Month: March 2020

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Bigger than Soccer

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

The song may be slow, it may not encourage anybody to run through a wall, but what it lacks in tempo, it makes up for with a powerful message. 

Down when you’re lonely, I’ll pull you up

When life leaves you heavy when the going gets tough

I’ll be your shoulder, together we’ll run

Up from the bottom, yeah we’ll rise above.

“Never Give up on You,” the Nashville SC anthem written by Judah & the Lion, symbolizes unity; an anthem that encourages everyone to come together and depicts the ethos of the first-year MLS side. Its message is simple and enduring, and, after last week’s natural disaster in central Tennessee, carries an even deeper meaning.

That strength and unity is being tested just two weeks into the team’s inaugural MLS campaign, after a devastating tornado hit Nashville, Tennessee last Tuesday. The disaster reportedly killed at least 25 people, destroyed communities, and prompted the rallying cry “Believe in Nashville.” 

Trees uprooted from the ground in Nashville, TN | Photo courtesy of Jason Moles

The response from the greater MLS community, and the Portland Timbers organization specifically, came quickly. On Wednesday, the Timbers announced that $35 general admission tickets were being sold without any additional fees, and that $15 from each ticket would be donated to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Before the game on Sunday, the Timbers Army held a Tennessee hot dog cookout where they took donations to send to relief organizations in Nashville. And in the North End during the game, the Timbers Army displayed a tifo that read “Rose City loves Music City.”

It may have been the first ever game between the two sides, but at the end of the day, the 1–0 Timbers victory was overshadowed by the events surrounding the game.

“It’s our part,” Timbers’ head coach Giovanni Savarese said. “Our hearts go to all those that were unfortunately in that situation with the tornado in Nashville. We felt it was our duty to support them with the tickets and part of what is going to help those people that suffer. 

“That’s why we put something on our shirt, because we want to be a part of supporting all of them. I think it was a classy thing to do because you want no one to go through that and our prayers and thoughts are with those people that unfortunately went through this difficult moment.”

Diego Valeri also spoke about the tragic events in Nashville. “The Timbers organization is a mirror of what this community is about,” he said. “It’s about solidarity, always trying to help people that are affected, and it doesn’t surprise me. I think it was a great opportunity to show what this organization is about.”

Cleanup underway in Nashville, TN | Photo courtesy of Stephen Robinson

Playing in a game allowed players and fans the opportunity to take their minds off an overwhelming week, at least for 90 minutes.

Over the past week, some Nashville players helped Red Cross answer calls to raise money. On Sunday, the team wore patches on their jerseys that read “NGUOY,” short for Never Give up on You. Nashville superfan Soccer Moses even made the trip north, carrying a sign that read “Bless you Rose City #NashvilleStrong.”

“We understand even the impact in Nashville that this game is going to have,” traveling supporter Stephen Robinson said before the game. “Our players were affected, so it means so much, especially when the Timbers Army and the Timbers show how much it means to them as well. It really does add something to your heart knowing people actually care about this, and people care about what is going on outside of their town.”

Last Tuesday in Nashville, both the players and the community were hit hard by an unexpected natural disaster. The saying in Nashville has been “it’s bigger than soccer,” and on Sunday afternoon, that motto rang truer than ever.

During the week, Stephen Mason is a barber (he’s also a three-time Grammy winner with the band Jars of Clay). But when Nashville SC take the field, he takes on a different persona: Soccer Moses.

Stephen Mason, also known as Soccer Moses, prepares for the match ahead | Photo by Kris Lattimore

On the night of the tornado, Mason was awakened by debris hitting surrounding houses. His home wasn’t damaged, but the same couldn’t be said for some of his neighbors. After that night, the rest of the week became a blur.

“It feels heavy,” Mason said, reflecting on the damage that he has seen in his own community. “There’s a weight about it and an aspect that we know it’s going to take awhile. But, on the other hand, the response from the Nashville community is what it has always been. [We] rally, [it’s] intentional, generous, about service. They call us the volunteers, and I think you saw that in the response.”

According to Robinson, those in Nashville were only told to expect a strong storm, a common occurrence in the south. However, that prediction is what made it all the more jarring to take up to the sound of tornado sirens and phone alerts just after midnight.

Another traveling supporter, Jason Moles, recalled trying to keep himself awake after hearing that a potential tornado was 45 minutes away. When he woke back up, it was to the sound of his daughter telling him to get out of bed because of the sirens.

“When I saw the lightning flash green, you could see the shadow of the tornado, and I just ran through the house and yelled ‘everyone get down’,” Moles said. His family eventually sprinted to a neighbor’s house where they just made it down to the basement before hearing the storm touch down right outside.

Moles, who lives 30 minutes outside the city, said that while the shop that he works at is fine, the complex where he runs a soccer league got badly hit, and over $40,000 worth of goals were destroyed. What he saw in the days that followed was expected, but also staggering. 

“Everybody worked,” Moles said. “They had to turn volunteers away because there were too many people who wanted to help.”

All three fans made up a larger contingency of supporters, the Nashville Roadies, a group of traveling fans that made the trip up to Portland. They all agreed that the response from the Timbers and Timbers Army has been unprecedented, and more than they ever could have expected.

“We’re a new franchise, and we’re watching the Timbers franchise demonstrate how to lead, and how sports can really galvanize an effort,” Mason said. “We’re overwhelmed with gratitude because this is not on the radar for a lot of folks, this is across the country, and the fact that Portland intentionally leaned into this, it brought forward a commonality in our humanity and in our compassion.”

Some of Nashville’s visiting supporters prepare to enter Providence Park | Photo courtesy of Jason Moles

While the tornado affected the lives of every player, inevitably some players were hit harder than others. Earlier this week, winger David Accam posted a video showing windows blown in, and other areas of his house destroyed. Forward Daniel Ríos, who lives in a taller building, seemed to be even more shaken up.

Ríos remembered being woken up by his phone’s emergency alerts before taking a look outside from his top-floor apartment. He froze in his tracks at the sight of the tornado, but managed to get to the door as the large building swayed under his feet. 

“It’s not easy,” Ríos said while reflecting on that sobering night. “I have a lot of things in my mind right now, but soccer is my life, it’s what I love. Even with that tornado, I always have something on my mind, I’m trying to be focused like last week and today… I just try to deal with it and stay the most focused I can.”

Like any team, the players on Nashville SC have a group text. On Tuesday night, the messages were lighting up as all the players frantically checked in on one another. Midfielder Dax McCarty, whose home is located three miles from where the tornado hit, woke up in the middle of the night, but did not check his phone. On Sunday afternoon, he admitted that he wished he had. 

“I wish I would’ve been awake for that and been able to offer some help to any guys that needed it,” McCarty said. “But our team took amazing care of it, guys are there for each other. 

“In some cases, we’ve only known each other for five, six weeks and guys are already going to pick up guys at two in the morning to make sure that they are safe. You need to have that closeness as a group, that camaraderie. Obviously, it was a scary time and it’s just going to bring us closer as a community, as a city, and also as a team.”

By the next morning, Ríos said that he had received 15 different offers to stay in a teammate’s apartment or home. 

“It was overwhelming,” he said. “I was thankful for my teammates. It was late, like three in the morning, and they texted me and called me. The next morning, everyone knew about it, everyone texted me. I have such great teammates.”

Visiting Nashville supporters cheering on their team during the game | Photo by Kris Lattimore

Weeks ago, Nashville’s anthem was being criticized for being tacky; for being something pushed onto the supporters by the team. But, after last Tuesday’s events, that anthem holds even more of a meaning to those who belt it out after every home game.

“What does it mean to me?” Moles asked. “Everybody says it feels pushed, but what they don’t understand is that those guys, Judah & the Lion, are season ticket holders; they’ve been in our soccer community for a long time. When I saw that song sung the very first time at the stadium, scarves up through the whole song, I was in tears.”

Added Mason: “It’s the best of us captured in a song.”

The recovery process will inevitably be long and trying. With heavy hearts, all three supporters realize the challenge of the task at hand: rebuilding a city. But they all returned to the same point, one that gives them confidence. This is Nashville, a close-knit city that has been knocked down before, and has the resiliency to get back on its feet.

So, yes, Liverpool has “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and Minnesota United supporters belt out “Wonderwall” after every home win. But, for the club that presses broadcast audio to vinyl as a gift to the man of the match, it’s the slow, strong anthem that serves as a rallying cry for those in Central Tennessee.

“We now live by those words,” Robinson said. “We’re not going to give up on our town, our city, our club. The way the community has responded, the way everyone has responded, we’re not going to give up on it. As forced as the anthem may seem to others outside, to us it means a lot more now.”

Categories
Soccer Timbers

“We Don’t Need to Do Anything Offensively.”

Felipe Mora standing
Photo by Kris Lattimore

In soccer, it’s not uncommon to grind out a hard-fought 1-0 win at home. Sometimes, the opponent sits deep and parks the bus; gifting you the ball and daring you to try and break them down. It may not be pretty, but getting three points from those situations is no easy task and, generally, teams can feel good about rising to it. If one were to merely look at the scoreline of yesterday’s affair at Providence Park, this sort of match would be easy to imagine. A visiting expansion side that came to Portland with the intention of playing defense with 11-men for 90 minutes. Especially with the Timbers’ home woes last season as context, that sort of visiting gameplan is one we’ve seen work in Portland many many times.

“Well that’s great” one might think, “The Timbers have finally figured out how to break down a low block and take some points off of teams who come here and refuse to let them counter. That’s certainly an improvement from the end of last year, and it’ll be nice to prove to the league that Providence Park is once again a fortress.” There is, however, one unfortunate problem with this take: That’s not at all what happened yesterday afternoon.

Instead, we saw a Timbers side who started strong, scored an early goal, and then… just decided they were done attacking somewhere around the 20th minute. There was a lot of discussion yesterday about the Timbers not taking a single shot after the 24th minute, and while that stat is certainly staggering in its own right, there are two more that contribute to this narrative:

  • The Timbers took no corner kicks.
  • In the first 15 minutes of the match, the Timbers completed six passes in or around the opposing penalty area; in the remaining 75 minutes, only four.
Diego Valeri strikes an incredible volley to put the Timbers up 1-0
Diego Valeri strikes an incredible volley to put the Timbers up 1-0 | Photo by Matthew Wolfe

What do the professionals say?

Let’s check in with what head coach Gio Savarese said about yesterday’s attacking performance:

“We don’t need to do anything offensively. What we need to do, maybe, is in the second half, keep the ball a little more, try to move it. But the moments we were able to get in the box, we created opportunities. We created chances. That’s not something we need to work. Of course we work on a constant basis to be better, but it’s not a concern. We know that we’re a team that can score goals. The important thing for us today was to make sure there were no goals against and that we got a win and that’s what the guys were able to accomplish.”

It’s extremely reasonable that putting in a solid defensive performance was the team’s focus after their 3-1 dismantling at the hands of Minnesota United last weekend. I even predicted that the Timbers would win if they could hold Nashville to one-or-fewer goals in our Discord server (which you can get access to via our Patreon). However, a head coach saying, “…we created opportunities. We created chances.” after his team just went 65+ minutes without taking a single shot seems out of touch, disingenuous, or both.

And what about other players and coaches? Well, it seems they have a different opinion.

Portland Timbers captain Diego Valeri: “Being an attacking player, I’m happy to win a game 1-0 if one is enough to win the game, but obviously there’s a lot of things we have to improve to feel better on the field and the way the game is being played.”

Portland Timbers midfielder Sebastian Blanco: “To win it’s always important. Also, to get three valuable points at home. However, there is still a lot to improve on because we did not play a good match tonight.”

Nashville SC head coach Gary Smith: “I have no idea what their mindset and tactics were once they went one-nil up. I mean they’re the home side, I would’ve imagined that internally they’d had felt that they could have pushed on and won the game.”

Andy Polo battles with a defender
Andy Polo takes a blow to the jaw | Photo by Kris Lattimore

Do we need to do something offensively?

Probably.

On one hand, a team integrating multiple new-to-MLS attacking pieces struggling to create in March isn’t exactly news or cause for greater concern. Even less so considering that the team’s new DP striker hasn’t played a single minute.

However, a head coach of a team that literally did not take a single shot for 60+ minutes of a home game saying that attacking isn’t something they need to work on is far from confidence-inspiring.

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Adjusting to Life Without Moreira

Photo by Kris Lattimore

An already tough start to the season gets even tougher as the Portland Timbers prepare to deal with the lengthy absence of starting right back, Jorge Moreira.

ESPN’s Taylor Twellman broke the news of a potential long-term injury on Saturday afternoon, and Timbers.com writer, Richard Farley, later shared that the Timbers believe Moreira could have a partial meniscus tear in his left knee that requires surgery.

There have been no reports as to how long a potential surgery would sideline the Paraguayan, and with his loan from River Plate expiring in June, it’s a devastating blow for both the player and the organization.

But injuries happen in sports, and there’s nothing that the Timbers can do other than continue forward. What Moreira brings to the team is difficult to replace, but adjustments will have to be made. However, before looking at how the Timbers can move forward, it’s important to understand what Moreira brought to the team.

What the Timbers will be missing

Anytime an MLS side signs an experienced player from South America, especially from teams such as Boca Juniors or River Plate, they expect a talented player that can come in and contribute right away. A season ago, the Timbers needed a starting-caliber right back, and they found their guy in Moreira—a player with 57 starts for River Plate under his belt.

The 30-year old plays a huge role in the Timbers’ attack, often tasked with making overlapping runs into the final third, sending in crosses for strikers in the box, and, if necessary, using his speed to track back and win the ball back in defense.

https://gph.is/g/4L5K11r

When Portland plays out of the back, Moreira’s job is straightforward: find a way to beat the first line of defense. In the clip above, Moreira does a good job of beating Minnesota United’s initial pressure before finding Sebastian Blanco with plenty of room to exploit down the left wing. By beating that first line of defense, the Timbers create advantages in midfield that they hope to exploit.

Sometimes, defenses can’t stop him, and when this happens Moreira is more than happy to blaze by and immediately burst into the final third. In the clip above, Moreira continues to run into the vacated space before whipping a cross into the box. While the play didn’t result in a goal, Moreira’s aggression is on full display as he creates another dangerous opportunity for his team.

However, Moreira can be most advantageous in the final third when the Timbers need to provide service to runners in the box.

https://gph.is/g/Ev15RJg

https://gph.is/g/4MkL196

Oftentimes, Moreira will play a one-two with a midfielder as he makes an overlapping run before swinging a cross into the box. Above are two different examples of the crosses that he makes. Against New York Red Bulls, Moreira’s cross is low, finding the feet of Cristhian Paredes near the penalty spot. In the game against Vancouver, Moreira sends a lofted cross into Jeremy Ebobisse at the perfect height for an attempted header.

Just Moreira’s presence in Portland’s attacking third adds another layer to the Timbers offense. When plays break down, he serves as an extra player in and around the area, another body that can capitalize on a stray bounce or get on the end of a cross.

https://gph.is/g/aXJlPVn

In the goal above, Moreira pulls out a moment of individual brilliance as he quickly thinks to chip a rebound over the head of Chicago’s keeper.

https://gph.is/g/aN80OG9

In Columbus, his late run to the back post provided Paredes with a passing option. Moreira took advantage by helping the Timbers secure their first win of the 2019 season.

If there are any areas of his game that gave Timbers’ supporters headaches, it is in Moreira’s aggression to get forward whenever possible. While he can hold his own defensively, Moreira is often caught too high up the pitch, leaving acres of space for opposing attackers to run into. In the season opener against Minnesota United, all three of the Loons’ goals came from a counter-attack that involved players streaking down the vacated space in the flanks.

Being caught upfield on the wings is a common problem that can be fixed through adjusting playing style or tactics. What Moreira brings to the game, and the spacing that he provides, is valuable and will be missed—he is a TAM player after all.

Ultimately, all of this begs one simple question: How will the Timbers adjust to life without Moreira for a prolonged amount of time?

How can the Timbers adjust?

If there’s one area where Timbers couldn’t afford to lose players to injury, it’s the defense. With the loss of Zarek Valentin and a majority of Portland’s depth concentrated at center back, head coach Giovanni Savarese will have to get creative when it comes to the outside back position.

The Timbers have employed a four-man backline throughout a majority of its MLS history, but maybe it’s time that Savarese has to think about converting to a back three to fit the personnel.

The utilization of a back three has been gaining traction within the league—and in international soccer—over the past few years. This setup has a number of benefits which include the ability to create a numbers advantage in the midfield, make life difficult for teams lining up with a single striker, and being more defensively sound at the back.

Atlanta United made the switch to a back three under former head coach Tata Martino and rode it to large amounts of success, including an MLS Cup. In Martino’s system, Julian Gressel, Atlanta’s right back, was free to roam up and down the entire right side, picking out crosses and helping the team in transition moments.

Another proponent of a back three is Manchester City, where, under the leadership of Pep Guardiola, they won the Premier League. City don’t have an outside back like Gressel, but the ability to re-allocate their numbers to provide advantages elsewhere on the field proved to be very beneficial.

In the Timbers’ system, a back three would most likely consist of Dario Zuparic, Larrys Mabiala, and Chris Duvall. The question in that situation would be how Portland wants to play in midfield. Do they experiment with Andy Polo in that position, something that they did in the preseason? On the opposite side, does a shift in formation force Jorge Villafaña to the bench? Would all of this force Yimmi Chará to play a Gressel-eque role on the right side?

A side benefit of playing a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3? Unleashing Diego Chará as an ultimate force in the midfield by allowing him to focus solely on doing what he does best: destroying plays. With two center backs, Chará is often tasked with dropping into the backline, either to help defend or to start possession from the back. With a third center back, Chará wouldn’t have to worry as much about screening the backline or dropping back to receive the ball; he would be free to roam around the defensive midfield and put out fires.

However, it’s significantly more likely that Savarese sticks with the tried and true four-man backline. Twenty-one-year old Marco Farfan has MLS experience at right back and could slide right in to replace Moreira. This would allow Villafaña to stay in on the left and requires the least amount of change tactically. The only thing that could be an issue is how Portland deals with the ever-increasing talent of MLS wingers. In the next few weeks, the Timbers will come up against David Accam, Gustavo Bou, the duo of Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi (!!!), Ilsinho, and Alberth Elis. A 30-year old and 21-year old having to deal with that quality could very well put the Timbers in dangerous predicaments on defense.

Another question that needs to to be asked: regardless of tactical formation, does Savarese still push both outside backs high? Or does he play more conservative, with one, or both, players sitting in the defensive half?

Pushing both outside backs high limits dangerous wingers by forcing them to defend, but throughout the preseason and one game of the regular season, Portland has been continuously exploited down the flanks. Without a purely attack-minded defender for the distant future, Savarese could decide to take this more conservative approach on the wings. Time will tell.

This injury to Moreira, arguably one of Portland’s most important defenders, couldn’t have happened at a worse time. With Savarese still searching for defensive solutions after last week’s 3-1 defeat—and a two-game road trip coming up—the Timbers will have to come up with a fix quickly.

Hindsight is 20/20, and after playing a few games, the Timbers may be wishing that they had a little more depth in defense.

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Red Smoke Radio Episode 33: Culture

Red Smoke Radio returns. It’s now the third year of operation of the world’s only Portland Thorns podcast. We’ve tried as hard as we can to make it both the most informative, in-depth show that it can be while also being totally irreverent.

The third season kicks off with a brand new logo as well as a brand new Thorns team to consider. Katelyn and Tyler review the team’s departures and try to provide some context as to why they were so extensive. The buzzword around the club is culture, so what does that mean for how they determined who leaves and who stays?

Categories
Soccer Timbers

The Importance of Tactical Consistency

(Kris Lattimore)

What makes a club good at developing and fostering talent?

It’s a simple question, yet one that seems to have a complex answer. How can a franchise help young, budding talent improve and ultimately thrive at the MLS level and beyond? Is it by having a large scouting network that can unearth talent seemingly anywhere in the world, like New York City FC or New York Red Bulls? Is it consistently giving younger players a majority of the minutes (#playyourkids), a la FC Dallas or Real Salt Lake? Or is it something else?

When it comes to youth development, the Portland Timbers may not be the first club that comes to mind, but what they are good at is establishing an identity that is upheld throughout the organization.

Employing a similar style of play at each level of the organization establishes a consistency for players who often find themselves on the bubble between the first and second teams. While the concept of a team’s tactical identity, top to bottom, is used in a club setting, it’s a more prevalent point of discussion when it comes to the international game. With player movement so much more fluid in, say, the United States player pool, players such as Ulysses Llanez or Giovanni Reyna need to be ready to slide right into the senior side from the youth setup when called upon.

Some coaches prefer every level of the organization to run an identical tactical setup and style while others are more flexible, allowing younger sides to adjust how they play based on personnel or their own established identity. The Timbers want to be somewhere in between.

Like any MLS team, Portland has a defined style of play that holds up from the academy to the MLS side. Over the past few seasons that style has consisted of attacking through wide channels, finding attackers in the box off of crosses, dominating the midfield, and, when the opportunity arises, countering like crazy. With a few minor adjustments based on personnel, that is how Timbers 2 (T2) wants to play as well.

“We strive to mirror what the first team does,” head coach Cameron Knowles said. “I think it’s important that when a first-team player comes to us, the things we’re asking them to do in the game make sense. When a T2 player goes and trains with the first team, they understand their role as it relates to the team.

“…I don’t think we try to deviate too far from that, but obviously, with playing in a league and playing for points, week to week we have to come up with a plan to win a game and that’s where things can differ. In training and a lot of the principles of play, I think there is a lot of consistency from the top-down throughout the club.”

At times, what makes playing similar styles exceptionally difficult is the lack of consistency in the roster. While the first team is afforded the luxury of meticulously planning for the game ahead while adjusting to any tactical wrinkle, T2 often sends players up a level to train while receiving an academy player or two for training themselves. With that being the case, it is imperative for those T2 call-ups to know what to expect at a Savarese practice versus at a Knowles practice.

“The last two years we have been pretty flexible tactically, anyone who watches [the Timbers] will be able to notice that,” Jeremy Ebobisse said when asked about the major tactical differences between T2 and the first-team. “We’ve played a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3, a 4-3-2-1, a diamond, two up top. It’s hard to mirror that if you’re the second team. The first team is planning based on personnel and based on the opponent ahead.

He added: “Themes are pretty similar: defend, protect the middle, take advantage of your chances going forward if it’s on the counter or in the build-up phase. It’s largely similar, but how we go about them sometimes is going to differentiate.”

What that means is that, sometimes, a shift in tactics will be necessary to win the game. For example, playing fast and in transition is great, but against a team such as Phoenix Rising or even New Mexico United that can exploit that suddenly available space, it’s not ideal. In games that come down to those pivotal tactical audibles, Knowles will not be afraid to scrap the plan and play directly to his player’s strengths.

“It goes both ways,” Eryk Williamson said. “I know that usually, it’s ‘This is what’s being asked of you, go do this,’ and at the same time [Knowles] is a head coach who wants to win and I really appreciate it.

“…He says ‘I know this is what is being asked of you, but we’re playing Phoenix Rising where now, it’s a habit. We cannot mirror what the first team is doing, now we need to go out and try to win this game.’ That’s a huge part of being flexible as well, it’s not ‘Oh, can I just go out there and personally do well,’ but can you have the right mentality to go out and do well in every game that you play in.”

At the end of the day, having the flexibility to quickly shift tactics is beneficial. But it is also important to monitor how everything comes together on the field. Maintaining those tactical similarities helps with player adjustment and is something that the Timbers and T2 want to accomplish this season, but, if necessary, Knowles is not afraid to change anything up. It will be interesting to see how that plays out as the season progresses.

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Becky H*cking Sauerbrunn, Everyone

Photo by Nikita Taparia

Has everyone else been feeling jittery recently?

There’s a lot of stressful stuff going on in the world at large right now. Why, then, did we add to our collective stress by having a mass panic last week about whether Becky Sauerbrunn was actually coming to the Thorns? Why conjure up any more visions of people in smoke-filled rooms making strategic phone calls than are strictly and absolutely necessary? Why, especially, do this when it comes to what is actually a totally normal and logical trade that benefits everyone involved?

It’s done. Becky Sauerbrunn will play in red, for the price of $100,000 in allocation money and one (1) Elizabeth Ball.

Sauerbrunn is such an obviously good acquisition for Portland that it’s hard to say much about it. She’s a very good player who everyone likes, and she plays at a position where the Thorns badly needed to improve. To anyone who hasn’t watched the Thorns extensively over the last two years, it might look less good for Utah—but they’re getting a gritty young defender who improved dramatically in her time in Portland and looks to still have quite a bit of upside. Plus, you know, $100,000.

Put it that way, and it almost—almost—looks like the Thorns got the short end of the stick here. As good as Sauerbrunn is, as central as she has been to the national team since what feels like the dawn of time, she’s slowed down in recent years, and you have to imagine she’s closing in on the tail end of her career. It looks, in short, like Utah is looking to build something, while Portland is looking for results right now, this season, at the possible cost of a roster that can take the club into its inevitable next era.

But, without speculating here about what kind of leverage Sauerbrunn may or may not have held over her former club to push this trade along, it seems probable that this is a USWNT-allocated player who will be all but untouchable in whatever expansion drafts are on the horizon. At age 34 and finally playing in the city she calls home, what expansion team would be able to lure her over for the last few years of her career? (I’d also ask what expansion team would want a 34-year-old center back, but the concept of having a star USWNT player makes teams do some wild stuff in this league.)

With not just expansion but the retirement of a certain Canadian legend looming on the horizon, the Thorns will have to do a full-on rebuild sometime in the next five years or so. Now is not the moment for that; now is the moment for them to grab what they can, nail down anything the wind could blow away, and hang on for the coming storm. From that angle, Sauerbrunn couldn’t possibly be a more perfect acquisition for Portland.

With all that said, there’s always another dimension to these things, the dimension of Feelings, which is the one I tend to dwell in. And well, it makes you feel good, doesn’t it? It’s nice to think about Becky Sauerbrunn playing for the Thorns.

To try to polish that up a little: there’s a certain symbolism to Sauerbrunn winding up in Portland. She’s the iconic player, and perhaps the best player, of the early years of the NWSL, while the Thorns have always been and remain the league’s flagship franchise. Sauerbrunn in Portland represents what everyone wanted Alex Morgan in Portland to represent—we just had the facts wrong when it came to what Morgan wanted out of the deal.

When I call Sauerbrunn iconic, I mean a few things. First, in the league’s first three seasons, the Thorns may have been setting the bar for what was possible off the field, but arguably, it was Sauerbrunn’s club, FC Kansas City, that defined the league on the field. They weren’t always the best team—2014 was also the year Americans learned who Kim Little was—but they were always in the playoffs, and they won the championship twice. In launching Vlatko Andonovski’s career in women’s soccer, they showed (in a way that wouldn’t quite be visible until a few years later) that success in this league means something.

And of course, Sauerbrunn herself is a player who made a name for herself at the club level, well before women’s clubs in this country were thought of as a viable path for name-making. Sauerbrunn in Portland is a thing that, for how surreal it’s no doubt going to look at first, simultaneously somehow feels right and true. She will be playing, after all, alongside fellow sleeve-hater Emily Menges. Tell me this wasn’t preordained.

Categories
Timbers

Home Games Before Spring? Home Games Before Spring.

(Kris Lattimore)

Forty-one days into their 2018 regular season, the Portland Timbers played their first home game. In 2019, that number more than doubled to 91 days. Fortunately for Timbers supporters, the wait wasn’t nearly as long this season.

The Timbers kicked off their 2020 campaign at home for the first time since 2017—a match in which they defeated Minnesota United 5-1. This time around, the result wasn’t nearly as convincing; the Timbers fell to the Loons 3-1, allowing two late goals and picking up their first-ever home defeat to Minnesota in the process.

“It was an exciting moment for us to play at home, to be here,” head coach Giovanni Savarese said. “I think maybe we took it for granted. I think it’s something that I can think of because we were very excited for this match, to make sure we got a good result.

“We didn’t want to start the season like this. It’s unfortunate because we showed an incredible first half. Very dominant in so many ways. We put in place the things that we wanted to see. Ultimately, the result is the real value of what happened in the match. Even though we did many good things in the first half, we didn’t capitalize.”

(Kris Lattimore)

Unlike the past few seasons, the Timbers’ home opener wasn’t marked by a circled date on a calendar a third of the way through the regular season. There was no need to find the nearest bar playing the game, and there were no different time zones to keep track of. Even the cool air felt nice, signaling the start of another season in the Pacific Northwest.

But all of those factors couldn’t prevent the Timbers from starting their season bereft of those vital three points. A year ago, Portland struggled to find any sort of early result on the road. It took until the seventh game to take home all three points, thanks to a 3-1 win in Columbus.

This time, as day turned to night on the first day of March, it was supporters in green and gold that filled the North End, unveiling a tifo that read “The Legends of Goose Hollow.”

“It’s amazing,” Diego Valeri said when asked about playing at home in March. “Obviously we have to work harder to give happiness to our crowd, but it’s always special.”

The Timbers looked solid and energized throughout the first half. The team strung together a couple of good moments in transition, dominated possession in the attacking third, and even garnered a penalty-shout by the fifth minute. The quality of play was a tad sloppy and left something to be desired, but that’s something to be expected for an opening game.

At times, Portland played with too much confidence, sending eight players forward into the attack. It was in those moments that the Timbers were caught out in the second half. They paid the price late in the game, conceding a pair of goals just two minutes apart.

“Those moments, we need to be in control the way we did in the first half,” Savarese said. “It was unfortunate because, as I said, the team did very, very well. In the second half, unfortunately, we allowed those moments and then the game changed completely because now when you have to go and search the game and look for the game you open yourself to the situations we saw in the second half.”

(Kris Lattimore)

Once Kevin Molino scored the opening goal for the Loons, the floodgates opened. Just five minutes after Molino found the back of the net, Valeri scored the first Timbers’ goal at Providence Park this regular season on a 56’ penalty.

“It’s always special,” the Argentinian said about scoring at home. “It was a big responsibility taking the PK because it was an important moment of the game. Happy to have that moment. It’s always special for me to score in front of our crowd, but sadly it didn’t work to win the game and that’s the most important for me.”

While the Timbers looked to regain confidence after the goal, the penalty wasn’t enough; Minnesota were still able to put the game away.

(Kris Lattimore)

With the Timbers’ schedule relatively back to normal, players will no longer have to worry about home-heavy or road-heavy stretches. Games are more evenly spaced out this year, both home and away. Portland will host Nashville SC next Sunday before traveling for a manageable road trip against the New England Revolution and Los Angeles FC. With fewer late-season midweek turns, the team could be more rested down the always-pivotal final stretch.

“In MLS it is very even, very competitive,” Valeri said. “We have to keep working to build as a team and to be stronger. To make the results, at home most likely, but we’ll see if the schedule helps us to be more consistent in what we want, which is to be higher in the table and make the playoffs.”

While Portland may not reap the benefits of playing such a home-heavy schedule down the stretch ever again, maybe the variety is for the best. The Timbers didn’t get the result they hoped for on opening night, but they all agreed that it was nice getting to start the regular season at home.

“I think it’s always great to play at Providence Park,” Diego Chara said. “Unfortunately, today wasn’t a good result, but it’s a great feeling, and now we have to be better for the next game.”

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Portland Timbers Preview Review

Diego Chara carries the ball forward during the Portland Timbers' 2-1 preseason win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. Photo by Kris Lattimore
After six matches—some of which we saw and some of which we did not—we are starting to get an idea as to who the 2020 Portland Timbers are and who they could be.

On the road against Costa Rican sides Deportivo Saprissa, Municipal Grecia, and C.S. Herediano the Timbers went 3-0 with a combined score of 8-2. Despite four months of hungering for soccer from Timbers fans, little information and even less video from these matches is available to the public. The opposition lineups from those three games against a freshly convened Timbers side remain unknown, but both Saprissa and Herediano are known quantities in CONCACAF: Saprissa took the Montreal Impact to penalties in their Champions’ League matchup earlier this week before falling to the Canadians and Herediano are the 2019 Liga FPD Apertura Champions.

At home against MLS opposition, however, it was a different story. Timbers fans were able to see their side in person at Providence Park during the preseason for the first time in three years, but what they did see was clearly not the finished product.

After the Timbers beat the Vancouver Whitecaps on a penalty kick and a hotly debated ball that was either a lucky cross or an absurd shot (depending on how much faith you have in the killer instinct of Andy Polo), things quickly went downhill. In the midweek match against Minnesota United FC, the Timbers reserves found themselves outmatched as they tried to play through a stout Loons defense and were repeatedly victimized on the counter. The following Saturday, the Timbers went up on the New England Revolution before the Eastern Conference side were able to storm back into the match with yet more counter-attacking play that put the Timbers on the back foot for much of the match and result in their second loss of the preseason.

The back to back defeats at the hands of Minnesota and New England, sides looking to catch their opponents off-balance and exploit any opening in their defensive schemes, clearly revealed several areas of weakness for the Timbers as they look to transition to a more proactive defensive scheme.

Sebastian Blanco holds the ball during the Timbers’ 2020 preseason tournament. Photo by Kris Lattimore.
But before exploring those weaknesses, let us take a look at just what it is that the Timbers were doing in the attack during the preseason.

With an attacking corps or Diego Valeri, Sebastian Blanco, Yimmi Chara, and Felipe Mora supported by Diego Chara and Cristhian Paredes out of the midfield as well as Jorge Villafaña and Jorge Moreira at full-back, the Timbers have a group that is comprised of versatile, experienced players, all of whom are capable of swapping their positions on the field as they search for an opening in the opposing defense. 

Throughout the preseason it was a common sight to see two Timbers carrying the ball down the flank and looking to overload the opposition fullback. What is special about this is the number of different combinations of players with which the Timbers try to create these overloads. On Saturday’s final match of the preseason, New England fullback Dejuan Jones was forced to deal with Chara and Y. Chara, Y. Chara and Moreira, Valeri and Y. Chara, Mora and Blanco, and more as the Timbers fluidly moved their attackers around the pitch.

This freedom of movement has several effects on the Timbers’ game plan. First, it does have the potential to move around defenders and create openings that a judiciously placed pass or cross could exploit. Second, it allows the Timbers to identify and exploit potential mismatches on the fly without having to reorganize their attack as they are in a constant state of reorganization.

Unfortunately for the team, for all of the advantages of this attacking system, there are disadvantages as well and those are what we saw on display during the preseason. With the players on each wing regularly changing and the fullbacks regularly committing themselves forward into the attack, the Timbers leave significant amounts of space open on their own flanks for their opponents to attack into.

Cristhian Paredes looks to pass the ball while Jorge Moreira makes a run. Photo by Kris Lattimore.

Exacerbating this issue even further is Giovanni Savarese’s pursuit of a high defensive press. While turning over their opposition in the attacking end is an excellent way to accumulate good scoring chances, it also further commits the wingers up the pitch and, much of the time, adds to the unguarded spaces out wide on the flanks.

We saw these spaces exploited in each of the Timbers’ preseason games. The lone goal by the Whitecaps came when Valeri was on the right and was slow to recover defensively. Two of the Loons’ first three goals came when an opposition fullback was able to get in behind their winger and attack the back post. And the first of the Revolution’s three goals came when a run from Teal Bunbury pulled Moreira inside and left Gustavo Bou all alone at the back post while Yimmi Chara, who should have been sliding in to cover, watched from the top of the box. 

Those were just the goals that the Timbers conceded. No matter how one watched the Timbers in the preseason, it was plain to see that teams were ready for them and had a plan to exploit these spaces.

There is only one quick fix for these issues: abandon the Timbers’ current system, reign in the attacking support from the fullbacks and midfield, and revert to the bunker-and-counter style of play that the Timbers have used to great but often uninspiring effect in recent seasons.

Which is not to say that the Timbers should cut and run. Savarese’s current approach to the game is demanding both physically and mentally, so it will take some time for the side to really understand who needs to do what where when why how.

Making the right recovery runs, properly marking your man, and knowing when you need to fill in space is something that can only come with time. The Timbers have the skill to implement just such a system. It remains to be seen if they can put together the willpower.

Categories
Soccer Timbers

PTFCDND: Diego Chara

Photo by Kris Lattimore. Edited by Katelyn Best.
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Categories
Soccer

We Go Hard, We Go Fast, and We Never Look Back

Kris Lattimore
“It’s frustrating for soccer to not have the exposure that it needs. As media continues to change, it’s getting harder and harder. I just read in Portland they’re removing their beat reporter […]”

-Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, February 26, 2020

Subsidized soccer coverage in Portland is over.

At the end of last season, the Oregonian moved its beat writer off assignment to the NBA, and they don’t plan to replace her. The Portland Mercury removed their main weekly soccer freelancer from off a regular schedule. The Athletic exchanged their local beat writers for a regional one. As it stands, there are no dedicated, independent soccer writers left in Soccer City, USA. 

This is all happening at a time when soccer in Portland is more popular than ever. The Timbers have sold out every game since they’ve been in MLS. The Thorns drew an average of just over 20,000 fans per game last season. The product on the field gets better every year, the storylines more dramatic. All while publications act like soccer writing is not bringing them enough interest to warrant dedicated coverage.

During our time at Stumptown Footy, we’ve been producing high-quality journalistic and analytical content for around $2–3 an hour (those of us who were getting paid at all, that is) on a website that was supposed to be just for fans. We are fans, but we’ve always taken pride in our craft. We hold ourselves to high standards, and we feel that we can hold our work up against the work of professionals. 

We know there is a market for soccer writing in Portland because we hear people asking for one. Fans have high standards for the writing they want to read. The click-obsessed, ad-revenue-driven business model is destroying journalism. Great publications are failing, local papers across the country are being sold for parts to media conglomerates, and readers aren’t getting the coverage they deserve on the topics they care about.

So we’re doing it ourselves, and it’s up to you to prove us right.

Rose City Review is going to be everything we love to do. Ridiculous posts and in-depth analysis, alongside the best inside access to the players an outsider can get. Who knows, we might even launch into a non-soccer topic now and again. 

Some content each week will always be free; the rest will be accessible to subscribers for just $2 a month. There won’t be a comment section, because comment sections are a shoddy facsimile of a real community. Instead, we want to expand the ways we interact with our audience away from the din. One place that’s going to happen is a dedicated Discord channel where subscribers will be able to chat with each other about the games and the latest news, as well as talk directly to us. You’ll be able to ask us all the burning questions on your minds and let us know what you’d like to see covered.

Above all, we want to do the work that we’re passionate about. We love Portland soccer, and we think it deserves our best effort. We hope you’ll join us.