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| Shh. Shhh. SHHHH!! I...I got this. (And they did) |
The first thing I want to say was that this felt different from the bawdy romp over Sporing Kansas City...back whenever the fuck that happened. I mean, SKC fell apart where the Colorado Rapids merely crumbled. Now, the real thing...
After watching Colorado’s Michael Barrios torment any New York City FC defender who ventured out to face him on their left, I’d already keyed on the Barrios/Claudio Bravo duel as a key to the game. Bravo did better than worse throughout the first half – I mean, he lunged here and there; he’s a chronic lunger – but he bit into a 48 oz. Porterhouse twice - one of those monsters they where they'll pay for your dinner if I keep it down - early in the second half and I figured it would take only one Rapids goal to start the Rube Goldberg machine of the Timbers’ unraveling; seriously, if Barrios ever got the upper-hand in that one, I’d be writing about a different game.
I wasn’t so much Bravo holding on – though he did – than the Timbers attack swarming the Rapids’ area like aggrieved hornets for a solid 10-15 that decided the game. Call Bravo’s little flutter (along with Santiago Moreno giving away the ball twice) the storm before the calm. I’m not entirely clear on which insurance goal deserves the most credit for knocking the collective wind out of the Rapids, but the game ended with both a whimper and a final 3-0 win for Portland.
The outcome looked less clear for the first 40 minutes. I don’t think the Rapids ever had better chances, but they had enough of them; the Rapids chose to open the space, even when that meant giving space as well, and both teams’ attacks benefited. While the game as a whole had its ins and outs, its beginnings of theories, that kind of thing, my top take-away was that the Timbers won for the first time this season by being good instead of lucky, or even gently blessed; to bring in a data point, I think The Mothership’s xG call gets it right. I’ll go to my grave arguing the Timbers had to get something going on offense in the first half of 2022, and they finally got that crucial critical mass of attacking momentum – there, I give most credit to Yimmi Chara and Santiago Moreno – to keep the Rapids attack honest, which, here, means conservative. Even after the edge slipped away toward the end of the second half, Moreno put in the hustle to chase a late, half-aimless through-ball. He got around the Rapids’ last man, got a clean touch on the ball, then got all of William Yarbrough (and without a whiff of malice). To continue a thought from the twitter thread, that might have been the singularly most obvious concussion call I’ve ever seen, and I wish the man a speedy and total recovery. Because that bell got rung.
The resulting penalty kick – tidy as you like by Sebastian Blanco – might have put the Timbers in the driver’s seat, but I started at the middle of the game, and the whole Bravo/Barrios duel, as a way to...acknowledge, I suppose, the moment when everything could have gone wrong. And it didn’t. Those five-to-ten loose minutes had a real drunk-teenager-walking-on-the-edge-of-a-tall-building energy, an experience highlighted by the double save by Aljaz Ivacic (c’mon, hop on the wagon), but Portland shook it off, got the upper hand and kept it up till the final whistle.
Sure, Colorado also played one of the worst 30 minutes I’ve seen from them in a year, if not beyond, and that almost certainly helped. Jaroslaw Niezgoda’s first goal, the silky (possibly-illegal, and therefore silkier) something that put Portland up 2-0 definitely caught the Rapids off-guard – and helluva ball by Bill Tuiloma (who’s giving up Ilie Sanchez vibes by now) – but, after some thought, I think it was the combination of Portland’s third goal and the bombardment that preceded it that made the Rapids suffer a debilitating moment of doubt...that lasted, like, 25 minutes. Their defenders lost track of Timbers’ runs and the entire team lost confidence on where to play the ball, one of those dreaded collective efforts of trying so hard to avoid another mistake that you can’t make anything happen: how to fall apart across all dimensions, 101.
After watching Colorado’s Michael Barrios torment any New York City FC defender who ventured out to face him on their left, I’d already keyed on the Barrios/Claudio Bravo duel as a key to the game. Bravo did better than worse throughout the first half – I mean, he lunged here and there; he’s a chronic lunger – but he bit into a 48 oz. Porterhouse twice - one of those monsters they where they'll pay for your dinner if I keep it down - early in the second half and I figured it would take only one Rapids goal to start the Rube Goldberg machine of the Timbers’ unraveling; seriously, if Barrios ever got the upper-hand in that one, I’d be writing about a different game.
I wasn’t so much Bravo holding on – though he did – than the Timbers attack swarming the Rapids’ area like aggrieved hornets for a solid 10-15 that decided the game. Call Bravo’s little flutter (along with Santiago Moreno giving away the ball twice) the storm before the calm. I’m not entirely clear on which insurance goal deserves the most credit for knocking the collective wind out of the Rapids, but the game ended with both a whimper and a final 3-0 win for Portland.
The outcome looked less clear for the first 40 minutes. I don’t think the Rapids ever had better chances, but they had enough of them; the Rapids chose to open the space, even when that meant giving space as well, and both teams’ attacks benefited. While the game as a whole had its ins and outs, its beginnings of theories, that kind of thing, my top take-away was that the Timbers won for the first time this season by being good instead of lucky, or even gently blessed; to bring in a data point, I think The Mothership’s xG call gets it right. I’ll go to my grave arguing the Timbers had to get something going on offense in the first half of 2022, and they finally got that crucial critical mass of attacking momentum – there, I give most credit to Yimmi Chara and Santiago Moreno – to keep the Rapids attack honest, which, here, means conservative. Even after the edge slipped away toward the end of the second half, Moreno put in the hustle to chase a late, half-aimless through-ball. He got around the Rapids’ last man, got a clean touch on the ball, then got all of William Yarbrough (and without a whiff of malice). To continue a thought from the twitter thread, that might have been the singularly most obvious concussion call I’ve ever seen, and I wish the man a speedy and total recovery. Because that bell got rung.
The resulting penalty kick – tidy as you like by Sebastian Blanco – might have put the Timbers in the driver’s seat, but I started at the middle of the game, and the whole Bravo/Barrios duel, as a way to...acknowledge, I suppose, the moment when everything could have gone wrong. And it didn’t. Those five-to-ten loose minutes had a real drunk-teenager-walking-on-the-edge-of-a-tall-building energy, an experience highlighted by the double save by Aljaz Ivacic (c’mon, hop on the wagon), but Portland shook it off, got the upper hand and kept it up till the final whistle.
Sure, Colorado also played one of the worst 30 minutes I’ve seen from them in a year, if not beyond, and that almost certainly helped. Jaroslaw Niezgoda’s first goal, the silky (possibly-illegal, and therefore silkier) something that put Portland up 2-0 definitely caught the Rapids off-guard – and helluva ball by Bill Tuiloma (who’s giving up Ilie Sanchez vibes by now) – but, after some thought, I think it was the combination of Portland’s third goal and the bombardment that preceded it that made the Rapids suffer a debilitating moment of doubt...that lasted, like, 25 minutes. Their defenders lost track of Timbers’ runs and the entire team lost confidence on where to play the ball, one of those dreaded collective efforts of trying so hard to avoid another mistake that you can’t make anything happen: how to fall apart across all dimensions, 101.
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| Literally begging for a nickname. |
And that third goal comes up due to the man who made the assist, none other than Eryk Williamson, but also the situation that got him on the field early. Cristhian Paredes – aka, my comfort blanket for the 2022-25 (please) seasons limped off with an unidentified injury – and that got Williamson on the field just after the 20th minute. For all that most Timbers fans seem to agree that Eryk can be good – some would even argue great – he hadn’t yet put his stamp on any game in 2022. And there’s nothing wrong with that, not after coming back from a knee injury. Tonight, though, was the first night where Eryk looked like ERYK – i.e., spinning out of pinch with his back to goal 25 yards out, and without a net, or that rush up Portland’s right channel where he seemed to think, "fuck it, I’ll just do it” – and he polished it off with a cross that landed inside Colorado’s six-yard box, aka, Niezgoda’s second. (And we have considered calling him “Niezgola,” yes?).
All in all, I’m glad Colorado gave the Timbers a little mountain and some tricky moments to overcome – which is why I rate this performance over the 7-2 man-handling of SKC. The Timbers have ten, maybe 12 games to get their feet under them in order to have any real hope of a dark-horse run into the post-season, so the sooner they get sharper the better. The opposition gave their share of reasons to question the validity of the win (see, winless road record; aforementioned paralysis), but knocking a team out of a game is the stuff that puts winds in your sails. And that’s what tilts me toward calling this a good result. If Portland can do the same against Houston Dynamo FC at midweek, they’ll have taken two necessary steps toward that dark-horse run.
That’s my opus. In closing, some talking points...
1) Hungry, Hungry Yimmi
If any Timber came out looking determined to get the win, it was Chara the Younger. I didn’t even mind the selfishness (also, fuck it, he fired from range, and I can’t very well call for that in one breath and complain about it in the next). Portland needs at least a couple goal-dangerous players, and I’ll take Yimmi if he’s up for it.
2) Niezgoda and the Player v Role Conundrum
I can fully appreciate why a team asks an understudy to try to play the same way the lead does week in, week out. That’s the play, etc. But Niezgoda’s been an understudy long enough that playing to his actual strengths makes sense and, to Gio et. al.’s credit, I think the Timbers did that tonight. As anyone tuning into a Timbers game knows by now, Niezgoda finishes at an elite level under the right circumstances: the Timbers put him in those spots tonight - i.e., facing goal and/or at a spring - and reaped the benefits; even when the play didn’t end with anything tangible, Niezgoda played a key role tonight – and after an opening 50 minutes so anonymous that I was about to complain about another wasted night.
3) PossiBillities (hey-OH!)
Apart from having a characteristically comprehensive night, Bill Tuiloma pinged a free-kick off the post. This was after the Timbers went up 3-0, but that would have been a fourth goal to die for. Unless I thought I saw something I didn’t, Savarese (or the team in real-time) made the decision to let Bill drift forward and, for lack of a better word, find the game, if from a deep position. And that’s kind of the thing: Tuiloma has the technique and savvy to carry that. If nothing else, he gives a different dimension than Diego Chara going forward – e.g., he’s more passer than runner – and he lets Chara catch some breaks in the middle of the field. Add in Bill’s heading prowess and saying the Timbers have something really damn useful on their hands, and in a fascinating place on the field gets easier to say with every game.
Just that and Eryk finding his feet/confidence has me feeling better than I have in a few...
...also, after editing this during the posting process I see I’m getting carried away. Be still, my beating heart, it’s too soon....
...also...call me. Till the next one-nighter.
All in all, I’m glad Colorado gave the Timbers a little mountain and some tricky moments to overcome – which is why I rate this performance over the 7-2 man-handling of SKC. The Timbers have ten, maybe 12 games to get their feet under them in order to have any real hope of a dark-horse run into the post-season, so the sooner they get sharper the better. The opposition gave their share of reasons to question the validity of the win (see, winless road record; aforementioned paralysis), but knocking a team out of a game is the stuff that puts winds in your sails. And that’s what tilts me toward calling this a good result. If Portland can do the same against Houston Dynamo FC at midweek, they’ll have taken two necessary steps toward that dark-horse run.
That’s my opus. In closing, some talking points...
1) Hungry, Hungry Yimmi
If any Timber came out looking determined to get the win, it was Chara the Younger. I didn’t even mind the selfishness (also, fuck it, he fired from range, and I can’t very well call for that in one breath and complain about it in the next). Portland needs at least a couple goal-dangerous players, and I’ll take Yimmi if he’s up for it.
2) Niezgoda and the Player v Role Conundrum
I can fully appreciate why a team asks an understudy to try to play the same way the lead does week in, week out. That’s the play, etc. But Niezgoda’s been an understudy long enough that playing to his actual strengths makes sense and, to Gio et. al.’s credit, I think the Timbers did that tonight. As anyone tuning into a Timbers game knows by now, Niezgoda finishes at an elite level under the right circumstances: the Timbers put him in those spots tonight - i.e., facing goal and/or at a spring - and reaped the benefits; even when the play didn’t end with anything tangible, Niezgoda played a key role tonight – and after an opening 50 minutes so anonymous that I was about to complain about another wasted night.
3) PossiBillities (hey-OH!)
Apart from having a characteristically comprehensive night, Bill Tuiloma pinged a free-kick off the post. This was after the Timbers went up 3-0, but that would have been a fourth goal to die for. Unless I thought I saw something I didn’t, Savarese (or the team in real-time) made the decision to let Bill drift forward and, for lack of a better word, find the game, if from a deep position. And that’s kind of the thing: Tuiloma has the technique and savvy to carry that. If nothing else, he gives a different dimension than Diego Chara going forward – e.g., he’s more passer than runner – and he lets Chara catch some breaks in the middle of the field. Add in Bill’s heading prowess and saying the Timbers have something really damn useful on their hands, and in a fascinating place on the field gets easier to say with every game.
Just that and Eryk finding his feet/confidence has me feeling better than I have in a few...
...also, after editing this during the posting process I see I’m getting carried away. Be still, my beating heart, it’s too soon....
...also...call me. Till the next one-nighter.
After last night I had this fantasy of Moreno in a future game dribbling thru three defenders, then turning around and heading back for them to see if he could do it twice. He sure likes skipping past midfielders. However, probably a guy whose annual goal total will be in the 3 to 4 range. Hopefully Eryk can inspire him to look for incisive final pass opportunities - that's his current weakness. He makes too many no-look flicks into space where no Timber has even thought of going. But, hey, he's young so...
ReplyDeleteNiezgoda is an undemonstrative player anyway, but last night seemed even more so when scoring his two goals. Wonder if getting Portland's first hat trick would have made him more animated? Also, his teammates just gave him claps on the shoulder, not expansive hugs. Is he and every player aware that he's going to be moved elsewhere, shortly?
It would be nice if this marked Niezgoda's resurgence for 2022. Then we could theoretically concentrate on getting a young, talented DP-quality #10. A Diego Valeri for this decade. But if all the effort goes into obtaining another striker? Hmm.
My God. The work I have to put in to comment on my own fucking blog. Goddamn parasites have to make a goddamn buck on your every breath. At any rate...
ReplyDeleteMost of what you said speaks to the stray sentence above about "the beginnings of theories": the Timbers have who they have right now and the rest of the season depends on how far they can take things. Last night and all the players who made it happen - most of them named above - make me feel better about their chances. Still, it's just Day 1 for whatever revival's happening.
A blogger's work is never done. Sorry, bub, you write something that sparks a reader's interest, you pay a price. Plus, we both want to have the last word (right?).
ReplyDelete