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| You taste it after. Trust me. |
My man of the match for the Portland Timbers 2-1, get-on-to-the-next-round win over the Houston Dynamo was Larrys Mabiala. The reason: as born out by the box score, Houston set up the penultimate ball over and over again - and they posted 24 shots (over Portland’s 13), and crossed into the area 22 times (to Portland’s eight, a refreshing detail) - but one Timber or another got in the way of damn near everyone of those shots and crosses. The Dynamo’s four shots on target attest to that. Mabiala didn’t cut out everything that flew into the area, but he cleared more than his share, and I think Portland owes the win to its defensive core.
Before going on, I simply have to share my delight at hearing ESPN’s Alejandro Moreno talk about the staggering end of the Houston Dynamo dynasty, the 2011 and 2012 MLS Cup teams that “succeeded” by playing the grinding brand of soccer that fans enjoyed and neutrals endured, maybe even suffered. A throwback to the Bobby Boswell/Geoff Cameron juggernaut was a moment for a guy who marched through the first 20 years of MLS history (e.g., me; for the record, Moreno was on the much more compelling 2006 MLS Cup-winning Houston team).
Back to the present, Moreno dredged up that history in the context of the Dynamo’s shaky recent history - e.g., missing the playoffs, and badly, for four out of the past five years (and they finished 10th in 2017, the one season they made it; grim shit). The question was posed as a trade-off - pleasure versus success, enjoying watching your team versus reaching a final - and, as an argument, it manages to be fair and irrelevant in the same breath. Those early 2010s Houston teams took bigger risks on attacking talent (e.g., legit MLS legend Brad Davis getting enough out of Will Bruin and Cam Weaver), while Houston’s more recent editions looked to the best attacking talent Honduras has to offer - e.g., Alberth Elis, Mauro Manotas, and, until this season, Romell Quioto - often at the expense of a good defense, on the grounds they’d run over the opposition.
With more money coming into the league [Ed. - This is too loose], Houston has been able to hold on to its Honduran talent (Quioto excepted, who, incidentally, did all right for Montreal this week) and build up its defense a bit. They’ve still struggled a bit over past couple seasons, coming in over average, but not heavily, for goals against, but they’ve also attempted to cure by calling in Aljaz Struna and Matias Vera in 2019, then ripping the fucking heart out of Timbers’ fans by swiping up Zarek Valentin for their 2020 roster. All the same…surely, I’m not the only one who saw Houston try to win this game by pressing Portland, right? Especially after they went down at the 35th minute by way of a straight-up glorious striker’s goal by Jeremy Ebobisse.
To return to the Timbers, I’m still hung up on the question of whether they ceded the game to Houston or if the Dynamo just took it. I’m inclined to the former, mostly because, rare occasions aside (Jorge? buddy?), the Timbers looked composed and in command throughout the game. Even when Houston’s pressing pinned in a Timbers player, and this wasn’t rare, they opted for the smart play over searching for the best one. It wasn’t inspiring necessarily, I didn’t email Bayern Munich’s exhibition planner an email that read “BRING IT, MFs!,” but this Timbers team did what veteran-lead teams do: they went up a goal and managed the game from there.
Diego Valeri scored the Timbers game-winning goal and, while I wouldn’t necessarily call the goal “soft,” there was some element of the Dynamo defense getting caught with its pants down. To narrate the moment, Mabiala plays a ball over the top and into space for Eryk Williamson (who didn’t have the best night on either side of this), who finds Valeri not far from the penalty spot; from there, Valeri sets up his left to get around a defender and pings it off the far post. Game, set, match, three points and the next round to Portland. All that’s good. Really…c’mon, you know what’s coming…or do you?
Some number of minutes before that - it could have been ten minutes, it could have been five - I mentioned to my wife (who came in and out of watching the game) that I wanted Portland to sub out Valeri. That impulse had less to do with anything Valeri did or didn’t do than it did with keeping his legs fresh in the event that this game ended in a draw or, gods forbid, a loss, and Portland needing a result against Los Angeles FC in the last game of the group stage. The secondary thought was that nothing really looked to be clicking for anyone, never mind Valeri, so what would pulling him do but rest his legs? Having paid enough attention to catch the detail, my wife asked me whether I accepted I was wrong to think Valeri should come off. Because that’s what someone who hears your bullshit all day, every day (e.g., one’s wife) does…
Put it this way: I think most attacking players on Portland’s roster have the talent to score that goal, but I’m less sure about how many possess the savvy to find that gap and the sang froid to cut out the defender with that cut-back. Valeri remains a special player, even if he's an aging one...
Houston would later pull one back through a justified penalty, drawn by Elis (and a bad decision by Villafana) and scored by him as well, but a snake-bit familiarity loomed over their game. I’m pretty to somewhat certain people have pegged Houston as a dark horse for as long as the Honduran contingent has been in town (this site very much included), but their results keep speaking for themselves. I won’t lie: I wondered whether something had shifted when Houston went toe-to-toe in their opening MWoMLS (“Magical Word of Major League Soccer”) throw-down against LAFC, but tonight’s performance possessed the bitter tang of Houston seasons past - e.g., a team more capable of whipping up anxiety than results.
The box score notwithstanding, I’d call Houston both the better and more entertaining team on the night, but I doubt any Dynamo fan would trade style points for the result. Portland got it, though, and they’re through to the knockout round, and clean. And that’s…good (there is no pandemic and a perversely-related police-state crackdown, there is no pandemic and a perversely-related police-state crackdown). I’ll close out with some bullet points, starting with that one…
- How does Portland approach the LAFC game? Do you want the result against a team that’s been a pain the ass since they’ve joined MLS more than you want to rest key players for the knockout rounds and, ideally, beyond? Personally, I haven’t answered this yet.
- Both have been good so far during MWoMLS, but I have more faith in the defense than I have in the offense. That has a lot to do with depth - Dario Zuparic feels like somewhere between 2nd and 4th on the depth chart, but Portland has four decent CBs available - and it was comforting to see Chris Duvall sub on after Pablo Bonilla came off. Sure, the Timbers might be thin at left back, but who isn’t? The attack, on the other hand, looked closer to its age in the second game than it did in the first. Once Houston got the upper hand of aggression, they left the Timbers offense feasting on scraps. It worked, because result, but (sin of sins) Valeri visibly doesn’t have the pace he once had that both matters and requires adjustment, by Valeri and everyone else. That’s neither good nor bad, it simply…is. And it will be for the rest of 2020, maybe even into 2021. Fuck it, I’m here for all of it.
- About the new recruits, after dazzling against the Galaxy, I saw a person or two call for Eryk Williamson’s (immediate) removal tonight and, his assist aside, that wasn’t unjustified - in the moment. I’d call Yimmi Chara a new addition as well and, after a genuinely promising start (say, the first 30 minutes), he more or less checked out as a factor in this game until Gio Savarese checked him out officially at the 60th minute (for Andy Polo, incidentally, who I think I only saw when he subbed on). As the great moral philosopher Hannah Montana once said, “everybody has bad days,” so I’m willing to write this one off. All the same, the Timbers need replacements for their (frankly) aging stars and, as I see it, the future is now.
- About that, someone on twitter noted the continued absence of Cristian Paredes in the line-up and, given what he looked like in 2019, and I get that. My response follows, more or less, from the paragraph above. At time of writing, this looks like Paredes and Williamson wrestling for the same spot and, at their best, both give the Timbers different upsides/downsides as a partner to Chara. I haven’t resolved where I land on this question yet, but I do think Williamson will provide the more dynamic option going forward…it’s what happens going the other way that I worry about.
And…that’s it for this one. For what it’s worth, I’d prefer the Timbers rest players for the final Group F game against LAFC, even if it means eating a loss. I haven’t even sort of started to figure out how the brackets work, but, based on the faith I have in Portland’s defense and veteran leadership in offense, they look good enough to compete in the MWoMLS. More to the point, they’ve proved it so far.
Wait, never mind, I just figured out how the brackets will work - at least for a team that finishes either first or second in Group F, as the Timbers will. According to this page, the winner of Group F faces the second-place-team in Group E - which will be either FC Cincinnati or the New York Red Bulls - while the second-place team of Group F faces…the second place team of Group B?? (Seriously, Group B, aka, the group with the San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC? And you’re telling me this wasn’t rigged?!) I’m confident Seattle will beat Vancouver tomorrow (but who knows?). Even if I can’t call Chicago versus San Jose (that’s tomorrow), I feel pretty good about Chicago getting something out of the game against Vancouver, and that gets them to (probably) six points, regardless of what anyone else does. And yet it’s only now that I realize I opened a can of worms…can every season be a succession of these kinds of tournaments because they’re quite fun…but I digress…
To close on a point divergent from most of what I said and assumed above, there could be some merit to Portland starting its starters against LAFC. What does a player in preseason 2.0 need more than match fitness? And how does one get match fitness? If you answered “playing matches,” you’re right!
All the same, Portland does have some old guys. And what if the season really does continue from here? More next time.
Before going on, I simply have to share my delight at hearing ESPN’s Alejandro Moreno talk about the staggering end of the Houston Dynamo dynasty, the 2011 and 2012 MLS Cup teams that “succeeded” by playing the grinding brand of soccer that fans enjoyed and neutrals endured, maybe even suffered. A throwback to the Bobby Boswell/Geoff Cameron juggernaut was a moment for a guy who marched through the first 20 years of MLS history (e.g., me; for the record, Moreno was on the much more compelling 2006 MLS Cup-winning Houston team).
Back to the present, Moreno dredged up that history in the context of the Dynamo’s shaky recent history - e.g., missing the playoffs, and badly, for four out of the past five years (and they finished 10th in 2017, the one season they made it; grim shit). The question was posed as a trade-off - pleasure versus success, enjoying watching your team versus reaching a final - and, as an argument, it manages to be fair and irrelevant in the same breath. Those early 2010s Houston teams took bigger risks on attacking talent (e.g., legit MLS legend Brad Davis getting enough out of Will Bruin and Cam Weaver), while Houston’s more recent editions looked to the best attacking talent Honduras has to offer - e.g., Alberth Elis, Mauro Manotas, and, until this season, Romell Quioto - often at the expense of a good defense, on the grounds they’d run over the opposition.
With more money coming into the league [Ed. - This is too loose], Houston has been able to hold on to its Honduran talent (Quioto excepted, who, incidentally, did all right for Montreal this week) and build up its defense a bit. They’ve still struggled a bit over past couple seasons, coming in over average, but not heavily, for goals against, but they’ve also attempted to cure by calling in Aljaz Struna and Matias Vera in 2019, then ripping the fucking heart out of Timbers’ fans by swiping up Zarek Valentin for their 2020 roster. All the same…surely, I’m not the only one who saw Houston try to win this game by pressing Portland, right? Especially after they went down at the 35th minute by way of a straight-up glorious striker’s goal by Jeremy Ebobisse.
To return to the Timbers, I’m still hung up on the question of whether they ceded the game to Houston or if the Dynamo just took it. I’m inclined to the former, mostly because, rare occasions aside (Jorge? buddy?), the Timbers looked composed and in command throughout the game. Even when Houston’s pressing pinned in a Timbers player, and this wasn’t rare, they opted for the smart play over searching for the best one. It wasn’t inspiring necessarily, I didn’t email Bayern Munich’s exhibition planner an email that read “BRING IT, MFs!,” but this Timbers team did what veteran-lead teams do: they went up a goal and managed the game from there.
Diego Valeri scored the Timbers game-winning goal and, while I wouldn’t necessarily call the goal “soft,” there was some element of the Dynamo defense getting caught with its pants down. To narrate the moment, Mabiala plays a ball over the top and into space for Eryk Williamson (who didn’t have the best night on either side of this), who finds Valeri not far from the penalty spot; from there, Valeri sets up his left to get around a defender and pings it off the far post. Game, set, match, three points and the next round to Portland. All that’s good. Really…c’mon, you know what’s coming…or do you?
Some number of minutes before that - it could have been ten minutes, it could have been five - I mentioned to my wife (who came in and out of watching the game) that I wanted Portland to sub out Valeri. That impulse had less to do with anything Valeri did or didn’t do than it did with keeping his legs fresh in the event that this game ended in a draw or, gods forbid, a loss, and Portland needing a result against Los Angeles FC in the last game of the group stage. The secondary thought was that nothing really looked to be clicking for anyone, never mind Valeri, so what would pulling him do but rest his legs? Having paid enough attention to catch the detail, my wife asked me whether I accepted I was wrong to think Valeri should come off. Because that’s what someone who hears your bullshit all day, every day (e.g., one’s wife) does…
Put it this way: I think most attacking players on Portland’s roster have the talent to score that goal, but I’m less sure about how many possess the savvy to find that gap and the sang froid to cut out the defender with that cut-back. Valeri remains a special player, even if he's an aging one...
Houston would later pull one back through a justified penalty, drawn by Elis (and a bad decision by Villafana) and scored by him as well, but a snake-bit familiarity loomed over their game. I’m pretty to somewhat certain people have pegged Houston as a dark horse for as long as the Honduran contingent has been in town (this site very much included), but their results keep speaking for themselves. I won’t lie: I wondered whether something had shifted when Houston went toe-to-toe in their opening MWoMLS (“Magical Word of Major League Soccer”) throw-down against LAFC, but tonight’s performance possessed the bitter tang of Houston seasons past - e.g., a team more capable of whipping up anxiety than results.
The box score notwithstanding, I’d call Houston both the better and more entertaining team on the night, but I doubt any Dynamo fan would trade style points for the result. Portland got it, though, and they’re through to the knockout round, and clean. And that’s…good (there is no pandemic and a perversely-related police-state crackdown, there is no pandemic and a perversely-related police-state crackdown). I’ll close out with some bullet points, starting with that one…
- How does Portland approach the LAFC game? Do you want the result against a team that’s been a pain the ass since they’ve joined MLS more than you want to rest key players for the knockout rounds and, ideally, beyond? Personally, I haven’t answered this yet.
- Both have been good so far during MWoMLS, but I have more faith in the defense than I have in the offense. That has a lot to do with depth - Dario Zuparic feels like somewhere between 2nd and 4th on the depth chart, but Portland has four decent CBs available - and it was comforting to see Chris Duvall sub on after Pablo Bonilla came off. Sure, the Timbers might be thin at left back, but who isn’t? The attack, on the other hand, looked closer to its age in the second game than it did in the first. Once Houston got the upper hand of aggression, they left the Timbers offense feasting on scraps. It worked, because result, but (sin of sins) Valeri visibly doesn’t have the pace he once had that both matters and requires adjustment, by Valeri and everyone else. That’s neither good nor bad, it simply…is. And it will be for the rest of 2020, maybe even into 2021. Fuck it, I’m here for all of it.
- About the new recruits, after dazzling against the Galaxy, I saw a person or two call for Eryk Williamson’s (immediate) removal tonight and, his assist aside, that wasn’t unjustified - in the moment. I’d call Yimmi Chara a new addition as well and, after a genuinely promising start (say, the first 30 minutes), he more or less checked out as a factor in this game until Gio Savarese checked him out officially at the 60th minute (for Andy Polo, incidentally, who I think I only saw when he subbed on). As the great moral philosopher Hannah Montana once said, “everybody has bad days,” so I’m willing to write this one off. All the same, the Timbers need replacements for their (frankly) aging stars and, as I see it, the future is now.
- About that, someone on twitter noted the continued absence of Cristian Paredes in the line-up and, given what he looked like in 2019, and I get that. My response follows, more or less, from the paragraph above. At time of writing, this looks like Paredes and Williamson wrestling for the same spot and, at their best, both give the Timbers different upsides/downsides as a partner to Chara. I haven’t resolved where I land on this question yet, but I do think Williamson will provide the more dynamic option going forward…it’s what happens going the other way that I worry about.
And…that’s it for this one. For what it’s worth, I’d prefer the Timbers rest players for the final Group F game against LAFC, even if it means eating a loss. I haven’t even sort of started to figure out how the brackets work, but, based on the faith I have in Portland’s defense and veteran leadership in offense, they look good enough to compete in the MWoMLS. More to the point, they’ve proved it so far.
Wait, never mind, I just figured out how the brackets will work - at least for a team that finishes either first or second in Group F, as the Timbers will. According to this page, the winner of Group F faces the second-place-team in Group E - which will be either FC Cincinnati or the New York Red Bulls - while the second-place team of Group F faces…the second place team of Group B?? (Seriously, Group B, aka, the group with the San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC? And you’re telling me this wasn’t rigged?!) I’m confident Seattle will beat Vancouver tomorrow (but who knows?). Even if I can’t call Chicago versus San Jose (that’s tomorrow), I feel pretty good about Chicago getting something out of the game against Vancouver, and that gets them to (probably) six points, regardless of what anyone else does. And yet it’s only now that I realize I opened a can of worms…can every season be a succession of these kinds of tournaments because they’re quite fun…but I digress…
To close on a point divergent from most of what I said and assumed above, there could be some merit to Portland starting its starters against LAFC. What does a player in preseason 2.0 need more than match fitness? And how does one get match fitness? If you answered “playing matches,” you’re right!
All the same, Portland does have some old guys. And what if the season really does continue from here? More next time.
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