Portland Timbers 0-1 Atlanta United FC: The September of Our Discontent

Where does it say that "my ass can't pay"?

Is it possible I banked the points before the Portland Timbers cashed the check? Absolutely and with bells on. I was trying to convince both myself and the teller it would clear just fine all the way up to the 25th minute. The bluff came undone a few minutes later and all the promises of Portland’s 2026 roster couldn’t tape it back to together again for another pass. It might even jeopardize next month’s rent.

The question now: how much time do I spend on this?

Portland Timbers 0-1 Atlanta United FC
What Passes for a Match Report
After a night cap of poking around other results for slivers of hope, I just picked through the highlights and sifted the final stats for anything that might have slipped my mind. For what it’s worth, I think the Timbers whiffed another good chance that recalled the back-post opportunity Ariel Lassiter side-netted and someone teed up Vincent Jannsen for an offside attempt in the second. I also believe that covers everything. 17 shots by the Timbers? No shit?

For all that, Portland looked better prepared for the chaos of the opening 20 minutes; as noted in last night’s game thread, Atlanta looked all over the place. Kristoffer Velde has it in him to force a moment of magic in those situations (hold that thought), but it was Atlanta’s Aleksey Miranchuk who did the conjuring at the 28th minute. Finn Surman’s outlet wasn’t the best choice, by any means, but Portland had the defenders to manage the mischief, so no alarms sounded when Jimer Fory’s toe-poke missed the cross. It all went to shit – and I do mean it all went to shit – when Miranchuk chopped open an inside lane and looped a shot into James Pantemis’ goal. The Timbers fell down in that moment and, like they say on the TV, could not get back up.

Portland had some free kicks – Velde’s was decent, Lassiter’s less so – Velde almost nodded home on some smart combination play around and through Atlanta’s left by Lassiter and Cole Bassett – and I think that reads every promising moment into the record and includes the rest by implication. Atlanta got hold of the game after Miranchuk’s goal and their grip never slackened much. Most of the snarling the Timbers managed rose out of the never-ending spat between Velde and Matthew Edwards – and I’d hand the mind game between to the latter on points. Atlanta laid a deep boggy trap for any attempted transition on the defensive side and created the better chances to the final whistle. The end.

Think they're on the red lines now...

An Aside on Atlanta United FC
Atlanta’s wave of new signings – e.g., Giuliano Galoppo, Mauricio Amaro, Breel Embolo and (I think) Paul Diaz – took up most what little copy made up my Lil Scouter on Atlanta, so quelle surprise to see a much-maligned headliner from Atlanta’s previous makeover wear the laurels. Another member of the previous old guard – Tristan Muyumba – stood tall with him (they were my combined MotM for the Five Stripes), but Atlanta’s win looked like the work of a collective. The broadcast booth kept bringing up all the experience among the new players, so maybe it’s just a matter of old heads keeping cool (or simple as Portland failing to trouble them). That probably most applied to Amaro, but Embolo’s strength and technique made a good impression after watching 90 minutes of him and Miguel Almiron, another hanger-on from worse days, chipped in some moments too. The performance was more suffocating than great, even though part of me wants to run with that because contemplating the alternative leads one to some dark places…

…let’s talk about those.

"Joao Oritz, yeah, Joao Ortiiiz!"

Stray Thoughts
1) It Has Come Full Circle
After months of flagging him as the problem, the power of David Da Costa’s compels me to flag him as the only Timber who fought for the opening. (“Power” doesn’t really capture Da Costa’s game; I used it for the bit.) He was left to do it alone too often – e.g., that moment in the 84th minute when he sprinted into Atlanta’s left channel to loosen their packed defense and literally had no one within 15 yards of him apart from Janssen. Related, seeing the Timbers unable to press for an equalizer with six-plus minutes to go…shit.

2) The Best Thing We Can Hope for, the Frustrating Thing We’re Stuck With
Velde likes to put the team on his back and, golly, can that cut both ways. Drawing the line between making things happen and forcing them isn’t easy and almost certainly lurks in the eye of the beholder. Two thoughts here: 1) Velde contributed to one of Portland’s better moments when he clipped the ball to Da Costa for that cross to Lassiter (in other words, he got the ball off his damn foot/used his gravity, etc.); and 2) I’d like to see Cifuentes and the brain trust work harder to soften up Velde’s side by running more stuff up the opposite side. Or, OR….

3) Another Bright Idea
Whether Atlanta’s defense forced them there, or Portland chose their own lane, too much of the Timbers attack went into dead ends in the wide areas. The ball would go in looking for a way around Atlanta’s fullback (most often Edwards) only for the openings to dry up and the ball to return meekly to the top corner of the 18 for more meaningless ball circulation. Admittedly, Portland is not the best at generating shots from range in and around Zone 14, but, sticking with the “softening up” theory, why not get it up there now and then, maybe fire some shots in anger if just to give the opposition defense more areas of concern to manage?

4) A Bassett Where a Muyumba Is Needed?
I didn’t notice Bassett much during the game, but a couple people who pop up on Bluesky brought him up after the game and that forced an unexpected contrast with Muyumba. In the Timbers’ 4-4-3, Da Costa plays the higher midfield role (for good or ill), Diego Chara/[Stand-in] covers the defense and that leaves, most often, Cole Bassett handling secondary responsibilities for both. That’s to say, he’s generally the player tasked with finding the pass to get the Timbers out of defense and into attack and he helps manage the space in front of Portland’s defense. This might be a lonely position, but I’m more troubled by the latter – e.g., have I thought “great tackle by Bassett” even once? – but watching Muyumba get on the ball in Atlanta’s defensive third and dribble, pass and puzzle his way out was like watching someone eat ice cream for the first time and tell me how much they love it. (Strained metaphor, but I mean they have something good that I cannot experience first-hand.) I’m not sure I’m quite on “bust” yet, especially after spending two-thirds of the season trying to figure out where Da Costa fit, but Bassett has seemed lost for weeks.

5) Start Ortiz, Goddammit
I’m a one-man band beating on a drum here, but I really want to see Ortiz get a damn run. Especially if at least one plausible argument holds that Bassett is burned out. If he’s burned out, rest the man.

Had this loss come out of the blue, it would have been one thing, but the loss versus Austin and the near-miss versus Minnesota (after scoring five fucking goals!) hinted that another result like this could come. And there it is, right before a three-game road trip. This was supposed to be the easy one. Maybe the false signal was that great run in July.