Portland Timbers 1-3 Philadelphia Union: The Tale of a Stubborn Middle Block

Or maybe just lost in suburban Philadelphia.

The Portland Timbers new DP forward, Jonathan Rodriguez, nodded home a flawless header late in last night’s game. His movement in response to the cross bears noting, because he kept his run on Olivier Mbaizo’s blind-side and timed his attack on the ball to, more or less, go through Mbaizo’s back. Despite being with the team less than a week, Rodriguez’s made smart runs and found useful pockets of space throughout the game. Encouraging stuff, in other words, so maybe hold that in your head as you read the rest of this, because it won’t be gentle reading.

I didn’t worry too much about the first goal the Portland Timbers gave up last night. On the hand, sure, one of the talking points from my scouting report on the Philadelphia Union was “Set Pieces, Set Pieces, Set Pieces” and the Timbers' response in that moment was “excuse me, what was that talking point again?” followed by “oh, shit!” On the other hand, it had a “shit happens” feel to it in real time and, maddening as it was to review the tape and see the defense leaving Julian Carranza unmarked in the heart of the area, Portland had just wrapped a good attacking moment on the other end five minutes prior – incidentally, one that featured Rodriguez finding a great spot on a recycled cross. He hit the post on that one...ah, what might have been...

A vague doughty optimism held, not just for me, but among the people around me in the stands up to the point when Philadelphia scored their second goal. It was at that point that a collective understanding that something was Very Wrong took hold. As an aside, I have missed the mob mentality one can only get from catching a game live; nothing like having the hive-mind buzzing in your ear for 90+ minutes…

The game ended 1-3 to Philadelphia and under a cloud of numb disappointment. That followed less from anything that happened during the game, than from the overall framing of the game. Again, the Union played this game without several key players – e.g., Daniel Gazdag, Jose Martinez, even Jack McGlynn(?) – and barely enough in reserve to populate the bench. That felt like big enough news that it counted as a major premise of my scouting report…so maybe that overall framing was a mix of delusion and hubris?