Portland Timbers 3-1 Club Tijuana: Doom & (Fresh!) Paths of Glory

Pointless, yes, but still worth celebrating.

Really going to keep it short this time. You’ll see. (You won't. It's likely you never will.)

Due to the plethora of variables in play – e.g., Leagues Cup, early season for Liga MX, a new coach for the Timbers, hints the Timbers have changed their style with all the subtlety of the fouls Club Tijuana got away with tonight – I don’t see the point in picking through the innards of tonight’s game. The game/performance had its share of measurable positives – e.g., the Timbers doubled-up Tijuana’s goals allowed in the tournament (their first two games: a 0-2 loss at Austin FC and a 0-1 loss at San Diego) – but I just don’t have a solid feel on how they’ll translate to the stretch run of the MLS regular season.

Sunday’s game at Chicago Fire FC, aka, the team that topped all of MLS in Leagues Cup play (all wins, +5 goal differential, booted the theretofore successful Cruz Azul out of the tourney), should provide another level set. That said, I wouldn’t expect too much clarity either: whatever happens in that game will still feature a plethora of variables, just not as many. But that's enough about Sunday, let's return to the pointless glory of the Portland's present!

Portland Timbers 3-1 Club Tijuana
An Almost Insulting Match Summary
The Timbers opened strong and with a lot of the ball, but Tijuana chipped back into the game one chippy foul at a time. It took them less than ten minutes to find the cheat code in Portland’s defensive shape – the gap between the fullback and the winger – and the third or fourth run it at gave Tijuana the go-ahead goal (Mourad El Ghezouani was a handful all night). Their speed and aggression scrambled Portland for most of the first half – didn’t hurt the Tijuana benefited from the ref calling a loose one – but the Timbers found their balance and clawed one back before the first half ended when Jimer Fory overlapped(!!) up their left and found Kevin Kelsy at the back post.

For me, the final stats pour the correct measure of cold water on what looked like a wide open game; it was more fast than precise, but the openings yawned pretty wide when they came. In keeping with a theme disrupted only by the loss “at” Club America, the Timbers got slowly got hold of the game and throttled the life out of it. Between a scrum or two and one nerve-rattling breakaway (all of which surely made the highlights), Tijuana managed a couple chances in the second half, but that didn’t keep Portland from running away with it and at a decent trot. Both goals came from the Timbers’ comfort zone – e.g., a turnover that became a long ball to Kevin Kelsy that fell to Antony by a redirect, then Antony getting around Tijuana’s left after transition to find Ariel Lassiter (and at least one other Timber at the back post).

Club America 3-1 Portland Timbers: The Timbers Played All Right and Fucked Up Twice

Keep smoldering, king.

It wasn’t so bad, honestly. It just wasn’t what was needed.

Based on the views on the last post, a lot of people have done the sensible thing and gone on vacation. For the rest you schlubs, enjoy these notes from another schlub.

Club America 3-1 Portland Timbers
America and Timbers treated fans to a lively one. For me, the eye test and the final stats give a truer impression of the game as it played out on the field than the final score. Portland didn’t create a wealth of chances (ten total, four on goal), but they had reasonable chances to go ahead after cancelling America’s (genuinely impressive) opening goal and they had chances to equalize, if admittedly fewer, after America got their noses ahead a second time. To break things down a little…

The answer to the question, how good was Brian Rodriguez’s free kick(?), was look on the Ball Kid's face that you see just off frame in the fourth(?) replay on the goal. The Timbers answered mere minutes later through Kristoffer Velde, who literally sat an America defender on his ass (Israel Reyes?) after picking off ‘keeper Rodolfo Cota’s half-panicked outlet (and what did all y’all think of his goal celebration?). The two teams slogged toe-to-toe from that point to America’s go-ahead goal in the second half. Passes zipped between players for both, with defenders and midfielders snapping at everything within reach. Portland found a couple chances on set pieces (someone tell Cole Bassett to put his foot through the damn ball), while America kept Portland’s defense honest from range. Good chances, in other words, but nothing to hint at immediate success or demise.

Rodriguez teed up the game winner in the 63rd minute when a couple bobbles off defended balls gave him a path inside; his shot (another good ‘un) caromed off the post to the feet Isaias Violante, who punched home the goal near post. While that goal didn’t break Portland’s back, the distance between them and America's goal yawned ever wider as the minutes ticked away. Jack Cassidy (#RIP) threw in a couple subs – fewer than I’d like and later – but neither Antony nor Vincent Janssen came in to great effect (however, hold that thought).

Portland Timbers 5-2 Club Peng...Puebla: (Hot) Summertime Rolls

It's okay, man. The view's groovy up here!

This will be short. I mean it this time. Stop it. Don’t look at me like that.

Watching the Portland Timbers lately has had the feeling of Wile E. Coyote looking down after running off the cliff and seeing nothing to hold him up. And yet he does not fall.

Getting into it…

Portland Timbers 5-2 Club Puebla
The Game, Very Briefly
I’d argue Puebla ran the opening 30 minutes, maybe even dominated the opening 20, even with Ariel Lassiter scoring a rare early one by finishing off Kristoffer Velde's punishment of Puebla's loose defense. Puebla didn't take long to equalize on a tap-in by Eduardo Mustre when the sum of Portland’s left lost equilibrium and Alex Bonetig sat out the play. They shelled the Timbers’ area from the same side around the 28th minute, pressing a sustained attack better than Portland would manage until…I’d say the 38th minute. Once David Da Costa’s tap-dance poke flicked the ball past Ricardo Gutierrez for the Timbers’ third goal, the game ended both in fact and spirit.

Per the dictates of math, Portland scored one goal in between all that – on Cole Bassett glancing home the go-ahead goal after getting ahead of Puebla's entire defense – but Da Costa’s goal put a stamp on the game the other two merely suggested. Puebla spent the opening 25 minutes (at least) coursing through and around Portland’s defensive shape, only for the Timbers to break out – through Velde most often, at least early – and score goals. Da Costa’s goal stood up the argument that anything Puebla could do in Portland’s end ultimately wouldn’t matter. Once Puebla’s players had the space behind them in their minds every time they passed the ball, the wheels came off.

Portland Timbers 2-1 Seattle Sounders: Wholly Owned, Still Struggling to Close the Sale

Deliberately chose a hazy one...

I find myself wondering, once again, what Phil Neville makes of all this. In other news, I tried taking fewer notes as I watched last night’s game. Don't know why beyond seeking a more impressionistic vibe, but a quick spin through the highlights tells me some impressions slipped down the memory-hole.

Oh, and it happened again.

Portland Timbers 2-1 Seattle Sounders
The Match, Very Briefly
‘Twas a sloppy fucker, if you’re looking for a broad impression: whether hit too soft or at the wrong angle, passes strayed and stalled out all over the pitch (I don’t know who counts the passing accuracy; suspect there’s some closely guarded formula for it). The left a lot of 50/50s floating in space and Seattle won most of those during the first half. I don’t remember what all happened before what, but revisiting the game via the highlights reminded me that Seattle piled on the pressure for five minutes or so during or around Kalani Kossi-Rienzi’s go-ahead goal. James Pantemis also made one more tricky save than I remembered (and surely not just those two?), Albert Rusnak had a solid chance to put Seattle back in the lead mere seconds before the first half expired, one of those two tricky saves came in the second half, Nouhou fired a bullet just wide at the 65th minute, etc.

I wanted to pick through Seattle’s side of the result before turning to the Timbers for a couple reasons. There’s some truth to the argument that his game could have gone either way, for one, which makes that necessary place-setting for making the case for why it didn’t. It starts with Kevin Kelsy’s equalizer, which came 5-10 minutes after Seattle’s heaviest pile-on and not entirely against the run of play. The Timbers have profited over the past few games from running the same play through Kristoffer Velde over and over again – i.e., feed him the ball as wide as possible on the left and have him run however many defenders the opposition sends his way. For me, the sooner Velde reaches the decisive moment, the more he gets out of that position – and slinging shots/crosses into the gap between guys defending him and the rest of the defense has become Portland’s most reliable approach to goal lately. Kevin Kelsy deserves at least as much credit, last night and generally, because the man’s crashing around the area like he owns it. Could see him getting 20 goals this season, which would be, y'know, good.

Felipe's Farewell, Four Points Taken & a Familiar Serving Angst

Because this will include notes on two games, plus a half-assed Scouting Report on the game versus the Seattle Sounders this weekend (for reasons which I’ll explain), this post attempts to compress an abundance of thoughts into what will still be short post. I’m going to kick things off with Felipe Mora’s last game as a Timber.

Mora scored three goals over his last two games. To be clear, I committed to Team Kevin Kelsy early in the 2026 season, without regrets (doesn’t hurt Kelsy backed that up), but one can’t help but wonder what Mora could have done with more than 443 minutes. Scored a couple more goals, almost certainly, the man always works and I’ve always respected what he brought to the team, while also accepting he doesn’t fit the team the Timbers have evolved into over the past season or two (for good, and mostly ill). Making peace with departure still comes a lot easier than liking it.

The goals he scored – the first, a classic put-back versus FC Dallas, the second and third headed goals off corners(!) versus Real Salt Lake – all pointed to what made Mora effective as a player: reading the game, knowing where to go to receive a pass, sniff out a rebound or, almost comically, to find a gap between defenders half a foot taller than him to nod home. Didn’t even have to jump on that first goal against RSL…priceless…

Scoring that brace on Saturday put Mora within a goal of a now, deservedly-mythical Portland Timbers hat trick and – I’m pretty sure I mean it when I say this – I don’t think I even want to see a Timbers hat trick unless it comes in a moment that would have been as perfect as Felipe Mora scoring one in his farewell game. Had it happened, every person who attended that game live would have experienced one of those rare, privileged moments that gave meaning to suffering through 100 shit performances played under terrible weather and worse refereeing. A Mora hat trick would have ranked right behind the double post in the pantheon of “I’d go back in time and kill moments” in Portland Timbers history.

FC Dallas L'il Scouter: Going Prepared (to Avoid the Jump Scare)

4-2-0 road record, AAUGGHGHH!!

Respecting the fact I can only know so much about a team at glance, kindly accept this offering in the same spirit. That said, when you don’t know much, what else can you do but start with…

The Facts
Record & Related Stats
7-4-4, 25 pts., 15 GP; 30 gf, 22 ga (+8); home 3-2-4, away 4-2-0
Last 10 Results: WDDLLWWLWW (5-3-2)
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ DC (4-0 W); v STL (1-1 D); v LAG (2-2 D); v MIN (0-1 L); @ SEA (1-2 L); @ RBNY (2-0 W); v RSL (3-1 W); v VAN (2-3 L); @ SJ (3-2 W); @ COL (2-1 W)

A couple things jump out there (and apologies for any typos; I do those). I’d start with that 4-2-0 road record – especially with three of the four coming hot into the World Cup break – but I’m mostly struck by seeing a Dallas team improving as the regular season turns into summer. My memory could be faulty on here, but the Dallas teams I recall from the past 10 or so seasons past start hot enough to get people thinking they could have a strong one, only to have them slouch slowly to the playoff line and yo-yo on either side of it before making a wholly forgettable playoff run.

At the risk of repeating a prediction that seems to blow up in my face every other season…Dallas looks good this year.

The Lineup(s)
The (Moribund) Mothership tells me Eric Quill (good vibes) generally sends out his starting XI in a 3-4-3 (mostly like this one), but the broadcast had them in a 4-4-2 for the loss versus Vancouver that looked plausible based on the lineup (available here; first couple seconds are all you need, but Sebastian Berhalter scored a couple bangers in that one).

Seattle Sounders 1-5 Portland Timbers: On the Right Side of a Snowball...

A peace I hope we all find...

Maybe there’ll be some benefit to spitting this out same day in my older years…

Let’s move this fast and keep it tight, people. The Portland Timbers kicked off their return to regular season action by kicking the holy shit and ever-lovin' stuffin' out of the Seattle Sounders. The 5-1 win felt like dunking by the end, even if the numbers pad the Sounders’ pain a little.

The Game, Very Briefly
It opened as I expected, with Seattle worked to get their attacking patterns going and they collapsed space effectively every time the Timbers worked the ball wide. The Sounders probably hit their high in those early moments (the five-minute interval agrees; see, the numbers), but their grasp on the game slipped away little by little. It started with the Timbers cutting out passes, disrupting Seattle’s inlets into he attacking third, but their game plan really got upended when…well, the Sounders got punched in the mouth.

The game turned from the second Jimer Fory floated that leading cross to Kevin Kelsy sprinting between two defenders to score Portland's first goal (wait for it, and so much of it). It took a double save, first by James “Canuck Wall” Pantemis, then by Kamal “Maybe Wily Veteran’s His Game?” Miller to hold Portland’s lead (has to be in here somewhere, maybe even here?), but Seattle never really recovered before the half. After the half? Shit broke all the way down…

I’ve used the phrase “five-minute fuck up” in the past and (with allowances for the fact all this unfolded in more than five minutes) Seattle’s defense served up a peach of an example tonight. First, their defense got beat at the back post – twice! – which allowed Miller to keep up the heroics. Four minutes later (still within bounds), Cole Bassett started and finished a goal off transition courtesy of a David Da Costa pushing then snapping across Seattle’s backline. Three minutes later (shit!), Kelsy bullied in a goal to complete his brace. That had the Timbers up 4-0 and rolling all. the. way. down the river.