San Diego FC 0-0 Portland Timbers: A Little Satisfaction, a Little Future Trepidation & a Wrap Up of the West

With, like, a lot of shit left out.

This post also counts as my first/second stab at a new format/concept. On the most basic level, it involves: 1) kicking around (or just kicking) the Portland Timbers’ most recent result; 2) a quick tour around the relevant parts of the Western Conference for perspective on the grand scheme; and 3) a quick check-in with the team Portland plays next (the Dread Pirate Minnesota). I’m going to hit this at the highest stream-of-consciousness speed I can manage – about all I can do four days late, but I pledged to drag myself through this, gritted teeth, bad taste and all.

Close readers may have noticed I identified this as a first for a new format and, paraphrasing one of the worst we'll-do-it-in-post moments in the Star Wars universe, that’s true from a certain point of view – specifically, I switched the order after the sections on last Saturday’s game, so that the Scouting Memo (I tightened it up), aka, the only forward-looking portion of the post, comes at the end, which is the opposite of what I did for the FC Cincinnati post. (No need to read that; already forgotten.)

There will actually be a third iteration this weekend, when I post notes on the game and then the other bits later. At any rate…

I just sat through the highlights to reconnect with this game. The first that struck me was the full minute of the 7:30 burned on the VAR review for the Andres Dreyer “goal” called back for offside around the 30th minute. I had a joke in the hopper about that being the only actual event of the game, but the rest of the highlights and the final stats painted a better memory for this game than the World of Imagination in my mind. It was still pretty damn dull, but, hey, little Ws have big hearts.

San Diego FC 0-0 Portland Timbers
About the Game, Briefly and Broadly
Is it possible that Corey Baird, formerly of FC Cincinnati (formerly of Houston Dynamo FC, formerly of LAFC, formerly of Real Salt Lake), coming off was the single most significant event of the game? It’s possible, sure: he played two drop-flicks that sent Dreyer free-‘n’-easy behind Portland’s back line, including the one that teed off Dreyer’s offside shot. The drought only looked more apparent thanks to San Diego’s failure to post even one shot on goal over the second half. They had a couple, just not many. Even so, I wouldn’t have believed MLS’s newest kids put just one shot on goal all game if the stats didn’t swear to it…and, yep, even that one shot on goal followed from the earlier Baird/Dreyer connection. The sum of that feels a tenuous combination of promising (for Portland) and significant (for San Diego), with the emphasis on tenuous.

[THERE IS NO FINN SURMAN!!]

I didn’t remember much about the Timbers beyond (in ascending order of happy), a heaping helping of headless running around from the new guys, some really smart play from David Ayala (more below, not necessarily on him), and a rare night of borderline perfect play from the center back pairing of Finn Surman and Dario Zuparic, aka, the Spring/Fall bromance at the heart of Portland’s defense. Related, someone in the broadcast booth – think it was Lloyd Sam – said something like, “he’s not going to be around for long, Finn Surman,” and all I could think is, maybe if we all pretend he’s not real, treat everyone else like adults trying to see Snuffle…obacus? Snufflubicus? (sp?) It’s gonna take all of us, Timbers fans, so let’s get to gaslighting. I’ll pass on today’s secret word later…

I’m far from the first person to call this a good result for the Timbers, but I feel a little better still after seeing that Portland had a chance or to win it; against that, they spurned at least as many loose AF giveaways in San Diego’s defensive third, and came within a second VAR review of getting screwed out of a point. Not bad for a team playing with half the attack still three trust-falls away from really getting to know each other.

Three Thoughts on the Timbers, Here and Generally
1) My Final Answer
This is the back four I trust for the Timbers and I’m locking it in: Jimer Fory and Juan David Mosquera on either side of Zuparic and Surman. This may be a lonely vote, but I’d call this Mosquera’s best season so far on the defensive side and Fory…I just like the guy. If you’d like to propose another slate, feel free to drop it in the comments or reply/post quote on Bluesky after this goes up, but it feels good to have one part of the team nailed down, even if it’s just in my mind.

2) The Pass After the Pass
As mentioned above, Ayala’s calmness on receiving the ball out of the back and playing out of pressure has done its own leaping and bounding in 2025. The past half dozen games, in particular, he has held regular clinics in the art of spinning away from pressure, getting the right touch, and generally getting his head/body facing the right direction to scan for options. Dare I call it elegance? (Yes, I dare.) Ayala doesn’t always nail the decision, but he’s good for something useful seven times out of ten at a minimum. It’s what happens next where things kind of trail off. About that…

3) The Starting Line Up Is Dead, Long Live the Starting Line Up
As noted above, no one among Kristoffer Velde, Matias Rojas and Felipe Carballo did anything that stuck with me. That doesn’t bother me, they need time, etc., but, sure, a little ankle from even one of those guys would have got a guy dreamin’. I have no idea how any or all of those guys work out, which player will go on to sit one of the regulars from the first two-thirds of the Timbers 2025 season, or whether they’ll all flop, bust and move on (just hope it’s not Velde, because that dude fills a need better than the other two, if just on paper). To point to one potential, short-lived upside: the Timbers have a window where any sub that comes on from them comes on with both knowledge of and time in the system. They have a real chance of making the team immediately better for some unknown amount of time and it hope it comes good for any or all of Ariel Lassiter, Antony, or even Joao Ortiz. Having those three dudes waltz into a line up I’d more or less figured out has some real Love Island vibes…and I think I like it.

An Aside on San Diego FC
I’ve seen them, golly, three to four times all season, and most of those in only 35-50 minute chunks on either side of all the goals scored. I have a headful of their best and their worst, basically, so this counts the first time I’ve caught everything in between. Honestly, I came away a little underwhelmed. They got rolling a couple times against the Timbers – something that becomes a prelude to a kill on their best days – but also looked more than ready to go over the top early, or use Baird as a post-up player (until they couldn’t; again, never saw him in that role, damn shame about the injury). Going the other way, and pretty goddamn hard, is their slim lead in the Supporters’ Shield race, a 7-1-2 record over their past 10 games, and the league's first officially punched ticket to the 2025 MLS Playoffs. Clearly something is going right. As such, I’ll put a little sticky on this result that reads “off night?” and put the main document in the “legit” folder.

If that was an off-night for San Diego, I’m thankful they timed it for Portland’s visit. From Portland’s side…yeah, it’s just been a minute since they swiped all three points. It has been tough, but it’s also not going to get much easier any time soon, or ever in 2025.

The question, of course, is how much all the brooding half-celebration above matters, which brings us to…

Safe...also, seductive.

Quick Whip Around the Western Conference
The short version goes something like, the soccer gods built a safe, yet ineffectual chrysalis around the Timbers last weekend. Of the relevant teams below them, only San Jose won (2-1 at a hard-strugglin’ Houston): all three of Real Salt Lake (hold this thought), Colorado (0-3 at a now-dangerous LA Galaxy), and, incredibly, Austin (at Montreal, with the lead pipe and a lotta regrets) lost their games, and all that combined kept the Timbers safe from getting leap-frogged by a team on a lower rung. Going the other way, and with LAFC excepted (1-1 at Dallas; also, good!), but Seattle (fucking rolled Sporting KC, but who were they but the next team to do it?) and Vancouver won…but I want to linger on this one a little because I did a shallow dive into their 3-2 win over St. Louis CITY FC.

On the weekend before they sacked Mr. Hassellfassell-Finkerstein (sorry, real name was Lutz Pfannenstiel, if I can trust AI), St. Louis opened the scoring in a cautious game through the still-returned Eduard Lowen; related, you’ll see me dismiss all kinds of injuries, but I do know they matter, or can. The ‘Caps lit up St. Louis’ D in response and went on to literally double them for shots/shots on goal – if without ever fully arriving at dangerous, sexy, or even free-flowing. Vancouver played catch up all night – first with a make-up penalty call for Brian White, later on a set-piece goal scored by Daniel Rios(/Tristan Blackmon) – but St. Louis pulled one back (by the skin of their damn teeth) through Joao Klauss (love this dude) and the game went well into overtime before the ‘Caps scored the winner. I see the rotation in the lineup, I see Thomas Muller scoring the winner (by PK, so a little less inspiring) and generally acting like an extension of the coach and Critical Germanic Soccer Theory, and a comeback’s a comeback and all that. This was also St. Louis coming to town, 14th in the West, 28 points down the table and just one road win all season. And it was close. Again, the ‘Caps have slipped down the stretch. They may arrest the slide, but, still.

For the Timbers, all the above meant they didn’t fall, but they also failed to rise – i.e., that ever-wavering line vibrating a little too far under ideal than I’d like. Moving on, now, to a team that hasn’t slipped much in 2025, and the Timbers’ next opponent!

Scouting Memo, Minnesota United FC
I’ll fill in some (very) brief notes (promise), but let’s start with the most basic of basics:

Minnesota United FC
14-6-8, 50 pts., 47 gf, 31 ga (+16); home 7-4-3, away 7-2-5
Last 10 Results: WDWWLDWLWW (6-2-2)
Strength/Location of Schedule
v HOU (3-1 W); @ RBNY (2-2 D); @ FCD (2-1 W); v SJ (4-1 W); v LAFC (0-1 L); @ POR (1-1 D); @ STL (2-1 W); v COL (1-2 L); v SEA (1-0 W); @ RSL (3-1 W)
Remaining Schedule: v POR; @ SD; (v ATX, USOC); v CHI; @ COL; v SKC; @ LAG

Thanks to a harmless little fascination with RSL, I put a little more time into Minnesota's throttling, 3-1 win over them than I usually would. And, with that in mind, seeing the best possible version of RSL – with Diego Luna, Braian Ojeda, maybe even Pablo Ruiz or Zavier Gozo – I got their B-side. A competent enough one, mind, just not the measuring stick I’d hoped for. Now, with the caveat that I watched the Loons at their best…they rolled RSL pretty damn hard. Their first goal was a bit squishy (and, factually, not even theirs), but set-piece kings thrive on that kind of chaos. The second goal strikes me as the most lethal thing Minnesota does at their best, aka, an avalanche goal, a piling on of pressure until the dam breaks. They’ve been a “collective” style team for some seasons now, particularly on the defensive side (shit!), but they attacking talent has gotten a little smarter season-on-season for a few, whether by speed (e.g., Tani Oluwaseyi) or something more subtle (e.g., Joaquin Pereyra, a sneaky good player in my book, and he bagged one last weekend). Moreover, they keep adding pieces – e.g., Kelvin Yeboah (doing all right), Julian Gressel (great track record) or Sang Bin Jeong (no idea what to make of this one) – and no small part of it adds up to more ways to hurt a team - in this case the Timbers, this weekend, in or around Minneapolis. I don’t know how actually competitive they are, but meeting them anywhere between a dark alley at night and the MLS playoffs feels like something to be avoided.

That doesn’t matter, of course, not for the purposes of next weekend. This counts as a tough out for Portland, in every timeline up to and including Minnesota. Getting even one point will take a disciplined outing, getting all three points might be enough to get my on the phone with Ma & Pa. I don’t see that happening (sorry, folks, both readers and actual parents, who I don’t call nearly enough) and this only counts as a great opportunity to see where the new guys sift into the line up if one believes that the hardest tests yield the cleanest results. Maybe this is a smart week to going back to starting the regulars and seeing what the new guys can do as subs? A mix of this and a dash of that? I don’t expect any points, but I’ll officially adopt any that come my way. We’ll see how this all shakes out on Saturday. Till then…