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| Blake, buddy, c'mon. It's win-win. |
A tight affair falls apart when Diego Chara misplays a pass and a combination of Younes Namli and Diego Rubio gets it vertical fast enough to bump the ball over to Kellyn Acosta, who flawlessly executed a “shall-we-dance” one-step around the Bill Tuiloma in the 83rd minute to tuck home the only goal scored tonight.
Also, and shit, the rumors were true: the Portland Timbers didn’t manage a shot on goal tonight and that’s the surest way in the sport to lose a game 0-1 at home and coursing down the stretch. Also, don’t worry, I’ll actually write about the game this time. You’ll see…
That said, the balance of the notes will talk about all the players who took the field tonight in big picture terms, but, to focus on tonight’s 96 minutes’ worth of…not ideal…
I’m going to start by referring back to my post on the last Timbers’ game, e.g., the 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps (in a past that feels like 20 years ago). That’s not a great piece of writing, but I want to reiterate what I see as a major, unappreciated idea in most discussions about soccer: every game is different, and for a dozen different reasons. That’s the broad argument, but things get really different any time a team doesn’t play what it believes to be its best team - I phrased it that way specifically to talk around armchair managing - which is what the Timbers did tonight, and certain things follow from that.
As much as I feel like the Timbers started all right - e.g., they looked fine over the first 10 minutes - they slipped off the front foot from there and to the end of the first half. It wasn’t that they did nothing - they created a decent kerfuffle, in fact, as the first half was winding down (dignity!) - but the threat never rose elevated above kerfuffling and the Timbers didn’t score and therefore didn’t win, and that’s all you really need to know….but, if you’d like to kick this thing around until it doesn’t get up, well, you’ve come to the right place.
Because I’m struggling to say it at all, I’ll just have to say it unartfully: why would you expect an attack run by, in descending order, Felipe Mora, Eryk Williamson, Diego Chara…it’s getting harder, um, Andy Polo(?), Pablo Bonilla/Marco Farfan, uh, Cristhian Paredes, then Andres Flores (who I’m still tempted to tuck under Bill Tuiloma, but…) to mount a competent offense against, 1) a defensively competent Colorado side (5th best in a 12-team Western Conference, and seven fewer goals against than Portland), and 2) those players running the show? Examples of just how much the personnel matters abounded in the first half in the form of passes mis-hit by 10% or more (Paredes), or players dribbling into slowly-forming cul-de-sacs for lack of a better idea (Paredes); I’m dumping on Paredes out of frustration, but everyone all the way to Chara was guilty of it.
Giovanni Savarese massaged the line-up into shape with subs, starting with Yimmi Chara coming on for the uncharacteristically useful Andres Flores (see below) and, later, Diego Valeri for Williamson, who’d faded out of the game during the first half and never quite found the second (more below). The balance shifted when Yimmi came on and flipped all the way when Valeri did. Mora wasn’t fielding hopeful passes on an island for one, but a pressing style generally works better when you’ve got somewhere to go with the ball - something the Timbers didn’t have throughout the first half, because see above.
As much as the attack cohered into something dangerous over the second half - Jorge Villafana’s shot off the wrong side of his foot from Valeri’s seeing eye heel pass started the Timbers’ best period and Dairon Asprilla’s shot off the post ended it (and they also had a nice detour in some interplay between Yimmi and Mora; maybe you have to watch the full highlights to get any of that)) - they didn’t get it done, not even conceptually. The most menacing thing Rapids’ ‘keeper William Yarbrough saw tonight was Dario Zuparic’s body flopping into it.
So, no, it wasn’t a good night, but I can’t get angry at it. I’ve been begging to get some of Portland’s…more mature players rested for some time now. I’m only half-satisfied on that count, because Savarese rested Valeri, but decided to play Chara…who, for all his works, good and imperfect, picked up a (well-deserved) yellow card. He’ll miss Sunday’s game against Los Angeles FC as a result and, to read the letter of the law, Chara was lucky to not get sent off for a late challenge on…didn’t write it in my notes, but it happened and you get my point. If I had to choose which game I’d have Chara play between Colorado and LAFC, I’d choose LAFC every time. That’s not because I’m right or when it’s happening, or any clear, coherent argument, it’s just what I feel, and that’s how America works right now, so there.
By all that I mean, I’ve got a general anxiety around burn-out. Given the results and, let’s face it, genuinely complicated man-management that Gio has faced during the 2020 season - and that’s before holding the pandemic shit together - every argument I make about what is or is not working comes into the conversation facing an uphill stumble. Against that, Valeri came on and shined like the gem he is; I mean, you could see how much he stretched the defense just by being him (gravity, baby), and he didn’t burn his legs too much to boot with only 35 minutes played. I’d call that a decent gamble. Gio also deserves props, in my book, for getting Williamson off the field in short order after Diego Chara picked up the yellow card that keeps him out of the regular season finale at LAFC...
…and just to flag it, you know you’ve still got Renzo Zambrano, right, Gio?
That’s it for game-specific commentary. Went on longer than I thought it would, honestly, but I think some of that bleeds into what I’ll do in the rest of the post - especially the stuff about Williamson and Flores I flagged in parentheses above. The rest of this post will pick through all the Timbers’ reasonable depth to try to peg where they fit in the grand scheme going into Fucked Up 2020 Playoffs, and wherever the Timbers hit it. Taking them in the order they’re listed in the box score (mostly not worth your time, but also flagged with an asterisk), or that they come to me:
Bill…wait, stop…
Larrys Mabiala*: He’s the anchor of my back-line, full-stop.
Dario Zuparic*: Quietly solid tonight, invisible yet often the answer to the question, “how did that attack break down?” My other starting center back, no question.
Bill Tuiloma: He’s good cover, and generally makes me feel safe, but, the latest revisions to the rules be damned, I would have called that a penalty (i.e., if there’s dead air behind you and your hand stops the progress of the ball?), and Tuiloma doesn't stray so far from that as a defender.
Marco Farfan*: Didn’t like seeing him leaving with a non-contact injury. Just pissed off.
Jorge Villafana: He does good things in the attack and enough in the defense. Not really happy about the absence of an understudy, but I think that’s the deal.
Pablo Bonilla*: I’ve come around on him and, again, if he’s all that’s left, so be it, but he got pulled apart and rounded as much as Farfan did tonight. I’m not too worried because I haven’t seen that a lot, but Colorado knew how to work the Timbers’ fullbacks.
Andres Flores*: This will be longer-form. I value Flores on the roster because he’s reliable and you know exactly what you’ll get out of him - e.g., 100% hustle and brains, but not a lot else. While I’m generally a fan, and on the grounds he doesn’t fuck up much and does the odd good thing, Flores didn’t do much good tonight. I still think he’s a solid piece for the current playoff stretch, and he beats a kick in the head, but this is one of those “don’t be afraid to upgrade situations” that cell phone companies talk about…if with less justification.
Andy Polo*: I’d call that his best night of 2020, and, yes, even better than this goal, because he did more to move the cause forward tonight than he sometimes does, and that's more important in the grand scheme. He killed his share of plays too and, bluntly, that one comment explains the concept of a starting eleven better than I ever will. He's never been central to Portland's plans, so...
Cristhian Paredes*: Somewhere around the 50th minute, he had a surging run up the gut and with numbers around him that a decent attacking player would consistently turn into a shot. Instead, he over-hit the pass, and the attack strained against the weight of it from that pass forward. If he defended strongly, he’d have a role; if he could do what Williamson does, he’d have a role. Paredes doesn’t have a role, not in Portland.
Diego Chara*: Vital. Still.
Eryk Williamson*: Based on what I saw tonight, I don’t see him replacing Valeri’s particular skill-set. Honestly, the more I watch Williamson, the more I think he looks like Michael Bradley, only better on the dribble and close combination more than the long-ball, someone who will do his best work on late runs. That’s just my sense…
Felipe Mora*: A one-man army, and facing tall odds tonight. He can’t quite lead the line (too small), but Mora can make shit happen so long as he can get people close enough to him. I’m totally sold on this signing.
Diego Valeri*: I’m starting to wonder if this season wasn’t tailor-made for the Maestro…
Marvin Loria: I don’t know what’s going on, but he’s just not doing it this season, and on either side of the ball.
Renzo Zambrano: The fact that Zambrano hasn’t started is like the Michele Miscavige mystery of the Timbers in 2020.
Yimmi Chara*: Solid addition. I think he’ll get better too.
Dairon Asprilla*: As I’ve said every season since he’s joined the team, why not? (And with good reason!)
Tomas Conechny: For emergency use only at this point.
Steve Clark: When he’s confident, he’s very good.
Aljaz Ivacic: His one bad game has stuck with me.
Jeff Attinella: He’s still on the team? If so, good.
Chris Duvall: Is he broken? If not, hurray!
Jeremy Ebobisse: Given everyone who’s missing, Ebobisse becomes even more important to the team. Not at the risk of his health, but, absolutely, I believe the Timbers have a chance at winning MLS Cup if he’s healthy, less so if he’s not.
OK, I think that’s everyone who I think has a snowball’s chance of getting on a game-day roster between today and the end of 2020 - i.e., all the respect in the world, Blake Bodily, and I will buy you Burt Reynold’s Trans Am from Smokey and the Mother Fucking Bandit if you score the game-winning goal in Fucked Up MLS Cup 2020. (But not if you actually do it, because those odds are properly cosmic and might foretell environmental collapse by way of Nostradamus.)
As implied in what I said about Ebobisse, I think Portland has a decent chance, at least so long as COVID doesn’t win the 2020 MLS Playoffs and, by translation, certain things line up. All the same, and with the fullest of appreciation to every player that wears green and gold - yes, even Blake Bodily (and Zac McGraw, and anyone else I didn’t name) - thanks for a great season. You gave me a happy distraction through one of the most challenging years of my life and what’s better for keeping up morale!
Also, and shit, the rumors were true: the Portland Timbers didn’t manage a shot on goal tonight and that’s the surest way in the sport to lose a game 0-1 at home and coursing down the stretch. Also, don’t worry, I’ll actually write about the game this time. You’ll see…
That said, the balance of the notes will talk about all the players who took the field tonight in big picture terms, but, to focus on tonight’s 96 minutes’ worth of…not ideal…
I’m going to start by referring back to my post on the last Timbers’ game, e.g., the 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps (in a past that feels like 20 years ago). That’s not a great piece of writing, but I want to reiterate what I see as a major, unappreciated idea in most discussions about soccer: every game is different, and for a dozen different reasons. That’s the broad argument, but things get really different any time a team doesn’t play what it believes to be its best team - I phrased it that way specifically to talk around armchair managing - which is what the Timbers did tonight, and certain things follow from that.
As much as I feel like the Timbers started all right - e.g., they looked fine over the first 10 minutes - they slipped off the front foot from there and to the end of the first half. It wasn’t that they did nothing - they created a decent kerfuffle, in fact, as the first half was winding down (dignity!) - but the threat never rose elevated above kerfuffling and the Timbers didn’t score and therefore didn’t win, and that’s all you really need to know….but, if you’d like to kick this thing around until it doesn’t get up, well, you’ve come to the right place.
Because I’m struggling to say it at all, I’ll just have to say it unartfully: why would you expect an attack run by, in descending order, Felipe Mora, Eryk Williamson, Diego Chara…it’s getting harder, um, Andy Polo(?), Pablo Bonilla/Marco Farfan, uh, Cristhian Paredes, then Andres Flores (who I’m still tempted to tuck under Bill Tuiloma, but…) to mount a competent offense against, 1) a defensively competent Colorado side (5th best in a 12-team Western Conference, and seven fewer goals against than Portland), and 2) those players running the show? Examples of just how much the personnel matters abounded in the first half in the form of passes mis-hit by 10% or more (Paredes), or players dribbling into slowly-forming cul-de-sacs for lack of a better idea (Paredes); I’m dumping on Paredes out of frustration, but everyone all the way to Chara was guilty of it.
Giovanni Savarese massaged the line-up into shape with subs, starting with Yimmi Chara coming on for the uncharacteristically useful Andres Flores (see below) and, later, Diego Valeri for Williamson, who’d faded out of the game during the first half and never quite found the second (more below). The balance shifted when Yimmi came on and flipped all the way when Valeri did. Mora wasn’t fielding hopeful passes on an island for one, but a pressing style generally works better when you’ve got somewhere to go with the ball - something the Timbers didn’t have throughout the first half, because see above.
As much as the attack cohered into something dangerous over the second half - Jorge Villafana’s shot off the wrong side of his foot from Valeri’s seeing eye heel pass started the Timbers’ best period and Dairon Asprilla’s shot off the post ended it (and they also had a nice detour in some interplay between Yimmi and Mora; maybe you have to watch the full highlights to get any of that)) - they didn’t get it done, not even conceptually. The most menacing thing Rapids’ ‘keeper William Yarbrough saw tonight was Dario Zuparic’s body flopping into it.
So, no, it wasn’t a good night, but I can’t get angry at it. I’ve been begging to get some of Portland’s…more mature players rested for some time now. I’m only half-satisfied on that count, because Savarese rested Valeri, but decided to play Chara…who, for all his works, good and imperfect, picked up a (well-deserved) yellow card. He’ll miss Sunday’s game against Los Angeles FC as a result and, to read the letter of the law, Chara was lucky to not get sent off for a late challenge on…didn’t write it in my notes, but it happened and you get my point. If I had to choose which game I’d have Chara play between Colorado and LAFC, I’d choose LAFC every time. That’s not because I’m right or when it’s happening, or any clear, coherent argument, it’s just what I feel, and that’s how America works right now, so there.
By all that I mean, I’ve got a general anxiety around burn-out. Given the results and, let’s face it, genuinely complicated man-management that Gio has faced during the 2020 season - and that’s before holding the pandemic shit together - every argument I make about what is or is not working comes into the conversation facing an uphill stumble. Against that, Valeri came on and shined like the gem he is; I mean, you could see how much he stretched the defense just by being him (gravity, baby), and he didn’t burn his legs too much to boot with only 35 minutes played. I’d call that a decent gamble. Gio also deserves props, in my book, for getting Williamson off the field in short order after Diego Chara picked up the yellow card that keeps him out of the regular season finale at LAFC...
…and just to flag it, you know you’ve still got Renzo Zambrano, right, Gio?
That’s it for game-specific commentary. Went on longer than I thought it would, honestly, but I think some of that bleeds into what I’ll do in the rest of the post - especially the stuff about Williamson and Flores I flagged in parentheses above. The rest of this post will pick through all the Timbers’ reasonable depth to try to peg where they fit in the grand scheme going into Fucked Up 2020 Playoffs, and wherever the Timbers hit it. Taking them in the order they’re listed in the box score (mostly not worth your time, but also flagged with an asterisk), or that they come to me:
Bill…wait, stop…
Larrys Mabiala*: He’s the anchor of my back-line, full-stop.
Dario Zuparic*: Quietly solid tonight, invisible yet often the answer to the question, “how did that attack break down?” My other starting center back, no question.
Bill Tuiloma: He’s good cover, and generally makes me feel safe, but, the latest revisions to the rules be damned, I would have called that a penalty (i.e., if there’s dead air behind you and your hand stops the progress of the ball?), and Tuiloma doesn't stray so far from that as a defender.
Marco Farfan*: Didn’t like seeing him leaving with a non-contact injury. Just pissed off.
Jorge Villafana: He does good things in the attack and enough in the defense. Not really happy about the absence of an understudy, but I think that’s the deal.
Pablo Bonilla*: I’ve come around on him and, again, if he’s all that’s left, so be it, but he got pulled apart and rounded as much as Farfan did tonight. I’m not too worried because I haven’t seen that a lot, but Colorado knew how to work the Timbers’ fullbacks.
Andres Flores*: This will be longer-form. I value Flores on the roster because he’s reliable and you know exactly what you’ll get out of him - e.g., 100% hustle and brains, but not a lot else. While I’m generally a fan, and on the grounds he doesn’t fuck up much and does the odd good thing, Flores didn’t do much good tonight. I still think he’s a solid piece for the current playoff stretch, and he beats a kick in the head, but this is one of those “don’t be afraid to upgrade situations” that cell phone companies talk about…if with less justification.
Andy Polo*: I’d call that his best night of 2020, and, yes, even better than this goal, because he did more to move the cause forward tonight than he sometimes does, and that's more important in the grand scheme. He killed his share of plays too and, bluntly, that one comment explains the concept of a starting eleven better than I ever will. He's never been central to Portland's plans, so...
Cristhian Paredes*: Somewhere around the 50th minute, he had a surging run up the gut and with numbers around him that a decent attacking player would consistently turn into a shot. Instead, he over-hit the pass, and the attack strained against the weight of it from that pass forward. If he defended strongly, he’d have a role; if he could do what Williamson does, he’d have a role. Paredes doesn’t have a role, not in Portland.
Diego Chara*: Vital. Still.
Eryk Williamson*: Based on what I saw tonight, I don’t see him replacing Valeri’s particular skill-set. Honestly, the more I watch Williamson, the more I think he looks like Michael Bradley, only better on the dribble and close combination more than the long-ball, someone who will do his best work on late runs. That’s just my sense…
Felipe Mora*: A one-man army, and facing tall odds tonight. He can’t quite lead the line (too small), but Mora can make shit happen so long as he can get people close enough to him. I’m totally sold on this signing.
Diego Valeri*: I’m starting to wonder if this season wasn’t tailor-made for the Maestro…
Marvin Loria: I don’t know what’s going on, but he’s just not doing it this season, and on either side of the ball.
Renzo Zambrano: The fact that Zambrano hasn’t started is like the Michele Miscavige mystery of the Timbers in 2020.
Yimmi Chara*: Solid addition. I think he’ll get better too.
Dairon Asprilla*: As I’ve said every season since he’s joined the team, why not? (And with good reason!)
Tomas Conechny: For emergency use only at this point.
Steve Clark: When he’s confident, he’s very good.
Aljaz Ivacic: His one bad game has stuck with me.
Jeff Attinella: He’s still on the team? If so, good.
Chris Duvall: Is he broken? If not, hurray!
Jeremy Ebobisse: Given everyone who’s missing, Ebobisse becomes even more important to the team. Not at the risk of his health, but, absolutely, I believe the Timbers have a chance at winning MLS Cup if he’s healthy, less so if he’s not.
OK, I think that’s everyone who I think has a snowball’s chance of getting on a game-day roster between today and the end of 2020 - i.e., all the respect in the world, Blake Bodily, and I will buy you Burt Reynold’s Trans Am from Smokey and the Mother Fucking Bandit if you score the game-winning goal in Fucked Up MLS Cup 2020. (But not if you actually do it, because those odds are properly cosmic and might foretell environmental collapse by way of Nostradamus.)
As implied in what I said about Ebobisse, I think Portland has a decent chance, at least so long as COVID doesn’t win the 2020 MLS Playoffs and, by translation, certain things line up. All the same, and with the fullest of appreciation to every player that wears green and gold - yes, even Blake Bodily (and Zac McGraw, and anyone else I didn’t name) - thanks for a great season. You gave me a happy distraction through one of the most challenging years of my life and what’s better for keeping up morale!
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