Portland Timbers 3-2 Minnesota United FC: It Wasn't Dealt With Well

The Alvas Powell Award.

Sweet Jesus, where do I begin?

I expected the Portland Timbers to score, but without expecting Minnesota United FC to even sort of keep up if they did. I expected something tidier, boring even, two teams coursing back in forth as if running with plastic bags over their cleats, and two, maybe three goals going in - and per the distributional assumptions above (that is Portland would win by 2-0, 2-1, maybe even 3-0). By playing for their jobs (or…maybe even for the badge), Minnesota turned those assumptions on their head. The extent that Portland allowed them to do it is the underlying subject of this post, the question waiting for an answer. Whatever I expected tonight, it wasn’t that.

The Bizarro-World game that played under this one earns a mention too. Both teams scored goals that the referee (who? dunno. I’ll look it up tomorrow; I’m on a roll…or just starting one) called back for offside. I think the goal the Timbers scored should have counted, but I think the “goal” Minnesota scored (that is the one legitimately offside) established the center of this game as much as anything. Minnesota pulled Portland apart on that move; it was only the offside flag that saved the Timbers an earlier comeback than the one that ultimately arrived.

Portland’s offside goal, to their credit, followed from the kind of hunger you want to see in your local soccer club, players barreling forward to panic defenders, etc. The way that bobbled off Diego Valeri’s shin just so…look, under the rules of general physics, a ball doesn’t bounce with such perfect weight off someone else’s anything, which makes me see Valeri’s feed to Fanendo Adi as another piece of luck to bounce Portland’s way. Look, I saw the deflection on Alvas Powell’s cross to set up the Timbers’ second by Diego Valeri, and that lagged matched the timing of Valeri’s run. When I wrote last week about things just kind of working at home, that's totally what I'm talking about. General physics really do seem to bend in front of the home crowd, as if some omni-scientific placed magnets in the right places to make the ball move just so.

Hold on. I'm digressing from the anxiety I feel after this game. Have I mentioned that, or only hinted at it?

All in all, 4-2 final score would have wronged neither party; the same goes for a 4-3, a 3-3, or the slim, scrambling 3-2 win Portland managed in the end. By the same token, a 2-3 loss, or even a 2-2 draw would have written a reasonable script for what happened at Providence Park tonight. Not that I was there. I had offers, but I also had a schedule, but why am I bugging you with my problems? OK, while I’m here, I sometimes pass on going to games in person so I can better cut out the din (e.g., I’m an incorrigible people watcher, so, SO easily distracted). I can’t describe the amount of conversation that carried on over this game tonight; I can only tell you it was fine, welcome, even. Still, I probably missed some shit. I try to keep things real in this joint…

Back to the game, was it just me, or did it feel a little blessed? In what other universe does Alvas Powell craft a magnificent opening goal from one of his infamous runs that, inevitably, have lead to a horrific cross, and/or a worse shot, for nearly two seasons? Adi scored his goal so efficiently that it took me three times watching to agree that his cat-reflex header made it happen - and that’s even with seeing Minnesota’s Matt Lampson (their goalkeeper) commit all the way to the other post behind him. The Timbers played the kind of free-flowing, attacking soccer that every fan-base on the Earth (and the ones watching from behind; you know they are) wants to see. But, again, Minnesota played the same kind of free-flowing, attacking soccer, and that really is the story. As in, holy shit, what is going on with Portland? Also, it isn’t good, right? I mean, that can’t be good, right?

While credit to Minnesota slips in and out of the above, I want to pause here to praise, bury and admire Minnesota’s performance tonight. First, by tonight alone, they picked up something when they picked up Darwin Quintero. He had three absolutely lethal turns, one of them making his goal on the night, and he provided the service any team wants from its designated player - or, to translate, for nothing more or less than the player any club signs to make a difference, and or “difference-make,” which, per the noun “difference-maker” should be a verb as well - because, what really separates a designated player in MLS from a high-reward signing anywhere else in the world but a lot more money? The quality is different, but the concept’s the same. More importantly, Minnesota put pressure on the Timbers defense all night - whether the long ball Bill Tuiloma disastrously misplayed or the perfect header by Miguel Ibarra that required an even better save by Jake Gleeson…just to note it, if he can regain his confidence, Gleeson still has the tools of an excellent shot-stopper.

And, to underscore the point of Portland’s overall vulnerability, Quintero had a clear header on goal, one he only missed because his run slipped a few inches past the ball; that's the thin margin the Timbers lived on all night. I’m not sure how to process this - and not in the sense of any upset or (seriously?) sorrow, but in terms of understanding where a game like this slots Portland into my overall expectations for Major League Soccer’s 2018.

Off the bat, I’d say I’d expected more from Portland defensively. I wasn’t sure till, literally, just now that Portland stuck with the Christmas-tree formation tonight, and that’s the whole goddamn rub: if Portland puts a solid seven guys behind the ball, even on paper, and gets shot up the way they did tonight - and last week - no team can give up shots like that and keep its season peaceful. Minnesota was up Portland’s ass for almost 60 minutes of that game. Not to crap on Minnesota, but that’s Minnesota. By that I mean, no close observer of MLS salivates over the Minnesota attack - pretty sure that’s a fact - and yet they found more ways around Portland’s defense than I thought existed.

All in all, do I feel good about this season? No to so much. Or maybe. More to the point, and at this point, the Timbers are tied for the most goals allowed in Major League Soccer. At 14. 14 goals in six games plays out to 2.33 goals per game. Also, fun fact, that’s numerically sharp distillation of what happened tonight on the field: the Timbers scored three goals while Minnesota scored a real-world version of between two and three goals. On that, Portland, while improving, isn't exactly high scoring. Portland is five goals in the hole on the season right now, nine goals versus fourteen, so the defensive fragility feels like more of the normal than a surprise.

That I feel good about Liam Ridgewell being out of the starting line-up says something. It gives the team options, if the question still hangs over the quality. The defense hasn’t improved (seriously, it hasn’t), but I still felt better about Portland’s defense mentally/generally, only with pretty much nothing to back it up but a positive attitude, but when the defense leaks this badly, how much does that matter? What do opinions on progress matter till the fever lifts at least a little?

To loop back to that question, do I feel good about this season? Mmmmaybe, but it feels a little forced. By that I mean, I see good things a-birthing here and there. For instance, after begging him to do it through the first 35 minutes of the game, Cristhian Paredes finally started firing on goal. And, again, one of those shots led to Adi’s goal. If there’s a flip-side to everything I said above about Minnesota, the same applies to Portland. With all the chances both teams found tonight, neither coach can feel great about where they are, and I doubt either sees that as the way they want to play. The thing I say about Paredes literally matters only to the extent the Timbers can keep other teams from scoring. I mean, there are teams that can beat you by always scoring one more goal than you.

Portland is not one of those teams. Minnesota is, without question, better defensively than they were last year. And yet, Portland still basically lit them up, the same way Minnesota lit up Portland. A close game, in other words, and a fun one. I hereby offer a hearty thanks to all concerned. All the same, I can’t account for how bad Portland’s defense is at this point, I just know it’s bad. Still, I think we have the germs of a competitive team in there. It has a short shelf life, as in it could win a cup, MLS, Open, or otherwise, but it won’t do any of that until it accounts for how a team with, per the formation, seven players behind the ball, can give up as many chances as Portland gave to Minnesota tonight.

By way of closing, this was a blow. More than anything else, I wanted to see a team with a good solid shape. I didn’t even sort of get that. And, won’t lie, that doesn’t make me feel great. Till tomorrow, when I incorporate this post into the larger MLS post. Because I think it belongs this time. Till then!