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| Dream bigger, MLS. |
Not to rehash an evil evening, but I was very much split-screening the Portland Timbers, frankly, bizarre 4-4 draw at “home” against Real Salt Lake. Suffice to say, it was a strange and messy night over the West Hills last night. The Portland Police keep letting in these weird right-wing goon mobs, knowing it riles up the locals…also, it feels really goddamn deliberate. And bound to lead to violence. These are the times. Anyway, I watched more of that when I wanted and missed out on the fugue state I try to achieve when watching sports. Getting there takes some doing….
Maybe Timbers players had the pick-up-n-flags parade in their heads as they warmed up. RSL players had a whale-sized distraction of their own, what with the “Dell Roy Hansen said what?” meltdown. I don’t know if any of that mattered, but both teams played this double-whiplash draw with a certain, who-knows-how-long-we’ll-play abandon. Things feel oddly contingent lately.
While I wouldn’t call the game fun, a lot of things happened. It was busy. It was open. It was a rare night when everyone seemed constantly surprised by everything, when eyeing the next opportunity was more important than marking, and so on. It felt soft, basically, like an all-star game. Or, again, maybe everybody’s a bit distracted lately.
Overall, I’m trying to find a way to explain how a team that played stout defense during its MLS Is Back “Cup run” has allowed an average of 3.5 goals against over its last two games. And don’t gimme that shit about sample size.
The Seattle loss followed a well-worn pattern (their stone wall defense and sufficient attack, which struck again) and didn’t disturb me as a result. But, seeing the Timbers cough up four goals in the very next game and, no offense, to Real Salt Lake? Mudville has been better. To the Timbers’ credit, they played to their strength and got production from just about everyone you’d want them to in the attack, whether old standards like Sebastian Blanco or (and please) some succession and/or bridge players in Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Felipe Mora. Portland counter-punched both smartly and timely to make the game 4-2 in the…Jesus Christ, 85th minute(?), and that gets to the question that’s on the mind of anyone who still cares about Timbers soccer right now: how the HELL did Portland give up two goals during second half stoppage?
Credit where it’s due, though, RSL played the better game. I’d call the box score both reflective of the game and instructive. Both teams created decent chances - the Timbers even had the better strike-rate (fwiw, I thought you could see this) - but Salt Lake created almost twice as many while producing the proximate effect that Portland’s goal would never be safe, no, not ever, no. As such, I wasn’t surprised when I poked my head up from doom-scrolling on the shithead caravan to see Giuseppe Rossi pivot a great shot into the side netting to pull one back, or when Sam Johnson mopped up a Corey Baird run that, on a better night, would have been knocked straight on its ass, yellow cards be damned, to level the game at the death. Again, this was after Portland scored four goals themselves - including one very much gifted to them by RSL ‘keeper Andrew Putna.
Even with that goal, a gift, in their hands, Portland couldn’t close this out. What the hell happened?
This sounds dull, honestly, but at least three of those goals followed from a persistent inability to clear the ball when it bounced around the area. RSL’s first, third and fourth goals all came off second balls (here's the first one; the other two are linked to above), whether from a cross or a set-piece and, every time the Timbers tried to clear it, someone would get in the way like somebody cursed the damn thing to stay in there. Place it where you will on the spectrum between sloppy and incompetent, break them down however you need to, Portland gave up, again, seven goals over two games, both of them at home. And that’s the real kicker because defense carried this team to world’s best sundae bowl during the MLS Is Back tournament. While far from lights out, the Timbers defense generally kept teams down to one goal per game and, with the attack firing as it was, they won games, chewed bubble gum, kicked ass and went to the nearest Friendly’s to righteously fill up that bowl.
To finally get to the point, how did the balanced, sound team from the Orlando bubble turn into a team that can’t stop leaking goals?
For whatever reason, whether it’s returning to Portland or leaving the Magical World of Major League Soccer (maybe it was belief?!), something has scrambled the Timbers’ defense. In that vein, I hereby aver without confirmation that at least two of the goals Seattle scored against Portland found their way home with a little nudge from Providence. Part of me wants to put it down to bad luck - e.g., when you flail away the ball and don’t hit anyone, you like competent at worst, but, when it bounces around the box… - while another part of me worries that teams have scoped some ways to play against Larrys Mabiala’s and Dario Zuparic’s strengths - e.g., semi-aggressive to aggressive stepping up.
Whatever it is that has flipped the script, I haven’t seen it yet (but do mind the notes about distractions). Portland plays the Los Angeles Galaxy this Wednesday, and that’s at home too, followed by Seattle, Los Angeles FC, and the (rescheduled) San Jose Earthquakes after that, all of those on the road. On the low-hanging side, Timbers fans will know that Portland has home stadium issues if they tighten up the defense (and/or win some games) when they hit that streak of away games. I don’t see that lazy hypothetical to come good, while also having no goddamn clue of what to expect over the next four games. God’s honest truth, I can see them winning all four, drawing three of them, and losing them all.
I mean only half of that, of course, but what I really mean is this: the Timbers rate of success or failure seems uniquely sensitive to how their opposition chooses to play against them. Related, I can see a minimum of two of those teams (Seattle and LAFC) letting Portland play their best style. They might have some incentive to do otherwise - I haven’t looked past these six current games, so I don’t know if there’s anything to game going forward - but I assume everyone’s playing to win everything they can between now and mid-September, if only to best position themselves for...
I won’t lie, these last two losses (along with the permanent flaming shit-show that lurks on the edges of our daily consciousness) have shaken my confidence in a Timbers Glorious March to the Future. The offense has been good so far this season, but the defense has been a little bit better. Seeing the team only half show up - e.g., offense, present; defense…defense? - rips away that security blanket that says everything will be all right. I miss it, for now, but I also think it’ll come back. In the here and now, though, I have no goddamn idea what to make of this result, and for either team. It went against recent, happy type for Portland and I don’t know a damn thing about RSL. After the question of whether or not MLS will finish this season, and have Thanksgiving (hate that holiday...hic!) and Christmas, and this pertains only to the spectator sports extended universe, my biggest question is how the Timbers will play the next four games. And whether that back four can reconnect with the two main players in front of them. As much as anything else, coaches around the league should review the video on this game to figure out how RSL so consistently bedeviled the Timbers. There are games to be won, after all…
To close on a high note, Niezgoda looks quietly effective, both as a combination player and as a quietly lethal finisher. The same goes for Mora; he teased in one hell of a goal tonight (srsly, that’s my goal of the week), but I’ve been just as impressed by how he holds up the ball. I’m starting to think there’s something to both players, and hope they keep proving that estimation right.
Maybe Timbers players had the pick-up-n-flags parade in their heads as they warmed up. RSL players had a whale-sized distraction of their own, what with the “Dell Roy Hansen said what?” meltdown. I don’t know if any of that mattered, but both teams played this double-whiplash draw with a certain, who-knows-how-long-we’ll-play abandon. Things feel oddly contingent lately.
While I wouldn’t call the game fun, a lot of things happened. It was busy. It was open. It was a rare night when everyone seemed constantly surprised by everything, when eyeing the next opportunity was more important than marking, and so on. It felt soft, basically, like an all-star game. Or, again, maybe everybody’s a bit distracted lately.
Overall, I’m trying to find a way to explain how a team that played stout defense during its MLS Is Back “Cup run” has allowed an average of 3.5 goals against over its last two games. And don’t gimme that shit about sample size.
The Seattle loss followed a well-worn pattern (their stone wall defense and sufficient attack, which struck again) and didn’t disturb me as a result. But, seeing the Timbers cough up four goals in the very next game and, no offense, to Real Salt Lake? Mudville has been better. To the Timbers’ credit, they played to their strength and got production from just about everyone you’d want them to in the attack, whether old standards like Sebastian Blanco or (and please) some succession and/or bridge players in Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Felipe Mora. Portland counter-punched both smartly and timely to make the game 4-2 in the…Jesus Christ, 85th minute(?), and that gets to the question that’s on the mind of anyone who still cares about Timbers soccer right now: how the HELL did Portland give up two goals during second half stoppage?
Credit where it’s due, though, RSL played the better game. I’d call the box score both reflective of the game and instructive. Both teams created decent chances - the Timbers even had the better strike-rate (fwiw, I thought you could see this) - but Salt Lake created almost twice as many while producing the proximate effect that Portland’s goal would never be safe, no, not ever, no. As such, I wasn’t surprised when I poked my head up from doom-scrolling on the shithead caravan to see Giuseppe Rossi pivot a great shot into the side netting to pull one back, or when Sam Johnson mopped up a Corey Baird run that, on a better night, would have been knocked straight on its ass, yellow cards be damned, to level the game at the death. Again, this was after Portland scored four goals themselves - including one very much gifted to them by RSL ‘keeper Andrew Putna.
Even with that goal, a gift, in their hands, Portland couldn’t close this out. What the hell happened?
This sounds dull, honestly, but at least three of those goals followed from a persistent inability to clear the ball when it bounced around the area. RSL’s first, third and fourth goals all came off second balls (here's the first one; the other two are linked to above), whether from a cross or a set-piece and, every time the Timbers tried to clear it, someone would get in the way like somebody cursed the damn thing to stay in there. Place it where you will on the spectrum between sloppy and incompetent, break them down however you need to, Portland gave up, again, seven goals over two games, both of them at home. And that’s the real kicker because defense carried this team to world’s best sundae bowl during the MLS Is Back tournament. While far from lights out, the Timbers defense generally kept teams down to one goal per game and, with the attack firing as it was, they won games, chewed bubble gum, kicked ass and went to the nearest Friendly’s to righteously fill up that bowl.
To finally get to the point, how did the balanced, sound team from the Orlando bubble turn into a team that can’t stop leaking goals?
For whatever reason, whether it’s returning to Portland or leaving the Magical World of Major League Soccer (maybe it was belief?!), something has scrambled the Timbers’ defense. In that vein, I hereby aver without confirmation that at least two of the goals Seattle scored against Portland found their way home with a little nudge from Providence. Part of me wants to put it down to bad luck - e.g., when you flail away the ball and don’t hit anyone, you like competent at worst, but, when it bounces around the box… - while another part of me worries that teams have scoped some ways to play against Larrys Mabiala’s and Dario Zuparic’s strengths - e.g., semi-aggressive to aggressive stepping up.
Whatever it is that has flipped the script, I haven’t seen it yet (but do mind the notes about distractions). Portland plays the Los Angeles Galaxy this Wednesday, and that’s at home too, followed by Seattle, Los Angeles FC, and the (rescheduled) San Jose Earthquakes after that, all of those on the road. On the low-hanging side, Timbers fans will know that Portland has home stadium issues if they tighten up the defense (and/or win some games) when they hit that streak of away games. I don’t see that lazy hypothetical to come good, while also having no goddamn clue of what to expect over the next four games. God’s honest truth, I can see them winning all four, drawing three of them, and losing them all.
I mean only half of that, of course, but what I really mean is this: the Timbers rate of success or failure seems uniquely sensitive to how their opposition chooses to play against them. Related, I can see a minimum of two of those teams (Seattle and LAFC) letting Portland play their best style. They might have some incentive to do otherwise - I haven’t looked past these six current games, so I don’t know if there’s anything to game going forward - but I assume everyone’s playing to win everything they can between now and mid-September, if only to best position themselves for...
I won’t lie, these last two losses (along with the permanent flaming shit-show that lurks on the edges of our daily consciousness) have shaken my confidence in a Timbers Glorious March to the Future. The offense has been good so far this season, but the defense has been a little bit better. Seeing the team only half show up - e.g., offense, present; defense…defense? - rips away that security blanket that says everything will be all right. I miss it, for now, but I also think it’ll come back. In the here and now, though, I have no goddamn idea what to make of this result, and for either team. It went against recent, happy type for Portland and I don’t know a damn thing about RSL. After the question of whether or not MLS will finish this season, and have Thanksgiving (hate that holiday...hic!) and Christmas, and this pertains only to the spectator sports extended universe, my biggest question is how the Timbers will play the next four games. And whether that back four can reconnect with the two main players in front of them. As much as anything else, coaches around the league should review the video on this game to figure out how RSL so consistently bedeviled the Timbers. There are games to be won, after all…
To close on a high note, Niezgoda looks quietly effective, both as a combination player and as a quietly lethal finisher. The same goes for Mora; he teased in one hell of a goal tonight (srsly, that’s my goal of the week), but I’ve been just as impressed by how he holds up the ball. I’m starting to think there’s something to both players, and hope they keep proving that estimation right.
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