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| It's easier, basically, with certain advantages... |
As I look back on the wide wonder that just happened, I want to start with the Los Angeles Galaxy and caveats related thereto. As noted during the in-game commentary, and despite having the firsttwo best chances to get a go-ahead goal, both of them through their latest prize-pony, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (and one of them a penalty kick that forced a double save out of Steve Clark), the Galaxy played like they couldn’t tell one end of the field from the other. Don’t take that literally, by any means, I’m just arguing that LA had an aimless air about them, something that looked more like faith in some vague notion that everything would all work out, as opposed to belief that it would. Taking action toward making it all work out didn’t seem to occur to them until they were two goals down and one man up (fine, that happened sometime before, but I’m riffing), so call that piece of information as something that, as a Portland Timbers fan (probably), should internalize as you digest what just happened tonight.
The game ended 2-1 in Portland’s favor and, it bears noting that Chicharito pulled back LA’s lone goal, and with a run that I don’t think I see all that often in MLS. As they called the game from the broadcast booth, John Strong and Stu Holden hinted at the notion that Guillermo Barros Schelotto didn’t seem to provide a frame for what LA did, particularly in the attack – i.e., their thought was that he told his team to take the field and figure it out. I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that several Galaxy players put in good shifts tonight – e.g., I saw good, consistent work/ideas from Rolf Feltscher, Emiliano Insua, Sacha Kljestan, and Cristian Pavon (especially this guy, aka, Diego Chara's kicking post). I also saw a roster that shares the fatal weaknesses as LA’s worst teams – i.e., the loosely-competent (e.g., Perry Kitchen, Daniel Steres, arguably Sebastian Lletget) serving a star (again, Chicharito).
I bring all that up as a caveat, because I’m about to get way the hell over my skis on this one.
I was impressed by what I saw from the Timbers tonight – especially with four relative noobs in the Starting Xi (that’s the “starting Xi” not that Starting XI), in which I include Marvin Loria, Chris Duvall, Eryk Williamson and Dario Zuparic. For what it’s worth, I think Duvall and Williamson did great – the latter, in particular, but they both impressed me – and Zuparic was…more or less fine until that second, deserved yellow card. (Loria, meanwhile, gets filed under “if you can’t say something nice, shhhh, say nothing.) Given how open the question of who’s depth and who’s a starter feels right now, I’ll take that as an operating assumption for the rest of this post…moving on…
The game ended 2-1 in Portland’s favor and, it bears noting that Chicharito pulled back LA’s lone goal, and with a run that I don’t think I see all that often in MLS. As they called the game from the broadcast booth, John Strong and Stu Holden hinted at the notion that Guillermo Barros Schelotto didn’t seem to provide a frame for what LA did, particularly in the attack – i.e., their thought was that he told his team to take the field and figure it out. I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that several Galaxy players put in good shifts tonight – e.g., I saw good, consistent work/ideas from Rolf Feltscher, Emiliano Insua, Sacha Kljestan, and Cristian Pavon (especially this guy, aka, Diego Chara's kicking post). I also saw a roster that shares the fatal weaknesses as LA’s worst teams – i.e., the loosely-competent (e.g., Perry Kitchen, Daniel Steres, arguably Sebastian Lletget) serving a star (again, Chicharito).
I bring all that up as a caveat, because I’m about to get way the hell over my skis on this one.
I was impressed by what I saw from the Timbers tonight – especially with four relative noobs in the Starting Xi (that’s the “starting Xi” not that Starting XI), in which I include Marvin Loria, Chris Duvall, Eryk Williamson and Dario Zuparic. For what it’s worth, I think Duvall and Williamson did great – the latter, in particular, but they both impressed me – and Zuparic was…more or less fine until that second, deserved yellow card. (Loria, meanwhile, gets filed under “if you can’t say something nice, shhhh, say nothing.) Given how open the question of who’s depth and who’s a starter feels right now, I’ll take that as an operating assumption for the rest of this post…moving on…
