Portland Timbers 2-0 Toronto FC: Dunking on the Expected

Again, without touching it.

So…that was like the loss to Seattle Sounders FC, only with winning, right? The Portland Timbers largely outplayed an opponent, but came out 2-0 winners instead of (mildly) broken losers - because, tonight’s win, right?

To start this review off right, yes, I do love it when the opposition’s starting line-up renders everything I covered in my pre-game tweet-storm totally irrelevant (no, please, kick me again). Why didn’t Sebastian Giovinco start; if not him, why not Jonathan Osorio, or even Victor Vaszquez? On the other hand, Jozy Altidore did start, but Portland swallowed his considerable mass well enough, what with Larrys Mabiala nipping at his heels for as long as the game lasted. (Yes, I’m exaggerating…just translate that thought into the team at large.) Barring a post-game revelation (I won’t follow up), I have no idea why Toronto FC started a B-Team against Portland tonight; I also know it didn’t pan out, so file that away too. Cruise control switched on for this game immediately after Diego Chara slotted home the Timbers’ winner. Portland piling on goals never seemed on the cards any more than a Toronto comeback, but Portland added a back-breaker of a goal to reach 2-0 all the same. Again, I have no idea why Toronto, a team (still) six points out of the playoffs and (now) with only eight games left, tried to win this game on the cheap.

I say that knowing that I’ve advised the Timbers to cheat on personnel time and again. Just this past week, in fact, and against the New England Revolution this upcoming Saturday. I can’t present the evidence on that because I haven’t figured out how to embed a tweet into a Blogger post and, Jesus Christ, I am never gonna do that. (This a space for textasphiliacs, while also being open to converts. But, to get back on track…)

Like at least, oh, 20% of the Timbers fan-base at any given time, I’d decided it was time to deploy Portland with another formation tonight - something the coaching staff took only as far as putting Jorge Villafana into the starting line-up (also, is this how the team lined-up; probably not). Jorge aside (and welcome back, kid), I’m not sure Portland played another formation tonight, so much as I’m pretty damn sure Toronto played against the Timbers the worst possible way they could have - especially this specific iteration of “Portland Timbers.” The past 3-4 teams have defended deep, and that, 1) gave Samuel Armenteros nothing but no space in which to operate, and 2) forced the Timbers to try to break down a compact defense with crosses, i.e., something they can’t do. And so they didn’t. And that’s the history of the past four games…

…but, I am not explicitly saying this game re-wrote history. In part, yes, because I’m a chicken-shit. That's partially because how cleanly it followed the broadest trends for both teams. A win hasn’t shaped up this favorably for the Portland Timbers since the, let’s face it, mostly explicable loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. While the argument is never determinative, yes, Portland won this game because it made sense for them to win this game. TFC's baffling choice to field that B-team only underscored and italicized Portland's advantages.

Bottom line, the Portland Timbers won tonight, and against a team I’d expected (that’s “ed,” as in “expected,” because that matters) them to win against. It’s all details after that, and that’s where the rest of this post will go. Starting in order to which these thoughts applied to this game….moving on:

1) TFC came sickeningly close to scoring the first goal in this game and, Jesus Christ, no, Portland cannot afford to give up a goal, not with the late difficulty with which we score them. Amen….(what? why? never mind.)

2) Portland’s defense, and the Julio Cascante Mystery* aside - which, if I’m being honest, might only exist in my mind - I liked the defense tonight. Liam Ridgewell excelled (verb not chosen lightly; I still remember him reading one tricky long ball better than Altidore) at mopping up, while Larrys Mabiala stabbed balls off toes and repeatedly stepped ahead of lazy (sometimes borrowed) Canadians. I rarely declare anything the future of anything (right? please let me know if that’s delusion), but, between personnel and game-plan, the Mabiala/Ridgewell back-line looked structurally sound. And, on that, hell, yes.

3) Speaking of game-plan, holy shit, did Toronto have a plan for Diego Valeri. They came in knowing that Valeri can beat any one player, so they made the sensible decision of doubling Valeri quickly as they can every time the ball touched his foot. That didn’t stop Portland, but, wow, is that a great tactic for stuffing Valeri, also, little help?

3a) All in all, though, I feel like the team has lost sight of Valeri. Maybe it’s all the grunt work he’s doing (also, is he?), or, God forbid, maybe it’s tired and/or aging feet (aka, blasphemy, I’m pretty sure that’s blasphemy), but I also can’t remember the last time Valeri genuinely influenced a game, and am I alone in finding that unsettling?

4) I have a new White Whale and I can’t begin to tell you how utterly thrilling I find that. (A Rubik’s Cube I can neither touch physically, nor manipulate with my mind is my Nirvana/Heaven and Xanadu rolled into one; I bathe in discombulation!!!). Nothing makes me think the Portland coaching staff rates Andy Polo more than the way they keep starting him week in and out. It only gets weirder after that too, because it’s rare to see a team play around a player they start as consistently as the Timbers passed around Polo tonight. It gets doubly weird if you count up all the balls Polo picked off and/or ran-down tonight. If nothing else, the man was neon-visible on defensive tracking tonight…

4a) At the same time, I’ve never seen a player that (allegedly) fast dish the ball that readily - especially not on a night when I saw multiple Timbers players turn Pathetic Circles of Inevitable Dispossession. Polo, young and short as he is, doesn’t seem interested in dribbling the ball into the attack. And, when I see that, and against the back-drop of a team that needs to generate offense, why the fuck would you not want to do that?

4b) Look, I’m not remotely convinced that the Timbers have any sense whatsoever as to how to play Polo, but, near as I can tell, they’re trying to turn him into a really stifled box-to-box player, sort of like a Replacement Nagbe, only with less upside. The more I watch him, the more I can see him going to box-to-box, a la Chara, and that has interesting potentialities….

5) When they posted the Timbers starting line-up tonight, it showed a 3-1/2-3-1 (that’s 10, right?). To draw the wheel into a(n) oval, that 1/2 featured Zarek Valentin and Jorge Villafana, at left and right back, respectively, and with David Guzman loosely nestled between and amidst the whole goddamn mess Portland called its defense-attack (I'm not sure what that means either, but I’m going with it). Valentin and Villafana did fine - Villafana, especially, passed with a crispness I haven’t felt since that first bite of Corn Flakes, i.e., before the milk turns everything to mush - but Guzman looked in his element back there, pushing the ball to and fro, and with his defensive responsibilities mostly handled by Chara and Polo. To credit the guy, I remember several instances of Guzman getting admirably stuck in.. God willing, the man is back on track. It worked tonight regardless and, for what it’s worth, I wonder whether that might not work in future.

[Ed. - Now, let us marvel at how I noted that Portland didn't play a different formation last night/up above, only to thoroughly deconstruct tweaks to the Timbers formation in #5. Winning!]

It’s inexcusable, frankly, that I failed to mention David Guzman till the end. After a couple seasons’ indifference (and/or injury) he starred in this win, maybe even to the extent he earns the MVP over Blanco or Chara. Naming one dude or the other doesn’t matter, though, and not just because every soccer team (barring stupid red cards) relies on a ton of players, or at least 11, plus another six in waiting. The deeper point is that, this team gets better if Guzman, and his various talents, find his/their role to play. Tonight’s win was a good step, and a vital one, toward keeping up with Western Conference nobility, not matter how low (also, lower than Portland, even if for now). The open question now is whether the Portland Timbers can keep ahead of everyone else.

OK, that’s it. I’m tapped out.

* The idea of the "Julio Cascante Mystery" revolves around the wisdom of benching him for his recent rash of mistakes. That boils down to telling a player who believes he is cursed, "yep, you're cursed!" I'm not sure that's the best man-management, but what are you gonna do, let him keep fucking up?