The Portland Timbers suffered their first defeat of the season Saturday night, falling 1-0 on the road to the Houston Dynamo.
The lone goal of the match came in the 43rd minute after Timbers goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau and defender Juan Mosquera collided in the middle of the box while trying to defend Ibrahim Aliyu as he tracked a Dynamo cross.
Aliyu emerged from the scrum with the ball and booted it into the empty net for the easy goal, much to the delight of most of the 16,003 fans looking on at Shell Energy Stadium.
It was Portland’s second consecutive shutout loss in Houston, after the Timbers’ 5-0 drubbing there last August that preceded the team parting ways with former coach Giovanni Savarese.
The Timbers (2-1-1, 7 points) had some good chances in the first half, despite Houston holding a 2-to-1 edge in possession, but they couldn’t get one by former Portland keeper Steve Clark.
In the second half, Santiago Moreno’s curling shot from about 20 yards away in the 54th minute sailed wide of the far post.
Similar chances also fizzled for the Timbers, who finished with four shots on goal and 1.5 expected goals but came away empty on actual goals.
“We have probably four or five real big chances to score goals and we win the game 3-1, and we didn’t,” Timbers coach Phil Neville told reporters. “We weren’t ruthless enough, we didn’t have the quality in the final little bit. I can’t fault the effort.”
Houston (1-1-1, 4 points) also had four shots on goal (1.1 expected goals) en route to its first victory of the season.
Neville said the Timbers stuck to their game plan and stayed disciplined even as the Dynamo controlled the ball.
“They found it really difficult to get any kind of meaningful possession,” Neville said. “They had lots of possession in front of us, but not really through us.”
Next up: The Timbers return home to face the Philadelphia Union at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday (MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).