PORTLAND, Ore. -- Diego Valeri continues to set records for the Portland Timbers. Already the first Timbers player with 50 goals and 50 assists, on Wednesday he became the club's all-time leading scorer and first Timbers player to score in five straight MLS games. Valeri now sits third in the MLS Golden Boot race with 15 goals on the season (52 in his Portland career) - a new personal MLS single-season high - following the Timbers 2-1 defeat of the Colorado Rapids.
Perhaps most remarkable is that Valeri is now tied for most headed goals in the league this year with Clint Dempsey and Juan Agudelo Asked to explain his newfound aerial prowess, after zero headed goals in MLS prior to 2017, Valeri could only shrug and say, “I don’t know.”
“We don’t have [Fanendo] Adi in the team,” Valeri said, referring to the the Timbers 6-foot-4 striker who's out with a leg injury. “We lost our tower in the box. I realized during the game that we are getting crosses into the box. I made a run when I saw Vytas going to cross. It’s hard for the defense [to track runners who come] from outside of the box.”
Darlington Nagbe doubled the lead 1943346862" tabindex="0">two minutes later with a spectacular goal of his own. “Valeri played the ball down the line to Vytas. I tried to make a run in the box but pulled short a little bit,” Nagbe said. “I just turned and, luckily, it went in.”
Colorado pulled one back in the 28th minute. 1943346863" tabindex="0">Three minutes later, Valeri was played a ball into the box by Zarek Valentin before being taken down by Colorado’s Mike da Fonte. Video Review was used to determine that Da Fonte pulled Valeri’s jersey in the box.
“Normally I take it, or Adi would take it,” Valeri explained, of subsequently deferring the kick to David Guzman. “He was confident. He asked me about taking the PK. I was very confident in him too.”
Guzman, who often takes corners and free kicks, is second on the team with six assists, four of which have come from set pieces, ranking him among the league leaders in that category. Guzman’s shot was off frame, but as Valeri explained, it was okay: The Timbers were able to hold on for all three points.
Adi, who has now missed three of the matches during Valeri’s five-match scoring run, was questionable heading into Wednesday night’s fixture and remains so for Sunday's clash against Seattle (9 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes; MLS LIVE in Canada).
