Portland Timbers 3-0 Philadelphia Union: Captain, My Captain

Diego Valeri, in, like, 10 years. He'll matter that much.

This is enough days late (and I’ve piled on more work after it), this write-up of the Portland Timber’s 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Union will be brief. No, I mean it this time.

First, I’m totally lining up with the Glass Half-Fullians (i.e., the optimists) on this one. Because I was separated from my usual patterns (guys, corgi races), I didn’t catch this game live, or even until, like, five minutes ago. Immediately after giving up on the idea that I’d ever actually see it late Saturday, and after seeing that it ended 3-0, I dipped into twitter to gauge the mood of the mob I follow on line. Long story short, whatever positivity I found (e.g., the Glass Half-Fullians) mostly spoke up in response to general anxiety about Portland’s attack, thin margins, too few players in the attack, etc. Top-line details - e.g., the timing on the insurance goals (84th and 87th minute) - seemed to support that. Based on that, I figured that,  if ever had the chance to review the proverbial tape, I’d be treated to Philly laying siege to Portland’s goal, followed by the Timbers picking the Union’s pocket on their way out the door.

That did not happen.

This wasn’t even your clichéd “game of two halves.” While it took the Timbers about 30 minutes to come into the game, they never let go after they seized it. Sure, Portland survived a scare when Derrick Jones got free on the far side and hammered a shot that Jeff Attinella did very, very well to save (but Attinella generally does well), and that followed an “audacious chip” by Borek Dockal to start the second half, but both of those represented the final swings of a punched-out boxer, a horse that started strong and burned out too soon….pick or the sporting metaphor (simile?) of your choice, but the point is, the Timbers just flat-out won this game. Five minutes after Jones’ miss, Portland scored the first goal and that really did end this game as a contest. 

Against that, I just checked the box score and see how even this game was. I accept that, but still argue that doesn’t re-write the plot, because I’d put good money on a bet that most of Philly’s chances came early. So, yeah, I’m calling the box score gives a false signal and also wondering how many times I read too much into box scores.

The real point here is that this marks the 15th straight unbeaten game for Portland and, during that run, they’ve allowed only 13 goals. Philadelphia threatened that statistic with all the fury and effectiveness of a kitten squaring off against a very patient grown-ass dog. I don’t know how anyone is anxious over this win - and I say that as someone who got uptight over a small-sample succession of home draws. I think some of that follows from misconceptions about where the Union are right now - i.e., even if they’ve got a struggling striker (C. J. Sapong) and a green-ish defense on either side of it, Philly has a solid midfield, and they’re playoff-marginal this 2018 - i.e., not awful. Something else a little lost in the commentary I tripped over, the Union didn't play their two arguably most effective players, both generally and this season, Alejandro Bedoya and Haris Medunjanin. The Union managed to pace the early part of the game without them, but those are two of Philly's better pieces and they came in late and didn't turn the game. All the same, it looks like the Union has the team to control the game via possession and they have real talent on that roster, even if it’s latent. All the same, it stayed latent tonight and that doesn't help them. It just gives Portland another reason to wonder about how long it took them to take charge of this one.

And I heard a number of animating thoughts behind the anxiety - e.g., Sebastian Blanco’s absence through suspension reveals the thin margin the Timbers have played on all season, or that too much of the attack went through the player trusted by too few, Alvas Powell. That first point is what it is, but, whatever mistakes he made, Powell had a good night. That went beyond drawing the first penalty kick (which Diego Valeri both set up and scored saucy), and to his broad effectiveness down the right forcing Philly to adjust to give Fabinho more cover.

Whatever complaints I have about this game center on Andy Polo. He had a moment of redemption somewhere around the 75th minute (that’s very loose, btw, so don’t go to that mark) where he first out-sprinted C. J. Sapong to the ball (not surprising) and wrestled him off of it (surprising), but Polo disappeared for a lot of the game and created the crack in a couple breakdowns (e.g., the big one; no video of that specific moment, sadly, but that came off a Polo gaffe); the guy was just loose out there tonight and more than once. Beyond that, I continue to feel confused by Polo - at least in terms of what he can do for the team, where he fits - e.g., hving speed doesn’t automatically make a winger of a player. I'm not hostile to Polo or anything, but, for a player I flat-out don’t get, or fail to see where he fits in, he sure starts a lot.

To end on a high, though, the best moment of this game happened when Valeri let Dairon Asprilla take the penalty kick that Valeri drew (and what was it with Philadelphia and fouling just inside the box? Inexperience? (Except that Warren Creavalle has played in MLS how long?)). On top of a personal theory about trying to get Asprilla’s confidence up (which would be useful given how often he found openings just last week), someone on the broadcast spun that as Valeri letting other players get on the score sheet. Both those interpretations sell what Valeri did short. The decision to let the notoriously goal-shy Asprilla take the penalty kick, and with 10 minutes left to play, didn’t just signal confidence in Asprilla. When he made that decision, Valeri signaled to the squad that even if Asprilla missed, the team could make their one goal stand up. When Asprilla scored, won’t lie, I teared up a bit. And, as Valeri so wisely understood, the entire team needed that as badly as Asprilla does. If you can’t transfer in better attacking threats, you have to find them in the team, right? Also, good bonding moment for the team as a whole, too.

With that decision, in other words, Diego “Team Captain” Valeri stated his confidence in the entire team. And I think that has been under-appreciated in most of the things I’ve read.

And, last though, that was a really nice, sneaky-shit headed goal by David Guzman. I also thought Guzman had a fine, tight game and I guess that’s where the confusion kicks in. The Timbers played an adaptive game against a Philadelphia team that played reasonably well. And, when Union players bottled up Portland’s key attacking players - e.g. Valeri and Samuel Armenteros - the team adjusted by getting more offense out of Powell and Diego Chara. The Timbers played the game in front of them and won the game in front of them, basically. And I call that a good night at the track.

All right, all done. Hope I said something novel up there.