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| Third image...incredible...and stop spying on me, Google. |
I didn’t need a ton from tonight. If the Portland Timbers
showed some sense of purpose and direction in 2017’s preseason finale, I’d feel
OK about things, up to and including sputtering throughout March. Why not,
right? It’s a tradition. Still, any sign that a couple key relevant parts of the team had
improved or stabilized would have been enough.
Up to the 75th minute (maybe, or thereabouts; somewhere in
the deeper parts of the second half), it was possible to believe that Portland
would exorcise two demons tonight – e.g., they’d win on the road and keep a
clean sheet. That was a good dream while it lasted, but it’s not bad going into
the regular season with one demon slayed, if only in the most glorified of scrimmages.
Yeah, Portland coughed up a goal against the
Los Angeles Galaxy – a stupid little piece of disorganization, too (both (big) marks
got lost, basically) – but they won on the road, 2-1, too, but, all in all, I figure it’s a
little like hitting a respectable jackpot – nothing big, about $250 – after tripping
over a black cat while carrying an umbrella and walking under a ladder. There’s
a clean metaphor in there, I swear, but, the point is, Portland won on the road
for the first time in over a year. Is that stat 100% verified? No. It’s more an
allusion, but you get my point. Unless you don’t. I mean that road wins have
been rare, therefore problematic. Moving on…
Do I need bullet points? Trying without…
I think the defense looks better. Sure, there’s the unsettling
absence of clean sheets, and, sure, I wondered how much Portland owed their
last win to the Vancouver Whitecaps, 1) starting non-starters and, 2) being
broadly shitty in the attack, even with starters. The same applies to who LA
coughed up tonight: the Galaxy might have fielded starters, but none of them
have come up with a clear sense of how to go forward, with or without his
teammates. It wasn’t till Romain Alessandrini came on and just started running
headlong toward them, that LA consistently attacked the Timbers midfield, never
mind the defense, and even that didn’t last more than 15 minutes.
I suppose there was an early push, moments when
Giovani dos Santos broke in across the 18, or when Ariel Lassiter (in his only
really good moment) broke behind Marco Farfan, and with options in front of
him. Lawrence Olum cleaned up both messes; I think his failure even started the
first mess, so more credit to him. The more important thing is that Portland
not only survived that first wave, they pushed back until they more or less
controlled the game. That balance held for a good 30 to 40 minutes, too; it really only
ended when the Timbers decided to drop back starting around the 70th minute.
Portland put on a handful of subs after that, and that magnified the hiccups a little more. By game’s end, though, the Timbers would stand the ball in the corner
again and again, thereby winning the whole territoriality pissing match that
soccer can be when it works like it’s rougher, long-forgotten sibling, rugby.
Things get both brighter and trickier when you turn to the attack.
Portland’s two goals came during two distinct phases of the game, and that’s a
good thing. The first came after LA’s initial onslaught, which they supported
by playing a high line. Portland sorted this out eventually: Diego Valeri had
slipped behind LA’s high line just a minute or two before, and Fanendo Adi
scored by exploiting the same weakness – i.e., breaking in behind a high line
(and how he used his body to get the leap was a piece of brilliance all on its
own) – only he didn’t get fancy like Valeri did and bone his shot.
Before anyone (psychically) piles on (I don’t get a lot of
comments) about giving Valeri short shrift, I’ll only say this: Valeri has been
his entire Maestro Self through the whole goddamn preseason. He never has to be
perfect with every touch all game, precisely because he can do something
genuinely great in any given moment. Valeri might have flubbed his first goal –
but, again, “flubbed” feels harsh, because it was a reasonable decision, just
poorly executed, anyway, moving on – but he created the second with an
edge-of-his-balance assist on Adi’s eventual tap-in.
Something else, and arguably more important: David Guzman fed the ball to Valeri on this play. He could have hit Adi, who was in a decent
spot but closer to at least two defenders, but Guzman saw Valeri’s late diagonal
run toward space and that got the ball behind the defense and it forced LA's
defense to spread out. Guzman made the right pass, basically, the higher
percentage ball, even as it’s the pass that required faith in the next couple steps (Valeri’s
run, plus the square pass to Adi…again, for the tap in). Vision can
mean a couple things, but sometimes it means seeing the play after the one your
pass set in motion. If Guzman operates on that level…oh yeah.
I’m going to stick with Guzman, but move to the other side
of the field. LA came out reasonably strong to start the second half – officially
amending the above – but it never felt like something Portland couldn’t handle.
One spell in particular, a minute-long probing by LA down Portland’s right,
featured a lot of interchange and movement, but also in-game passing drills
that don’t do much to break down the opposition. All in all, Portland spent
close to two full minutes keeping LA at thoroughly comfortable bay, and inside
their own half. And when LA finally got around Portland’s backline, they could
only dip around from the widest position and pass in a weak cross. And who was
there to pick it up? Guzman.
In case it’s not clear, Guzman looks like a big deal to me.
After months of persistent, low-level pessimism (my best kind!), I can actually
see Portland pushing for the Supporters’ Shield. That’s less a prediction of
greatness than an allowance of possibilities, but I do think the Timbers have a
back line shape that feels good – and one that might even get way with relying
on three players, e.g., Liam Ridgewell, Olum and Guzman. Think of all the
players that gives greater license to attack. Dream…
Am I a little over-hyped on the defense? Probably. It works
on a level I can comprehend, at least, and that scoots it a little ahead of the
offense. Which I don’t really get. Not really.
If you take away that great dribble past LA’s Rafael Garcia,
Darlington Nagbe had a bad night – give-aways, dispossessions, etc. I don’t
mean anything by that for once, but that’s an indirect path to a key point.
Portland’s best chances either found or fell to Valeri and Adi and, barring
further solutions, that puts Portland’s attack right back where it was at the
end of 2016: It’s not a crazy stretch to call those two the heart of Portland’s
attack, and that’s kind of the point: so long as they can score enough to make
Portland win, what’s the problem? Sure, it’d be great if Nagbe scored more, but…?
Because I’ve basically given up on Nagbe as a scorer (prove
me wrong, kid!), the player I’m most interested in here is Sebastian Blanco.
So, on that, was I the only guy who saw him playing inside like, a lot? By that
I mean, love or hate his game (more later), Blanco spent virtually all of his
playing time tonight in the central vertical third of the field. He also doesn’t
push the offside line a ton, so is Blanco another Valeri-esque midfielder? If
so, how does that work? At times tonight, I thought Portland played something
more like a 4-3-2-1 (oh, Tannenbaum!), with Nagbe, Guzman and Diego Chara (who
was great tonight) in the three, and Valeri and Blanco in the two. Whether they
did that or not, I don’t care so much. I mean, it worked out and that’s good
enough.
Let’s see, is there anything else? By way of general
comment, I think Valeri, Adi and Alvas Powell look more season-ready than most,
but just about everyone else looks serviceable. After that, it was great to see
Olum recover that big-time from a couple early flubs. A brand new starting
central defender would make Portland better without question, but my faith in
Olum is good (70%-ish). I also think the team will learn how to play Blanco…the
way he plays centrally feels like a clue as to how that might look in the end…
…or it’s just late and I’m happy Portland won, and I don’t
like LA, and so much the better they lost. Plus, GUYS?! Road win!? I think the
Timbers have a good foundation all in all, and one that has some more ceiling
to grow into. I feel confident, and to the point of smugness, that Portland got
a good player at a good position; that’s Guzman. As for Blanco, I can’t promise
he’ll arrive, but it doesn’t feel unlikely either. With all of that in mind, I’m
putting nothing beyond this team. I think some part of the bench will have to
come good to make Portland a contender, but, guys, I think we’ve got a team on
our hands.
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