Club America 3-1 Portland Timbers: The Timbers Played All Right and Fucked Up Twice

Keep smoldering, king.

It wasn’t so bad, honestly. It just wasn’t what was needed.

Based on the views on the last post, a lot of people have done the sensible thing and gone on vacation. For the rest you schlubs, enjoy these notes from another schlub.

Club America 3-1 Portland Timbers
America and Timbers treated fans to a lively one. For me, the eye test and the final stats give a truer impression of the game as it played out on the field than the final score. Portland didn’t create a wealth of chances (ten total, four on goal), but they had reasonable chances to go ahead after cancelling America’s (genuinely impressive) opening goal and they had chances to equalize, if admittedly fewer, after America got their noses ahead a second time. To break things down a little…

The answer to the question, how good was Brian Rodriguez’s free kick(?), was look on the Ball Kid's face that you see just off frame in the fourth(?) replay. The Timbers answered mere minutes later through Kristoffer Velde, who literally sat an America defender on his ass (Israel Reyes?) after picking off ‘keeper Rodolfo Cota’s half-panicked outlet (and what did all y’all think of his goal celebration?). The two teams slogged toe-to-toe from that point to America’s go-ahead goal in the second half. Passes zipped between players for both, with defenders and midfielders snapping at everything within reach. Portland found a couple chances on set pieces (someone tell Cole Bassett to put his foot through the damn ball), while America kept Portland’s defense honest from range. Good chances, in other words, but nothing to hint at immediate success or demise.

Rodriguez teed up the game winner in the 63rd minute when a couple bobbles off defended balls gave him a path inside; his shot (another good ‘un) caromed off the post to the feet Isaias Violante. While that goal didn’t break Portland’s back, the distance between them and goal yawned ever wider as the minutes ticked away. Jack Cassidy (#RIP) threw in a couple subs – fewer than I’d like and later – but neither Antony nor Vincent Janssen came in to great effect (however, hold that thought).

America’s dagger came late and, so long as you’re calling their second goal a bit fluky, calling America's third goal lucky seems fair. It’s not often one sees Finn Surman blindly heads a ball that puts Kamal Miller in a footrace against…well, anyone, because that’s just bad planning. Push comes to shove, gun to my head and all that, I’d call this more a game lost on defensive mistakes than the Timbers getting outplayed, outworked or beaten raw for talent. So, glass half full...

…but does that matter when it comes to the Leagues Cup?

That's where they'll put porn on the internet.

I Have Seen the Future
Per this video – which gave me a headache and may give those susceptible to the a seizure – the four teams from Major League Soccer and Liga MX who have the most points and edges in the relevant tiebreakers will send four teams to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals – i.e., only points matter, not what a given team does within its group. I bring that up because the loss to America leaves Portland at 10th in MLS’s Leagues Cup standings with eight teams with more points above them and just one more group-stage game to play (current standings; this link goes dead 8/11/2026). That’s to say, it’s going to take a heaping handful of theoretical mathematical combinations of failure for the Timbers to reach the quarterfinal. The fact there’s no “e” next to Portland’s name tells me they have a chance (for comparison, all but the top eight Liga MX teams have already been chopped) and, on a simple numbers level, you can see how losses for, say, Austin FC (at Club America), Charlotte FC (v Pachuca), Chicago Fire FC (at Cruz Azul), FC Cincinnati (FC Atlas), the Columbus Crew (v UNAM Pumas), and FC Dallas (at CD Toluca) could stall them on six points and flatten their goal differential. For the record, the teams Cincy, Columbus and Charlotte play have shaky top-line numbers (e.g., few to no goals scored, 2.5 goals allowed/game) and all three have already crashed out. Even if logic/expectations don’t come in on one game, that’s probably two of MLS’s quarterfinal slots gone. As much as I like America’s chances versus Austin and Cruz Azul’s chances versus Chicago (ideally, with collateral damage to their confidence; Portland travels to Chicago when MLS play resumes), the odds that all three of Charlotte, Chicago and Dallas lose outright feels like going all-in for an inside straight with two cards missing.

Put it all together and you have a Timbers team playing to win in a blowout to have within a paranormal investigator within a medium within a ghost of a chance of reaching the 2026 Leagues Cup quarterfinal. Can’t wait to see them pull it off…

…that’s more hopeful than serious, obviously. Club Tijuana, Portland’s opponent on Thursday, has already exited the building and with zero wins and points to show for it, so that’s one for the optimist’s column. On the negative side, they haven’t bled goals (not like Puebla (hi, guys!) and Atletico San Luis), which is precisely what the Timbers need them to do, often as they can, if not early. The hill is tall, but it can be climbed, if in the right weather and a stiff, urging breeze at one's back (aka, gotta make the new coach happy).

I don’t have much for talking points for this edition – or, rather, it’s a lot of the same thing. For instance, and again, I’d ask Velde to think about getting his head up and passing from time to time. That’s just a friendly poke, because he’s still driving the offense. Most Timbers operated in a space between good (Diego Chara), fine (David Da Costa, Velde, Bassett…mostly), largely absent (nice header, but Kevin Kelsy) and better (Miller) and worse (Brandon Bye) states of present. If I’m mad…no, not mad…if I’m disappointed about one moment in this game it’s how thoroughly Jimer Fory switched off on America’s second…seriously, Violante scored the goal and spent three seconds celebrating before Fory even thought to check for offside. Between that and the fact a wayward, blissfully rare mistake by Surman iced the game, I feel better about the loss – i.e., you can tell Fory to follow up on every shot on Portland’s goal and make Surman review the tape of his error until he’s conditioned to the point of nausea against ever doing it again. For me, that beats a collective defensive collapse any day of the week.

Shorter, the Timbers played all right and fucked up twice. Think I’ll make this the title…

In re the New Guy
I liked Janssen’s debut. He looked sturdy handling players on his back and going on to make something out of it. Portland’s doesn’t have that since Felipe Mora left, so that’s a good thing. Looking forward to seeing what he can do…and I hope he doesn’t break.

That’s it for this one. On the editorial side, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the Club Tijuana game. If Portland loses it, I’ll probably skip that and post a li’l scouter on the Chicago Fire. If something interesting happens – which I’ll take with an open mind – I’ll post something. Till then…