Timbers

Bright Dike showed off a good amount of his potential Sunday with a pair of goals as the Portland Timbers dominated visiting Crystal Palace Baltimore, 3-0, in a USSF match played before a raucous crowd of 15,418.

Dike scored in each half to go with a score from Ryan Pore as the Timbers won for the third time in four matches.

Dike has scored five goals in the past five games and Pore tallied his league-leading 14th goal.

“Those first 25 minutes, I think that’s the best football I’ve seen in the two years I’ve been here,” coach Gavin Wilkinson said afterward.

Portland improved to 10-7-8, 38 points, and remained in fourth place overall in the USSF standings.

The Timbers play host to Puerto Rico Thursday in the final home game of the season at PGE Park, which will begin the process of construction to become a football-specific stadium.

The Timbers Army chanted “give us a wave” midway through the second half of Portland’s game with Minnesota Wednesday, but not for a player on the field. The Army directed the chant toward John Spencer, the team’s future coach who had been introduced earlier in the day to local media.

Spencer hit PGE Park in time for a vibrantly colorful game that featured a penalty kick and red card as the Timbers and Stars played to a 2-all tie before 15,418 vocal fans and a regional television audience.

Powered by two goals from Brent Richards, the Portland Timbers U-23s won the 2010 Premier Development League Championship, defeating the Thunder Bay Chill 4-1 on Saturday at PGE Park.

PORTLAND – The Portland Timbers U-23s continue their undefeated season Friday and begin the final push for the 2010 Premier Development League Championship against Reading United AC in the league’s semifinals at PGE Park.