The Tacoma Defiance suffered their most lopsided loss of the season, falling 4-1 to Portland Timbers2 on Friday at Providence Park. Apparently, the Defiance’s bus got stuck in traffic on the way from Renton, causing them to show up just about an hour before kickoff and forcing them to go through an abbreviated warm-up. In addition to a lack of preparation time, the Defiance were also using a somewhat rotated lineup after several of their normal starters played significant minutes for the first team in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup match.
Regardless of the cause, the Defiance were blitzed in the first 16 minutes, allowing three goals in quick succession. They then conceded one more right out of halftime before pulling one back with an own-goal forced by Osaze De Rosario in the 72nd minute.
Highlights
Key takeaways
Harsh reality: Circumstances were definitely stacked against the Defiance, as they showed up late and had to use a rotated lineup. Still, that was about as bad of a start as they could have imagined. All four goals came from inside the penalty area, with three of them effectively from the penalty spot and barely contested.
Two debuts: Sounders Academy centerback Gallatin Sandnes and Lanús loanee Brian Aguilar both made their Defiance debuts in this one. Sandnes was deployed as a right-sided centerback in the 3-4-3 and Aguilar replaced him in the 60th minute.
Reed Baker-Whiting gets a solid run: It has been a long road back for Reed Baker-Whiting, who has hardly played while recovering from various muscle injuries over the past six months. He got 30 minutes in this one, which comes on the back of a brief cameo last week against the Galaxy. Expect him to get a similar run out with the Sounders next week.
Stats
MATCH SUMMARY
Tacoma Defiance 1 – Timbers2 4
Friday, May 10, 2024
Venue: Providence Park
Referee: Osvaldo Delgado Landeros
Assistants: Christian Little, Joshua Mills
Fourth official: Corbyn May
Weather: 87 degrees and sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
POR – Blake Pope (Joshua Penn) 5’
POR – Blake Pope (Kyle Linhares) 14’
POR – Joshua Penn (Kyle Linhares) 16’
POR – Noah Santos (Sawyer Jura) 46’
TAC – Own Goal (Kaveh Rad) 72’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
TAC – Faysal Bettache (caution) 22’
TAC – Gallatin Sandnes (caution) 45’
POR – Keesean Ferdinand (caution) 51’
POR – Trey Muse (caution) 86’
TAC – Travian Sousa (caution) 86’
POR – Jayden Jones-Riley (caution) 90+1’
LINEUPS & STATS
Tacoma Defiance – Jacob Castro; Gallatin Sandnes (Brian Aguilar 60’), Antino Lopez, Elias Katsaros, Travian Sousa; Sebastian Gomez (Kalani Kossa-Rienzi 60’), Frank Daroma; Burke Fahling (Reed Baker-Whiting 60’), Chris Aquino (Osaze De Rosario HT), Faysal Bettache – captain, Yu Tsukanome (Owen O’Malley 70’)
Substitutes not used: Lars Helleren, Blake Bowen, Synder Brunell
Total shots: 15
Shots on goal: 9
Fouls: 17
Offside: 2
Corner-kicks: 8
Saves: 0
Timbers2 – Trey Muse; Harvey Neville, Keesean Ferdinand, Kaveh Rad, Sawyer Jura; Alexis Moreno (Malcolm Johnston 56’), Joshua Penn (Jaden Jones-Riley 67’), Victor Enriquez Velazquez (Braxton Taghvai-Najib 77’); Blake Pope (Mataeo Bunbury 56’), Nathan Fogaça (Noah Santos HT), Kyle Linhares
Substitutes not used: Ryan Bilichuk, Tyler Clegg, Alexis Manzo Mendoza, Christian Mendoza
Total shots: 13
Shots on goal: 4
Fouls: 11
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 3
Saves: 8
