Portland Timbers 2-1 Los Angeles FC: A Cinderella Story

Fixin' to kick yer ass with this shoe once I get it on...

Well, didn’t that end like a fairytale? Going the other way, Cinderella deserved her happy ending. Did the Portland Timbers?

The first, correct answer is, of course, who the fuck cares? The Timbers…. arguably stole all three points with a 2-1 win over Los Angeles FC, but they somehow managed to make it look legit. Or semi-legit. I’ll get to the whys ‘n’ wherefores of that in the 5 Thoughts section, but, in the big picture, this counts as a BIG WIN. And, yes, that’s circumstance specific: the Timbers hit a stumble lately, taking only 1/3 of the available points from the last six games, while LAFC took…4/5th (right?) of the points over their last five games. Despite the Timbers win, that gap still seems consequential - because LAFC was the better team tonight. Only they lost. Anyway…

The game started both brilliantly and historically, with Portland going up on a guilt built by hustle (Marvin Loria) and completed by timeless composure…just…to believe that ball would clear the defender, the chest it down like you were finishing a plate with brittle ingredients, and then to shatter LAFC ‘keeper, Tomas Romero’s five-hole wide-open like that. Diego Valeri couldn’t have scripted a better 100th career goal, not with the assistance of the gods…I mean, the slacker ones like Apollo and Baldir, the artsy-fartsy ones. And, lo, it was good…

…until it was bad, obviously. For all that the Timbers managed to seize initiative here and there, this was LAFC’s game to lose from somewhere around the 10th minute forward. Shorter version, the Timbers had their moments, but LAFC had more moments. A lot of that came from something I’ve seen from LAFC over the past couple games, but that I haven’t seen since somewhere around late 2019: the return of the avalanche. Jose Cifuentes, Francisco Ginella and Latif Blessing (one of the most underrated midfielders in the league for my money) had general control of the midfield and that reliably sets up the most doom-inducing dynamic for the Timbers: an inability to clear the lines, which leads to panic, which leads to chaos, which leads to goals against. If I had to credit anything for LAFC’s, mid-key, general dominance it came with shutting down Portland’s passing outlets and for most of the game. This should come at absolutely no one’s surprised, but LAFC won the xG battle tonight. They do that a lot as it turns out - they produced the highest reading I’ve ever seen in last weekend’s win over RSL (and it held up under the eyeball test as well) - but that didn’t buy them top of the West - Portland’s just two points behind them, in fact - and that’s a big, meaningful reality.

Basically, LAFC was the better team tonight, but the Timbers still won. As I look back at LAFC’s last four wins - e.g, v FC Dallas, at RSL, at Austin FC, and v RSL, in which I see two easy wins (the home games) and two fairly manageable road games - playing the Timbers away suddenly looks like a test for them. They both did and did not fail that test, as I see it, but I’m guessing they’re feeling the “did not” side of that as the sip away their woes at The Nines tonight.

The flip-side is something fairly encouraging: Portland battled tonight and if overcoming obstacles through sheer force of will is the first step to success, they cleared it tonight. If that was the beginning and end of what Timbers fans got tonight, I’d have to squint a little to see cause for celebration. They got more happily, starting with the big one:

5 Thoughts
1) Options, Glorious Options
This one’s easy: for the first time in 2021, Portland could call impact players off the bench to change the game. That’s massive on its own. The fact two of those players - Sebastian Blanco (assist) and Felipe Mora (goal; and how’d that little shit do that?) - underscores the point: Portland has both options and multiple ways to hurt a team. Much like they did in the first half of 2020. Expectations…rising…

2) De! Fense! De! Fense! De! Fense!
Shitting on the Timbers’ defense has become a…not unreasonable default since, OH, the second half of 2020, so it’s important to acknowledge how bravely the centerbacks, Bill Tuiloma and Larrys Mabiala - and I saw the latter more than the former, which matters - defended tonight and, yes, how straight-up fucking right Steve Clark got just about everything behind them. Those three (with a grudging nod the fullbacks; see future editions, probably) deserve as much credit for making the win happen as Blanco and Mora. One side of the team battled for the other, it was brilliant…and they had to, because see notes about what happened with the midfield above. That’s less of a concern because, 1) LAFC’s midfield is among MLS’s best, and 2) that means Portland should do all right against much of the Western Conference and beyond. They'll get easier games and, so long as the defense can look like this instead of...the bad stuff,  that would portend a decent future.

3) Assessing the Prodigal Son
First and foremost, yes, it is a bit stupid to talk about how well a midfielder did when the midfield as a whole bent pretty damn hard and broke too often for comfort. Still, I liked just about everything I saw out of George Fochive: the passing, the timing, the energy, the bite, etc. With him lined up beside Eryk Williamson and with Diego Chara running clean-up behind, I can see the Timbers looking pretty goddamn potent in a 4-3-3. And daydream of who you’d put in that front three…which seems important because…

4) The Timbers Chance Creation Sucks
Far too early in the game, I praised Portland’s saucy ease with getting the ball to the top of LAFC’s defensive third. Trouble was, they failed four different ways to keep the ball rolling toward goal from there and, if that’s your attack, you’ll have ample time by Thanksgiving, maybe even Halloween, for family and friends (as in, you’ll miss the playoffs). By the 90th minute, I slept so heavily on Portland’s chances of scoring the equalizer that the (glorious and eternal) winning goal hit me like a jump scene. The way Portland turned over the ball, like, a lot, informed that quiet despair and watching them force low-percentage passes grew frustrating; and that didn’t just happen in the attacking third (which is closer than you’d expect if the passing map/stats is to be believed; also, a lot of passing down the left tonight), but through the middle third to a disturbing extent. Portland struggled with LAFC’s defensive alignment and all over the field; sometimes, it looked like they wanted to keep up with what LAFC was doing, activity for activity's sake. And all that feels like a piece of Portland’s broad struggles with finding good looks at goal.

5) Something’s Off 

Watching another team find the kind of openings that the Timbers haven't for frustrating stretches of the season gets a man thinking. The Timbers’ attack improves (or just changes enough to baffle) so long as it can bring on fresh legs and/or ideas to make opposing defenses adjust on the fly, but there's an air of a labored game-plan with too much of what comes before it. Sometimes this translates as something simple like, "Portland's crossing the ball too much," but that talking point deflates a little when you watch LAFC zing better crosses all evening. The way Portland's attacking players manage movement in and around the penalty area seems relevant and has been for a couple seasons of it. The big thing I don't get is, why do Portland's front runneres approach so many attacking situations like they're doing it for the first time? Who has no one on the coaching staff said something to his players as obvious as, “why aren’t you, [_______], making a deep, near-post run to find the cut-back(?),” or “really? you guys are all looking for the same fast grass-shredding pass across the face of goal? And with all those dudes in the way?” Again, this was a great win - you never go far wrong by beating a rival who's playing well - but, happy as I am to see the three points fill Portland's coffers, I'm back to that same question about Cinderella. The concern, I suppose, is replicability. How often can the Timbers hold on for grim death and land the K.O.? The past isn't exactly encouraging...

Who knows? Maybe returning players will solve the problem on their own and by no greater virtue than a different approach to the game. If I have a great concern about Portland’s attack, it’s this: do they know how to create movement that frees up a good shot in the opponent’s defensive third; if not, why not? And, if not, isn't that on the coaching staff?

And…yep, that’s it for this edition. I think I’ll be back for the weekend, but, regardless, till the next one...