Houston Dynamo at Portland Timbers: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
The Houston Dynamo clinched home-field advantage in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs with a 3-1 win over the Portland Timbers Saturday night. The victory was the first regular season win for the Dynamo in Portland since 2011, and their first win there since the 2017 playoffs.
MATCH SUMMARY
Portland Timbers 1-3 Houston Dynamo FC
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Venue: Providence Park - Portland, Oregon
Referee: Rubiel Vazquez
Assistants: Stefan Tanaka-Freundt, Justin Howard
Fourth Official: Armando Villareal
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
Attendance: 25,218
Weather: 72 degrees, mostly cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Griffin Dorsey (Héctor Herrera) 11’
HOU: Adalberto Carrasquilla (unassisted) 48’
HOU: Griffin Dorsey (Adalberto Carrasquilla) 71’
POR: Felipe Mora (Evander) 80’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Micael (caution; foul) 40’
HOU: Franco Escobar (caution; foul) 42’
HOU: Adalberto Carrasquilla (caution; foul) 45+4’
POR: Diego Chará (caution; foul) 66’
HOU: Héctor Herrera (caution; foul) 67’
POR: Zac McGraw (caution; foul) 74’
LINEUPS & STATS
Portland Timbers: David Bingham; Claudio Bravo (Antony 82’), Zac McGraw, Dario Zuparic, Juan Mosquera (Franck Boli 72’), Evander, Diego Chará, Cristhian Paredes (Sebastián Blanco 59’), Santiago Moreno, Felipe Mora, Yimmi Chará (Dairon Asprilla 59’)
Unused Substitutes: Miguel Araujo; Bryan Acosta, Eric Miller, Hunter Sulte, Larrys Mabiala
Total shots: 15 (three players tied with 3)
Shots on goal: 6 (Evander and Santiago Moreno tied with 2)
Fouls: 11 (Evander 3)
Offside: 0
Corner kicks: 11
Saves: 3 (David Bingham 3)
Houston Dynamo FC: Steve Clark; Franco Escobar, Micael, Erik Sviatchenko, Griffin Dorsey, Héctor Herrera, Artur, Nelson Quiñónes (Brad Smith 84’), Amine Bassi (Luís Caicedo 84’), Adalberto Carrasquilla (Daniel Steres 90’), Corey Baird (Aliyu Ibrahim 70’)
Unused substitutes: Andrew Tarbell, Teenage Hadebe, Iván Franco, Sebastian Kowalczyk, Thor Ulfarsson
Total shots: 7 (Griffin Dorsey and Nelson Quiñónes tied with 2)
Shots on goal: 6 (Griffin Dorsey and Nelson Quiñónes tied with 2)
Fouls: 12 (Adalberto Carrasquilla 4)
Offside: 4 (Corey Baird 2)
Corner kicks: 3
Saves: 5 (Steve Clark 5)
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the match:
"This was a great result. This is a very, very difficult place to visit. We're very pleased, we secured homefield advantage, at least in Round One. That is important and gives us a little boost going into a very tough match up against Salt Lake."
On the opening goal:
"It was one of my favorite goals of the year, to be honest. It has been such a struggle (to score) on set pieces and we've been close. It's just been anemic all year long. We dissect it with the group. (Assistant coach) Aurélien Collin does a lot of that for us, we've been tough on him. I'm happy for him and I'm happy for the guys because it's been a long time coming.”
On looking back at the regular season:
"Whether we won or lost today, it was a good regular season. I'm happy we were able to put ourselves in a position to have homefield advantage in Round One and you never know after that. There's still a lot of soccer to play. We're ready to start talking about Salt Lake and the playoffs. This is what we've been talking about all year."
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER GRIFFIN DORSEY
On the early goal:
"After the first goal, that was within the first 15 minutes, it's about staying composed and staying in the game. Especially away in a place like this. There was some celebration, but it was back to work really quickly. It feels great to solidify homefield advantage for the playoffs and get a great win on the road going into Round One."
On securing home-field advantage for Round One of the Best-of-3 series:
"Homefield advantage was everything tonight and that's why we came in here to win. We're going to celebrate that win. We'll look forward to Real Salt Lake tomorrow."
On the corner that led to his first goal:
"I actually spoke with Erik Sviatchenko before the game, saying that this was going to be an opportunity to score off a set piece. I've gotten my head on a couple of them. It worked out to perfection tonight.”
