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| Die, motherfucker! |
So, yeah, both Liam Ridgewell and Roy Miller left the game,
to be replaced by a Tetris-esque shifting of players/positions, and Timbers
fans endured scares here and there throughout the game – whether it was Fanendo
“Brace, Y’all!” Adi hurting (was it?) both ankles or Diego Valeri lying on the
ground for two minutes that felt like five games’ worth of no one knowing how
to make the Timbers’ attack work – but Portland hung (hanged? nah, think I got
the verb right) on for the 2-0 win against visiting FC Dallas, aka, the team
most likely to (what? win the league? be broadly awesome? prove the reality of
The Youth Movement?). And, while that win was mostly encouraging, caveats
attach to this thing like remoras that suck blood and eat happy thoughts…
…still, good win. This was my best-case scenario, so, hell yeah, I’m happy. It’s just that…I know stuff that lets me (makes me?) look at
this game, and Portland’s last, with the coldest, deadest eyes since zombies.
First, the bad news: this is not The Best Possible Version
of FC Dallas. I’d actually argue that, for a team without Walker Zimmerman, Matt
Hedges (who is…just holy shit good), and Kellyn Acosta, Dallas played above
their available level. God knows they made Portland labor to score – even as
both goals resulted from the kind of fuck-ups that drive coaches to drink
and/or early retirement. All in all, Dallas defended well enough tonight, but,
when Adi stumbles just so, and after the kind of lucky bounce that only happens
when a team presses allows Sebastian Blanco to feed him the simplest of passes,
and when the other goal comes off another complete collapse, you credit the
team that scored first, and ask what exactly went wrong for the other team very
shortly thereafter.
Whatever happened tonight, something more salient actually
came into play tonight. If there was a consensus “best team” heading into Major
League Soccer’s regular season this year, it was FC Dallas. While that may yet
prove the case – say what you want about his injuries, but Mauro Diaz makes Dallas next-level lethal when he is, and remains, healthy – Dallas has
been pretty damn flaccid in the attack so far this season. Or, in more
clarifying terms, unless Diaz could pull some magic out of his ass, this game
all but ended after the Timbers scored their first. My biggest worry for
tonight was Maximiliano Urruti running wild between the defense and the
defensive midfield, but that didn’t happen. Roland Lamah positively destroyed
Real Salt Lake, but that only showed how bad RSL was last week. Michael Barrios
found space here and there, but that’s the story of Dallas’ season: these
players haven’t been enough. Dallas came heart-stoppingly close to scoring, but
noting that overlooks a key talking point: that was the best chance they had
all night…
…and that means Portland had a good night. And they did.
If there’s a “yes, but” walk-away from tonight’s win – and from
Portland’s “good run” over the last two – it’s that: yes, the wins are great,
but both can be explained by a fairly simple set of factors that have nothing
to do with whether the Timbers have been good or bad. And I say that knowing
that, 100%-hell-yes, wins build confidence….and that’s where this tune gets
happy.
Dallas had their absences coming into the game, but Portland
had theirs during the game. When a team closes out a game with a win, and after
losing both starting CBs, that team has had a good night by definition. And
that’s what I’ll close out this post on: the comforting notion that Portland’s
depth might have quietly panned out, if broadly, without most people (OK, me) acknowledging
as much. Or, possibly, that Dallas could very well be 2017’s paper tiger.
Because I’m feeling good tonight, I’ll start by noting some
positive trends. First, Lawrence Olum might not be the best player in MLS, but
he totally delivers as a defensive player in midfield; that’s a great card to
have in one’s back pocket. Diego Guzman is better without question, but I am happily sold on Olum as a useful depth piece – and in
multiple positions. Amobi Okugo and Ben Zemanski both did all right for the
varying amounts of time they strode the field tonight – and that’s a good thing
- but, again, the Dallas team that took the field tonight is neither Dallas’
best team, nor one of MLS’s elite attacking units – at least not based on
recent history. My only point here is to take what happened, especially the
positives for the Timbers on the defensive side, with a big grain of salt.
Anyone looking to get jazzed about Portland’s depth right
now should focus on Dairon Asprilla. No, this wasn’t Dallas’ best central
defensive set up, but that’s not where Asprilla plays. And yet, Asprilla looked
good tonight – and good enough this season – to put in play the question of who
fits where on the starting chart. Even if he’s just making a stronger case for himself
as a “super-sub” that’s great news for both the Timbers, and Asprilla…and that’s
where things get really fun…
I don’t read/listen to soccer stuff like I used to, but Zarek
Valentin looks (somewhat abruptly) very comfortable as a starter at right back
for Portland. And I have an anecdote for this, so bear with me…
When I saw Alvas Powell on the sideline, and with Miller
hobbled and Ridgewell already gone, I asked the 3-4 people I watched the game
with to ask what it would mean to insert Powell into the game. Our original
thought was that Powell would come on at right back, and that Valentin would
shift up into central midfield as a defender/passing hub, something that feels
reasonably within his wheelhouse. That didn’t happen, obviously: Okugo came on,
and Olum dropped back, and Portland held together better than “fine” for the
rest of the game, and that’s great. There’s also an argument in that – i.e.,
that Portland has parts to move around back there during what was, honestly, a
legitimate emergency (again, two centerbacks going down in the same game) – and
that that argument can end well.
And that’s my take-away from this game. Sure, Dallas didn’t
bring their A-game/team to tonight’s game in Portland, but that’s still the (alleged)
best of the Western Conference in its current, Diaz-lite configuration,
sputtering mightily against a 100% make-shift back-line/overall defensive situation
for Portland. And the Timbers still won.
That’s actually where I want to close this: the Timbers didn’t
just win, they won comfortably. The question of who was missing what sort of
falls down at that point, because the reality is, one team missed players
coming in, while the other lost players in-game. In other words, in a game
crawling with adversity, one team scored two goals and another didn’t. Not
least because they haven’t scored a ton of goals all season…noted…
This win feels as good as any, even under the accumulation
of circumstances. Depth matters in MLS. And, so far, Portland’s depth has at
least half-carried them to second place in the Western Conference. If that’s
not a good omen, I don’t know what is.
Forza Portland!
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