Portland Timbers 2-1 Sporting Kansas City: It Ain't What You Do, It's the Fact That You Did It

To any Portland Timbers fans feeling underwhelmed by last night’s 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City, please see the lament from a handful of SKC fans at right.

Real Quick Game Summary
Neither team did much over the first half, even if, in keeping with the final score/numbers, Portland did a little more. There was feeling up, out and everything in between and the Timbers getting the best traction with long balls to Jonathan Rodriguez. SKC had space to play – and that made them look better at times – but Portland erased that at the start of the second half by pushing their line of engagement into SKC’s half. That rattled out a turnover in a good place that Portland exploited through some next-level play by Evander (love the way he swims through that first challenge) and the kind of subtle cross Portland pays him to deliver. Even if the final result lacked for elegance, SKC equalized by paying the Timbers back in the same currency – i.e., they just got on Portland as they tried to play out of the back – but Portland ultimately got their foot on the ball and found the winner through Evander after playing volleyball between the channels (video below). They had to wait a few for Drew Fischer to bless it – as he should have, because Antony wasn’t active in the play – but both the goal and the win stood up, if with a late, great save from Maxime Crepeau to haul it over the line.

Now, before anyone gets carried away about last night’s defensive performance, know it came against a team that, counting last night's loss, hasn't won in eight games and that has lost its last five. Sporting Kansas City is a bad team. I can’t say how much they lost when Erik Thommy went out, but I’m highly confident it didn’t help. The Timbers had to win this game. And, credit to them, they did. The next one’s coming soon and, gods willing, I’ll squeeze in something on that, but I’m going to close this post with (new feature/concept!):

Five Things I’d People About This Game
1) You Are Your Record, You Are What You Are
Major League Soccer has its cliches and “you are your record” has to rank somewhere in the Top 3. I don’t think cliches get sub-headers, but if I could give one to “you are your record,” I vote for “you are what you are.” A certain kind of fan (i.e., me, I’m talking about me here) doesn’t necessarily need to love everything the Timbers do on the field. Also, Lord-ah (just audio-visualize(?) an exasperated pinch at the end of “Lord”), was the first half full of it. The worst passes were blind, the second-worst hopeful; the Timbers looked disconnected as a kids’ Christmas program and it assaulted the eyes just as badly as a bunch of kids singing off-key and off-time assaults the ears. It’s also working – to the point of literally delivering a two goals-per-game average over 15 games so far [Ed. - Sorry, I'm dumb; it's actually 1.87 goals/game; I was looking at the goals against; also, see No. 3 below.] It doesn’t look the way I think it should and, you know what? Fuck it. It’s good enough. Time to stop fretting about the aesthetics and to start believing they have goals in ‘em. Now, for the “why” part of that...

Just keep smiling. Let it wash over you...

2) “Their Guys” Are Getting It Done
Jonathan Rodriguez looks like a smarter signing with each passing week, Evander may not play the way you (…fine, I) want him to, but the man gets it done (reminds me of Darlington Nagbe that way), and Mora somehow ties it all together. It’s something out of nothing at least one-third of the time, but, again, the Timbers have effective attacking pieces. I know the front office gets kicked hard and often - and gods know they deserve most of it (and Merritt deserves all of it) - but Portland found and signed these players to do a job and...well, they’re doing it. I think that gets lost in the shit results at times, that's all. Moving on to the cause of said shit results…

3) My Greatest Source of Discomfort
To state the blindingly obvious, the Timbers will go as far as the defense can carry them this season. Portland’s defense doesn’t need to be perfect – per notes above, giving up one goal instead of two should do it more often than not – but the defense has held up its end of that bargain just three times in 2024. For those counting at home, that’s a one-fifth success rate and even that’s scattered all to Hell: the last time the Timbers allowed just one goal prior to last night was March 17. As some smart someone pointed out on some now forgotten thread on the Timbers subreddit, defending is a whole team enterprise – i.e., it’s not just the back four (or three) and Crapeau (…oh my God, I want him to start playing badly just so I can use that nickname). Getting the midfield sorted out – and, here, that means incoming and outgoing – is the first step to building a better defense. Very much related, both Diego Chara and David Ayala had a terrible habit of getting pulled wide last night and leaving a hole at the top of the area and, again, better teams will cause greater mischief around that. And yet…

4) Ayala Me, Why Not Take Ayala Me!
Last night, but also not just last night, has pushed me firmly into Team Ayala. I still think Portland sucks at ball progression – e.g., they play either through wide spaces or over the top, and only look comfortable in the middle after they get on the ball away from their own goal – but I did like seeing Ayala take charge of that role last night. That meant dropping all the way into the back line more often than it should, but even that gives the defense one more way to play out of the back with some kind of control and the Timbers genuinely need that. As such, I want to see Ayala in every starting line-up he’s fit to play – not in a “build around him” sense of the word, but as the best solution to two of the biggest problems in Portland’s midfield – e.g., playing out of the back with some kind of control and providing enough defensive cover.

5) [Because My Original Fifth Thing Went “Poof”] The 50% Problem
This segment was originally titled “My Greatest Source of Comfort” and it was going to talk up the way the Timbers played coolly out of pressure to score the game-winner...only they didn’t. After getting pinned in the right corner of Portland’s half, Cristhian Paredes found Miguel Araujo in support (nice one, Miguel!), who just punted it up-field. Enjoy the video of that goal, by all means, just know that it wouldn’t have happened had Chara not run down a dangerous loose ball – one that might have titled 40/60 - immediately before it starts to roll. And yet, that points to what I’m calling “the 50% problem” – the way Portland’s central midfield options do one thing or the other – e.g., Chara and Paredes are good at running down threats and snuffing them out, but round about average for range, vision, and accuracy of passing. Evander and Eryk Williamson can actually play, but neither has the bite or simple “MY BALL” desire to provide defensive cover.

In conclusion, Portland got themselves a good win last night. The fact they faced one of the worst teams at home made it a vital win. Things get harder again starting on Wednesday, but, and for all the complications noted above, at least they’ve got a breeze at their backs.