Portland Timbers 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes: Looking for Trouble on the Enthusiasm Express

Went a little abstract. Feels right. Cool drawing...

Dear God, where do I start this one? (Also, I mean not in the “Lord protect me” spirit, but the “holy whirling dervishes whirling in my head” spirit…tricky metaphor…)

I’ll begin by stating that I like everything about Samuel Armenteros, except what he did with his beard. It's his life, and all that, but also please reconsider.

In another vein, I saw a handful of tweets from last night to earlier this afternoon celebrating how the Portland Timbers played last night in their 2-1 win over the visiting San Jose Earthquakes. It’s a hard point to argue against, so I’ll do that later. For now, though, I’m on board The Enthusiasm Express. The last time a win felt possible before every single game, the Timbers won MLS Cup. And that’s the thing: a couple soft spots aside - again, Alvas Powell, but never catastrophically, and there’s still solving the problem of who either complements the team’s core players*, or replaces them when they go down - every player on the field moves and passes as if they know what’s next, and where his teammates should be for support. That applies to both defense and offense, and that is fucking magical, like, a fairy riding a unicorn level magical. The results have followed from too, and I say that as someone who replies to the words “eleven game unbeaten streak” with a tight smile. To put that another way, I’m on board The Enthusiasm Express, but I keep glimpsing troubling things out of the corner of my eye.

Before getting to the meat of this thing, I want to make a point and sort of save it for later. Think how you use a stringer to keep the fish you catch alive. That point: Armenteros should never have scored that second goal, just by the number of San Jose players around him. Moving on...

(* Diegos Valeri and Chara, Sebastian Blanco, Jeff Attinella, Larrys Mabiala and Zarek Valentin; I waited till after mentioning Armenteros because I think he belongs in the core at this point. A case can be made for other players, and that explains a lot of Portland's success to this point.)

San Jose Earthquakes 0-1 Portland Timbers: Paredes...Polo...Paredes...Polo...

Searching...as am I.

First things first, what adjective would you, personally, apply to that win: impressive, inspiring, expected, or solid?

Also, I have my poll…

Over the opening 30 minutes, just about everything around and about the Portland Timbers felt good, loose, and something heartwarmingly-close to cruise control. Whenever that changed over the next 60 minutes, Portland ‘keeper, Jeff Attinella, held up to the task; his 36th minute save might have knocked the socks off, but I got the bigger boost later in the game, when he lunged forward to clear a ball about 30 yards from Portland’s goal - i.e., well inside no-man’s land. Attinella played that moment with confidence, like he knew where the people around him would either be, or go, when he stepped forward. The general trends look strong and real, but that detail - a growing sense of who does what, when and where on the field - goes farthest in terms of making me think Portland could have places to go this season. (Mostly*.) With five road games behind them (e.g., Portland  has home games in the bank), and a 1-0 win picked up last night against the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium - I feel like I’m going to go home happy more often than not in 2018.

Whether glorious or not, Attinella’s saves amounted to rounding up to some dangerous strays because the Timbers won this game on their merits. Alternately, it could be argued that San Jose lost this game on their faults; Anibal Godoy’s knack for the hard, pointless foul took the honors, but, contrary to Ross Smith’s mid-second-half commentary, Portland transitioned at will against San Jose, and for most of the game. San Jose responded in kind more often than I’d like - especially from minutes 55-75 - but they never could break through. And, when they did…Attinella.

So, again, impressive, inspiring, expected, or solid?

The team kept good shape for most of the game, and didn’t give the ‘Quakes much, but the Timbers hardly racked up chances. I know Fanendo Adi had a few (left foot, kid) - the kind that inspire the “oh, shit, that was close” stomach drop a little more than the rest - and the game played openly, as a whole, but I didn’t get the shooting gallery I saw as a real possibility. In fact, this game looked ever more likely to end goal-less as the game clock clicked higher. Beneath the lack of drama, though, a specific tension that would finally turn the game developed. As he got overwhelmed, little by little, Godoy resorted to more and dumber fouls, starting with his clumsy tug on Diego Chara in the middle (or thereabouts) of the second half. When Godoy finally fouled Diego Valeri in a dangerous place, but…c’mom, how many times does that free kick go missing? Or, more bluntly, it didn’t really occur to me to cross my fingers or anything else when Valeri stepped up; that’s the difference between hoping for something to happen and thinking it will, never mind expecting it. And, can I say it? Valeri hit that with textbook perfection. No, not like the shitty textbooks Texas dumps on the country like Chinese steel, but one of the good ones. I’ve seen prettier, big-bending free kicks than the shot Valeri dipped over San Jose’s wall, but not many that followed directions that neatly. San Jose’s ‘keeper, Andrew Tarbell (who is good), set his wall, took his position in the gap left behind, and Diego “Bless’d King” Valeri, chipped the ball over the wall, beyond Tarbell’s reach and - HELLO, beautiful! - first road win of the season!

Scouting San Jose, With Excessive Scenery

It's in there somewhere...

About a week ago, I glimpsed an Armchair Analyst tweet that said something about the San Jose Earthquakes attack coming online. On reading the section of the article, I immediately decided I would no longer cover all of Major League Soccer. All those 20-minute condensed games were burying the goddamn lead, just as I had feared…

…nah, I decided to stop because I couldn’t cover everything without going over seven pages – e.g., that point where I’m basically writing out of spite. When I stuck to 10 or 20 talking points, I fretted about the value of everything that hit the cutting room floor. My notes never did make any goddamn sense either; shit looked like ancient Greek written through doses of shock therapy. So, yeah, fuck it. I took my weekends back.

The plan is to watch/preview only the teams the Portland Timbers will play in their next game. With that, Conifers & Citrus will be devoted only to what the Timbers did in their last game, and thoughts on who they will play in their next, notes on the meaning of the game, if any, etc.Yeah, right...

So, does tonight's game against the ‘Quakes at Providence Park mean anything special? Well, last night I put some thought into what number of losses constitutes a death sentence to any given MLS team’s playoff hopes. Didn’t look it up or anything (haven’t figured out how to phrase the search, and the actual research sounds…unpalatable), but the drop-dead tally feels like something over 10 games, certainly. 12 or 13, maybe? Portland has five losses already, so it’s just this thought.

At any rate, that note on Hyka got me wondering (there’s video, too), not least because I had a couple vague recollections of collapses by the Timbers defense knocking around my memory. I also recalled some game when all of San Jose’s new guys played to expectations; they really took that team apart, I remember. Something told me I’d seen Danny Hoesen, of all people, look like maybe he could liven up the ‘Quakes attack. Man. Who was that?