Mikaël Silvestre endured a miserable debut for Portland Timbers as he was responsible, directly or indirectly, for all three goals scored by the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.
Silvestre, acquired in a trade with the Seattle Sounders for two draft picks, made his first blunder in the ninth minute when he sent an ill-advised back pass to goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
The Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper could not handle the ball and Fabián Espíndola was right there for the easy open-net goal.
A magnificent goal by Diego Valeri knotted things up for the hosts in the 14th minute, but Silvestre's rough night continued.
In the 24th minute, the former Manchester United defender completely misjudged a long Kosuke Kimura pass down the right sideline.
Espíndola raced past him and the Argentine striker finished off his second goal of the night.
The Red Bulls made it 3-1 just four minutes after that, with both Silvestre and Andrew Jean-Baptiste looking bad on the goal.
Baptiste lost Jámison Olave after an initial corner was cleared out, and Silvestre failed to deal with a ball back into the box that he should have got something on.
But the Timbers rallied from a 3-1 halftime deficit with a Darlington Nagbe goal and an own-goal from Olave handing them a draw at JELD-WEN Field.
"Two of the goals we basically gave them," said Timbers coach Caleb Porter.
"There wasn't anything they did to earn them. We gave them to them. We basically handed them two goals on a platter and that's basically what cost us three points."
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| The face of Mikäel Silvestre sums up his start for Portland Timbers Photo: Getty Images |
Silvestre, acquired in a trade with the Seattle Sounders for two draft picks, made his first blunder in the ninth minute when he sent an ill-advised back pass to goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
The Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper could not handle the ball and Fabián Espíndola was right there for the easy open-net goal.
A magnificent goal by Diego Valeri knotted things up for the hosts in the 14th minute, but Silvestre's rough night continued.
In the 24th minute, the former Manchester United defender completely misjudged a long Kosuke Kimura pass down the right sideline.
Espíndola raced past him and the Argentine striker finished off his second goal of the night.
The Red Bulls made it 3-1 just four minutes after that, with both Silvestre and Andrew Jean-Baptiste looking bad on the goal.
Baptiste lost Jámison Olave after an initial corner was cleared out, and Silvestre failed to deal with a ball back into the box that he should have got something on.
But the Timbers rallied from a 3-1 halftime deficit with a Darlington Nagbe goal and an own-goal from Olave handing them a draw at JELD-WEN Field.
"Two of the goals we basically gave them," said Timbers coach Caleb Porter.
"There wasn't anything they did to earn them. We gave them to them. We basically handed them two goals on a platter and that's basically what cost us three points."
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