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| There was this guy named Andres Flores, WHOA-oh-oh! |
I mean, I get the thought process behind the way that New York City FC lined up on this game’s decisive set-piece – i.e., set the offside line as far away from your goal as possible, because why wouldn’t you? – but that doesn’t mean I understand how that madness made it from the training ground to a game with points on the line. With all that space between that flat, high line and the goal (again, that was by design), it would take nothing more than a good ball over the top, one player slipping, and that’s an attacking player in clear en route to your goal. By my count, a coaching staff should only have to line that up one time before saying, “Oh, shit. Right. What was I thinking?”
That stupidly soft goal provided the separation, but the Portland Timbers owe their 1-0 road win in the Rumble at the Rhombus (ht: @iamseanspencer) to everything that happened around it. Certain players deserve a little more credit/love for delivering a, frankly, contextually massive win: Sebastian Blanco tops the list, and for reasons both obvious and less than, but the players who deserve the most credit are the people who filled in for the players that even most fans agree Portland can’t do without. If I had to choose between them, I’d give Andres Flores the more vigorous nod, but Renzo Zambrano keeps erasing whatever doubts I have about him one start at a time. Those guys, along with Claude Dielna, got thrown into the deep end, with “show us you can win a tough game” ringing in their ears. The stakes were lower for Dairon Asprilla, and on the grounds that he had less responsibility for proving that Portland can win without Diego Chara on the field. And, unless I misheard, winning without Chara is something that hadn’t happened since July 5,…2015 (wha?).
I’ll be damned if Flores, especially, didn’t do his best Chara impression out there tonight. To carry over a thought from last weekend, just about every player channeled their inner Chara tonight, few more so than Dielna and Larrys Mabiala. Stressful as it was to see both of those players as high and wide as I saw them tonight, the Timbers have found real success pushing against the other team’s attack lately.
At the same time, I think the box score gives a truer read on this game than what you’ll see in the super-condensed highlights. Portland had a pair of great chances – and, holy shit, does Diego Valeri still have it (which he proved on multiple occasions tonight) – but NYCFC had more chances and better ones too. The best ones fell to Valentin Castellanos (here’s one), but Portland by and large succeeded in keeping them away from danger zones. And that’s where the box score goes wrong: the Timbers rarely broke a sweat in this game; whatever the numbers say (ungood things), the Timbers never looked uncomfortable tonight.
That stupidly soft goal provided the separation, but the Portland Timbers owe their 1-0 road win in the Rumble at the Rhombus (ht: @iamseanspencer) to everything that happened around it. Certain players deserve a little more credit/love for delivering a, frankly, contextually massive win: Sebastian Blanco tops the list, and for reasons both obvious and less than, but the players who deserve the most credit are the people who filled in for the players that even most fans agree Portland can’t do without. If I had to choose between them, I’d give Andres Flores the more vigorous nod, but Renzo Zambrano keeps erasing whatever doubts I have about him one start at a time. Those guys, along with Claude Dielna, got thrown into the deep end, with “show us you can win a tough game” ringing in their ears. The stakes were lower for Dairon Asprilla, and on the grounds that he had less responsibility for proving that Portland can win without Diego Chara on the field. And, unless I misheard, winning without Chara is something that hadn’t happened since July 5,…2015 (wha?).
I’ll be damned if Flores, especially, didn’t do his best Chara impression out there tonight. To carry over a thought from last weekend, just about every player channeled their inner Chara tonight, few more so than Dielna and Larrys Mabiala. Stressful as it was to see both of those players as high and wide as I saw them tonight, the Timbers have found real success pushing against the other team’s attack lately.
At the same time, I think the box score gives a truer read on this game than what you’ll see in the super-condensed highlights. Portland had a pair of great chances – and, holy shit, does Diego Valeri still have it (which he proved on multiple occasions tonight) – but NYCFC had more chances and better ones too. The best ones fell to Valentin Castellanos (here’s one), but Portland by and large succeeded in keeping them away from danger zones. And that’s where the box score goes wrong: the Timbers rarely broke a sweat in this game; whatever the numbers say (ungood things), the Timbers never looked uncomfortable tonight.
It’s the fact that NYCFC rolled into MLS Week 18 with a 6-0-4 record, and doing well home and away – and then that the improved that to 7-0-3 on their way to meeting the Timbers at home – that makes this result feel so unlikely. It’s not like they’re rolling drunks out there either, seeing as they beat “real teams” like the Philadelphia Union and the Seattle Sounders at home, and with a +5 goal differential (which rises to +8, with 12 goals scored and four allowed once you throw the win over FC Cincinnati into the mix). This is a team that’s playing well, in other words. Trouble is, they’re not playing as well as the Timbers, or maybe it’s just the match-up that does ‘em dirty.
The larger point is, no matter how you slice it, this was a huge win for the Timbers. They tested their defensive depth and it held up. Asprilla gave a decent accounting of himself out there, but it was also no surprise to see things improve when Jeremy Ebobisse stepped in for him. This game showed off Portland’s depth more than anything else, while making the clear statement that, yes, we can win without Diego Chara, and in the toughest, most-stupidly misshapen venues that MLS has to offer.
The larger point is, no matter how you slice it, this was a huge win for the Timbers. They tested their defensive depth and it held up. Asprilla gave a decent accounting of himself out there, but it was also no surprise to see things improve when Jeremy Ebobisse stepped in for him. This game showed off Portland’s depth more than anything else, while making the clear statement that, yes, we can win without Diego Chara, and in the toughest, most-stupidly misshapen venues that MLS has to offer.
All in all, if I were Portland’s coach (that’s you, Gio), I’d be weepily hugging players and offering to buy the next several rounds (which would, in fact, make me a terrible coach). This constitutes one of those rare chances where playing for a result on the cheap paid off. Think about how often that happens.
I’m not sure how to see this from New York City FC’s vantage – which is why I almost never try – but I do think they’d be well advised to write this off as quickly and quietly as possible. I’d also remind vigorously myself that Alexandru Mitrita and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi were not available to help claw back the goal. (While I’m not totally clear on the relationship between plausible counter-factuals and bullshit, I hereby acknowledge that I’d use them often as I could if I ever coached a professional team.) Meanwhile, back in the real, non-parenthetical world, New York City FC just surrendered its first home loss to a team that played its defensive back-ups. Also, games like this are enough to make me wonder whether the whole East-v-West divide is real.
I don’t have a lot to add besides, "hot damn!” but here’s me doing it anyway….
- Anyone who feels shaky on the Mabiala/Cascante partnership should feel delighted at what they saw out of the Mabiala/Dielna pairing tonight. What if all it takes is Dielna getting a role he understands?
- Zarek Valentin pushed pretty for up Portland’s left, right? More to the point, did that make you feel uncomfortable in any way?
- Cristhian Paredes did not start tonight and Ebobisse came off the bench. The team was fine all night without the former, and it might have gotten better when the latter came on (that’s where I am), and I’m good with all of those realities.
- Finally, Steve Clark was a beast, Mabiala was a beast, Blanco was a beast. All the same, this whole thing wouldn’t have come off unless every other single player on the field showed up and played well. They did. 1-0 Portland, and that’s the first home loss for New York City FC all season. It’s totally OK to enjoy that.
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