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| Zac McGraw made me feel as safe as that tree tonight. Srsly. |
But for a tap-in that only looked inevitable after it went in, the Portland Timbers would have left…whatever Los Angeles FC calls their home stadium 1-0 winners. Seeing as the exception has already been noted, yeah, LAFC scored a late equalizer - off a tap-in - and wound up with a 1-1 tie that feels…I’m going with complicated.
There was a lot to like in this game from Portland’s point of view. For one, they held a (fairly) front-footed, compact shape together for 90+ minutes today - and how often do Timbers fans get to say, “our defense won it for us today!” Portland’s one-man strategic reserve, Bill Tuiloma, played a role, as did Aljaz Ivacic - he looked confident today and made at least two beauty saves - but if Zac McGraw didn’t make at least one starter feel antsy tonight, they didn’t watch the game I did. Athletic, smooth, but smart more than anything else: Gio appeared to have tasked McGraw with putting out fires before they could ignite and the man got his Smokey Bear on straight.
Claudio Bravo looked super-sharp, at least until he took a dumb-shit tug on LAFC's Cristian Arango and got sent off…Josecarlos Van Rankin, meanwhile...I don’t know what that guy can do to make me comfortable but, whatever it is, he has yet to start doing it. I tell you, the guy looks as nervous as I feel every time an attacking player squares him up.
The returns diminish as I tick through the names from there. There’s no taking away the divine improv-glory of Yimmi Chara’s blind-looper of a goal, but the game-state ran him down to where he couldn’t find a pass. That left Dairon Asprilla as the only viable outlet for about 65+ minutes, but he got lonelier and lonelier for as long as (most of) the starting unit stayed out there; he got some more chances to run after Sebastian Blanco came on for Jaroslaw Niezgoda (who had moments, but…), but even that only happened after LAFC stepped to the edge of all-in to find a goal. Back on the happy side of things, I thought Cristhian Paredes put in a solid shift (while still believing he got subbed just in time), and Diego Chara just keeps on keeping on and in a way that makes me questions all kinds of things. Elsewhere, I’m still wondering whether Santiago Moreno was on the field tonight, or whether he just sat down on the field now and again with a look on his face that said, “can you believe this shit?” out of contractual obligation.
If that feels like putting the cart before the horse, I apologize, but I’m mostly processing this game as an opportunity both unearned and blown. Let me explain…
If I had to name a Timber who put his foot wrong over the first 30 minutes, I would have asked it that was a trick questions. Every player who had the courage to don those pink nightmare uniform got past it and dialed in to 11, getting the angles right and finding passes all but automatically on offense, and either reading a pass or moving the shape of the defense to adjust to it on defense. Not to overly romanticize it, but what I was watching over those first 30 minutes looked unbeatable, if not unstoppable. (Think the first time your significant other did something that made you feel seen and loved for the first time in five years, only far less personal and nothing close to making me cry.) Just good in a way that makes you feel…good. On the one hand, sure, you get those periods where everything seems to work in a dozen games a season; on the other, it got me thinking about how good this team can be this season. That didn't last long...
With the exception of the last three defenders - e.g., Ivacic, Tuiloma and McGraw - all the shine came off every Timbers player little by little as the game went on. For my money, the worst of it came over the first 30 minutes of the second half: unstoppable became reliably stoppable, first to the ball slipped to second, occupiers seized the passing lanes (and credit to LAFC for doing that); the Timbers held up pretty damn well for being backed against a brick wall, but doesn't erase the fact they got backed against that brick wall. Bravo’s 62nd minute red card killed off any rational hope of scoring a second goal, even the odd lucky bounce handed Portland the beginnings of a chance or three. LAFC squeezed hard enough to crack Portland’s shape in the end - or, judging from the box score, some time before then - and the break was damn near total when it came. On the one hand, that’s Marvin Loria chasing LAFC’s Brian Rodriguez…but isn’t that Van Rankin’s side?
I don’t have bullet points for this one, and feel like I spit out some version of what I have on my mind. To sum it up, I’m delighted that the Timbers make-shift back two defended as well as they did, and I’d call this Ivacic’s best game in one of those fucking ugly ‘keeper shirts (for Portland, obvs), while also feeling a wee twinge of dread about how well and thoroughly LAFC redirected traffic toward Portland’s goal - and 20 minutes before Bravo got sent off at a minimum.
All the same, and as mentioned from the broadcast booth (so it must be obvious), if you asked me if I would have taken a 1-1 draw at LAFC at 3:00 p.m. today, I would have said yes, and do you take credit, or is this cash only? The manner of the result didn’t change any part of that overall judgment - i.e., all things considered, 1-1 feels like an escape, one I’m both happy to take that and, better still, I feel better about the depth in Portland’s back-line than I have in a couple seasons.
In the biggest of pictures, the Timbers have just two points after two games. Still, that puts them only four points behind league-leading Austin FC. Then again, Austin has played two easy games (FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami CF, both at home), while the Timbers have played two games, both of tem tricky. From that vantage, two points doesn’t feel so bad. And yet, the first two weeks of Portland’s 2022 only ups the ante for getting every point in the places and against the teams they should. For what it’s worth, I believe they’ll get those results based on what I've seen so far, even if it takes a while.
Till the next one...
There was a lot to like in this game from Portland’s point of view. For one, they held a (fairly) front-footed, compact shape together for 90+ minutes today - and how often do Timbers fans get to say, “our defense won it for us today!” Portland’s one-man strategic reserve, Bill Tuiloma, played a role, as did Aljaz Ivacic - he looked confident today and made at least two beauty saves - but if Zac McGraw didn’t make at least one starter feel antsy tonight, they didn’t watch the game I did. Athletic, smooth, but smart more than anything else: Gio appeared to have tasked McGraw with putting out fires before they could ignite and the man got his Smokey Bear on straight.
Claudio Bravo looked super-sharp, at least until he took a dumb-shit tug on LAFC's Cristian Arango and got sent off…Josecarlos Van Rankin, meanwhile...I don’t know what that guy can do to make me comfortable but, whatever it is, he has yet to start doing it. I tell you, the guy looks as nervous as I feel every time an attacking player squares him up.
The returns diminish as I tick through the names from there. There’s no taking away the divine improv-glory of Yimmi Chara’s blind-looper of a goal, but the game-state ran him down to where he couldn’t find a pass. That left Dairon Asprilla as the only viable outlet for about 65+ minutes, but he got lonelier and lonelier for as long as (most of) the starting unit stayed out there; he got some more chances to run after Sebastian Blanco came on for Jaroslaw Niezgoda (who had moments, but…), but even that only happened after LAFC stepped to the edge of all-in to find a goal. Back on the happy side of things, I thought Cristhian Paredes put in a solid shift (while still believing he got subbed just in time), and Diego Chara just keeps on keeping on and in a way that makes me questions all kinds of things. Elsewhere, I’m still wondering whether Santiago Moreno was on the field tonight, or whether he just sat down on the field now and again with a look on his face that said, “can you believe this shit?” out of contractual obligation.
If that feels like putting the cart before the horse, I apologize, but I’m mostly processing this game as an opportunity both unearned and blown. Let me explain…
If I had to name a Timber who put his foot wrong over the first 30 minutes, I would have asked it that was a trick questions. Every player who had the courage to don those pink nightmare uniform got past it and dialed in to 11, getting the angles right and finding passes all but automatically on offense, and either reading a pass or moving the shape of the defense to adjust to it on defense. Not to overly romanticize it, but what I was watching over those first 30 minutes looked unbeatable, if not unstoppable. (Think the first time your significant other did something that made you feel seen and loved for the first time in five years, only far less personal and nothing close to making me cry.) Just good in a way that makes you feel…good. On the one hand, sure, you get those periods where everything seems to work in a dozen games a season; on the other, it got me thinking about how good this team can be this season. That didn't last long...
With the exception of the last three defenders - e.g., Ivacic, Tuiloma and McGraw - all the shine came off every Timbers player little by little as the game went on. For my money, the worst of it came over the first 30 minutes of the second half: unstoppable became reliably stoppable, first to the ball slipped to second, occupiers seized the passing lanes (and credit to LAFC for doing that); the Timbers held up pretty damn well for being backed against a brick wall, but doesn't erase the fact they got backed against that brick wall. Bravo’s 62nd minute red card killed off any rational hope of scoring a second goal, even the odd lucky bounce handed Portland the beginnings of a chance or three. LAFC squeezed hard enough to crack Portland’s shape in the end - or, judging from the box score, some time before then - and the break was damn near total when it came. On the one hand, that’s Marvin Loria chasing LAFC’s Brian Rodriguez…but isn’t that Van Rankin’s side?
I don’t have bullet points for this one, and feel like I spit out some version of what I have on my mind. To sum it up, I’m delighted that the Timbers make-shift back two defended as well as they did, and I’d call this Ivacic’s best game in one of those fucking ugly ‘keeper shirts (for Portland, obvs), while also feeling a wee twinge of dread about how well and thoroughly LAFC redirected traffic toward Portland’s goal - and 20 minutes before Bravo got sent off at a minimum.
All the same, and as mentioned from the broadcast booth (so it must be obvious), if you asked me if I would have taken a 1-1 draw at LAFC at 3:00 p.m. today, I would have said yes, and do you take credit, or is this cash only? The manner of the result didn’t change any part of that overall judgment - i.e., all things considered, 1-1 feels like an escape, one I’m both happy to take that and, better still, I feel better about the depth in Portland’s back-line than I have in a couple seasons.
In the biggest of pictures, the Timbers have just two points after two games. Still, that puts them only four points behind league-leading Austin FC. Then again, Austin has played two easy games (FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami CF, both at home), while the Timbers have played two games, both of tem tricky. From that vantage, two points doesn’t feel so bad. And yet, the first two weeks of Portland’s 2022 only ups the ante for getting every point in the places and against the teams they should. For what it’s worth, I believe they’ll get those results based on what I've seen so far, even if it takes a while.
Till the next one...
Claudio Bravo must depend on playing emotionally for that extra edge. But he lives and dies with the results. Maybe a veteran player just gets better at choosing the shirt-pull moments? Replay looks like we have plenty of defense coverage at the moment of tug.
ReplyDeleteNiezgoda- Seems like a player who doesn't trust his healed knee to be 100% when it's called on. Or, he falls in that category of player whose recuperated knee never is the same. We were lucky with Valeri who had his best years after his ACL healing process. It would only be human of Niezgoda to protect and baby his ACL. But boldness is required of a center forward.
I guess that the front office needs to sell through their 2022 stock of Heritage Rose replica shirts, but bloodstained pink hasn't won me over at all.