m. —
Real Salt Lake 0, Portland Timbers 0
• RSL preserves a road shutout thanks to fantastic saves by Nick Rimando
• RSL earns its first road shutout since Aug. 2 at Colorado (1-0)
• The final regular-season match for RSL is Wednesday at home against Chivas USA