Tag: Andy Polo

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Soccer Timbers

Timbers Find Their Stride as International Break Approaches

Photo by Kris Lattimore

It took a while for the Timbers to break through against the LA Galaxy Saturday afternoon, but once they did it became a field day at Providence Park.

After a frustrating, scoreless first half, Portland found the opening goal they so desperately craved in the 47th minute. Forward Felipe Mora, who subbed on after Andy Polo left the game in first-half stoppage time due to a hard, unnecessary tackle, read the space and got on the end of a well-placed cross from outside back Josecarlos Van Rankin. From there, the Timbers scored two more times and cruised to a 3–0 victory against Los Angeles. 

“The commitment to perform what we work on during the week is what coaches always want,” coach Giovanni Savarese said. “It shows what this team is all about. A united group that will fight. It doesn’t matter who goes out on the field, everybody’s going to try and perform for each other and today was another very good performance.”

Los Angeles provided a tough test for a Timbers team looking to build on their 2–0 win at San Jose a week ago. Coach Greg Vanney’s team entered the match on a two-game winning streak and took 12 of their first 18 possible points. Talented players such as Chicharito, Jonathan Dos Santos, Efrain Alvarez, and Julian Araujo dotted the visitors’ starting 11. Despite the talent on paper, however, they struggled to find any sort of rhythm against the hosts.

While it took Portland a while to grow into the match, the team looked solid defensively and did enough to prevent the Galaxy from finding too many dangerous opportunities. Still, for as solid as the Timbers looked, they struggled to find a decisive goal or opportunity of their own throughout the first half. 

A lot of those squandered chances stemmed from trying for the jugular. Multiple times throughout the first half, Portland pushed the ball into the attacking third in transition before settling for a half chance. A ball into the box turned into an attempted bicycle kick by forward Dairon Asprilla. In another transition moment, outside back Claudio Bravo found himself with time and space and tried to laser the shot in from deep. Those opportunities came dangerously close both times, but were both still low-percentage chances. 

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Near the end of the first half, the Timbers went a man up after Los Angeles forward Derrick Williams received a straight red for his brutal aerial challenge on Polo. The Peruvian watched the second half on crutches and Savarese’s immediate update did not sound good. 

“When there’s a tackle like that, you don’t want to see that on the field,” Savarese said. “Especially having players that then have to come out because of that situation. Right now, the most important part is hopefully Polo can come back.”

The reckless challenge quelled the crowd at Providence Park for a few minutes, but Portland eventually made the most they could of the man advantage. Mora said that the game changed once the red card was issued. Spaces between the Galaxy’s center backs opened up, which the team relentlessly exploited in the second half.

“It was very hard to find spaces, but after the red card we spoke at halftime,” Mora said through a translator. “We knew that we needed to be calm, patient, and wait for the right opportunities. Thankfully after the first goal, the game opened up more for all of us and we were able to get two more goals.”

Mora took advantage of the newly found space with his header to open the second half, then 13 minutes later, netted a brace. Once again, the Chilean forward showcased his movement in the box, but this time by reading a second ball. In a moment of chaos, Van Rankin’s floated shot hit the top post, Mora reacted first, and he powered another opportunistic header past goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.

To cap off the high-scoring second half, the Timbers received an opportunity from the penalty spot after Los Angeles defender Daniel Steres brought Van Rankin down in the box. Midfielder Diego Valeri, who missed a pair of penalties in Portland’s 2–1 loss against Seattle, once again stepped to the spot. This time, he left little doubt as he confidently blasted the ball past Bond for the 3–0 lead.

“I needed to score that goal,” Valeri said. “After missing those two PKs against Seattle, it was important for me to score that third goal and keep lifting the team. Anyone can miss a PK, but for me it was important to put the ball in the net and keep looking forward.”

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Just as sweet as the win, the Timbers put together their second-consecutive clean sheet against a team that entered Saturday with 10 goals. The center back tandem of Dario Zuparic and Bill Tuiloma came up big, while loanee goalkeeper Logan Keterrer put together another impressive performance.

“I think that has come because of the discipline of the group in the way that the guys have performed, in the way that the guys have executed the plan that we put together,” Savarese said. “We have players that are sacrificing for others in order to make sure that we cover every space, and that’s what we’ve seen in the last two games.”

With the three points, Portland wrapped up their home schedule before the three-week international break on a strong note. The Timbers now travel to Philadelphia high on confidence for one final match before the break, playing with house money and a roster getting healthier by the day.

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Soccer Timbers

Timbers Snap Winless Streak with 5-2 Romp Over LA Galaxy

The Portland Timbers had gone three games without a win coming into Wednesday’s match against the LA Galaxy at Providence Park, but that streak was ended in emphatic fashion on the night as the Timbers’ attack exploded past the Galaxy in a 5-2 win.

As has been their style in 2020, the Timbers opened the scoring early, putting the first ball in the back of the net in just the sixth minute. Running onto a ball down the left from Yimmi Chará, Jorge Villafaña clipped a cross into the Galaxy box that found Jarek Niezgoda cutting in front of Nicholas DePuy. The Timbers striker nodded the ball toward the far post, sending it skipping off the turf and past the dive of Jonathan Klinsmann to put the Timbers up 1-0.

The Galaxy had a chance to pull one back in the eighth minute, when a Cristian Pavón corner kick found the leaping form of Yony González rising out of the press of bodies in the Timbers box. González struck a strong header toward goal, but the chance clanged off the post and bounced away, with the following rebound hitting a forest of legs and deflecting clear.

The Timbers extended their lead in a chaotic fashion in the 19th minute. After a Diego Valeri corner kick was cleared away by the Galaxy, the Timbers had a pair of chances to put the ball back into the box. First Villafaña fired a shot toward goal that was deflected back out of the box and fell to Pablo Bonilla. The Timbers’ other fullback took his opportunity to fire a second shot into the box. This time the ball into the box found the head of Niezgoda for a snap header on goal. Niezgoda’s quick reactions were enough to beat Klinsmann again, putting the ball into the net and the Timbers up 2-0.

Niezgoda had a chance to complete his hat-trick in the 30th minute when the Timbers were sent to the spot for a handball in the Galaxy box, but instead, it was Diego Valeri who stepped up for the Timbers. The Maestro left no doubt as to who should be taking the Timbers’ penalties, striding up to the ball and hitting a powerful and precise shot that tucked perfectly between the post and the outstretched fingertips of the Galaxy keeper.

Now up 3-0, the Timbers were firmly in control for the remainder of the first half.

After cruising into half-time, the Timbers were given a rude reminder that Pavón is very, very good in the first minute of the second period. Moments after the restart, Sebastian Lletget, a half-time substitution, played a diagonal ball into the Timbers box. González was the first man to the ball, but let it run through his legs and onto Pavón in space. With the Timbers stepping toward González, Pavón was left to line up his shot and slam a simple finish past Steve Clark to get the Galaxy on the board.

In the wake of the Galaxy goal, it still took the Timbers several minutes to shake off the lethargy that had infected the team. As the second half continued, however, the Timbers shook it off and more.

In the 60th minute, Eryk Williamson received the ball from Niezgoda at the top of the Galaxy box and went on the dribble. Artfully cutting around his defender, he was in one on one with Klinsmann and, as the Galaxy keeper rushed off his line, Williamson picked out a simple finish to regain the Timbers’ three-goal lead.

Then, in the 74th minute, Andy Polo looked to top Williamson’s effort with a stunning goal of his own. A long ball from Chará on the Timbers’ left found Polo wide on the right. As the long ball fell to him, Polo took its measure and lined up a volley, hitting a spinning, dipping ball that swerved perfectly around Klinsman and inside the far post for the Timbers’ fifth goal of the night.

Although the game was fully over, the Galaxy did manage to grab back a second goal in the first minute of stoppage time. After a no-angle shot from González was parried away by Clark, the rebound fell to Pavón in front of goal for an easy finish, putting the final scoreline at 5-2.

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Soccer Timbers

Tactical Takeaways: Timbers 3, NYCFC 1

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Soccer Timbers

Underdog Timbers Advance Past NYCFC to the MLS is Back Tournament Semifinals

Courtesy of MLS

After a narrow escape against FC Cincinnati on Tuesday, the Portland Timbers looked set for another nail-biting match in the MLS is Back Tournament quarterfinals after going down 1-0 early.

Continue reading “Underdog Timbers Advance Past NYCFC to the MLS is Back Tournament Semifinals”
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Thorns Timbers

Questions and Answers with the Rose City Review: One Day Too Early

Well, that was some bad timing.

On Wednesday night, full of optimism about the start of the Thorns’ preseason camp and also willing to talk about the start of the Timbers’ season, we held our first question and answer thread over on our Discord server.

Since then, the sporting situation in Portland and around the world has changed drastically. Still, how Kyle feels about Eryk Williamson or how we all feel about Amandine Henry will not change just because some dumb virus is reshaping society as we know it.

With that in mind, here are a few of your questions from Wednesday’s Q&A on the Rose City Review Discord.

(Some of the questions and answers have been edited for clarity.)

Which former Thorn is the most likely to return to the team?

Do not take this as a prediction or as actual reporting, but I know the Thorns would love to have Amandine Henry back. The question is whether she has any reason to ever come back to the States (or, as we’re calling it now, STATES). It’s probably not impossible, but don’t get your hopes up.

-Katelyn Best

I would say probably Haley Raso still, just because of her connections here. But I don’t see it as being particularly likely that anyone is returning.

-Tyler Nguyen

Who is your favorite player on either team who may not necessarily be the best or see regular minutes?

For me, that has to be Marvin Loria. I am convinced that Loria has what it takes to be a starter-level player in MLS. He is fast, creative, and a hard worker. Of course, he is also injured pretty regularly, which is why we rarely saw him later on during the 2019 season.

 

Loria may never get the chance to regularly start for the Timbers, as the team has been pretty dead set on using their DP slots on wingers and forwards, but I could certainly see him making an impact off the bench or in spot starts and either getting traded within the league or (more likely) sold outside of it. To me, the latter seems even more likely now that MLS has increased the amount of money that teams get from selling players on.

 

Of course, I would also be happy just having him stay with the Timbers and doing dope stuff like this.

-Will Conwell

I think for me, that answer is Eryk Williamson. He seems to be on the bubble between the first team and Timbers 2. I watched quite a bit of T2 last season and he was arguably the best player, controlling the game, and I think was in the top half of USL in assists a season ago.

 

In what I’ve seen of him when he gets first-team minutes, I think he has a lot of potential. He is smooth on the ball, and I believe would be a good creator. He can play as a No. 10 in the middle of the action, but he can also play as a connector in the No. 8 slot, which is what he told me that he envisions himself being.

 

I think we might see more of him in the future when it comes time to rest Diego Valeri during condensed stretches of play in the summer. If anything, his defense might need the most improving, but creativity wise he could help the Timbers when it comes to breaking down low blocks and be an overall asset to the first team.

-Kyle Pinnell

I’m super partial to Marissa Everett this year because of her skill set and the fact that she’s a Duck. I think fans should be into that stuff. She’s a smooth-passing forward, and there’s no reason that she can’t be a bench player on the Thorns for a long time.

-Tyler

Photo by Nikita Taparia
Is the Thorns’ youth movement perfectly timed or exquisitely timed? Which of the Thorns’ young players should I be frigging stoked for, and which will need some time or never contribute?

Take a huge grain of salt with this because I watch zero college soccer, but my understanding is that we should all be pretty fucking excited about Sophia Smith. She scored a bunch of goals at Stanford, but reportedly her intelligence, for a player her age, is off the charts. She might really be the mythical goal-scoring forward Thorns fans are always begging for—as well as having the technical skill and athleticism the Thorns coaching staff wants up top.

 

As far as timing? I’m not sure. As I’ve said in a few other places, the whole league is in a kind of purgatory right now as we wait for expansion to blow everyone up—that, plus Sinclair’s eventual retirement, is going to necessitate a rebuild within the next few years. That could mean Portland builds a new roster with their existing young players, or—possibly more likely—it could mean they trade them away post-expansion for some star power. Or, y’know, a mix of both.

-Katelyn

The youth stuff is funny because, yes, the Thorns are getting young in offense, but they’re also getting older on defense, and this club is constantly trying to refresh its roster. The new shit is that we have youngsters with pedigrees. That’s weird.

 

It will be great to see if we can have even better results teaching blue-chip talent instead of doing the usual miracle work with players who other teams didn’t see the value in

-Tyler

Who is Chris Duvall’s backup?

This is a good question and one that the Timbers seem far too likely to need to answer to at some point, given the early-season injury history among their defenders.

 

To my mind there are three different approaches that Gio and company can take here:

 

1. Flip a left back: just figure out which of Farfan or Villafana have a better right foot and move them on over.

2. Convert a center back: send Julio Cascante out there. He has done it before (I think). If he was not injured already, Bill Tuiloma would be another possibility in here, but as a left-sided player, playing him on the right would kind of fall back into category No. 1.

3. Get a little crazy: play a Chara at wing back. Or try out Renzo Zambrano out there. Why not?

 

Really, though, my bet would be Cascante.

-Will

Photo by Kris Lattimore
Does Providence Park or the training facility have super low doorways, or are there other reasons our team [the Timbers] is so damn short?

It is Diego Chara’s fault.

 

And, in a way, Kris Boyd’s.

 

Chara was the Timbers’ first big signing and, ten years in, is their most influential player. His success—followed by Boyd’s failure—has heralded an approach to player signing from Gavin Wilkinson and company that focuses on technique and ball retention. For Chara, his ability to win the ball, pivot on it, and take it around a defender with a simple juke are all amplified by his short stature, low stance, and somehow subterranean center of gravity.

 

Plus, the Timbers just signed his brother, who is actually even shorter. That can’t have helped their average height.

-Will

Does Gio-ball actually exist and did they play it at Cosmos? If so, was it because of him or despite him?

My understanding of Gio-ball is that it’s the kind of front-foot, attacking, high-press soccer we’ve seen glimpses of from the Timbers over the last month. Specifically, the first 30 minutes or so in the opener felt a lot closer to how I’ve always thought Gio wants to play than we’ve seen from the Timbers before. Obviously, it’s not an easy style to master because, as we saw, the defense has to be very disciplined to not get caught way out of position, but with more and more signings during the Gio era, one would imagine the team will continue to progress in that direction.

-Zach Kay

Is Andy Polo the fastest Timber? why don’t we EVER play him into space?

He’s definitely fast, and while I appreciate what he does in the middle third, he’s definitely shown that he doesn’t consistently have a killer instinct or top-quality decision making in the final third. Putting someone into space is really only useful if they can turn that advantageous position into a goal or an assist, so until he’s doing that on a regular basis, it makes more sense to use his athleticism for other things.

-Zach

I agree with a lot of what Zach said. Polo is fast, but he also only has one regular season goal in over two seasons which is not… ideal considering he takes up one of the attacking spots. He does need some better decision making in the final third like Zach mentioned because, ideally, wingers in a sit-back-and-counter setup would help combine and unlock the opposing defense, and if he is not able to do that often, the Timbers lack an advantage at one of their attacking options.

 

What has piqued my interest over the past month is how Gio is using him in the offense. In preseason, Gio played him in midfield a lot, which, as you mentioned, doesn’t take advantage of his pace or the space afforded. The wingers have also been tasked with playing an entire sideline. For example, Blanco and Yimmi both seem to be playing in the defensive third as much as in the attacking third, which takes focus away from what they are best at. This actually benefits Polo, as he is a decent defensive option, but on the offensive end, he is most important as an attacking winger, and that’s a facet of his game that he needs to work on.

-Kyle

Will Renzo Zambrano and Marvin Loria disappear again, or will they take another step this year?

I hold a ton of Zambrano stock, and (up until Polo started playing more in central mid this year) I’d been excited for him to be the first-off-the-bench CDM. The times he played next to Paredes last year really sold me on those two next to each other being the future of the Timbers central midfield. Obviously, there’s still some growth that needs to happen before then, but I would be very disappointed if he doesn’t get significantly more minutes this year. Zambrano also happens to be my answer to “who is your favorite player who may not see regular minutes”.

-Zach

I made it out to training today, and Gio mentioned Loria as someone who, when he returns to the team from his time with the Costa Rica u23s in Olympic Qualifying, would make an impact for the side. I take that, along with my general enjoyment of his style of play, to mean that he is in the Timbers’ first-team plans this year.

-Will