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| Call it a general sentiment. |
I don’t know how many times the Portland Timbers’ defense scrambled over the 13 minutes I spent staring at a(n at best) regional football game, but I saw at least two instances after it. Between that and the black box of the opening 13, I didn’t know what to think about the Timbers’ chances early.
Even after Sebastian Blanco cleaned up an oopsie with a standing (well, leaning) header, putting the Timbers up 1-0, I didn’t see any reason to think the game would slip out of competitive…then Blanco forced a fuck-up out of Aaron Herrera, putting Portland up 2-0. The game ended there if you ask me. While I have no doubt RSL out-shot the Portland (and I was right), the Timbers defense never gave them a look even one-seventh as good as the sitter RSL handed Blanco. Put it this way, you can’t build a sound home when you get the angles that wrong.
With that, the Timbers walked out 3-1 winners, sole beneficiaries of RSL’s largesse on the season, and, if I’m not mistaken, immovably in fourth-place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
I’m not sure the game deserves much than that. It crapped out as a contest around the 65th minute, RSL clawed back the one, but I doubt even their fans give a shit about it. They handed it to Portland. And I mean that in at least two ways - i.e., RSL defended with neither a net nor a plan, something Blanco can tear to shit all on his own…and he did, but doesn’t that beg the question, what can we really take from this one/win? I mean, the Timbers beat RSL with a Dairon Asprilla tied behind their backs. The rest files under…
Loose Ends/Theories
Take a Bow, Utahans
To start, I just want to say how impressed I am that RSL had they season they did with that avalanche of bullshit over their heads. I hope they make it…just glad it didn’t come at the Timbers’ expense.
The Rest They’ve Earned
I’d rest starters for the Austin game. The result won’t change a damn thing and it should give the depth of the depths a shot of confidence in case the call comes down…then again, a bad result could shatter their confidence to dust, so…eh, I say go for it. Blanco’s the only player I’d play on principle - he needs the reps at this point - but sit I’d sit anyone else who could use it. That thought starts with the last name Chara, but I’m very open-minded on the rest…does Portland even have a third forward?
Bravo, Bravo
I know Claudio Bravo has his detractors, and that his detractors have a point (or two), but I really like where the kid is right now. His defending rates on the downright cocky side of risky, but those toe-pokes come off often enough that to make it fun. And that’s what I like about Bravo: he’s fun, a good goddamn time. He’s enough to make whole the loss of either Villafana or Farfan, but not both. Related…
Oy, Paredes!
I thought Cristhian Paredes had a couple moments tonight - the best being a tackle in the channel of Portland’s area, either after Portland’s first or second goal, doesn’t really matter - but he’s got to be either faster or better about playing the ball. I don’t think there’s an in between with that one. I counted at least three moments he killed tonight. With time and options. I don’t know what else to call him but a ‘tweener, possibly on three axes…
Niezgoda v Mora
While I don’t think the small sample Timbers I’ve seen from Jaroslaw Niezgoda in 2021 gives me enough to say, “he plays like [blah]" definitively, he does seem to like balls played into space more than he does the back-to-goal, post-up stuff. It’s as if he wants to turn every player that defends him in that space while Felipe Mora tends to look for the layoff/give-‘n’-go kind of stuff. I’m not saying one is better than the other (necessarily), and I like having the option.
More(no), Please
I gotta say, if ever there was a game that would give Santiago Moreno room to break some ankles and stretch out his legs, surely this was it. I appreciate the importance of a game-plan, but, even if Moreno was restrained - and he shouldn’t have been, if you want an opinion - I still want to see him do better in the one-on-ones he landed tonight. Or even the couple plays in transition he had. I appreciate that he’s young, he’s got to settle in and so on, but progress seems take to longer for Portland prospects than it does for some teams around the league...see two notes up.
Sometimes All You Get Is Contentment
And I’ve arrived at that with the Bill Tuiloma/Dario Zuparic defensive tandem, though not passionately (as in, if Larrys starts, Larrys starts). Those two, with Steve Clark behind them, did a lot of great work tonight, they bent without breaking, jumped in the way of shots, put out fires in the channels, etc. They are nothing like the best tandem in MLS, but I bet they can rattle their way through a run if the stars line-up and they tie the oppositions' shoes the wrong way. Anyway, that’s the horse I’d ride into the 2021 post-season. And with Bonilla and Bravo as the fullbacks.
Till the next one…
Even after Sebastian Blanco cleaned up an oopsie with a standing (well, leaning) header, putting the Timbers up 1-0, I didn’t see any reason to think the game would slip out of competitive…then Blanco forced a fuck-up out of Aaron Herrera, putting Portland up 2-0. The game ended there if you ask me. While I have no doubt RSL out-shot the Portland (and I was right), the Timbers defense never gave them a look even one-seventh as good as the sitter RSL handed Blanco. Put it this way, you can’t build a sound home when you get the angles that wrong.
With that, the Timbers walked out 3-1 winners, sole beneficiaries of RSL’s largesse on the season, and, if I’m not mistaken, immovably in fourth-place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
I’m not sure the game deserves much than that. It crapped out as a contest around the 65th minute, RSL clawed back the one, but I doubt even their fans give a shit about it. They handed it to Portland. And I mean that in at least two ways - i.e., RSL defended with neither a net nor a plan, something Blanco can tear to shit all on his own…and he did, but doesn’t that beg the question, what can we really take from this one/win? I mean, the Timbers beat RSL with a Dairon Asprilla tied behind their backs. The rest files under…
Loose Ends/Theories
Take a Bow, Utahans
To start, I just want to say how impressed I am that RSL had they season they did with that avalanche of bullshit over their heads. I hope they make it…just glad it didn’t come at the Timbers’ expense.
The Rest They’ve Earned
I’d rest starters for the Austin game. The result won’t change a damn thing and it should give the depth of the depths a shot of confidence in case the call comes down…then again, a bad result could shatter their confidence to dust, so…eh, I say go for it. Blanco’s the only player I’d play on principle - he needs the reps at this point - but sit I’d sit anyone else who could use it. That thought starts with the last name Chara, but I’m very open-minded on the rest…does Portland even have a third forward?
Bravo, Bravo
I know Claudio Bravo has his detractors, and that his detractors have a point (or two), but I really like where the kid is right now. His defending rates on the downright cocky side of risky, but those toe-pokes come off often enough that to make it fun. And that’s what I like about Bravo: he’s fun, a good goddamn time. He’s enough to make whole the loss of either Villafana or Farfan, but not both. Related…
Oy, Paredes!
I thought Cristhian Paredes had a couple moments tonight - the best being a tackle in the channel of Portland’s area, either after Portland’s first or second goal, doesn’t really matter - but he’s got to be either faster or better about playing the ball. I don’t think there’s an in between with that one. I counted at least three moments he killed tonight. With time and options. I don’t know what else to call him but a ‘tweener, possibly on three axes…
Niezgoda v Mora
While I don’t think the small sample Timbers I’ve seen from Jaroslaw Niezgoda in 2021 gives me enough to say, “he plays like [blah]" definitively, he does seem to like balls played into space more than he does the back-to-goal, post-up stuff. It’s as if he wants to turn every player that defends him in that space while Felipe Mora tends to look for the layoff/give-‘n’-go kind of stuff. I’m not saying one is better than the other (necessarily), and I like having the option.
More(no), Please
I gotta say, if ever there was a game that would give Santiago Moreno room to break some ankles and stretch out his legs, surely this was it. I appreciate the importance of a game-plan, but, even if Moreno was restrained - and he shouldn’t have been, if you want an opinion - I still want to see him do better in the one-on-ones he landed tonight. Or even the couple plays in transition he had. I appreciate that he’s young, he’s got to settle in and so on, but progress seems take to longer for Portland prospects than it does for some teams around the league...see two notes up.
Sometimes All You Get Is Contentment
And I’ve arrived at that with the Bill Tuiloma/Dario Zuparic defensive tandem, though not passionately (as in, if Larrys starts, Larrys starts). Those two, with Steve Clark behind them, did a lot of great work tonight, they bent without breaking, jumped in the way of shots, put out fires in the channels, etc. They are nothing like the best tandem in MLS, but I bet they can rattle their way through a run if the stars line-up and they tie the oppositions' shoes the wrong way. Anyway, that’s the horse I’d ride into the 2021 post-season. And with Bonilla and Bravo as the fullbacks.
Till the next one…
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