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| A whole lot of "ohmm," till Bouanga fucked it up. |
About the Game
The full highlights haven’t been posted as I type (nvm, went up as I typed), so I’m leaning into bare chronology on this, but one simply can’t escape the feeling that the Portland Timbers let a couple points slip through their toes tonight (game played with the feet, etc.). After going up by two goals – the first, a (deserved) penalty kick earned and (dare I say symbolically?) scored by Felipe Mora, the second, a plum of a finish by Santiago Moreno on an attacking move that typified the night* – the Timbers looked as steady and assured as I’ve seen them all season. Olivier Giroud scoring his first goal of 2025 on the stroke of halftime didn’t change that impression, coming out of the back-side of the blue as it did, and I spent the first half of the second half daydreaming about how I would characterize a home win over an LAFC side that has struggled early and traveled poorly over the opening weeks of 2025. The gap between David Martinez’s equalizer and Felipe Mora’s go-ahead goal**gave me a mere two minutes to second guess that daydream, so I, for lack of a better phrase, drifted back into a space that felt one glorious hell of a lot like the first half of the super-fun roller-coaster good-times of the 2024 season. Despite disturbing signs from the outside – my handwritten notes back up the final allotment shots/shots-on-goal in the official stats - that pleasant fog enveloped me all the way until somewhere around the 90th minute, when Diego Chara caught Denis Bouanga’s toe in the area, Portland's favorite referee, Guido Gonzalez, Jr., pointed to the spot and Bouanga leveled the game with a stone-cold penalty kick. Don’t know why the danger signs didn’t flash earlier, or why I didn’t see them if they did. Maybe I was blinded by the Pants over my eyes…
…have I mentioned that LAFC probably should have gone up 1-0 by the second minute? This was a wild one, soccer’s version of a feeding frenzy, if until Portland’s second go-ahead goal. To float a theory/response: is it possible Portland taking their foot off the gas doomed them to the draw? Against that, did they have the legs to do otherwise?
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| Another thought to hold... |
Don’t know if you felt the same, and some questions about the gameplan aside, I saw a lot to like out there tonight. The aggressive defensive posture worked more often than it didn’t, the movement on and off the ball was, at times, excellent, and understanding between David Da Costa and the rest of the team looked better than it has all season – particularly in terms of the players around him moving to receive the ball he wants to play (e.g., the inlet that teed up Portland’s first PK). That worked exceedingly well, particularly with Antony hunting the ball with a crazed greyhound’s intensity up the left – * his foot-race against a doomed Aaron Long to set up the Timbers' second goal showcased the substance and quality of the pressure Portland had applied so well over the first half – and with Moreno, not just finishing that sequence, but giving yet another live demonstration of why the Timbers have improved so much since his return to the starting eleven. Defensive duties notwithstanding, Moreno seemed to have a free role to move around to provide an outlet for any player on the ball and (to gush a little) that has unlocked Portland’s capacity to stay on the ball and do something with it. He covers a ton of ground, gives David Ayala the short option, backwards or forwards (but mostly forwards (yay!)), that opens up the long option (to the weak side, perhaps?), and, I have to say it, the Timbers midfield looks as complete and as coherent as it has looked in…I’m going with some time (and hold this thought). I’ll be the first to confess I had questions when Antony stepped off with “a knock” at halftime, but if I had to flag the one big thing that leaves me feeling optimistic, I’m leaning into the way the attack shifted to the difference between him and Jonathan Rodriguez, as players. ** Seeing Moreno set up Juan David Mosquera for a right-to-left cross to Rodriguez lurking at the back post (who then nodded it to Mora, who scored that doomed go-ahead goal) wasn’t just First-Half-of-2024-Nostalgia-Gold, it gives me hope this team can do what any contending team does – throw a couple different attacking looks at a defense, whether over games or within them. Those kinds of mechanics lead to goals and goals lead to wins or, sometimes, draws. As Timbers fans know too well, a good attack doesn’t solve all problems, but every goal your local team goes up increases the odds that they won’t lose the game outright, expect when, say, the key player on the opposing team goes all the way off.
An Aside on LAFC
Credit where it’s due, probably to Steve Cherundolo (and please tell me there’s audio of the words he said to get sent off), LAFC adjusted at the half and became a more dangerous team. Quelle surprise, a lot of that followed from isolating Bouanga high and wide on LAFC’s left. Love him, hate him, justifiably accuse him of diving, Bouanga possesses the qualities that separate good players from the guys that fans talk about and up for years to come. Do I think the Timbers defense could have handled him better? Yeah, if without much judgment, but yes. I floated a loose theory on that in the Scouting Report – basically, don’t double-team him directly, make him beat one defender then the other (don’t think the Timbers tried it) – but armchair quarterbacking doesn’t get the points back and it trucks in counterfactuals besides. If I had to wrap LAFC’s evening, I’d argue Bouanga rescued the kind of average performance that has them lingering at seventh in the West. If I had to frame it in the best possible light, I’d argue LAFC baited the Timbers into the wide-open, free-wheeling game they wanted to play. As was demonstrated in real time tonight, that didn’t come without risks – i.e., when the Timbers broke them down, they got goddamn close to goal (if fewer times than I thought) – but my loose current theory is that that choice follows from ongoing chaos across LAFC’s backline. Maybe Marlon Santos is the preferred starter beside Long, maybe Eddie Segura is (or maybe that honor goes to the injured/absent Maxime Chanot), but I suspect this remains a team more comfortable going forward than they are defending. They have a solid No. 8 in Mark Delgado and, arguably, a league-elite No. 8 in Timothy Tillman, but, despite watching somewhere around 165 minutes with him on the field, I still don’t have a great sense of Igor Jesus’ deliverables. I don’t have a firm opinion on Hugo Lloris, but even the best ‘keeper can only do so much with an unstable backline…and I think that’s what LAFC has. To repeat something every MLS fan has probably heard 1,000 times, turning your back on LAFC is madness…but they also are where they are for a reason.
Stray Notes
1) Diamond in the Rough
During the period when the game almost slipped all the way away, Portland ‘keeper James Pantemis stepped up time and again. He even stepped out to slap a “keep out, bitch” sticker on an offside play. Pantemis has been buying Portland’s attacking players time and space to find points all season, so I can only hope they’re keeping him drunk/fed accordingly.
2) Caveat Lector
LAFC’s choice to allow a wide-open game gave Ayala and Moreno, perhaps more than any other players on the field, space to receive the ball and time to move it somewhere effective. As much as I appreciate both teams for allowing it (cheers!), the amount of space all over was actually weird. My grand theory of this game remains where it started: both teams thought they could out-score the other and they played like it. That means leaving space and, not infrequently, 3-3 score lines. I think something very much like this happened early last season – i.e., a glorious epidemic of teams going for it – and this beats the shit out of the alternative, but teams also stop playing this loose 'n' free down the stretch. Just something to tuck away for the future.
3) Still, Press Away
I’m starting to cotton to the idea of the Timbers defending higher up the field. That raises some questions about personnel (see below), but I can see the Timbers sustaining this approach against most of the teams in the West – notably, teams lacking a singular attacking talent that can turn a game given the right opportunities.
3a) That Trip, and Another Plea (aka, the last thought I asked you to hold in the above)
As much as I don’t want to say I saw that 90th minute penalty coming the second Chara stepped to Bouanga, I clocked the risk more or less immediately. Chara’s rotation was impeccable, but he’s visibly slowing – e.g., the time when he tried to lead the break and got run down within five yards – and this feels more and more like one of those “identity” issues by the day. I can’t guarantee that Cristhian Paredes wouldn’t have given up the exact same foul: I am, however, certain that he has more seasons ahead to perfect that role than Chara will to see them slip away. And he has the legs to participate in a pressing scheme. Speaking of...
3b) Mora v Kevin Kelsy
Is this a debate for anybody? (Seriously, this question’s actually going to reddit.) If the Timbers want to press, Kelsy’s clearly the better choice (right?), but if they want to capitalize in transition and build attacking movements, I lean toward Mora. More to a point alluded to earlier re/around Rodriguez, can the Timbers do better by alternating the attacking look based on the opposition in front of them?
That’s everything for tonight, and about a full page more than intended. Damn these dancing fingers and back at you…probably Wednesday. Till then.
Agreed, Jeff, there's certainly smoke, AND fire, in this version of PTFC.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, there's good stuff happening in a FEW looks and styles, and as they get perfected that oughta be enough to bedevil the rest of the West all season.
Style #1 is keyed by Antony... He's developed into a 2-way weapon and was THE difference maker for PTFC in the first half. He completely stopped LAFC from playing the long diagonals they use to start their fast break offense. Watch the first half and see how many times he shows up to double-team then start a possession going the other way, or just stop the guy with the ball in his tracks. Those are interventions that ABSOLUTELY put LAFC on their back foot.
His leaving at Half with a knock allowed LAFC to flip the script for the match. They IMMEDIATELY played one diagonal after another to Boanga, and were able to move the ball through midfield comfortably for the rest of the match.
Agreed Rob. I’m glad Jona scored - and hope this leads to what Jeff pointed out - but my worry is that people will point to the goal as evidence that we’re better with Jona starting and harp on Antony’s flaws (these are likely the same people who could never give bravo a fair shake for his earlier transgressions). Antony has a lot of room to grow but even as us I just think he gives our attack the exact component we need: a relentless speedster who can spread the field vertically AND plays solid defense. I just think we’re a better two-way team with him on the field. And he’s still very young and has lots of years to fix his lead feet
DeleteAs near as I can tell, Antony's 'first impression' flaws were extreme left-footedness, bad first touches and inability to receive and control passes. These are still the knocks on him I keep seeing, at any rate...He's showing steady improvement on all, especially receiving and passing skills.
DeleteReally, outings against clubs like LAFC definitely are measuring sticks. Their outside players are tested veterans who don't bite on a half-done move, or overcommit and let players get away with long touches.
The replays will show those mistakes up close and on repeat, Antony and the coaches will do a practice plan, work will continue and he'll continue getting better - that much is clear.