PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers would have taken uneventful, if offered that ahead of time, as long as uneventful came with a win. Thankfully for them, that’s exactly what Saturday night’s game delivered: one goal; few chances; and little drama over 90 minutes as the Timbers downed Real Salt Lake, 1-0, at Providence Park.
It was Portland’s fourth-straight win over RSL, and thanks to Diego Valeri’s 16th-minute opener, the Timbers have still never trailed the Claret and Cobalt in the Giovanni Savarese era. With Salt Lake's best (and perhaps only big) chance coming late in stoppage time, most of the match's drama centered on implications: of the Timbers ending their two-game losing streak; of Portland taking three points from a team that entered the night second in the Western Conference.