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| Never forget. I won't. |
Because it’s mid-week, I’m playing my subs. This’ll be
short. The Portland Timbers’ 2018 U.S. Open Cup run died a grating death
tonight, with a 3-2 loss to Los Angeles FC.
I’m not going to blame our depth, even though the depth
failing to either mesh or produce proved the decisive factor. Sure, the
Portland Timbers could have fielded their starters, they could have really gone from broke in
this one, and let the subs try to manage L’Impact Montreal at the weekend. I
would have preferred that, because I thought - and still think - that this was
the bigger game.
The biggest problem, as I see it, followed from the
Timbers having to chase a game, and with backups, for the first time since the
beginning of June (in the draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy). Fun fact: the
Timbers have rarely needed to claw back into a game in all of 2018; since this
season’s rocky start, Portland has either scored the first goal, or kept a
clean sheet in every game this season, except for tonight, that draw against
Los Angeles and another draw against FC Dallas way the hell back in March. In
other words, this game went wildly out of Portland’s game plan, especially when
LAFC scored their second just before the half following the sustained, slow-motion breakdown by
Portland’s defense. That made coming back a bigger ask than the depth
players showed any signs of pulling off. And I’ll pick on them for a second,
but first…
Just to note it, LAFC should have won this game 4-2, because
Adama Diomande was not offside when he slotted that late shot under Portland’s
Jeff Attinella, while he was…just a massive asshole over those last 15-20
minutes [Ed. - According to rumors, getting called the "n-word" by a Timbers player lit that fire. If that did, in fact happen, the cross-out states my position on it. Had he punched the offending player, I would have been fine with it.] Also, Attinella had some great saves tonight. My point with this
paragraph is simply to acknowledge that the Timbers really did lose this game. This one sucked, and more than most. Barring a major flip in form or
fortune, the path to the 2018 U.S. Open Cup runs through this bracket. And
Portland just cashed out…
To crap on one player, David Guzman had a multi-faceted
shitty night. The own-goal, sure, yes, that pisses me off, but shit happens.
Also, I would never expect anyone but a world class player to step back into a
line-up without a stumbling a bit, but Guzman stumbled a lot, and on both sides
of the ball. If he wasn’t banging the ball up field way too early (instead of
playing out of the back, which had been working all damn night), Guzman constantly trailed
the play and didn’t get stuck nearly often enough all over the field last night.
It takes time to get in synch with the teammates, but getting in synch with
yourself? Take away a couple good crosses, and he was null-set out there
tonight.
Next, and bluntly, Dairon Asprilla needs to figure out how
to fucking put a worthwhile shot on goal. That’s it.
To single out one more player, I just don’t get Andy Polo.
I’ve never seen his rumored next-level speed, I’ve never seen him make a play
that held my interest, I’ve never seen him look anything but average: I’m fine
giving him time, but, as much as anything, tonight felt like an extended
explanation for why he doesn’t start.
Finally, and just to pour one out for the occasion, I wrote “where
is Adi?” in my notes, then later saw a tweet saying something close to, “If Adi
has played his last game in a Timbers jersey, let’s remember the good times, y’know,
that weekend at the lake house, with the poppers, red wine, and the canoe.” Maybe Fanendo
Adi could have made a difference tonight. All I know is that we’ll never know.
And, if that’s where we are, bon voyage, kid! You won me over years ago.
All that said, Portland - and, more specifically, Portland’s depth, even the ones I bitched about above - kept this game close. LAFC didn’t
earn their rest until around the 80th minute. While that doesn’t make tonight
better, it should give us all hope that Portland will bounce back from this
one, which, frankly, tagged at least one testicle for me. I really wanted this
win, goddammit, and I also wouldn't be shocked to see this wind up as one of those "psychic derailment" moments, when people say, "everything was going great until _________." Again, I don't believe in jinxes.
I’m going to close with one thought on the U.S Open Cup, as
a tournament. I have wished it would just go away, and more than once. Every
time an MLS team doesn’t take it seriously, they undermine its worth through
that act alone. And, without presenting it as hard evidence for that argument,
I don’t know what else one can get from seeing the Chicago Fire, the Houston
Dynamo and the Philadelphia Union join LAFC as this edition’s semifinalists.
Absent LAFC, not one of those clubs are shining in MLS regular season play. If I’m
not mistaken (I’m not), not one of those clubs besides LAFC are in the playoffs
right now - and, more to the point, none of them look likely to go deep in the
same; hell, at least two of those teams probably won’t even make it. What you
have in the end, at least based on that, is the reality that teams try to win
this trophy on the cheap - that is, they try to play it in roughly the same
spirit that Portland played it tonight.
That feels like a bad look for a tournament. That’s all I’m
saying.
In context - e.g., Montreal at home, and with MLS’s playoff
system - again, I would have played the first team tonight, at least the guys
who really didn’t need the rest. I would have played Adi, so long as he looked thoroughly bought in. I mean, who doesn't love just once more, for old time's sake? Besides Guzman, the subs performed admirably tonight, but that’s still a
step down from what the first team might have done, and, when you think about
it, did do last Sunday. Again, I really would have liked to have won this one,
and still think it feels like the team’s best chance at silverware this year,
but, y’know, who knows? I guess that’s why you play the games, right?
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