Nashville SC 2-0 Portland Timbers: March, or Something Darker?

You get weird shit searching "lion eats lamb."

Nothing says your local team is killing it quite like the broadcast booth doofus saying they “need this half-time whistle." And Nashville SC still had one more goal in them…

About the Game
I noted the Portland Timbers’ first competent breach Nashville’s defensive at the 35th minute in last night’s game. Also of note, the Timbers gave up two penalty kicks in half that time. It’s a hell, goddamn, ass miracle they lost just 0-2 yesterday. No less miraculously, and gods bless James Pantemis, neither of those penalty kicks resulted in a goal. Somewhat maddingly, Nashville didn't need either penalty kick to win the game. Firing at least 21 shots (with 11 on goal) does that for a team. On the same Official Stats page, I see that the Timbers’ fired four shots on goal and, after reviewing the highlights, I also know that half of those came softly off Antony’s shoe, so small wonder, etc. Nashville ran away with just about every attacking statistic and, whatever you think of xG as a concept, seeing theirs at almost eight times Portland’s passes the smell test…

…here I thought the Timbers had a chance at Nashville. Now, I’m just wondering about...things.

Nashville unnerved Portland early by playing balls over the top that put (mostly) Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar into a foot race with the Timbers CBs. One super-early one, we're talking just four minutes into the game, saw Finn Surman haul down Mukhtar before he could reach the box, and Zac McGraw shove over Surridge inside it. That was the first penalty, taken by Mukhtar, saved by Pantemis. They got a fair amount of mileage out of that direct attack through the first half, but their second penalty came when Ahmed Qasem slipped into the top left corner of the Timbers’ 18-yard box and Joao Ortiz made that the time to announce his presence with a shove under Qasem’s shoulder. The second penalty, taken by Surridge, and to the same damn spot for some reason, was also saved by Pantemis. Saved penalty kicks often lift a team. Meanwhile, back in Nashville...

Thus began the search for signs of coherence in Portland’s movement on and off the ball and I’m sad to report that the party never came back. Things improved slightly in the second half, notably after Phil Neville pulled Ortiz for Diego Chara (more on that later), but Nashville was already up one goal by then and the rest of game boiled down to them poking and prodding the soft spots in the Timbers’ defense. The goals came, of course, and the only thing that made Nashville’s goals remarkable were the failures that allowed them – e.g., after saving two penalties, how does Pantemis let Andy Najar’s tight-angled shot slip under him? And how much ball-watching does it take for Qasem to run right to left across the seam between Portland’s defense and midfield, before God and everyone, and still get a free, near-post header? Between those and the PKs, that’s four chances, at a minimum, straight-up handed to Nashville. (They left Walker Zimmerman free on a corner! I'm such a snitch!). After the second goal, there was nothing left after that, but the final whistle.

An Aside about Nashville SC
As anyone who read my scouting report on them knows, I don’t like Nashville’s chances in 2025. And yet, saying they outplayed Portland doesn’t quite explain what happened. Not unlike Toronto, who fell by the same score to FC Cincinnati earlier the same day, the Timbers did their share of self-sabotage yesterday. Still, credit Nashville for taking advantage of a team still tied up in knots over its present identity. Their approach over the opening 20 minutes put Portland under pressure from the first whistle (well played, B. J. Callaghan) and playing high and organized, when combined with Portland’s…just bad passing, took care of the rest. Because he came on late in their first two games, I didn’t have Qasem on my radar, but his contribution yesterday was enough to put a pin him and, by association, Nashville in the weeks ahead. Edvard Tagseth, on the other hand, matched every expectation I had for him, so I wasn’t surprised to see them move the ball up-field, comfortably and capably, and, fun fact, Wyatt Meyer, who I talked about as much anyone in the scouting report? He didn't even play. At any rate, I’d counsel both neutrals and Nashville fans to take another look at the penalty kicks and goals the Timbers gave up, and caution them against reading too much into this result. Why?

Bottom line: the Portland Timbers are a work in progress right now, though a couple more games like this may have me searching for a better, smarter word than “progress” to describe the work I’m seeing. And, as mentioned in the first talking point, I just don't get that. And in all caps...

And "confused shit" somehow gets you to Lorde.

Some Talking Points
1) An Excuse That’s Starting to Wear Thin
While I know this isn’t true, it feels like I’ve heard something between “the Timbers always wobble early!” and “hey, it’s March!” in every season since they joined the MLS (I did it! “The MLS” HA!!). Even this early in 2025, I’ve watched other teams enough to see the difference between failing to get results because this or that is off and playing like confused shit. The Timbers have fallen hard into the “confused shit” camp in recent seasons and I’m at a loss to explain how professionally-coached professional players can’t sort out…just looking good at their job after a month of preseason to work it out. Fucking Chicago looks good, despite a searing history of failure, so, yeah, the game-to-game incoherence gets under my skin, with and without regular/preferred starters. Some kind of structure of play should be in place by now, something every player on the roster understands at its basic level and Portland’s top-tier players are here to make that lethal, or at least they should be.

UPDATE: I covered the 3-2 parallelogram in the last match report, but I wanted to add what I keep seeing further up the field, 1) to confirm that other people are seeing the same thing, and 2) because it seems instructive. The defining feature involves the players spreading out to make the field as big as possible. To be clear, nothing wrong with this, spreading out the field expands the area the defense needs to cover and creates space for players to move into...which is great on paper, but it requires that the players actually move. And, too often, the Portland's players assume the proverbial position and...just stand there waiting for everything from, I dunno, psychic instructions from the bench to gods know what to Godot. To be clear, this is a case where I want people to tell me that I'm hallucinating, repeatedly as it happens.      

2) When the King Dies, How Does He Live Again?
The palpable necessity of replacing Ortiz with Chara yesterday, and at the fucking half, leaves me feeling more concerned about the future than anything. I’m still willing to give Ortiz time – and Ayala’s not blameless here (watch the highlight on the second goal again, see him clock Qasem’s run and neither follow nor alert any teammate to it) – but his profile and paycheck suggested a ready-made player. Instead, we have a dude who just looks lost out there. If this team goes another season without a succession plan for Chara’s inevitable retirement…I mean, how can it be this hard? Again, I’m not expecting a like-for-like replacement for one of the best and most reliable defensive midfielders in MLS history; I’m just expecting a competent midfield. The fact they went so far and spent so much to find what Ortiz has delivered leaves me with questions about the approach.

3) A Brighter Spot?
Jimer Fory played a saucy one last night and looked willing and able to use his size, and in more than one way. For anyone scanning the horizon for any silver lining, I think Fory’s getting it together.

4) I Was Reading in New Zealand about…
Ian Smith looks all right, especially for a rookie. Maybe he can pass notes to Ortiz? (Links for the references: Ian Smith and my phrasing.)

5) A Final Bright Spot
Antony had some good defensive plays – and he might have been Portland’s best tip-of-the-spear attacker all night. Didn’t yield much, but he’s not supposed to be the star either. I’ll take it.

That’s it for this one, and probably more than it deserves. Portland and Phil, Dave, Liam, et. al. have a lot of work to do and/or for which to answer. There’s plenty of season left, and all that, but even I’d like to be able to dream a little.

Till the Los Angeles Galaxy scouting report.