Orlando City SC 1-0 Portland Timbers: Hitting a Speedbump, Hitting a Speedbump, Hitting a Spee...

A celebration of a great, perhaps useless design.

Neither a lot to get excited about, nor much to fret over. The Portland Timbers traveled to Orlando City SC and lost a slow, sweaty, tired affair 1-0, a result that, for me, differed from expectations by only a goal or two in Orlando’s favor. To be clear, that was my sense going in. Let’s move on to what actually happened.

About the Game
Orlando got on Portland early and Timbers players did their part to pile pressure on themselves with loose giveaways. The weight of it didn’t translate into much more than a few shots from range, with the best falling to (fortunately) left back David Brekalo and (less so), Luis Muriel. Santiago Moreno fired Portland’s best, early-ish shot with a Short Olimpico (i.e., it knuckled to near-post) and Kevin Kelsy crowned their first half attacking effort with a shot that was more wise than good (46th minute, came closer to the top row than Pedro Gallese’s goal mouth). Sadly, those efforts came on either side of Orlando’s one and only goal of the game, scored by Duncan McGuire off a slick Eduard Atuesta slip pass. Portland’s defenders shared the burden of that goal fairly equally – e.g., who’s to blame more between the three-to-four dudes stepping to Atuesta while (the theretofore great) and Jimer Fory and Finn Surman leaving a wide lane for McGuire between them – and that left Portland’s attack the burden of finding the equalizer. Or at least that’s one way this game could have played out…

Per the official stats, Orlando topped the Timbers by 2-to-1 on the basic attacking stats and (somehow) tripled them for xG…but they never looked much like adding a second goal. I just reviewed the full highlights to see whether there was some great chance or moment I forgot, but the Lions never found much better than aspirational over the second half and they didn’t even find that often. Sadly, the Timbers never really found third gear either – David Da Costa might have had their best chance of their seven (that's 7) total on the night, but that amounted to 2/3 a chance, at best. Unfun reminder, that leaves Portland on just 12 shots over their past two games.

To give them some credit, Portland had the better of play over the second 45 minutes. By the 60th minute, Orlando shipped them as many turnovers as the Timbers sent the other way over the opening 30 minutes of the first half. Portland held the ball better, even if they didn’t always know how to get more out of holding onto it, and they managed to pin Orlando into their own half, it a little further from goal. They even had a reasonable shout for a penalty when 2nd-half sub, Ariel Lassiter, got around Brekalo, but the referee waved it away after seeing the tip of the defender’s toenail catch the ball after passing through Lassiter. As with the game, that “missed call” tracked as neither a lot to get excited about, nor much to fret over. I’ll get to the bigger fish to fry after…

Not so far from Alan Gordon...

An Aside on Orlando
More or less what I expected, even as I’m still trying to talk out the presumption of extreme fatigue that hung over the game. You could see the way the attack applies pressure – i.e., passes through the lines, with players following the ball forward, plus a fun array of balls over the top – and that worked pretty well in terms of getting Orlando’s attacking players with just Portland’s defense to play against, if only across the first half. Muriel’s slipperiness came through, I’ve always liked McGuire as the fifth or sixth coming of Alan Gordon (Bryan White’s the fourth or fifth, fwiw), and I’ve heard and seen some chatter about Marco Pasalic…but I’ve also heard about Orlando playing some version of this same constipated game over seasons past and I’ve watched them do it plenty of times after getting sold on their potential. To be clear, things looked good in The Mouse Kingdom: they found a replacement for Facundo Torres (Pasalic), some even rate him as an upgrade, and they’ve sold me on, not just by grinding out this result and the two wins prior, but on one of the biggest stats I watch, goal differential; between allowing barely over one goal per game (1.07) and scoring a little more shy of two goals per game (1.87), they’re on a +12, second best in the East, third best in MLS. Add the fact that Oscar Pareja sat their leading goal scorer (Martin Ojeda, for whatever reason; also eight goals, six assists), great games by Robin Jansson and Rodrigo Schlegel (and bravo for getting tagged on the embellishment), and what feels like a good overall system and, yeah, things look good. If I had to guess at the dilemma for Orlando fans, I’m guessing it involves getting all the way to trust.

Some Strays re the Timbers
1) Rotation v Competition
While I don’t see Omir Fernandez poaching a starting spot, seeing Dario Zuparic slip into two of the past three starting line-ups makes me wonder about where Phil’s faith lies when it comes to the back line. I also have questions as to whether Joao Ortiz has pushed his name on the starting sheet in pen or anxious pencil and therefore wonder how much any quality outing by Cristhian Paredes causes the brain trust to toggle between the former and the latter. If I had to sum up my feeling on all of the above, and more (e.g., Lassiter), I’d go with, I’m open to it.

See?

1a) Notes on the Understudies
I thought Paredes had a better defensive game than he had on the attacking side – he played too many balls sideways and backwards for my liking – and Fernandez never rose much higher than an available option, but, as noted everywhere except the inside of his high school locker (swoon!), I’m still in the tank for Zuparic. In fewer words, I see some open questions in play.

2) Fory’s Story
Like many of you, I like Fory. He brings the defensive game that Claudio Bravo doesn’t bring to the field nearly often enough and I think Neville, et al, have shown a decent sense of how to get him into the game once the opposition’s left has settled down. His arrival hasn’t turned the Timbers into a top defensive side in the Western Conference, but 8th ain't so bad after so many seasons of slumming and Fory stuffed at least one sterling chance today and might have stuffed two. Bottom line, right back isn’t an area where I fret over who to start.

3) The Communicable Disease & Kelsy
Kevin Kelsy played his heart out today and battled for every ball…and I would have minded that less if those battles didn’t seem so self-involved. Kelsy did a great job of holding the ball today, but did less well in terms of playing it, i.e., making something better or useful out of that virtue. To the extent points were there for the taking today, I feel like playing the ball faster would have given the Timbers a better chance of getting them. Kelsy wasn’t Portland’s worst when it came to lingering on the ball – that honor fell on Santiago Moreno (wisely subbed off at the half) – but his dithering killed a couple plays that might have yielded points if played through fleeter feet. 

4) Combining Points 1 & 1a Above
To flog a familiar horse, I don’t think Neville has found his best midfield – or, to frame that in optimistic terms, I hope Neville hasn’t found his best midfield. Based on today, and today alone, I suspect starting Ortiz makes things easier – i.e., he’s the wrecking ball – but the only truly sure thing from there is Ayala’s role as a deep-lying catalyst. Antony further simplifies things by stretching the field (generally) up the left and Felipe Mora does the dirty work of holding the ball and pulling the attack closer to goal…but things still feel messy between Moreno and Da Costa. Maybe Orlando posed a particular challenge - or maybe it's easy to stymie the Timbers by stuffing the middle, because gods know they don't do much to play around defenses - but find myself hung up on all those times in the second half where Ayala and Paredes, in particular, played too close to one another to do much good. Penultimate distribution still fell to Ayala nine times out of ten, but the starting point for the final ball never quite fell close enough – which suddenly feels more relevant in light of two goals scored over six games against MLS opponents (i.e,. dropping three on the Tacoma Defiance doesn’t count).

To try to wrap all the above together into the tightest bow I can, I’m less concerned about this specific result than I am about broader trends. On the plus side, the Timbers have three home games coming up (v COL, v STL, v SJ) that should give a clearer sense of where they are right now.

Notes on those will trickle out between tonight and the middle of June. Through and till then….