Bassett and Lassiter Braces Power Timbers 5-2 Leagues Cup Opening Rout of Puebla

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Leagues Cup opener was not subtle. Cole Bassett scored twice. Ariel Lassiter scored twice. David Da Costa had a goal and two assists. By the time Emiliano Gomez's late screamer made it 5-2, Providence Park had already filed the night under statement.

The Portland Timbers beat Club Puebla 5-2 on Aug. 6 to open their 2026 Leagues Cup campaign. Interim-era cohesion met Liga MX frustration, and the scoreboard did not blink.

The Avalanche

Lassiter opened in the fifth after a Velde shot was deflected and the rebound fell kindly. Puebla equalized in the 14th when Eduardo Mustre finished Brayan Garnica's cross. Then Portland took over: Bassett headed home a corner in the 36th, Da Costa finished Ian Smith's cross in the 38th, and Bassett blasted another before halftime for 4-1. Lassiter's second in the 56th made it 5-1 off a Da Costa cutback. Gomez's 80th-minute long-range strike was consolation and nothing more.

Puebla held 60.8 percent possession and still left with a thrashing. That is the Timbers' counter identity in a paragraph.

What It Means

Bassett earned MotM. Lassiter had the bookend goals. Da Costa touched three scores. Head coach Jack Cassidy called it a good evening with frustrating late sloppiness at 5-1 -- fair, and still a 5-2 win that sets a bar for the next coach. Puebla's Gerardo Espinoza described a hurt dressing room. Both quotes fit the tape.

The Close

Opening nights can be tentative. This one was a brace party. Bassett, Lassiter, Da Costa -- and a 5-2 final that announced Portland's Leagues Cup intentions before America and Tijuana arrived. Providence Park got goals. Puebla got a long flight home.

The film will show the moments that decided it and the ones that almost did. That is how these nights work -- one bounce, one set piece, one finish from distance, and the narrative locks in before the Monday meeting starts. Fans leave loud or quiet. Coaches leave with clips. Players leave with the knowledge that September does not forgive unfinished chances.

Five-two openers set expectations. Bassett's brace and Lassiter's bookends did exactly that. Da Costa's fingerprints on three goals made him the connector. Puebla's possession edge without a defensive structure to match it is the cautionary tale for every Liga MX visitor that thinks the ball alone wins nights in Portland.

Cassidy's postmatch honesty about late sloppiness at 5-1 is the coaching note that survives the celebration. Gomez's screamer was a goal worth applauding and a result that did not change. The Timbers wanted a high bar for the next head coach. A 5-2 Leagues Cup opener is a loud way to set one.