10 Thoughts I Had While Watching the Timbers Slip One Past LAFC

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Massive damn win for the Portland Timbers last night. You don’t have to love and/or celebrate every facet of the game to accept that…I said to the imaginary person I saw complaining about it. [Ed. - It’s me! He lives in my head and he’s kind of a dick!]

Let’s get to it, speed-round style…

Los Angeles FC 0-1 Portland Timbers FC SC SP Heroes
The Game, Still More Briefly
More back and forth than the final stats suggest, though the majority of the game played out in the middle space between both teams’ defensive thirds and it wasn’t always inspiring. You’ll see good chances in the full highlights – I’ll touch on a couple below – and, with admission to a two-fold bias (I’m a Timbers fan who likes seeing LAFC fail), I thought the Timbers got the better of them (e.g., David Ayala at the end of the first half, David Da Costa in the early middle of the 2nd half (best shot of the game, probs) and a better build-up/decent shot by Ian Smith late in the 2nd). I have many questions about the state of LAFC after watching – at least two appear below – and those inevitably color how much I trust this result as a step toward progress.

Related, Portland didn’t win the game on their best chances. They won on a set piece, scored by Cristhian Paredes, a four-time starter who has played just under a third of all available minutes in 2025 (aka, 595 minutes of 1980, sans stoppage). Rookie Ian Smith served the cross, a player with a mere 29 minutes more played (if with two more starts) than Paredes. Served and server aside, it’s possible the Timbers benefitted from LAFC going with zonal marking on the corner; in any event, no one came within a yard of Paredes until it was too late.

With the state of LAFC duly stipulated into the record, the Timbers played a genuinely impressive defensive game – and I’d call that worth two uncomplicated cheers. I have more on this below, but on a big picture level, whether full-field, whether pressing, whether covering the space behind, the Timbers defense did their homework, got the math right, and walked into the LA night deserved winners. Almost certainly related, this result pushes the Timbers’ defense further to the right side of average in terms of goals allowed in 2025.

LAFC had their moments, but they mostly came in waves that crested and, one golden chance (56th minute) and another inspired one aside (by debutante, Kenneth Wilson Nielson) aside, broke. Portland had defenders in the right place and at the right time all over the field to break

Right. Let’s dig into…

Huh.

10 Thoughts That Popped Into My Mind
1) On Making Good Choices
When they fell back from a (for them) decent press, the Timbers (generally) collapsed into a 3-2-5 defensive shape. Between filling in most available gaps that LAFC could hit through or over the top and inviting their outside attacking players into a brick wall, it worked like gangbusters. LAFC found room to operate in the channels just outside Portland’s d-mids by the second half and, later still, centrally (mostly Mark Delgado), but the Timbers midfield managed that by collapsing still further with a nanny-nanny-boo-boo insouciance that warmed the heart. By all appearances, Phil Neville and the Timbers brain trust came up with a lineup perfect for thwarting a team looking to play against the ball – until the second half, when LAFC had to get on the ball if they hoped to win.

2) Bad Day at the Office, or…?
If you don’t like the Timbers’ chances of going deep in the playoffs, and you see LAFC below them in the standings, that necessarily says something about LAFC…right? Their top-line numbers are a little better than Portland’s on both sides of the game (i.e., attacking/defending)…and, shit, sure, they have two games in hand on the Timbers. Those still leave LAFC five points below third-place Minnesota and ten points off first – i.e., chasing and sucking a little more wind than the Timbers, if just for the moment. Hat tip to Nathan Ordaz, but Denis Bouanga’s carrying them further than he should have to, but, more significantly, LAFC didn’t look like a team making a run at the Western Conference crown. There’s a shortage of candidates for that gig, sure, but still…

3) A Theory About That
I don’t know much about Igor Jesus, but I’ve seen Delgado and Timothy Tillman play impactful to outstanding games. Last night, though, they all looked more like problems than solutions and, when the weight of carrying LAFC’s attack fell on Delgado (by default?), he presented as somewhere between inadequate and out of his element. Creativity didn’t show more than a little ankle between those three – I’d call a Delgado 1-2 with Artem Smolyakov the highwater mark – and that stranded their front three in a crowd of Timbers defenders. Again, good game plan, Phil!

4) Portland’s Latest Cast for Partner in Crime
Paredes played strong last night, and in both directions. He moved the ball briskly (i.e., didn’t’ fuck around with it), made good covering runs and he partnered smart as you like with Ayala, aka, the sole regular starter in Portland’s central midfield. I’m fine with Phil continuing the experiment.

5) Flexible Fory
Regardless of whether the Timbers played a 5-4-1 (the official line) or a 3-4-2-1, I’m on the actively buying phase of sold on Jimer Fory as an all-purpose player on the right side of defense. He defends better than he attacks for my money, but that checks a big big-picture box for the Timbers. Related…

Noticed it for the firs time. That beard is not a rockstar.

6) Hey, Now?
First question, do the 2025 Timbers have an All-Star-calibre player (that’s right…went limey with “calibre”)? I have this dim memory of David Da Costa getting tapped, but that could be beer tangoing with fatigue. The only Timbers I’d comfortably nominate for an All-Star nod would be Finn Surman and Antony. The latter is broken, but Finn added another good night to a cabinet’s worth.

7) The Missing Name, Right or Wrong
I struggle to talk about Da Costa as anything but an absence. He fired a great shot last night – and to his further credit, one that followed a template that delivered two goals in recent weeks – but he also doesn’t present as that special, certain kinda solution for that absence. Through no fault of his own (probably), but he feels more like a reminder that Portland has missing pieces than any player on the roster. Talking about him in the same breath as Evander almost certainly fumbled introductions, but…yeah, still working out why he’s here. Not in a bad way, just working on it.

8) The Other Great, Pining Hope
Santiago Moreno had a lively and smart 15 minutes to start the game and fired a solid candidate for best shot of the opening 30 minutes, but he also presents as yet another chipped tooth in the cogs of Portland’s attacking mechanics. He breaks ankles in the open field with respectable frequency and has the close control to waltz through a thicket…but he also gets deep enough into the dribble to lose track of what his teammates are doing, with or without running into a four-defender wall (see the 4th minute, might have made the highlights). I rate Moreno as a player and believe he plays (or can play) a useful role in the starting lineup, but in a shape that’s either incomplete or has yet to snap together.

9) I’ve Seen a Man Talking to Himself
Even when he’s in the right place – didn’t happen much, by my memory – Felipe Mora just isn’t hitting his marks in 2025. He overhits the good passes, he’s not finding the runs and, whether the fault is with Mora or the connections between him and the players behind him, the best, shortest path to making the Timbers better, at least one that doesn’t involve signing a new player, turns on getting EITHER Mora OR Kevin Kelsy playing with Moreno, Da Costa…and probably Mosquera.

10) The Lefty Dilemma
Just a quick general observation: Steve Cherundolo made the choice to start Javairo Dilrosun, a clear left-footer, on the right. Dilrosun put that to use all of once, when cut across Fory(?) to lash a shot across the face of goal. If Cherundolo ever tried him on the left I missed it – and I’m not sure it would have helped. Tricky stuff, getting a talented lefty in his best spot. Always fascinated by this.

Them’s all the words. With Leagues Cup kicking off Wednesday, I’ll hold off on peeking ahead. Especially seeing that I know dick about Liga MX…

Till the next one.