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It’s also the future that every Timbers fan knows is coming. The same thing goes for watching Diego Valeri watch the other end of a give-and-go roll by; because he can’t cover the ground in a way that really pulls apart the defense, his teammates have to play that ball differently. That or figure out something else to do with the ball entirely.
Valeri had his moments out there, but, because CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) semifinals, this game played at a high speed - i.e., exactly the kind of game that I expect to lose Valeri more and more. He’s not past it or anything…shit’s just changed. As for Chara, he started hip-checking motherfuckers all over from the 20th minute on; I last recorded next-level activity out of him around the 72nd minute, but there were times throughout the game he straight up cheetah-gazelle-d a guy on America (that is, ambushed a player from beyond who thought he had one more second of quiet). One Timbers legend can still play the same game, the other guy…I’m watching. Seasons change, the sun sets lower, it’s life, people.
Back to business, what to make of that 1-1 home draw?
Personally, I count two ways to read it. First, Club America is visibly a better team - and I mean that globally. The speed of thought is better, the movement sharper, the defense reorganizes like one of those goddamn liquid terminators (Terminators? Is it capitalized?), and, as I tweeted somewhere during the game, they shrank space fast enough sometimes that looked like they had 12 players out there. Hell, I’d even call the way they manage the game - e.g., the way they pause it to slow down the game, the flops…just everything - a little bit smoother. It’s one of those, you notice, but it’s never quite enough for you, never mind the ref, to make anything of it. Call it one a pervasive intangible.
Add the first half of the game: given the balance of everything - e.g., the (ballpark) 67-33 split in America’s favor in possession (as of the 33rd minute; it ended closer), and not the dicking around in the back kind by any means, more like bats flying out of a fucking cave - Portland did pretty damn well to give them as little they did. Timbers fans know the end-result, of course, Claudio Bravo gives Richard Sanchez a leg to fall over, etc. Penalty to America…which Roger Martinez buries. While I think every Portland fan would call the penalty stupid and unfortunate, I doubt many would argue it wasn’t earned: America was the clearly the better team over the first half…which raises the obvious problem.
Look, I don’t know a damn thing about Club America or Liga MX, generally, at least beyond knowing it’s better globally - something that gets proven, by the way, during every CCL cycle. If Portland played America in every game all season long, my guess is America would win three out of five of them and that one of the other games would end in a draw. That’s based on history, (a form of) logic, the teams’ respective budgets, etc. My point is, this was always going to be hard. Moreover, the Timbers now have to go to Mexico, as well as altitude, and score more than one goal - and, this is crucial, every goal they allow means scoring two more goals. There’s a pitiless, steep, an oxygen-starved peak ahead, Timbers fans. Adjust expectations accordingly.
The second half belonged to the Timbers, though not exclusively. Credit where it’s due, Portland came out of the locker-room at half time determined to put America under pressure - with Dairon Asprilla leading the charge (and more later). It was Asprilla who broke up the post-halftime feints with a positively wild move all the way up the left flank, where he bodied control of an aimless long ball, whipped inside to bull amidst three players and lofted one of the most hopeful shots I’ve seen to a ‘keeper’s back-post…but that was the punch America hadn’t seen yet. And the gates opened from there…not consistently, in fairness, but the Timbers did enough to make America’s defense sweat - and to generally elevate the temperature of the game. The chances fell well short of perfect - e.g., the ball over the top that gave Yimmi Chara a half-look at goal that he slapped well-wide. That came after a flurry of shots that followed Asprilla’s attempt - e.g., a first corner that had America throwing defenders between the ball and the goal, followed by a good look at goal by Larrys Mabiala on a corner, only the ball passed close enough to his defender's head that he might not have thought it’d get through.
For anyone setting their hopes too high above the ground, the Timbers first shot on goal didn’t actually come till after all that, when Valeri fired a free-kick into Guillermo Ochoa’s ol’ breadbasket. That wasn't constant, one-way fireworks, basically.
With clean looks for Portland on the scarce side, small wonder it took another scrum for the Timbers to force a mistake, win a penalty kick…I think for the handball Bravo forced on Bruno Valdez (he more or less fell onto it…life’s a bitch), and for Felipe Mora to step up (after more top-notch game management from Club America) and make the penalty as easy as getting up in the morning. Well, easier, but it’s something we all do every day, whenever we do it, and it’s not so hard in the end.
More than anything else, the Timbers did the single most important thing they had to do on the night: not give up. Seeing them bludgeon a goal home at the death was…for lack of a better word, surreal, especially after living at the other end of that for all of 2020. As much as America revealed that they can be rattled (put that in your back pocket with a rabbit’s foot, a four-leaf clover and that filthy sock you carry around for luck…weirdo), they very much did not make that easy. In that sense, savor the moment….and hold it, till I ruin it.
More than thought, savor this thought: the Timbers showed a lot of heart and no small amount of discipline against one of America’s biggest teams tonight. First, they won’t play teams this good that often in MLS through 2021. Second, they’ll get more options in the attack as the 2021 season progresses, which will mean more looks for other teams to deal with, more rotation for the players - not saying anything, but, yes the aging ones in particular - and generally having more flexibility to manage games…
…and that’s where this ends on a lower note than I’d like. Portland is looking at what looks like the soccer equivalent of a sacrificial fly over the next several games, and that’s between CCL and league play. My back-of-the-paper notes say they’ve got little to no damn chance against America unless they field something like this team (hold that thought) for the return leg at the (again, oxygen-sucking) Azteca. The back-of-the-other-sheet says, they’ll have to gamble on a B-team against Dallas this weekend and, more than likely, against Seattle the following weekend. Don’t get me wrong (dammit!), Portland should absolutely prioritize a one-off in the CCL against a couple early losses in league play (especially given the realities noted in the above paragraph), but it’s no less likely that the Timbers could be wading through some shit for the next couple weeks. It’s just…think of it as a diagnosis, but not a hopeless one.
All in all, though, both the game and result left me hopeful and satisfied. The belief is there and it is good. Now, some stray notes…
1) While I don’t like it, I’m not worried about Dario Zuparic’s yellow-card suspension; Bill Tuiloma is good.
2) Often as I crap on Cristhian Paredes, I’m out here slow-clapping for the kid. No matter how much griping I do about any of them, I root for every Timber. And you could see the kid’s heartbreak. About that, that’s a man contemplating his future in that moment, an idea I think goes unmentioned too often when we talk about these things.
3) I'm very high on 2021 Dairon Asprilla, but this game really capture his bad, his good and his best. On the bad side, he's semi-routinely sloppy at the very least, whether it's in the quality of his passes or how far he pushes the ball in front of him on a run. On the good, he has the fundamentals to whip something out of his ass like the turn-'n'-shoot he pulled around the 50th minute. It was inspired, goddammit. The great comes from combining the "good" with his two-way play. Asprilla did enough good things on both sides of the ball tonight, that I couldn't give a shit about his mistakes. This leave me very excited.
4) I saw a lot griping about Yimmi during the first half and, while I can’t shout that down, I have two thoughts on it: One, I don’t look for any player to dominate a game from start to finish (though it is nice), so much as I look for how he recovers from it - or the coaching staff finds a way to make it work. That brings me to, two, Yimmi got a lot more mobile in the second half - coming inside, even combining in the middle, etc. - and I really liked that adjustment, which assumes it happens. I don’t want to give the impression I’m talking over Valeri’s retirement like it's a grave (I'm not, dammit!) - but using Yimmi’s mobility (or anyone else’s) as a way to create ball movement at the top of the attacking third seems like a good way to work around the ground Valeri can’t cover at the same speed as he used to. Just planning for the inevitable, guys.
4a) Sebastian Blanco return will change this. Jeremy Ebobisse’s will alleviate it, so will Jaroslaw Niezgoda’s, etc. In the here and now, though, you can’t play a ball to Valeri on the Timbers’ side of midfield and expect him to dribble through three guys (not that he ever did that). Again, he’s still El Maestro, but his game needs to evolve and, I trust, will.
4b) Yes, I would play him as a sub in the second leg. At a time to be determined.
5) One final thought: I think I saw something America did, but it took long enough for me to doubt it. That thing was disrupting the passing between the back line and Portland midfield; that made it tough for Portland to get the ball forward for a lot of the game and also forced them into long-balls (which is how they got the equalizer, so…but also, hmmm…) The Timbers did a lot better as a team when players checked back to help the play out of the back - something they did over the first…call it 30 minutes of the second half. It dried up from there, and I get it, that shit is tiring, etc. But that’s what I mean about America: a smart team makes you burn that energy. And most MLS teams don’t do that.
I’m still bullish overall, the end. Fun game, though, right?
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