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Started a new tradition tonight: I didn’t write down notes of any kind until the second half. Except on twitter…also, there wasn’t much to say about that first half. It was a classic vague, mutual groping, a feeling out period that went on a little too long without going anywhere. Nothing of real note stood out, at least not beyond Austin FC having a lot of the ball and the Portland Timbers getting the best look. Bottom line, all that played to the Timbers strengths, only at an angle that arguably benefited Austin’s strengths more than Portland’s.
Now, I’m not a fan of the halftime speech. That could because I’ve never heard a real stem-winder, at least not one that didn’t involve me as a half-negative argument for inspiration (again, the frame was, “if he can do it”; true story, at least twice), but whatever Giovanni Savarese said before he sent his charges back onto the field, whatever adjustments he made, I’d put the number that worked at somewhere between 60-80%. The other part of that equation, and the one I’m least equipped to make: what adjustments to Josh Wolff make to what Austin did?
For all the noise that came between the whistle that started the second half and the one that ended it, the loudest came in the 62nd minute when Bill Tuiloma got a big step in front of whoever the hell wears Austin’s No. 4 jersey (Ruben Gabrielsen, huh), and powered home a point-blank header off a pretty-as-you-like Yimmi Chara set-piece to put the Timbers up 1-0. Some sweaty moments aside, if fewer than one might think, that was all the Timbers needed to pick up their first win of 2022.
Tuiloma had a wonderful game. Give or take 10 minutes after he scored, he cleared an absolute, no questions asked Austin goal off the line, and during a scrum that had Timbers defenders flying around their own area like clay pigeons. And that’s one of my take-aways from today: the Timbers bent their defense to the breaking point, but made sure that it didn’t. Tuiloma and Zac McGraw deserve a tip for all the clean-up they did today, but they got a decent lift from Josecarlos Van Rankin’s best game of the season, plus a…well, let’s just say we’ve got something to think about after Justin Rasmussen’s wholly impressive first-team debut. As much as I hate making judgments off a tiny sample size, I wasn’t nearly as impressed by Rasmussen’s defending - which wasn’t bad at all - as by his composure on the ball. Good passes forward, smart slip passes under pressure…suffice to say questions abound and the answers don’t seem so obvious all the sudden…
…no. No. Don’t give in. Cool your jets. It’s one game. It’s one game. Moving on…
I’m going to continue by giving Austin their due. As much as they struggled to get a clean look on (the relatively anonymous…not like that’s a bad thing) Aljaz Ivacic’s goal - and they got exactly zero - Matt McConaughey’s team can play; they cut through and across the midfield like alpine skiers through fresh snow, they’re calm on the ball and they can get it into your team’s attacking third with relative comfort…though, again, they’ve done that against two historically shit teams (e.g., Inter Miami CF and…don’t make me say…FC Cincinnati), and they did it again today, if against a Portland team that rolls out the red carpet until they yank it out from under, and what is that but a solid first step toward scoring? When Austin is at their collective best…what can I call their angles but immaculate? They had two moments in the second half, that’s at a minimum, where the played out of the first stages of Portland’s pressure like they mapped it out two weeks prior. It was impressive stuff and, yeah, this team can play…if, for the 100th team from my various platforms alone, the extended MLS fandom universe will have to see how they do against better teams. Like the Timbers. And let’s stick with that word, “team.”
Highly-specific moments aside - e.g., Bill’s game-defining actions - no individual Timber played his best game in those colors…okeh, yes, Rasmussen, of course, but this was very much a collective, you-have-my-back-I’ll-get-yours performance by Portland. Call it a collective trust-fall, and for the veterans as well as the new guys. And that’s what feels most promising about tonight’s win against a confident team, if one playing at some as yet unknown state above normal.
That’s it for the broad thoughts I have on this one. I don’t do timelines often, but this game had a truly special lack of them. Inasmuch as game-states existed, I’d hang the total number of phases four, if with some rounding - i.e., a slightly deceptive 50/50 battle through the first half, followed by 20 minutes of dominance by Portland, followed by 15-20 by Austin, and wrapped up by a half-sleep-walking outro by the Timbers. As much as Portland had to do the clay-pigeon thing from 65-85, one loud, inescapable fact remains: Austin never fired an unobstructed shot on goal. Again, and in a way that absolutely catches the eye, the Timbers defense carried them just as far as the offense. If one accounts for the fact that Tuiloma scored the lone goal, Portland’s defense carried them through. And these are the (alleged) understudies.
Which kicks off the talking points:
1) What I’ve officially dubbed “The Bill ‘n’ Zac Show” as of tonight looks more and more like going from off-Broadway to the main stage every week. Good as the individual efforts have been, what has really caught my eye is the way they play together.
2) Speaking of problems, are the Timbers drunk on fullbacks? For starters, I’ll be the first to recognize the peculiarity of the question, because what’s the easiest thing to bitch about when it comes to the Timbers…I mean, besides the skeazy front office? Yes, the fullbacks. I’m gonna hit this one from a personal level…
For all his faults, I really like Claudio Bravo. He’s like a little World War I Frenchman out there - i.e., drunk on elan and never doubting the team he’s playing for has a chance as long as he does his part. Pablo Bonilla, on the other hand, I credit him for good athleticism and ample bite, but he’s not sterling silver on the attacking side. For as often as I shit on him, I’m developing a theory that Van Rankin can become a solid player if/when he fully adjusts to the North American game. Meanwhile, in the real-ass here and now, his worst faults come on the defensive side of the ball - e.g., switching off and bad reads (fwiw, he had one tonight with a cross played over his head, a slip that gave Austin one of their better chances) - and, yeah, anyone trying to sort out the team has to look at that. And then you add the night Rasmussen had tonight, where he played with the first-time starters play like he’s part of it/? I don’t know what to call that but food for thought - and no matter what tube it slips down.
And yet the real/weird problem comes from the fact that the two players I feel least easy about - e.g., Van Rankin and Bonilla - play the same side. They’re both right fullbacks. I mean…can Bravo play right back?
3) Just….Diego Chara.
4) And this one should have been bigger: Cristhian Paredes has looked like a new player in 2022, if without looking like either conduit or talisman. It’s hard to explain what I’m getting at here, but the general idea is this: the Timbers don’t play through Paredes, either often or as a choice, and yet he just kind of buzzes all over and does…things. And, often as I saw him tonight, those things were pretty damn favorable. Quiet as a mouse, but favorable. For lack of a better metaphor, he’s a bit like dark matter out there.
5) And I think I rate Yimmi Chara higher than most, and I’m OK with that. His free kicks are good, if nothing else.
6) The draw against LAFC looked like a bad week for Santiago Moreno after tonight.
With that, I think I’ve covered everything and everyone, but for the things/players not worth covering. For instance, Dairon Asprilla was active and occasionally dangerous, something that seems unremarkable by now, and Jaroslaw Niezgoda was, flashes here and there notwithstanding, invisible. Some subs came on after, of course, and one of my favorite things about the whole entire game was how Sebastian Blanco got to work about managing the end. Oops, that brings up another talking point.
7) David Ayala (and, please, someone get me current on the pronunciation) came on with Blanco and, youthful face aside, he looked as comfortable and competent as anyone in Timbers green for those 10 nervy minutes.
With all that, the total number of young Timbers players look ready for the mainstage ticks two-to-five players higher. Depending on how you’re counting. It could be that or my sense that the game played out more or less as I expected - i.e., close, a little chessy, but with the Timbers winning - that made this play out a little like a statement result. Austin blew out two teams before they rolled into Portland, but they couldn’t even produce a clean look at goal on arrival. And this wasn’t Portland’s starting XI. Allegedly…
…guys. This season could be really, really fun.
Now, I’m not a fan of the halftime speech. That could because I’ve never heard a real stem-winder, at least not one that didn’t involve me as a half-negative argument for inspiration (again, the frame was, “if he can do it”; true story, at least twice), but whatever Giovanni Savarese said before he sent his charges back onto the field, whatever adjustments he made, I’d put the number that worked at somewhere between 60-80%. The other part of that equation, and the one I’m least equipped to make: what adjustments to Josh Wolff make to what Austin did?
For all the noise that came between the whistle that started the second half and the one that ended it, the loudest came in the 62nd minute when Bill Tuiloma got a big step in front of whoever the hell wears Austin’s No. 4 jersey (Ruben Gabrielsen, huh), and powered home a point-blank header off a pretty-as-you-like Yimmi Chara set-piece to put the Timbers up 1-0. Some sweaty moments aside, if fewer than one might think, that was all the Timbers needed to pick up their first win of 2022.
Tuiloma had a wonderful game. Give or take 10 minutes after he scored, he cleared an absolute, no questions asked Austin goal off the line, and during a scrum that had Timbers defenders flying around their own area like clay pigeons. And that’s one of my take-aways from today: the Timbers bent their defense to the breaking point, but made sure that it didn’t. Tuiloma and Zac McGraw deserve a tip for all the clean-up they did today, but they got a decent lift from Josecarlos Van Rankin’s best game of the season, plus a…well, let’s just say we’ve got something to think about after Justin Rasmussen’s wholly impressive first-team debut. As much as I hate making judgments off a tiny sample size, I wasn’t nearly as impressed by Rasmussen’s defending - which wasn’t bad at all - as by his composure on the ball. Good passes forward, smart slip passes under pressure…suffice to say questions abound and the answers don’t seem so obvious all the sudden…
…no. No. Don’t give in. Cool your jets. It’s one game. It’s one game. Moving on…
I’m going to continue by giving Austin their due. As much as they struggled to get a clean look on (the relatively anonymous…not like that’s a bad thing) Aljaz Ivacic’s goal - and they got exactly zero - Matt McConaughey’s team can play; they cut through and across the midfield like alpine skiers through fresh snow, they’re calm on the ball and they can get it into your team’s attacking third with relative comfort…though, again, they’ve done that against two historically shit teams (e.g., Inter Miami CF and…don’t make me say…FC Cincinnati), and they did it again today, if against a Portland team that rolls out the red carpet until they yank it out from under, and what is that but a solid first step toward scoring? When Austin is at their collective best…what can I call their angles but immaculate? They had two moments in the second half, that’s at a minimum, where the played out of the first stages of Portland’s pressure like they mapped it out two weeks prior. It was impressive stuff and, yeah, this team can play…if, for the 100th team from my various platforms alone, the extended MLS fandom universe will have to see how they do against better teams. Like the Timbers. And let’s stick with that word, “team.”
Highly-specific moments aside - e.g., Bill’s game-defining actions - no individual Timber played his best game in those colors…okeh, yes, Rasmussen, of course, but this was very much a collective, you-have-my-back-I’ll-get-yours performance by Portland. Call it a collective trust-fall, and for the veterans as well as the new guys. And that’s what feels most promising about tonight’s win against a confident team, if one playing at some as yet unknown state above normal.
That’s it for the broad thoughts I have on this one. I don’t do timelines often, but this game had a truly special lack of them. Inasmuch as game-states existed, I’d hang the total number of phases four, if with some rounding - i.e., a slightly deceptive 50/50 battle through the first half, followed by 20 minutes of dominance by Portland, followed by 15-20 by Austin, and wrapped up by a half-sleep-walking outro by the Timbers. As much as Portland had to do the clay-pigeon thing from 65-85, one loud, inescapable fact remains: Austin never fired an unobstructed shot on goal. Again, and in a way that absolutely catches the eye, the Timbers defense carried them just as far as the offense. If one accounts for the fact that Tuiloma scored the lone goal, Portland’s defense carried them through. And these are the (alleged) understudies.
Which kicks off the talking points:
1) What I’ve officially dubbed “The Bill ‘n’ Zac Show” as of tonight looks more and more like going from off-Broadway to the main stage every week. Good as the individual efforts have been, what has really caught my eye is the way they play together.
2) Speaking of problems, are the Timbers drunk on fullbacks? For starters, I’ll be the first to recognize the peculiarity of the question, because what’s the easiest thing to bitch about when it comes to the Timbers…I mean, besides the skeazy front office? Yes, the fullbacks. I’m gonna hit this one from a personal level…
For all his faults, I really like Claudio Bravo. He’s like a little World War I Frenchman out there - i.e., drunk on elan and never doubting the team he’s playing for has a chance as long as he does his part. Pablo Bonilla, on the other hand, I credit him for good athleticism and ample bite, but he’s not sterling silver on the attacking side. For as often as I shit on him, I’m developing a theory that Van Rankin can become a solid player if/when he fully adjusts to the North American game. Meanwhile, in the real-ass here and now, his worst faults come on the defensive side of the ball - e.g., switching off and bad reads (fwiw, he had one tonight with a cross played over his head, a slip that gave Austin one of their better chances) - and, yeah, anyone trying to sort out the team has to look at that. And then you add the night Rasmussen had tonight, where he played with the first-time starters play like he’s part of it/? I don’t know what to call that but food for thought - and no matter what tube it slips down.
And yet the real/weird problem comes from the fact that the two players I feel least easy about - e.g., Van Rankin and Bonilla - play the same side. They’re both right fullbacks. I mean…can Bravo play right back?
3) Just….Diego Chara.
4) And this one should have been bigger: Cristhian Paredes has looked like a new player in 2022, if without looking like either conduit or talisman. It’s hard to explain what I’m getting at here, but the general idea is this: the Timbers don’t play through Paredes, either often or as a choice, and yet he just kind of buzzes all over and does…things. And, often as I saw him tonight, those things were pretty damn favorable. Quiet as a mouse, but favorable. For lack of a better metaphor, he’s a bit like dark matter out there.
5) And I think I rate Yimmi Chara higher than most, and I’m OK with that. His free kicks are good, if nothing else.
6) The draw against LAFC looked like a bad week for Santiago Moreno after tonight.
With that, I think I’ve covered everything and everyone, but for the things/players not worth covering. For instance, Dairon Asprilla was active and occasionally dangerous, something that seems unremarkable by now, and Jaroslaw Niezgoda was, flashes here and there notwithstanding, invisible. Some subs came on after, of course, and one of my favorite things about the whole entire game was how Sebastian Blanco got to work about managing the end. Oops, that brings up another talking point.
7) David Ayala (and, please, someone get me current on the pronunciation) came on with Blanco and, youthful face aside, he looked as comfortable and competent as anyone in Timbers green for those 10 nervy minutes.
With all that, the total number of young Timbers players look ready for the mainstage ticks two-to-five players higher. Depending on how you’re counting. It could be that or my sense that the game played out more or less as I expected - i.e., close, a little chessy, but with the Timbers winning - that made this play out a little like a statement result. Austin blew out two teams before they rolled into Portland, but they couldn’t even produce a clean look at goal on arrival. And this wasn’t Portland’s starting XI. Allegedly…
…guys. This season could be really, really fun.
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