Author: Kyle Pinnell

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Soccer Timbers

Timbers and MLS Prepare for Play as Orlando Tournament Looms Closer

Photo by Kris Lattimore

With just over 12 minutes gone in the Portland Timbers second game of the 2020 MLS season, Diego Valeri took a step back, turned, and struck a bouncing ball past Nashville SC goalkeeper, Joe Willis, on a half-volley. 1-0 Timbers. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, that individual moment of brilliance would be the last Timbers goal for over three months.

In just over a month, the Timbers will take the field once again, but this time there will be no green and gold smoke or victory log slices. In fact, it will not be anywhere close to the Pacific Northwest.

Instead, the Timbers and other teams from around North America will be leaving their home markets to converge in Orlando, Florida for a tournament that would never have happened in a pre-COVID world. What will that tournament look like with no fans in the stands, no supporters groups, and no tifos? Well, nobody knows for sure.

It wasn’t long ago that many people within the league believed returning to play soccer in the first place would be impossible. Now, optimism is growing as additional information about COVID-19 becomes known. After nearly three months of archived games, streamed FIFA competitions, and too many organizational Mount Rushmores to count, the league is beginning to plan its path forward.

Despite many recent positive developments, it has not always been smooth sailing. Just a few days ago things looked choppy when multiple reports surfaced that the Players Association and the league were still at an impasse, held up by details like the language of a new force majeure clause and shared media revenue.

These talks came to a head over the weekend when ESPN’s Hérculez Gómez reported that the league threatened a lockout if the two sides couldn’t reach a deal in the coming days. On Wednesday morning, MLS commissioner Don Garber spoke to national media via Zoom about the labor agreement and said that this has been one of the few times in the history of the league that a severe measure, such as a lockout, has been considered.

“As leader of this league, I believe that [threatening a lockout] was important to do to reach an agreement,” Garber said. “At the end of the day, if we didn’t believe we were advocating for what was crucial for the success and the future of the league, I certainly wouldn’t have gone down that path.”

In addition to outside reporting, Garber admitted that there were four to five points that the two sides had to agree on, citing both the force majeure clause and shared media revenue as points of emphasis.

From the players’ perspective, Portland Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark said that many players knew that lockout threats were a part of difficult labor negotiations—although he fully expected that both sides would finally reach an agreement.

“Negotiations are always tense,” Clark told local media via Zoom. “Overall, you have two sides that wanted to play soccer. We both had competing ideas and we wanted to take care of our own, but again, working with the Timbers, Merritt, and Gavin is fantastic.

“Not only that, but all the owners were on several Zoom calls with players. Getting on with Don Garber on Zoom with hundreds of players and a few owners is really unique.”

What Clark said impressed him even more was the amount of involvement from every player on the roster. Whereas in the past just a few players per team would work on the negotiations, this year everyone—from the lowest player on the roster to the designated players—was heavily involved.

“I truly believe that players are the most united we have ever been, and there is a kind of historic enrollment from the top of the roster to the bottom,” Clark said. “And the other part of that is the willingness of the owners to hear us out and get out of their shoes to walk a mile in our shoes. I’m really grateful for that.”

Over the past few weeks, MLS training facilities across the country have been opening up for individual workouts. These openings are reliant on local regulations as well as testing capacity in local markets and sanitizing regulations enforced at the training facility. On Thursday, the league lifted the training moratorium, allowing teams to plan their return to full team training. If teams can return to full training in their local markets, they can delay going to Orlando for at least a week.

Clark, for one, is excited to get back on the field, regardless of where the game is played and despite the lack of fans.

“I’m a soccer player,” the 34-year-old said. “I play goalkeeper. That’s what I do, I think it’s essential to my being, and I’m really excited to be out there playing.”

During the conference call, Garber did not announce any set dates or times for the Orlando tournament but said that more details are on the way. And regardless of what the tournament brings in, the league will take at least a $1 billion revenue hit. So while limiting the tournament to a maximum of 35 days helps players such as Clark, who will be leaving his family for at least a month, it doesn’t help the league’s bottom line.

And when teams eventually kick off in Orlando, there is at least one glaring question that needs to be answered: what will the on-field product be like? This tournament will undoubtedly give the league nation-wide attention from those interested to see how it handles the moment. Those new eyes will almost assuredly turn away if the product on the field is subpar, even if teams are now essentially in preseason form. (It’s worth acknowledging that the first few games will not be representative of the quality of the league during a normal season.) It will take time for teams to reach the quality of a derby game, or even what MLS fans saw during their last glimpse of live MLS Soccer—an end-to-end 3-3 game between the Philadelphia Union and LAFC.

Despite those worries, Clark said that the team is revving to play and believes that the quality on the field will not suffer, despite the lack of energy from the stands.

“The product will be good on that field,” Clark said. “We’re going to want to win and there’s going to be ways that I’m going to communicate better without fans. People will be able to hear me. I’m looking at it not in a negative way, but in a glass-half-full to see how I can impact the game, or as a goalkeeper, with my communication, because everyone can hear me.”

While the return to play is a positive step for all parties, there are still the unavoidable losses. Among these are the loss of revenue, and the (temporary) loss of fans. Playing a Cascadia Derby without the Timbers Army or Emerald City Supporters in a stadium over 3,000 miles away won’t be the same. Yes, the tournament-winning team will get a million dollars and a trophy at the “Most Magical Place on Earth,” but for the league’s 25th anniversary season, it’s a bit of a disappointment.

There remain plenty of questions around the league, many of which have no answer, but with tough negotiations behind them and a tournament on the horizon, it’s up to the players and the league to make the most of the situation. If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that the players are ready.

“It was nice to have a break,” Clark began, “but it’s time.”

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Soccer Timbers

Living the Dream: a Look Back at Sueño MLS

Portland Sueño day-two participants at Providence Park. (Courtesy of MLS)

When Major League Soccer kicked off in the spring of 1996, one of its trademark features was its uniqueness.

In Europe, every league from England to Belarus is steeped in decades, even centuries of tradition. Meanwhile, MLS came into existence as an afterthought in a country with its own distinct sporting culture. To succeed, the league needed to find a way to stand out.

Run-up penalty shootouts; flashy, un-soccer-y team names like the Wizards and the Crew; and an actual playoff competition to crown a league champion. You name it, MLS tried it. So in 2007, when the concept of a reality-television-style competition to find the best young players in the country was pitched to the league, it was naturally given the green light.

That initial concept became Sueño MLS, a competition that lasted exactly a decade with varying degrees of success. The winner of that inaugural 2007 season was Jorge Flores, a young defender from Anaheim, California, who earned a spot in the Chivas USA academy. Today, Flores—nicknamed Sueño after winning the competition—goes by another surname: Villafaña.

In 2016, the competition named Portland, Oregon as one of its three first-round “host” cities for the first and only time. Up to 400 young players were allowed to participate, and six players (five field players and a goalkeeper) were then selected to travel to Los Angeles, California to take part in drill work and compete in scrimmages against local academies during a four-day finals.

Yet, despite its billing as a big-time competition, many of Portland’s finalists learned about Sueño MLS through happenstance. Andres Labate, a 15-year-old from Salem, heard about the event through his Argentinian father who heard an ad for the competition over the radio. 16-year-old Jonathan Reynoso, who lived in Madras, said that he heard about the competition through a friend at the very last minute.

On Sunday, April 16, hundreds of young players from around the region spent a beautiful, sunny afternoon at a Gresham public park in front of experienced evaluators, including Larry Sunderland—then the Portland Timbers Academy and Youth Technical Director, who took part in the competition twice when he worked for Chicago Fire—and Ryan Miller, an academy coach.

According to multiple players, the field in Gresham wasn’t ideal.  Faded green with chunks of grass out of place, players claimed that it was difficult to dribble and play precise passes. But even the field couldn’t take away from what Miller called a “soccer-rich environment.” He said what really stood out while watching the scrimmages all day was the excitement among the players and an atmosphere that involved plenty of families hanging around for hours and even picnicking at the park. Labate claimed that the day felt like a scrappy and competitive club tryout, while Reynoso recalls being split into different teams and playing with a lot of different players.

After the first tryout wrapped up, participants were told to expect a phone call later that night, if they advanced. While some players could tell by their performance whether or not they would be invited back, Sunderland and Miller left Reynoso sweating until the last minute.

“I was on my way home and I was thinking that I wasn’t going to go back the next day,” Reynoso said. “It was already eight p.m., nine p.m., but then I got the call.”

Those who received a call that night were invited to Providence Park, where evaluators further trimmed the field to just six finalists, who would represent Portland at the finals in LA. Once again, the tryout consisted mainly of scrimmages⁠—and even involved Timbers forward Dairon Asprilla, who showed up to support the young players.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Reynoso said. “All those people there and it being in an actual stadium. It was fun though.”

Many talented players tried out that week, but there was one clear standout, and everyone knew it: Alan Gaytan. The 15-year-old from Troutdale was athletic, had a great left foot, and quickly impressed evaluators and television crew alike.

“It was pretty clear that of the kids that were there, he stood out,” Sunderland said. “He was dangerous, he could run the ball pretty well, he was good in the one-vs-one. At that Sueño level and that tryout level, he stood out to us.”

Gaytan, who ended up winning the entire competition a few weeks later, excelled at cutting in from the right and curling his shot into the corner of the net. “It was an easy pick,” Sunderland said.

The rest of the selections were not as straightforward. To come up with the other five finalists, evaluators had to scrutinize seemingly minute details.

“It comes down to moments,” Sunderland explained. “It’s easy to find the very top and identify the bottom third. It’s that grey area between the top grouping and the middle grouping. It’s catching the right moments, seeing the right thing, being able to identify potential versus performance. Unfortunately, when you do a tryout like [Sueño MLS], a lot of time you are looking for performance because you do not have enough time to judge potential.”

Added Miller: “Alan was a clear standout in the event because he was an athletic player, he was fast, he was left-footed, he was playing with joy. There weren’t too many questions about him.”

Shortly following the conclusion of the final scrimmage, players were called to the field where Sunderland and Miller officially announced the six finalists. Gaytan, Reynoso, and Labate were called up, along with midfielder Arturo González Vásquez, goalkeeper Antonio Campos, and defender Salvador Pérez. With excited family members in the surrounding stands, many participants called this their favorite moment of the weekend.

“I thought I played well, but I got really tired at the end,” Labate said. “My dad was there and we discussed it. I went down there, and I knew Alan [Gaytan] was going to get picked, but I was not sure about anyone else. It felt amazing to be selected.”

“If I were the director of Sueño, the atmosphere is what I would put my hat on,” Miller said. “That culture and environment that was created, I thought that was really cool.”

When asked about the final selection, Reynoso chuckled. He knew that he would be selected before the official announcement due to being accidentally tipped off on his way back from a water break. The forward admittedly didn’t know what he was seeing at the time other than his name on a computer screen, but he got a good idea as soon as the woman using the laptop quickly shut the screen.

“Once the game finished, I don’t know why, I was just behind everyone,” Reynoso said. “I was looking at the computer and they had the names written down already. So I saw my name on there way before [everyone else].”

Over the course of a decade, 11 separate players have gone on to win the competition. However, not every winner has gone on to find mainstream success in soccer. In 2015, Villafaña went on to win an MLS Cup in Portland and has earned a few international caps for the United States. Gabriel Funes Mori won the competition in 2008 and has since played the role of prolific striker for River Plate, Benfica, and Monterrey. Other winners are still in college, local academies, or are not playing soccer anymore.

“At that time I didn’t see [winning the competition] as pressure, I saw it as an opportunity, which I think is different,” Villafaña admitted. “I imagine every kid’s dream is to be a professional soccer player, and when I won I didn’t see it as pressure, I saw it as an opportunity to be a professional soccer player. That is what my drive was to keep me going. That I had this opportunity that I always wanted.”

Many other players echoed a similar sentiment of how Sueño MLS, as niche a competition as it was, influenced their soccer paths.

Labate, who is committed to playing soccer at Gonzaga University next year, knows that the competition helped him get noticed by the division-one school in the first place.

“Oh, for sure,” Labate said when asked to reflect on the competition’s impact. “Academy level compared to club is a step up, as well as, the connection to college coaches is better. The amount of people who I have gotten into contact with and the connections that I have made were all through the academy and the fact that I played there.”

In an interview back in 2016, Villafaña told MLS.com that “If it wasn’t for the Sueño MLS, I probably would’ve gone to college and I don’t know what would’ve happened. But I’m sure I wasn’t going to be playing professionally.”

Today, Sueño MLS no longer exists. After ten competitions, 2016 was the final run of a soccer reality-television show. And, in its final iteration, the competition gave the country a taste of just what talent can come out of the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s tough because [winning the competition] doesn’t mean that you made it,” Villafaña said when asked about the primary lesson he took away from a competition that helped kick-start his career. “It means that you’re just starting. It’s like every other guy that wants to become a first-team player.

“Once you are in the academy, it doesn’t mean that you have made it. It means that you have an opportunity to become a professional soccer player, so you have to see it as an opportunity, because there are a lot of kids that want to be there, and not a lot of them have the opportunity.”

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Soccer Timbers

Reflecting on the Timbers’ First MLS Season with the Team that Called it

Look through the names of past and present Portland Timbers broadcasters, and you’ll find a who’s who of American soccer media. Jake Zivin’s voice can be heard both locally on ROOT Sports and nationally on Fox Sports. Nat Borchers and Ross Smith both have their own place in Timbers history, on and off the field. Preceding them, John Strong is now the play-by-play voice of North American soccer on Fox Sports, while Robbie Earle is a staple of English Premier League studio coverage on NBC Sports. The common thread between them? They all got their start in American soccer broadcasting by covering the Portland Timbers.

A few weeks ago, Strong tweeted a picture of his television screen. On the screen were both him and Earle on the catwalk at Providence Park, filming a pregame segment. Nearly a decade younger, both men wore black suits with Stand Together pins on their left lapels. At that point in time, few could have predicted the highs to which their careers were about to ascend.

From 2011 to 2013, Strong and Earle were the voices of the Timbers, forging a unique relationship and chemistry early on. At the time, it was considered an odd pairing. Around MLS, the English personality was typically the play-by-play voice, while the American filled in as color analyst. Portland flipped the script.

“It was really the first time anyone had done that,” Strong said.

Before coming to Portland, Earle had a playing career in England, playing midfield for both Port Vale and Wimbledon. After hanging up his cleats, he spent ten years covering soccer in England until around 2010, when he decided to try his hand in America. One of the first people to reach out was Timbers President of Business Mike Golub, who sold him on the city and vision of a franchise that was about to enter Major League Soccer.

“It was immediately obvious to the team that as an option for our broadcast, this guy would bring instant credibility to our announcer team,” the Timbers’ vice president of broadcasting, Matt Smith, said.

And while the organization had to go across the pond to find Earle, Strong was right in their backyard. A talented yet inexperienced 25-year old radio broadcaster out of the University of Oregon, Strong covered some of the team’s final USL games and was chosen to continue broadcasting games in MLS.

The two leaned on one another during those years. If Strong needed to talk to the TV truck, Earle was prepared to cover for him. Earle, meanwhile, learned about American media, as well as how to always be prepared, from Strong.

“His unending patience with me,” Strong began. “The amount of battles that he fought for me that I didn’t realize at the time. Things I was just too young and stupid to realize that I was saying on the air that I didn’t need to be. I was way, way too young to have that job really, and the way Robbie acted as a firewall sometimes, with people that were annoyed with things that I have done or said that I didn’t know until years later—it was very appreciated.”

Strong and Earle’s first on-air MLS call in Colorado. (Photo courtesy of Strong)

Alongside Earle, Strong had another helping hand in longtime friend Erick Olson. Growing up, Strong and Olson had helped found the broadcasting program at Lake Oswego High, then spent their college years calling UO games together. In 2011, Strong asked Olson to help keep stats and spot from the booth. Olson knew his friend’s weaknesses and echoed how valuable Earle was during the early days of Strong’s career.

“We got the chance to start with not a whole lot of safety net, just a whole lot of trust,” Olson said. “It wasn’t like we were getting a ton of feedback, unless we sought it out, through college. So having Robbie come in and help us with those things was very beneficial.”

Strong still recalls a lot from his time with the Timbers. Over the phone, he named some of the early players from that 2011 team with painstaking detail, even recalling the health situation among the three goalkeepers at the time. Strong is a storyteller, and 2011 provided him with plenty of stories to tell.

There was the Timbers’ first home game against Chicago where, as the rain poured down, he couldn’t help but watch Earle, who looked stunned while absorbing the moment. The team won its first five home games—a feat no other expansion team before them had accomplished—blew out the eventual shield- and MLS Cup-winning Los Angeles Galaxy, and put an end to Real Salt Lake’s 18-game unbeaten streak.

In July, Strong spent the moments right before the Timbers and Sounders met in MLS for the first time watching the US Women’s National Team beat Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinal. That was his first time meeting Alexi Lalas, who came into the radio booth that day to watch the ending. Unfortunately for Timbers supporters, the game that followed didn’t have the same happy conclusion.

“There was such incredible energy in the building that day,” Strong said. “The Timbers led twice, but ultimately gave up a late equalizer on an Ozzie Alonso penalty. It was absolutely soul-crushing. That was one of the biggest gut-punch losses for the Timbers, really maybe even ever, because to lose in that way was rough.”

Over two years in Portland, Strong was never at a loss for words. But behind the scenes, there was one moment that came close: the team’s first-ever MLS game.

“I remember our first game against the Colorado Rapids where we talked about what opener we wanted, we didn’t want to get in the way of the club,” Earle said. “I remember the kick-off and turning to John to shake hands, which we did before every game for good luck, and he had tears streaming down his face. I didn’t realize how much the Portland Timbers meant to him as someone coming from the area, going to the lower leagues, working in football.

“In that first game in MLS, how emotionally it caught him. He had these Portland Timbers cufflinks on his shirt. It caught me off guard and made me say, ‘wow.’ If these are the emotions of a broadcaster who does very professional work, I was thinking about fans at home and the responsibility we had.”

It was those passionate fans that blew Earle away as soon as he arrived in Portland. He still believes that he and Strong had the best gig in MLS at the time, and still fondly cherishes the memories of passing fans lined up at the gates of Providence Park hours before every home game.

Growing up in England, and with experience playing in some of the most hostile environments in Europe, Earle compared Portland fans to some of the most passionate supporters in England.

“Not in terms of numbers, but in terms of love of the football club, [Portland] would probably be more like Newcastle United or Leeds United,” Earle said. “Two very strong identity clubs. When you go to those areas, you never see people in those cities wearing any other shirts. If you come from Leeds, you support Leeds. If you come from Newcastle, you wear black and white. I always think the Timbers are like that. The only soccer shirt you see people wearing with pride would be the Portland Timbers.”

According to Smith, when Earle was with the team, road dinners were full of stories that nobody on the TV crew could get enough of—stories of his time playing for a Wimbledon team nicknamed the “Crazy Gang,” and of playing for Jamaica. It was that paternal nature that helped Earle build great relationships among the entire broadcast crew, but particularly with Strong.

Strong and Earle with producer Jon Bradford (left) and Pat Brown (right) before their final home broadcast working for the Timbers. (Photo courtesy of Strong)

If there was a single moment that cemented the pair’s relationship, it came on October 2 in Vancouver.

Back in September, Strong had suffered from a case of pneumonia that later resulted in a collapsed lung. Just ten days after surgery, he made the trip to call the team’s 1–0 victory over the Whitecaps, but he was not himself.

“He came back a week or ten days too early,” Earle said. “He traveled up to Vancouver and didn’t look great in all honesty. He was quite pale and looked as though he was still not 100%. But, being John, he wanted to be back because he felt it was his responsibility.

“Thinking back on it, the one thing John brings to a broadcast is energy. When he came back, he didn’t have that same energy, and a couple of times I caught him having to catch a breath and take a moment.”

Strong later admitted the same thing. Back in 2011, he acted in haste.

“I should not have called that game,” Strong emphatically said. “I had no business doing that game. I looked sickly, I lost a bunch of weight, it was a disaster. But I was so desperate. I had finally gotten this dream job, and now it’s like it was being taken away.

“I remember doing that game in Vancouver and Robbie almost like a dad. He got emotional, having me back, and he gave me a big hug. It was a really nice moment even though I shouldn’t have been there.”

Looking back, those days meant a lot to Strong and Earle, but also to Olson. Watching his friend develop his career right in front of his eyes, in their hometown, was a special experience. Olson later accompanied Strong to the World Cup in Russia, but still reflects on 2011, which he knows was just the start of a long journey.

“Seeing something grow and, at the same time, watching my friend, who I had been broadcasting with since we were seniors in high school, grow into this role was special,” Olson said. “To go from the guy who is working really hard to make connections, to the guy who drives convincing people to put the Timbers on the radio so that there is a radio home for this professional team, to the guy who becomes the first TV broadcaster for this team. How much that meant and how hard he worked to get that done while at the same time making a real connection with the team. It was incredible”

So, back to that picture from the 2011 broadcast.

“Could any of us have predicted at game one that two and a half years later John would be the national voice on a network?” Smith asked. “I don’t think any of us would have predicted that, but by the time 2013 rolled around I was able to look at John’s peers around Major League Soccer and immediately knew that he was in the upper echelon of MLS announcers.”

For nearly a decade, the Timbers MLS history has been marked by inconsistent play on the field, an MLS Cup, and even a little bit of magic. But, through it all, there has been a talented television crew to tell the story. And it all began with John Strong and Robbie Earle back in 2011.

“Lots of people forget that the team was really darn competitive in 2011, right up until the end of the season,” Smith said. “There was a great atmosphere in Portland, a new expansion team that was upping the ante in Major League Soccer. But they were also competitive, and the Timbers were competing to be in the playoffs in year one. 2011 was exciting on all fronts, every aspect of it, and I think we had a great broadcast, great announcers, and the product we put on air was second to none.”

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Soccer Timbers

The Day a Hurricane Postponed a Timbers Game

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Former Portland Timbers play-by-play commentator John Strong landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport expecting to make a quick connection to a cross-country flight to Washington DC. But on his way to the gate, he received an unforeseen email from Timbers owner and CEO Merritt Paulson asking where he was.

Strong knew to assume inclement weather on the east coast during the coming weekend. According to multiple reports, Hurricane Irma was projected to hit the DC area, but Strong anticipated that the team, and Major League Soccer, would postpone that weekend’s game against DC United just a day or two, and that he could bunker down in a hotel in the mean time. That idea was dashed just a few minutes later when he received another frantic message, this time from the Timbers’ vice president of broadcasting, Matt Smith.

“I’m thinking they delayed the game and we’d play it Monday,” Strong said. “I was still prepared to fly to DC. But [Paulson] responds in all caps, ‘DO NOT GET ON THE PLANE,’ and within seconds Smith is calling me saying, ‘where are you right now?’” 

Strong, of course, was on his way to the nation’s capital, but those plans quickly changed. 285 regular-season games have gone on without a hitch since then, until March 19, when COVID-19 shut the entire league down. That game, nearly a decade ago, stood as the only time a Timbers game had been postponed in its MLS era, and it resulted in one of the craziest and most memorable days behind the scenes in the franchise’s MLS history.

Photo by Nikita Taparia

The team landed in Washington a day before the official postponement, arriving on Thursday night to an eerily empty Reagan Airport. It is team policy to arrive at road cities at least two days prior to an east coast game, so despite the rumblings about a potential hurricane, players and staff boarded the 2,800-mile flight to DC.

But in seeing how empty the airport was, with those passengers who were there scrambling to get out of the city, reality set in. By the time the team left the airport, Portland’s then-director of game operations, Nick Mansueto, couldn’t help but begin to contemplate a nightmare scenario—one that came to fruition 24 hours later.

“It was certainly a surreal feeling being at an airport, grabbing your bags, and being the only ones because everybody else in the airport is trying to leave,” Mansueto said. “It was strange to be the only group of people walking to the baggage claim, which made it all the more real and it hit home what exactly we were flying into.”

On Friday morning, just a day before the game was scheduled to be played, Mansueto recalls going outside to see weird cloud formations and feeling the wind pick up. Soon after, the call from the league came through: there would be no game that weekend, and the team would have to get out of DC. Players who boarded the bus expecting to head to training that morning were instead thrust into a crazy 24-hour experience that perfectly reflected the MLS 2.0 era. 

One player who remembers that day well is former team captain Jack Jewsbury. He recalls the shock of switching mindsets from anticipating practice to having to turn around and fly right back across the country. As captain, Jewsbury left with the first group of  players and would get to fly back out of Reagan.

“Nick [Mansueto] and his staff did as good as they could to get everyone on [flights], but you gotta think that everybody else in that area is trying to get out of there, too,” Jewsbury said. “It was a bit chaotic.”

Behind the scenes, Mansueto called it one of the most stressful and memorable experiences from his time with the team, one that involved booking an entire soccer team on cross-country flights in an ever-changing situation. The team was used to traveling in a controlled environment with tickets already printed, bags checked in, and expedited security lines. At that moment, Mansueto was just trying to get as many seats as he could together, and that meant securing two or three seats each on any planes departing out of Baltimore, Reagan, and Dulles airports—all at least an hour apart from one another without traffic—which meant lengthy layovers in four different cities.

“For me, it was important to get the guys out of there as quickly as possible,” Mansueto said. “If there were layovers, which there were, that was certainly a better situation than being stuck for an unknown amount of time in a city that you do not live in.”

By the time Jewsbury and the first group of players arrived at Reagan, they decided to enjoy a quick drink before the long journey home; after all, there would not be another game for a while. 

“It was an odd feeling,” Jewsbury said. “You’re in your Timbers gear, you’re supposed to go to a game the next day, and you’re already coming back flying across the country. We had a few beers to settle the nerves a little bit because we had finally made it to the airport.”

Luckily, Jewsbury and the entire team arrived back in Portland in the coming days, but it’s easy to look back at that game and ask, “what if?”

In a way, it hurt the team to not play the game as scheduled. Back in May, DC United had become the first team to beat Portland at what was then Jeld-Wen Field, winning 3–2 in dramatic fashion. But by late August, the Timbers had caught lightning in a bottle, taking all six points from the Vancouver Whitecaps and Chivas USA in the span of four days.

Instead, the game was rescheduled for late October and became a do-or-die match for both teams. A Timbers win would have essentially guaranteed a spot in the playoffs if they could win or draw against Salt Lake City the following weekend. DC, meanwhile, needed all three points to stave off instant elimination. The game—which still holds an MLS record for most shots in a half of any MLS game since 2000—ultimately finished 1–1, with Kenny Cooper opening the scoring in the 24th minute, and Dwayne De Rosario scoring the equalizer in the 73rd. The Timbers were then forced to rely on another result; that game didn’t go their way, and the team was out before Decision Day.

“This is my hot take about 2011,” Strong said. “I think the Timbers win that game [if it had been played as originally scheduled] because they were playing with such confidence, and it was such a quick turnaround that they were running on adrenaline. By the time they played DC again at the end of the season, the team was out of gas.”

Jewsbury acknowledged Strong’s point, but he didn’t believe that one postponed game in August made that much of a difference in the team’s playoff fate that year. He did, however, agree that road points were hard to come by, and those three would have been extremely valuable.

“For me to say, ‘Hey, if we win that game, we are going to make the playoffs,’ is probably unfair, but we were in a groove,” Jewsbury admitted. “For a young team like we were, confidence was king. And we had that going at different times during the year, so to not get that one in hurt for sure, and you never know. We may have been able to grab that playoff spot, and you never know what is going to happen from there.”

That postponed game now stands as arguably one of the craziest forgotten stories from that 2011 season. Was John Strong right? Could the Timbers have actually snuck into the playoffs that year? We’ll never know for sure, but it’s a memorable flashpoint in what was an exciting inaugural MLS season for the Portland Timbers.

“Had the Timbers had the three points from the DC win, they would’ve come into the RSL game knowing that with a win they would’ve gotten in, or a draw might’ve been enough, depending on the result,” Strong said. “That’s always been my revisionist hot take. If it were not for that hurricane, the Timbers are the third expansion team ever to make the playoffs.”

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Just a Kid Named “GOJ”

Photo courtesy of Anderson Mathews.

12-year old Anderson Mathews is like any other middle-school kid. He plays FIFA, enjoys collecting stickers and scarves, and secretly hopes that school will not return before his birthday. More than anything, he loves patches, soccer, and the Portland Timbers.

Mathews is a well-known member of the Timbers community, and his white Jeanderson jersey is often easy to spot in the stadium. Yet while his name may be Anderson, many fans know him by a different moniker: Ghost of Jeanderson, or GOJ for short. The nickname was given to him at a 2016 game in Seattle, when two members of the Soccer Touchdown Podcast mistook his name for Jeanderson, a former Timber who only played in three matches for the club. Both Mathews and Jeanderson were happy-go-lucky people, so the nickname ultimately stuck.

While Mathews may be young, he is a Timbers Army veteran. He attended his first Timbers game in 2012, when the team hosted Valencia in a friendly, a match he still has the scarf from. In 2016, he and his father traveled to the aforementioned Seattle game on the Timbers Army charter bus, where they made new friends and ultimately became dedicated fans. Now, his family is a staple among the thousands of supporters who fill the North End of Providence Park every home game.

It was a year after that first trip to Seattle that Mathews became intrigued by the patches that many Timbers Army supporters wore and collected. By 2017, that budding curiosity quickly became a hobby for both him and his family. After attending an away game at Cincinnati last season, Mathews came up with an idea. Collecting and trading patches was cool, but what if he could make some of his own?

When he returned home, he began to brainstorm an idea for his first away days patch.

“We lost terribly, but it was on St. Patrick’s day, so we made this patch that was Portland versus FC Cincinnati,” Mathews said. “It was in the shape of a shamrock, and it said PTFC versus FCC. We put a lot of detail into it. Last year I handed them out to all the people that went to Cincinnati.”

That patch became a hit, and sparked the idea to create a new and unique one for each time a new opponent plays the Portland Timbers. For the game against Nashville SC, Mathews and his family designed a patch in the shape of a guitar bearing the names of both teams, along with the phrase “Inaugural Game.” When the season resumes, the Timbers are scheduled to host Inter Miami. Right now, Mathews is thinking about shaping the patch like the Miami Vice logo with the words “PTFC versus Inter Miami,” but the concept is still being brainstormed.

This guitar patch was distributed to visiting Nashville SC supporters at the Timbers’ last home game.

While these patches may sound simple, it takes months to see an idea through to its final stages.

The first step is coming up with an idea. Then, Matthews’ dad takes colored pencils and sketches out the design. From there, he and his family make small corrections before sending them into the factory that will produce the patches in bulk. The factory makes one copy of the patch and sends an image back to the Mathews family for approval before producing roughly 100 patches to ship to Oregon.

Last year, Mathews and his family created his favorite patch yet: an old-fashioned travel suitcase that sported mini pennants representing different MLS franchises. The patch was nominated for an award at last year’s Patch Palooza Pizza Party, an annual gathering for patch collectors and traders in the Portland community.

This “Away Days” patch was nominated for an award last year. (Photo courtesy of Mathews)

Oftentimes, these patches sell out quickly, but no single patch received more positive feedback than one designed as a pair of car keys that read “Go home you bums.” This patch, representing a Timbers Army tradition, sold out within 15 minutes. The family hurriedly placed a second order.

“People are nuts for patches,” Mathews said. “If a patch sells out in 15 minutes, people get mad at you.”

The thing about patches is that they are popular among fans and players alike. For example, if you take a close look at the right sleeve of Zarek Valentin’s jean jacket that he wore before a home game against Seattle last season, you may notice a small, circular patch depicting a ghost with a soccer ball. That is the “Ghost of Jeanderson Patch,” one that Mathews’ family created back in 2016.

That particular picture was a surprise to Mathews, but he did know that Valentin was a fan of his patches. The two were first introduced to one another through the Soccer Touchdown Podcast. From there, they started to talk after games. In 2018, Mathews gifted Valentin his green jersey. Valentin kept that jersey with him, and during each game of the Timbers’ 2018 MLS Cup run he would send Mathews a picture of it.

Photo courtesy of Mathews

“When Zarek was a Timber, him and I hit it off,” Mathews said. “He would want to talk to me, and wanted to get some of the patches.

“Last year we made a mini patch jacket for his new baby which was a big hit,” Mathews added.

Over the years, Mathews and his family found success in creating these unique patches—even making some profits, which are ultimately redistributed.

“Any money left over from the patches we donate to charity, Mathews said. “Towards diabetes, cancer, just donating the money.”

When it comes time to finally deliver these patches at games, it is Mathews who makes the trip from section 102 to the top corner of 223 to personally deliver them. It allows him to meet new fans and potentially trade scarves. Even when there are no patches to deliver, he tries to carve out time to interact with visiting supporters before each home game. Well, most visiting supporters; there are some caveats.

“Here’s where I lay down the line,” Mathews started. “Seattle, I only go over to take pictures. Sometimes [I also don’t interact with] San Jose fans because they get a little too riled up.”

Those little moments of trading scarves and interacting with other soccer fans are what Mathews sorely misses right now. These days, most nights are spent anxiously thinking about and awaiting the return of MLS. When that happens, he will be ready to continue making and trading patches while supporting his favorite club. But, until then, Mathews will be at home doing what any other middle-school kid would be doing during this time of social distancing: playing FIFA, brainstorming new ideas for patches, and holding out hope that, for the first time, he won’t have to worry about school on his birthday.

Categories
Soccer Timbers

A Month (At Least) Without Soccer

Photo by Kris Lattimore

It’s been an awfully strange past few weeks in the world of sports.

Just two weeks ago, the Portland Timbers played against Nashville SC in their second home game of the 2020 MLS season. There were clear areas that needed improvement, but they won 1-0 and claimed an important three points before a challenging two-game road trip. Little did players know that those 90 minutes would be their final time stepping onto the field at Providence Park until at least late spring.

The coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19, is a virus that has, so far, infected over 250,000 people and killed more than 10,000. Over the past week, the virus forced nearly all sports worldwide to come screeching to a halt; people have been told to avoid large gatherings to prevent further spread.

After the Nashville game, the Timbers closed off their locker room to the media, instead opting to bring players to the press conference room individually. On March 12, MLS officials announced that its season, just two weeks old at that point, would be suspended for 30 days. A week later, the league pushed the timeline back even further, giving an optimistic restart date of May 10 with a training moratorium lasting until March 27.

“These are times that are very difficult,” head coach Giovanni Savarese told reporters via a video conference call on Friday. “Our generation hasn’t gone through this type of situation, so every day we have a new challenge, but the good thing is that everybody is in constant communication to make sure that we always know if someone is in need of something.”

The communication between players and coaching staff has been important, as players have been advised to stay in Portland. Through the Kitman Labs Athlete app, members of the Timbers can enter their exercises and communicate with one another daily while training at their respective homes. Players also have their own training plans, designed by the strength and conditioning staff, and have recently been given stationary bikes. The coaching staff is making every effort to keep in constant communication with each individual.

In addition to working with players, Savarese and the Timbers organization are in constant communication with the league office and other organizations throughout MLS in order to check-in and talk about any potential updates. At times over the past week, Savarese has even talked with other coaches and professionals overseas to gain a more global view of how teams are dealing with this crisis.

“We are making sure that we are seeing what the other clubs are doing and that we can share ideas, how to go in the best scenario possible,” Savarese said.

At this time, nobody within the Timbers organization has exhibited any symptoms of COVID-19. With limited state-wide tests, the team is making sure that players are only tested if it is absolutely necessary.

“We’re also very diligent to make sure that we only test players when we know that there’s something that might show some symptoms because we want to make sure that we don’t overstress the situation,” Savarese said. “We know there are many people that need the testing and that’s why we are making sure we communicate first and we’re thorough with each player. So far, thank God, everybody has been very healthy.”

While players have regimented training plans, all the coaching staff can do is constantly communicate with one another and go through game film. For Savarese, that means watching back the season’s only two games with excruciating attention to detail.

Savarese said that he organized the games into four halves. The ultimate goal, according to him, is maintaining the level that they played at in the first half against Minnesota United. His ideal style of play is one that is high-pressing, always on the front foot, and creative in possession. However, that style doesn’t always fit this roster, which is why oftentimes when the team opens up, they find themselves allowing too much space in the back that other teams ultimately capitalize on. Against Nashville, Savarese said that the team needed to be better on the ball in the first half, and mentioned that, in the second half, the team defended too deep.

“It was a game that we didn’t give up any opportunities to the other team,” Savarese said when asked to reflect on what he’s seen from the tape so far. “We need to be good defensively, but also be better offensively than what we showed against Nashville. I think there are many things that we can improve looking at each player, and I think these are times for reflection and it is important to do that.”

Now, the key word for the Timbers and every team throughout MLS is “adjust.” Within a week, the league went from a suspension of 30 days to 60. How quickly can organizations continue to adjust for a situation that has no known end-date? Portland’s coaching staff prepared plans to train on Monday in small groups, but that no longer is a possibility. What will happen when the league eventually restarts play? That much is still unknown, but, in the real world, these questions don’t even compare to the much bigger ones needing to be answered.

Near the end of the 35-minute conference call, Savarese addressed his own family, many of whom reside in Venezuela and Italy. He touched on relatives that are police officers currently working in the streets of Bologna, Italy. A cousin of his is afraid because of a neighbor that has contracted the virus. Savarese said that he makes sure to keep in daily communication with his family. These are worrying times, which is why he cannot wait for the distraction of soccer to return. The toughest part is waiting it out.

“Our hearts go out to all of those affected by this situation in one way or another,” Savarese said. “Either by sickness, by financial stress, by not being with their families close by. Our hearts go out to all of them.

“These are difficult times, times that go beyond soccer, and right now our minds are more on making sure we go through this difficult time in the best possible way.”

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

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.

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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 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.

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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.”