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| Exaggerated? Absolutely. But...look! |
I can’t count the number of times I’ve started a post with some spin on, “I’ll keep this brief,” but I think I have it this time. [NOTE: He does not.]
Real Salt Lake came out swinging strong and, yeah, that got me wondering about where things would go. Near as I can tell, it took literally one bop on the nose – i.e., a sequence where the Timbers methodically worked the ball through RSL’s press (more of a presence thing, than running players down) and capped the sequence with a quality shot on goal by the oft-(over?*) praised Evander – for RSL to gamble less and/or swing for the fences too early and more often.
This game didn’t have game-states so much as it had moments. One team or another would create an opportunity – say, RSL finding space for Andres Gomez on RSL’s right – some of those would lead to actual chances, but neither team ever really got all over the other one. Small wonder the announcers (kicking it old school with Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth) fixated on every time a player hit the post. It happened three times, though not all those chances weren’t created equal.
That wasn’t wholly unreasonable. This was a classic game where the team that scored first had a 75% or better chance of winning it...and here comes the reveal. Woo. The game ended 0-0.
In fairness, plenty of those openings yawned wide enough – e.g., that time in the opening minutes when Gomez opened enough space to for a strip mall with a cut on Claudio Bravo. There was also the header Aljaz Ivacic could do no better than swat away (have to imagine it's in here somewhere), the Jefferson Savarino free-kick that left Ivacic standing and praying at the same time, Dairon Asprilla hitting one of those shots off the post (the best one, for my money) just one minute later, or Justen Glad’s devilish knuckler that Ivacic slapped away like a hot potato dipped in roadkill. It’s less that nothing happened, than not a whole lot and very little of interest did.
It's possible I flagged the wrong weakness for RSL in my distended preview (scroll down). Bluntly, they seemed to give up once their best moments dried up – hitting highly hopeful shots from range, attempting passes that felt like real-time proofs of the perfect being the enemy of the good, slowing down when they should have sped up, etc. Bottom line, they ran out of ideas and vividly. I saw plenty of people slam the announcing team, but they clung to one telling detail, and rightly so: RSL hasn’t scored in 370(+) minutes. You could see why tonight.If I were an RSL fan, I’d be ripping my hair out....oh, wait, I watched the Timbers first fives games of 2023. RSL fans don’t know pain...
So, was this a good result for Portland? In the barest sense, absolutely: they poached two points that a direct rival semi-desperately needed and kept their first clean sheet of the season...though, again, RSL has scored just ten goals over twelve games. [Correction - Ivacic kept his first clean sheet. The author was careless.] On the aesthetic level.............I mean, it was fine. The Timbers created legit chances – two, in fact, one that should have led to a great chance for Franck Boli, another heaping with promise that Juan David Mosquera swung to the back, back, back, back post, and also somehow out of bounds. But, like a truly disappointing joke, the set up killed.
Look at that, we’re already on talking points. It’s late, I’m over 50....so, let’s get to it.
Real Salt Lake came out swinging strong and, yeah, that got me wondering about where things would go. Near as I can tell, it took literally one bop on the nose – i.e., a sequence where the Timbers methodically worked the ball through RSL’s press (more of a presence thing, than running players down) and capped the sequence with a quality shot on goal by the oft-(over?*) praised Evander – for RSL to gamble less and/or swing for the fences too early and more often.
This game didn’t have game-states so much as it had moments. One team or another would create an opportunity – say, RSL finding space for Andres Gomez on RSL’s right – some of those would lead to actual chances, but neither team ever really got all over the other one. Small wonder the announcers (kicking it old school with Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth) fixated on every time a player hit the post. It happened three times, though not all those chances weren’t created equal.
That wasn’t wholly unreasonable. This was a classic game where the team that scored first had a 75% or better chance of winning it...and here comes the reveal. Woo. The game ended 0-0.
In fairness, plenty of those openings yawned wide enough – e.g., that time in the opening minutes when Gomez opened enough space to for a strip mall with a cut on Claudio Bravo. There was also the header Aljaz Ivacic could do no better than swat away (have to imagine it's in here somewhere), the Jefferson Savarino free-kick that left Ivacic standing and praying at the same time, Dairon Asprilla hitting one of those shots off the post (the best one, for my money) just one minute later, or Justen Glad’s devilish knuckler that Ivacic slapped away like a hot potato dipped in roadkill. It’s less that nothing happened, than not a whole lot and very little of interest did.
It's possible I flagged the wrong weakness for RSL in my distended preview (scroll down). Bluntly, they seemed to give up once their best moments dried up – hitting highly hopeful shots from range, attempting passes that felt like real-time proofs of the perfect being the enemy of the good, slowing down when they should have sped up, etc. Bottom line, they ran out of ideas and vividly. I saw plenty of people slam the announcing team, but they clung to one telling detail, and rightly so: RSL hasn’t scored in 370(+) minutes. You could see why tonight.If I were an RSL fan, I’d be ripping my hair out....oh, wait, I watched the Timbers first fives games of 2023. RSL fans don’t know pain...
So, was this a good result for Portland? In the barest sense, absolutely: they poached two points that a direct rival semi-desperately needed and kept their first clean sheet of the season...though, again, RSL has scored just ten goals over twelve games. [Correction - Ivacic kept his first clean sheet. The author was careless.] On the aesthetic level.............I mean, it was fine. The Timbers created legit chances – two, in fact, one that should have led to a great chance for Franck Boli, another heaping with promise that Juan David Mosquera swung to the back, back, back, back post, and also somehow out of bounds. But, like a truly disappointing joke, the set up killed.
Look at that, we’re already on talking points. It’s late, I’m over 50....so, let’s get to it.
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| The Pibe of El Pibe? |
* YES, I Know.
Ridiculous as the whole “Redeemer” thing is, a shit-ton of traffic flowed through Evander – or at least seemed to; other people know where to find those numbers, I don’t care to, and so on. As much as I want to dump on the hype, Evander has looked good-to-great over the past three games. Whether it’s a cheeky move to keep possession or even the nearest, improbable pass, he hits it, and like 70% of the time. He has “faults,” but only if you have certain expectations.
Top-level observation, the man barely runs and/or defends – though, in his defense, who pressured Glad’s shot (Evander. It was Evander)? And, if that’s something you need to see, I can’t argue the point. That said, I haven’t seen a player that reminded me so much of OG MLS player Carlos Valderrama since Carlos Valderrama. I’d care if it wasn’t working, but it’s working.
A Moment & a Quiet Truth
There was a point when....I think it was Brian Dunseth who rated the Timbers signing Diego Chara as one of the best long-term signings in MLS history. I’d love to see that ranked somewhere because, Dunny was the opposite of wrong on that.
Late in the game, Dario Zuparic stepped astride (think it was) Gomez – this was in the area, mind you – dribbled the ball out of danger and passed it into a counter.
Timbers fans, hell, fans in general, burn a lot of energy on terrible signings, an anxious tic that causes them to miss the signings that actually panned out. Zuparic is one of those players. I see him as that reliable player waiting on the right partner. And, speaking of good acquisitions, Zac McGraw.
The Timbers defense isn’t perfect, I know. And RSL isn’t the yardstick you want to measure any defense against, not unless you’re seeking comfort. The fact there’s nothing between even one of those players getting injured, Eric Miller playing his socks off, and the abyss isn’t great. And yet they're good enough, even if I can't bless either with the slippery praise of “league-elite.” Still, Portland has two quality starting center backs in my book. And they’ve stayed healthy/unsuspended enough.
My Man of the Match
Cristhian Paredes played a great game tonight, crucially, in both directions. If this wasn’t one of his best defensive performances, it was close. Better still, I don’t know which impressed me more, all the RSL plays he throttled or the way he got into the attacking third – e.g., that one time, very late in the game, where he dribbled his way into the box and damn-near set up a sitter.
I see all those as reasons for encouragement, for what it’s worth. Which leads to the final talking point...
Ridiculous as the whole “Redeemer” thing is, a shit-ton of traffic flowed through Evander – or at least seemed to; other people know where to find those numbers, I don’t care to, and so on. As much as I want to dump on the hype, Evander has looked good-to-great over the past three games. Whether it’s a cheeky move to keep possession or even the nearest, improbable pass, he hits it, and like 70% of the time. He has “faults,” but only if you have certain expectations.
Top-level observation, the man barely runs and/or defends – though, in his defense, who pressured Glad’s shot (Evander. It was Evander)? And, if that’s something you need to see, I can’t argue the point. That said, I haven’t seen a player that reminded me so much of OG MLS player Carlos Valderrama since Carlos Valderrama. I’d care if it wasn’t working, but it’s working.
A Moment & a Quiet Truth
There was a point when....I think it was Brian Dunseth who rated the Timbers signing Diego Chara as one of the best long-term signings in MLS history. I’d love to see that ranked somewhere because, Dunny was the opposite of wrong on that.
Late in the game, Dario Zuparic stepped astride (think it was) Gomez – this was in the area, mind you – dribbled the ball out of danger and passed it into a counter.
Timbers fans, hell, fans in general, burn a lot of energy on terrible signings, an anxious tic that causes them to miss the signings that actually panned out. Zuparic is one of those players. I see him as that reliable player waiting on the right partner. And, speaking of good acquisitions, Zac McGraw.
The Timbers defense isn’t perfect, I know. And RSL isn’t the yardstick you want to measure any defense against, not unless you’re seeking comfort. The fact there’s nothing between even one of those players getting injured, Eric Miller playing his socks off, and the abyss isn’t great. And yet they're good enough, even if I can't bless either with the slippery praise of “league-elite.” Still, Portland has two quality starting center backs in my book. And they’ve stayed healthy/unsuspended enough.
My Man of the Match
Cristhian Paredes played a great game tonight, crucially, in both directions. If this wasn’t one of his best defensive performances, it was close. Better still, I don’t know which impressed me more, all the RSL plays he throttled or the way he got into the attacking third – e.g., that one time, very late in the game, where he dribbled his way into the box and damn-near set up a sitter.
I see all those as reasons for encouragement, for what it’s worth. Which leads to the final talking point...
The Measure of the Defense
"Nothing – literally nothing – will matter so much as the Timbers’ collective defense, but, so long as that holds (hear me, baby? Hold together)"
That's from the preview post and, huzzah, it did. The thing that really stood out: all the blocked shots. The official stats counted just six for the Timbers, but I swear they got that many in one second-half sequence. At any rate, it was good seeing Timbers defenders close enough to the danger to snuff it out, Paredes ran down a ton of chances from the other direction. RSL gave 'em a bit of an assist what with all the flailing, but Portland's defense was lively.
How to play Minnesota United FC
I don’t know how they’ll do it or who with, but I’d like to see Portland rest Diego Chara on Saturday. That might be a tough call, but I see no reason why Gio Savarese couldn’t start Asprilla over Yimmi Chara or Nathan Fogaca over Boli.
I saw that Minnesota won tonight (also, Houston's shit on the road), but they’ve been fucking horrific lately. If I coached that game, I’d gamble on giving minutes to someone besides the regulars and trust the understudies to give the regulars a shot at making their work pay off in three points at home when they come on as subs. And I’ll be the first to admit that strategy has risks...
All in all, I’m happy. Better, I think the team played the game right under the circumstances. That’s it. We’ll see what happens Saturday.
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