Veteran Timbers captain helped control the game and advance Portland into the Round One Best-of-3 Series versus San Diego
PORTLAND, Ore. – “He was like a man possessed.”
Portland Timbers head coach Phil Neville said as he praised captain Diego Chara following the club’s 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake Wednesday night at Providence Park in the Wild Card Game.
Coming into the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs, Portland had won just one of their last 10 regular-season matches and most recently had dropped a disappointing result on MLS Decision Day to San Diego FC. The loss placed the Timbers into the Wild Card Game as the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed. Players, coaches and fans were upset. Neville described it as “everyone was doom and gloom around the place.”
Looking to Wednesday, Neville knew what was needed.
“After Saturday's game, we thought we needed men on the pitch,” he said. “We thought we needed experience.”
Enter Diego Chara.
Though he hadn’t started a game in almost a month – his last coming on Sept. 24 against Vancouver – and hadn’t gone a full 90 minutes since a Leagues Cup win over Atlético de San Luis in July, the 15-year Timbers veteran put in a vintage, full match performance.
From the opening whistle, Chara’s energy was infectious. He had the second most passes on his team for the game (57), with a 93% accuracy – best among all Timbers starters. The midfielder also did the little things such as in the 49th minute, with the Timbers nursing a 2-1 lead, Chara shouldered RSL’s leading scorer, Diego Luna, to box him out along the edge of the Portland 18-yard box and prevent the player from shooting or passing the ball.
“From minute one, [Chara] ran the game,” said Bradley Wright-Phillips, soccer analyst for Apple TV, on the network’s postgame show. “He set the tempo. He broke up play then he led the attack. When he had the ball, he was breaking lines, finding the right players and Portland looked so good.
Honestly, in a big game when they needed their captain, he showed up."
Known amongst his teammates as “El Padrino” or “The Godfather,” Chara is the most experienced postseason player on the Timbers roster with 23 career MLS Cup Playoff appearances, and an 2015 MLS Cup win to boot. Forward Felipe Mora, who has played alongside the Colombian for past five seasons and who himself scored a brace in the win, knows the tremendous impact Chara can bring to the pitch.
“Diego Chara is a great player and an even better person who's given a lot to this club,” he said. “We both have been here for a while, and we both fight day to day to put this club at the very top.”
While softspoken in person, Chara was fired up on the pitch during the game, constantly exhorting his teammates with energy and drive. Postgame, however, he was characteristically succinct about his effort.
“I feel really good,” he said. “We worked really hard today and I think we deserved to win the game.”
Bottling up that Chara vintage energy will be essential as the team must now prepare to face San Diego in the Round One Best-of-3 Series Game 1 on Sunday (6:30pm PT, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).
“Tonight, we've gained a step forward because of the momentum of the result, the occasion," said Neville. "You look at [the players] in that dressing room, they are together as a group."
