Portland Hearts of Pine Cupset Detroit City
There wasn't any heartbreak for Portland on Saturday.
Portland Hearts of Pine continued its USL Jägermeister Cup journey on Saturday evening with a 4-2 win over Detroit City FC.
Both sides rolled out rotated squads with Kash Oladipo starting in net behind a still strong backline of Nathan Messer, Kemali Green, Samuel Mahlamaki Camacho, and Colby Quinones. Jay Tee Kamara and Natty James were out wide while Michel Poon-Angeron and Mikey Lopez played in the central midfield. Ollie Wright and Azaad Liadi.
It was a dream start for Hearts as a beautiful through ball from Natty James put Liadi in on goal, and the striker didn’t let the chance go to waste. Liadi calmly put the chance away in the fifth minute to give the USL League One side an early lead.
The press the head coach Bobby Murphy deployed was working wonders early on as Detroit struggled to maintain possession. Even when City did have possession, they were mostly in their own half and they were forced to play some Route One football.
Even when Detroit did get some chances, it struggled to take advantage. A free kick from an advantageous spot whizzed over the bar and a golden opportunity to head the ball home was sent wide.
But 20 minutes into the match Detroit began to find its legs. Oladipo was forced to make two point-blank saves to maintain Portland’s lead.
After facing some pressure, Hearts would once again gain control and add to the lead. Natty James once again saw a streaking Wright and the London native’s low-driven shot squeaked past Carlos Saldena in the 28th minute.
While Oladipo has been Portland’s backup, he continued to rack up save after save. The Portland Timbers youth product had a great performance and staked a claim that he deserves some more time between the sticks.
Kamara jumpstarted the attack in the 43rd minute with some shifty ball movement and was able to play James in on goal. The Trinidad & Tobago native sent a curler directly to Saldena who made the save.
Oladipo was issued a yellow card for presumed time-wasting in first-half stoppage time, a peculiar call considering there was still 45 minutes left to play.
But Hearts entered the locker room after 45 minutes with a 2-0 lead, a great start for the USL League One side. Portland would make some changes to begin the first half as Sean Vineberg and Mo Mohamed would replace Green and Quinones.
After making some changes of its own, Detroit would come out of the gates roaring and looking for a goal. Sebastian Guenzatti put home a cross from Ben Morris to reduce Portland’s lead to one in the 51st minute. Detroit almost secured the equalizer in the 54th minute but the header went wide.
Detroit would continue to maintain pressure earning corner kick after corner kick. Mashasi Wada would replace James in the 59th minute, looking to bring some added skill and pace to Portland’s game. Wright would also be replaced in the 76th minute by Walter Varela.
It wouldn’t take Varela long to make an impact as after Kamara forced a turnover, he served a beautiful cross to the substitute who pounded the ball into the back of the net in the 79th minute. But Detroit continued to fight hard as Matt Sheldon assisted on Darren Smith’s goal in the 81st minute to make it a 3-2 game.
Portland would make its final sub as Titus Washington for Liadi in the 82nd minute. At that same time Jordan Adebayo Smith, former Revs II striker would enter the match for Detroit.
The shot in the heart would come in the 85th minute as MPA started a counterattack and played Varela forward. As the winger progressed from midfield to the top of the box, Varela passed the ball through a defender’s legs to Kamara who laid it off to Mohamed who rocketed the ball into the net to make it a 4-2 ball game.
With the win, Portland is now third in the group. Hearts plays Chattanooga on the road in league play next weekend while Portland returns to cup action on June 27 as it heads to Rhode Island to face RIFC.