Portland Timbers 2-2 L'Impact du Montreal: Thank You, Evan Bush

Anyone have Evan Bush's home address?

To start with the obvious, the Portland Timbers have neither scored so many, nor allowed so many, shitty goals in the 2018 season than they did in last night’s 2-2 draw (at home, dammit) against L’Impact Montreal. They’ve run a tight ship over the past dozen games, but that ship sprang some leaks over their last 90 minutes of play - and, arguably, over their last 180 minutes of play. With their U.S. Open Cup loss to Los Angeles FC, you could point to the subs (as I did in here, David Guzman), the quality of LAFC, and say, “Professor Green, in the bathroom, with that tactical combat knife he ordered online.” The clues don’t add up as easily for last night’s draw.

I’ll start by saying, 1) I’m not panicking, and 2) you lose a little nuance when tracking just the results. I’d heard the rumors that Montreal’s defense had improved, but argued (or held out hope) that the teams their defense had improved against comprised some part of the improvement. That said, if there’s an edge to give in tonight’s game, the Montreal Impact scored the better goals. The Timbers, on the other hand, dredged dark, disgusting things from the grime of the ballast deck. It is what it is, the unbeaten streak continues and, to bright side things a bit, the Timbers came back twice, thereby scooping their points out of some tight spaces.

All that said, this was a bigger result for Montreal. I’m high enough on Portland to think they should have won this game outright and with little complication…and then L’Impact scored the first goal. It was a pick-pocket classic, a toe-poke on a sloppy pass, the kind of play/goal the New York Red Bulls have ridden to success in recent seasons. The Timbers back-line responded…poorly, getting stretched to and fro (Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence), but plays like that file nicely under “it all happened so fast.” If anything, Montreal’s second goal was worse, one of those wax-on, switch-off situations that follows from a long ball (by Ignacio Piatti, of all people) to Matteo Mancosu, who had so much net to shoot at that it would have been harder to miss his shot (Jeff, Jeff, Jeff). That was the second go-ahead goal for a Montreal team that should have had none. And yet they did.

If there’s a worrying trend of any kind for Portland, it’s letting in the first goal. If there’s a horse they’ve ridden to success, it’s scoring first, or keeping the other side from scoring at all. That matters because this Portland Timbers team is designed to hold the game together until it takes the lead. That’s the logic of the Christmas Tree - i.e., you can’t score on me, but, if I score on you, you’re fucked, because Christmas Tree, motherfucker. It wasn't clear how regularly Portland managed games until I went back and counted last week, but that dynamic - i.e., scoring first, etc. - has defined the team's unbeaten streak. Back to Montreal, and their defense, I think I read they’ve adopted a similar system - and, with that front three (e.g., Piatti, Mancosu, and Alejandro Silva) they, like, Portland, have the talent to attack on the cheap (i.e., by committing fewer players). Montreal definitely played compact last night, a 4-5-1, with the “4” and the “5” in easy spitting distance of one another (“Stocky Christmas?”); they set up in a way that required the Timbers to break them down…

…or Portland could just wait for Evan Bush to fuck up. Twice.

Things get dicey with the, “but for” scenario surrounding Bush. Portland put better shots on goal than the two they scored, a pair of put-backs on a sloppy Bush (sorry), one by Samuel Armenteros, plus another, sadder one by Diego Valeri (srsly, that goal was pathetic as it was welcome,but did Bush suddenly sprout toddler arms in that moment?). The Timbers put better shots on goal (see, Alvas Powell), and created better chances (like this one). Watching the highlights and reviewing the box score definitely helped me feel better about chance creation last night, or at least it put a dent in the sense of impotence I felt watching the game in real time. L’Impact did a great job of pre-empting any of their infamous jail-breaks, and they forced Portland to play wide more often than not, to places where they would have to cross the ball. That’s not Portland’s strength, at least outside of set-pieces where Larrys Mabiala can get a good run at the ball. If Montreal didn’t review the proverbial tape to figure out how to beat the Timbers, it sure looked like they did. If that’s just the way they’re playing right now, it’s working…well, everywhere outside a 5-foot radius around Bush. Have I thanked him yet?

I went through a couple titles for this post (e.g., “So, that’s what castor oil tastes like,” as an allusion to the Timbers getting a taste of their own medicine), but thanking Bush feels the most appropriate. I have no grand theory on the loss, no sense of some player or the other failing to fit or work as a part of the team, so there’s no flaw to dissect, no need to take a harder look at the bench for a solution to all that. Would the game have played out differently had Diego Chara played? On the grounds that the team plays better with him on the field, sure. Going the other way, I’m glad Chara got a night off, while simultaneously thinking how and where he plays wouldn’t have made a difference against L’Impact’s Stocky Christmas system.

In sum, the team let in a couple crappy goals, so thank God they got handed a pair of crappier goals to rescue the result. Frankly, what most surprised me about last night was how thoroughly entertained I was. With both teams playing that system, this game could have been a dud.

Just to note it, the Timbers have a string of three home games ahead - games against teams that are at or around Montreal’s level, standings-wise, while being stylistically different. Those include the Philadelphia Union, the Houston Dynamo and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Those are games the Timbers should win and, arguably, need to win if they want to roll into the post-season, instead of flopping into it. And that brings up another trend, one that gets lost when we measure the length of the team’s winning streak. Portland has three home draws this season, and all of those have come within the last four home games. Their opposition in those games? The Los Angeles Galaxy, Sporting Kansas City, and Montreal (Portland beat the San Jose Earthquakes in the other game, but who doesn’t do that?).

Again, I’m not panicking: Montreal played a system that flummoxed the Timbers (something like their own), and L’Impact can’t help but gain in confidence with each positive result (like this one). If Portland doesn’t get some comfortable quantity of points out of those next three home games, then I’ll start strolling around the deck to make sure I know where to find the lifeboats…

…hey, started and ended with a “boat” metaphor. Till next week, at least on these guys.