Tag: David Ayala

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 1, Colorado Rapids 2

Post author By Melina Gaspar
Post date September 16, 2024

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

The Portland Timbers couldn’t get the win on the road Saturday.

Inconsistency

With only six games to go, the Timbers haven’t been able to find consistency in this final part of the season. In their last five matches, Portland had a big win against Real Salt Lake, then a loss against LA Galaxy, then a fun draw against St. Louis with lots of goals, the win in the Cascadia Rivalry game, and now this loss against Colorado.

What is head-scratching about this result is that the Timbers recently trashed the Rapids in the Leagues Cup. It was a 4-0 win that showed the team’s scoring prowess. Antony, David Ayala, Mason Toye, and Santiago Moreno, all put the ball in the back of the net that day. True, the Rapids’ started a different XI than they had in the League’s Cup, but Portland’s didn’t change so much.

So, what happened? Let’s take a look.

A defensive and offensive problem

It’s interesting how Portland is third in MLS in goals scored with 56 (the Galaxy has 57 and Inter Miami 65), but we’re still talking about how the team are wasting good chances. The most obvious example was the opportunity Antony wasted near the end of the first half. In the 43rd minute, Antony went one-vs-one with the goalkeeper, but he took too much time to make up his mind about when to shoot and ended up wasting one of the biggest chances the Timbers had in the entire first half to put the score in their favor.

Going off the team’s expected goals, they should’ve scored at least one more goal and should’ve prevented the Rapids from scoring the winning goal. Portland had 2.12 expected goals, while Colorado had 1.3.

How do we explain this result, then? The graphic below gives us a clue:

Graphic source: MLS Statistics and Analysis

According to the MLS Statistics and Analysis Twitter account, this graphic shows which teams’ defenses limit their opponents’ chances and those who fail to prevent good chances. The first of these are in the bottom left, and the latter group is in the top right.

The Timbers are in neither of those quadrants, but they’re dangerously close to the top right, which goes hand-in-hand with their latest result against Colorado.

Not through the middle

Colorado did well preventing the Timbers from sending passes into the box from the middle, so Portland had no choice but to do it from the wings.

In the video below, Evander is carrying the ball after a Colorado turnover near their box. The home team did well to organize the defense quickly and deny the playmaker the opportunity to pass the ball through the middle, making him go sideways. (Because he’s Evander, he was able to find a shot on target. However, the goalkeeper stopped it.)

Colorado is keeping the marks tight in the image below, with both man-to-man and zonal marking. No doubt, they were very disciplined.

Caption: MLS/ Apple TV

In the graphics below you can see that the events of the above clip happened during the entire match. The Rapids let the Timbers pass the ball from the middle to the sides, and never to the box.

Graphic source: MLS Statistics and Analysis

Antony and Moreno, you have a problem

We’ve already gone over how the Brazilian winger missed a great opportunity at the end of the first half. However, there was another big chance he missed at the beginning of the second half.

Santiago Moreno and Evander were carrying the ball on the right wing while Antony was going through the middle. Then, Evander put the ball on a platter for his fellow countryman. Antony only needed to redirect it, but he couldn’t do it and missed the biggest chance in the entire match. He had more looks, but the outcome was the same.

Source: Opta

Moreno, on the other hand, uploaded a video to his personal TikTok account on gameday that created a big feeling of discomfort among the fans.

In the video, Moreno was celebrating a Brazilian club’s interest in him. We know that players have hopes and dreams of playing for their dream club someday, and who knows? Maybe Moreno’s dream is to play in Brazil, and we shouldn’t have a problem with that.

However, the video left a terrible taste in the mouths of many, many fans. The fact that he posted that video on a game day, as a prominent player on the team and knowing his team is battling to secure a playoff spot, shows no class at all. It’s understandable if fans are pissed at him. On the other hand, Moreno had a good game, even though maybe Portland is not the place he wants to be anymore.

What’s next

After the international break, the Timbers’ week got shortened. They’re playing LA Galaxy on Wednesday night. That’s going to be a huge home game against the top team in the conference. Hopefully, Ricky Puig won’t have Portland’s number this time and the defense can keep him and the rest of the team at bay.

Last but not least, a big shout-out to David Ayala, who scored his first MLS goal and always shows up for the team. Let’s hope he can be one of the Timbers who will make the difference on Wednesday.

Tags Antony, David Ayala, Santiago Moreno

Soccer Timbers

Leagues Cup Takeaways: Portland Timbers 4, Colorado Rapids 0

Post author By Melina Gaspar
Post date August 7, 2024

Photo: Kris Lattimore

The Timbers came in hot, smashing the Colorado Rapids 4-0.

Coming off a last minute win over Club León, the Timbers were back at Providence Park and needed at least a draw against the Rapids to clinch as spot in the Leagues Cup knockouts.

Head coach Phil Neville opted to rotate his lineup with five different starters: Juan David Mosquera, Miguel Araujo, Claudio Bravo, David Ayala, and Cristhian Paredes.

Temperatures in Portland rose up to 100 degrees on the day, and it was 92 degrees at kickoff. The toasty conditions would make for an interesting matchup—especially on artificial turf.

Maxime Crépeau

Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau’s performance against Colorado gave us a lot to talk about.

Crépeau was absolutely incredible, showing his great reflexes—and saving Portland multiple times in the process. He ready the second he stepped on the field, showing his concentration in the first couple minutes and not letting the Rapids take him by surprise, even if they did just that to the rest of Portland’s defense.

Look at those couple of saves. The defense was cooked, and Colorado’s Omir Fernandez and Rafael Navarro shot at point-blank range. Most keepers would have let the ball in, but not Crépeau. You could tell by his performance that he wanted that clean sheet so badly, and in the end, he got it. He showed why he is Portland’s No. 1—even though James Pantemis did great during Crépeau’s absence.

No wonder his coach only had words of praise for him. “Max is a leader,” Neville said. “He is a character. He’s got a big personality. He’s a big game player, and he knows what to win. He’s just driving everyone on every day.”

Is Portland a good team now?

Back in the beginning of May, that question would have made the entire North End laugh but now… Portland has only registered one loss in their last 10 games. That was an unthinkable record some months ago.

A lot of credit goes to Neville. The coach arrived in Portland with a lot of criticism surrounding him, and although those negative comments were justified, he put his head down and got to work to bring the Timbers some of their former glory.

Neville has been making the right signings and giving the youngsters the confidence and time they need to be game-ready. One of those people is David Ayala. The 22-year-old has cemented his starting position little-by-little this year, and as we have seen, he can become that player for the Timbers.

The Argentine not only is becoming a pivotal player in the midfield; his fierceness is contagious. After battling with injuries here and there, Ayala got his reward against Colorado when he scored his first professional goal. He still has big shoes to fill, but he’s on his way to get where Diego Chará is someday.

Just like Neville said, it was good to see players other than Evander, Jonathan Rodríguez, and Felipe Mora on the score sheet. Sure, you have to give part of the credit to the Rapids’ defense. That backline looked like the Timbers’ from not very long ago. But we don’t want to take anything away from Mason Toye and Santiago Moreno.

Toye showed well, especially for a player who was traded to the team in the middle of the season. Moving his entire life from one place to another requires more than just developing chemistry with his new teammates, but also basic things, such as finding a proper place to live. He’s adapting, and at the same time he’s impacting the game on the field. That speaks volumes about Toye and the Timbers scouting department.

It is also important to highlight the work rate Antony put in during his short time on the field. He kept that right flank permeable and helped to force some turnovers along with Mosquera. It’s unfortunate he had to be subbed out in the 38th minute, but hopefully he’ll be back for the next match.

Despite the individual names, it will be important for all the Timbers to go day by day. More than half of the season is over, but they still have games to play. Every point will be hard to earn but also very important.

The growth the Timbers have shown under Neville is important, and hopefully, they have left that terrible version of themselves behind. Coming into this final part of the season, it is important to remember that, as the coach said, “Football is more than just systems and tactics.” In Neville’s words, it’s about “building a culture, about building a winning culture.”

Portland has always been all about the culture, and it’s good to see that they’re getting that back, little-by-little. This team has always had that special something, even if it got lost a little in the past few years. Now, fans can see that they’re getting that back step by step. “I think we are building something really good,” Neville said, “and we’ve still got a long way to go in this competition.”

Portland is not among the top five teams in the MLS’s Western Conference yet, but they’re in the playoff position, and their game has significantly improved.

So far, so good.

Tags David Ayala, Mason Toye, Maxime Crépeau

Soccer Timbers

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

Post author By Melina Gaspar
Post date June 22, 2024

Photo.: Matthew Wolfe

The Portland Timbers got a win at PayPal Park on Wednesday.

Five unbeaten matches. With the win away from home against the team at the bottom of the table, Portland is on a good streak again.

Not much went on

Although a win is a win no matter who the opponent might be, we can question how Portland got those three points. They didn’t show much teeth against the weakest team in the Western Conference.

Striker Felipe Mora is still going through a goal-scoring drought, but he wasn’t the only one who had a bland performance on the offensive side of things.

“It was a good win, but the performance was nowhere near the levels that we expect,” Timbers head coach Phil Neville said. “I’m disappointed in that. Maybe it was the ten days off and coming to San Jose against a team that the boys probably expected us to win easily. It wasn’t like that, and I thought we didn’t create much in the game.”

It was good that the players got time to relax a little bit—the season has been far from easy for them—but there’s always the danger of them forgetting how to play soccer after a much-needed break.

When we look at the stats, we can see that both teams tried a lot, but neither could put the ball on frame as much as they wanted. Portland forgot how to press, and therefore, they lacked intensity. Maybe that changed a little in the second half, but their play was far from the expected performance against a team they had beaten easily last May. It is always pointless to think about the ‘what ifs,’ but if San Jose goalkeeper Jacob Jackson hadn’t made the mistake that led to the Timbers’ first goal, maybe the spoils would’ve been divided at the end of the match.

“I only saw one or two movements that we have been working for and only one or two patterns of play that I thought were exciting,” Neville said of the second half. “Apart from that, we need a big improvement on Saturday.”

Evander’s world and the MVP run

After the game, the coach praised the work the Timbers’ designated players did, and rightly so. “The two DP’s [Evander and Jonathan Rodríguez] won us the game” Neville said, “which was nice, but I hope that was that kind of performance out of the way.”

However, we cannot help but think that this showed Evander carrying the team on his back all over again. He was involved in both goals, and the way he created them is worthy of a standing ovation.

In Portland’s first, Evander didn’t give up pressing the defender high and then chasing the ball when it was passed back to the goalkeeper. He was the only Timber pressing that high, and he got rewarded for it.

Source: MLS

The way he put that ball for Jonathan Rodríguez for the second goal… the precision of that aerial ball to Rodríguez’s head was top notch.

Source: MLS

From the capture above, we can see the Brazilian looking at his passing options. One second is all he needed to see Uruguayan raising his hand inside the box and make the assist. The play looked effortless, which shows the level of Evander’s skills.

So, while names of the likes of Lionel Messi, Christian Benteke, Cristian Arango, Luis Suárez and Luciano Acosta are mentioned among those who are being considered for MLS’s MVP award this year, I think the league would make a huge mistake by leaving Evander out. True, he is not playing in a top team, but that is also important because he is doing wonders in a team that pretty recently was struggling to not fall to the bottom of the table.

Look at his numbers compared to the aforementioned mentioned players. He totally belongs there.

Source: Opta.

David Ayala, please don’t stop being so awesome

Midfielder David Ayala keeps showing game after game that he can become one of the most important players for the Timbers this year. Since he came back, he hasn’t stopped impressing with his game vision, tenacity, and precision.

Look how quickly he sees and sends a pass to Mora that sets Mora up to shoot. Ayala’s runs are also good, recognizing the space available to receive the ball and shoot.

Ayala not only contributed to the match with quick passes to move the ball forward; he showed strongly on the defensive end of things, recovering balls in critical zones. As seen in the clip above, he helped to make a recovery in the midfield—but the chart below shows where else he made three of his six recoveries.

Source: Opta

Those three triangles are in zone 14—the central zone in front of the opposition’s penalty area, which one of the most dangerous zones in soccer because it can provide a team with a lot of attacking potential. And that’s exactly where Ayala made half of his recoveries. He was also first on the team—along with Diego Chará and Santiago Moreno—in tackles with four.

The Timbers won, and Ayala was a big contributor to this win. And even though the overall team performance wasn’t convincing, they got the three points. Still, they’re going to need more todaywhen they face Vancouver.

Tags David Ayala, evander, Jonthan Rodríguez

Soccer Timbers

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 0, St. Louis 0

Post author By Melina Gaspar
Post date June 14, 2024

Credit: Matthew Wolfe

After the 2-2 draw against Houston, the Timbers traveled to Citypark Stadium to play St. Louis. There, they got another draw, but this time it was scoreless.

Some changes in the lineup

Timbers head coach Phil Neville couldn’t have either Kamal Miller or Miguel Araujo on his gameday roster due to international duties. Therefore, Zac McGraw and Dario Župarić started at centerback.

“Knowing that Kamal and Miguel were leaving for their respective tournaments, I knew that it was time for me to step up and be the consistent defensive contributor that I was last year,” said McGraw after the game. “I know certain areas of the pitch and when I can step, because I know [Župarić]’s always going to be behind me and covering me. He does that very well. I know in certain situations, that’s how Dario plays, and with his experience, he’s going to be there at all times.”

Neville also praised the defense postgame: “Zac coming back in was outstanding, and [Župarić] has probably been our most consistent player since coming back in. He had to suffer. He has been out of the team… he had a little bit of a knock today. I thought he was colossus at the back.”

Another noticeable absence was Dairon Asprilla, who’s rumored to be linked to Colombian club Atlético Nacional and might have donned the Portland shirt for the last time against Houston.

If we speak about the attack, last week’s hero, Nathan Fogaça, got the start up top after scoring the equalizer against Houston instead of Felipe Mora, who’s going through a scoring drought.

Defensive mistakes

Although Neville praised his defense—and rightly so, as they collected their second clean sheet of the season—the Timbers made two terrible mistakes that could’ve cost them the game in the first half. It’s as if the team can’t shake them for some reason.

In the 12th minute, Evander made a sloppy pass and gave João Klauss the opportunity to score. For the Timbers’ fortune, the forward was offside, but that certainly was a warning sign.

Credit: MLS/ Apple TV

Half an hour into the match, St. Louis was waiting for the space to open. David Ayala stepped forward to try to get the ball back, and Klauss’ movement opened up the space needed for him to be the receiving end of a through pass. Goalkeeper James Pantemis couldn’t stop him, but McGraw saved it before it was too late.

Credit: MLS / Apple TV

To be fair, it was a very smart movement by Klauss.

We have to give a special mention to Župarić, who more than once helped to clean up his teammates’ defensive mistakes.

Not much in the attacking department

The Timbers finished the first half with a very bland performance in the attack, having only shot four times and twice on target. The team started the match with a promising opportunity off the feet of Jonathan Rodríguez, but his shot got saved.

Credit: MLS/ Apple TV

Watching the gif above, maybe Rodríguez should’ve gone for the pass instead of the shot—he had Santiago Moreno and Fogaça as passing options, and Antony was unmarked at the top of the six-yard box—but we can’t blame him for trying. Also, it is good that the Timbers arrived with numbers to the opponent’s box.

Which was totally different in this promising attack. Weirdly, no Timber outside the box made a run to join Fogaça and Rodríguez to get to the end of the cross shown in the video below.

Things like this might have been the reason behind why the Timbers finished with only two shots on frame, seven total.

Honorary mentions

David Ayala had another great game, contributing to recovering balls in important moments, as we can see below. One of the youngest players in the team is doing pretty well, and we could not be more happy for him after his injury.

It’s worth giving another special mention to Rodríguez, who led in the defensive duels department with nine won—six aerial—and only one lost.

Source: Opta

Tags David Ayala, Jonathan Rodríguez

Soccer Timbers

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 2, Sporting KC 1

Post author By Phuoc Nguyen
Post date May 29, 2024

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

The Portland Timbers had a favorable home run, going against the Seattle Sounders, the San Jose Earthquakes, and ending with Sporting KC. All three opposing teams were near the bottom of the table. But Portland fell short against the Sounders. The Earthquakes were on their way to a win before Portland was gifted a late red card to turn a 0-2 deficit into a 4-2 win.

Sporting KC is not a good team this year, which they’ve shown through their play all season long. Playoff teams—as the Timbers hope to be—need to beat these types of sides at home. The Timbers were the better team going into Saturday, and they needed to show it.

The main surprise was Portland head coach Phil Neville opting to start a four-back after beginning the past few matches in a three-back. Along with the formation change, he gave Kamal Miller the start at left back for the first time all season.

In the beginning, it was an ugly affair of football. Miscommunication, sloppy passes, and bad decision-making consumed most of the first half.

It took until the 16th minute either side to get a shot off. At the half both neither had registered a single shot on target. Although the Timbers were the better side, they had almost nothing to show for it. They were ahead in shots (five to one) and expected goals (0.39 to 0.05).

Portland took over in the second half. In the 51st minute, Evander put on a bunch of moves and played a perfect cross into the box. The ball found Felipe Mora’s head to open the scoring.

But true to form, this team struggled to hold a lead or sniff a clean sheet.

In the 62nd minute, Sporting worked the ball in and around the box under barely any pressure from Portland. Alan Pulido laid it back to Memo Rodríguez, who ripped one past Max Crépeau to equalize.

Still, the Timbers were largely the better team on the field, which paid off in the 79th minute. Antony steamed forward with the ball and played it to Jonathan Rodríguez. He found Mora for the header. Mora who steered the ball to Evander, who placed it past KC goalkeeper Tim Melia for the 2-1 lead. Initially the ruled was called offside, but a VAR check overturned the call.

In the last minutes of stoppage time, Crépeau came up with possibly his biggest save as a Timber when he denied Johnny Russell’s header to preserve the win.

Portland needed to take care business, and they did. Outside of one hiccup the Timbers played like the better team, putting up an expected goal margin of 2.05 to KC’s 0.25, and got the job done.

“I’m really pleased with the three points” said Neville. “It’s two wins out of three now, which is what we expect and what we want. I think we’ve seen improvements now over the last two or three weeks. Tonight was probably our best defensive performance in terms of our shape and organization.”

David Ayala’s time?

With Diego Chará at 38 years of age, the Timbers have been looking for his successor. They may have found him in David Ayala. Both play similar brands of football and do all the hard work necessary to be Portland’s No. 6. When either leave the pitch, there is no doubt that they gave it their all.

Ayala was the biggest bright spot for the team in the first half. He led the team in five stats: defensive actions, clearances, chances created, duels won, and interceptions.

This has been a common occurrence for him. He fills the stat sheet with his incredible work rate, efficiency, and soccer IQ.

Neville has spoken glowingly about him all season, and the hype has not slowed down one bit.

“I thought David had his best game” said Neville. “I got him in before the game tonight, and I told him I didn’t want any bullshit tonight… He needed that little bit of tough love. He knows what I think of him.”

The only thing holding Ayala back seems to be his match fitness. After coming back from an ACL tear, he has yet to play a full match. The 75 minutes he played against KC were the most since his return to the pitch.

“I told him I’m not taking him off after 60 minutes anymore,” Neville said. “If you can’t make it to 90 minutes, you can’t make it at this club.”

Kamal Miller LB

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

Miller was one of the biggest surprises in the starting XI. The shock did not come from him starting, but that he started at left back.

“Kamal obviously is a centerback when I brought him [in],” said Neville. “In a way, he’s my boy. But there’s no way I could leave out Miguel Araujo, or Dario Župarić [who both started the match in the middle of defense]. They’ve been playing really well, and they give us some maturity in that back line.”

With Claudio Bravo returning and only available for limited minutes, Neville opted to start Miller.

Miller provided stability on the left side and ventured forward in opportune times. This was one of the most solid performances from any left back who has started for Portland this season—although we should note that it was against Sporting KC.

Wow

Miguel Araujo led the team Saturday in defensive actions with 15, clearances with six, recoveries with 11, and interceptions with two.

Tags David Ayala, evander, Felipe Mora, Kamal Miller, MLS, Portland TImbers, PTFC, RCTID

Soccer Timbers

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 2, LAFC 2

Post author By Phuoc Nguyen
Post date April 16, 2024

Photo by Kris Lattimore

After a dramatic tie against Sporting KC, the Portland Timbers returned home to Providence Park—to earn another draw against Los Angeles FC.

“I thought it was a brilliant game of football,” said Timbers head coach Phil Neville. “We spoke three weeks ago about mentality, and I think we showed that mentality today. There’s a clear identity forming with our mentality, and I’m super proud with the way that they played.”

In one of the most aggressive moves of his tenure, Neville opted to play Jonathan Rodríguez on the left and Felipe Mora in the middle, starting the Timbers’ two best attackers in the same game for the first time. Their limited time together has been super effective—and one the head coach was forced to field due to Mora’s stellar play.

Neville also put Diego Chará and David Ayala in a double pivot for the first time. Ayala has been drawing rave reviews from Neville and the coaching staff. He has been influential in every game thus far.

In the 12th minute, Evander slipped in a beautiful ball to Mora, who somehow guided it home for the 1-0 lead. The home team’s sequence of play started with Juan David Mosquera winning a turnover and dribbling toward the right side of the box before laying the ball off to Evander.

Portland dominated the early proceedings. They didn’t allow LAFC’s first shot until the 21st minute (and by that time the Timbers already recorded four shots).

Unfortunately, all it takes is one bad moment. In the 22nd minute, the Timbers’ backline fell asleep, and Mateusz Bogusz made them pay dearly with a perfectly pinpointed far-post shot past Max Crépeau. Kamal Miller tried to close it down, but he had absolutely no help from Miguel Araujo, who was nowhere to be found in the sequence.

After being outshot four to zero in the following 10 or so minutes, Mosquera hit a nicely-weighted cross to Evande,r who smashed home a gorgeous volley in the 34th minute. That goal came against the run of play.

Unfortunately, the second half could not have started in worse fashion for the home side.

In the 48th minute, Crépeau came off his line hard, but could not win the ball and was given a red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. This forced Portland to take off Mora and bring on James Pantemis.

Bogusz struck the ensuing free kick brilliantly to equalize for LAFC in the 52nd minute.

In the 66th minute, Evander struck a nice free kick at the top of the box, but it hit off the post. Even down a man, the Timbers continued to fight.

The teams traded shots back and forth the rest of the way, but neither was able to put together enough for a win. The game ended with a 2-2 draw.

Although they went down a man, the Portland Timbers worked their butts off to preserve the point.

No ZZs

Photo by Kris Lattimore.

Zac McGraw and Dario Župarić were both unavailable for the game, due to a concussion and personal reasons, respectively. That left Miller, Araujo, and Larrys Mabiala as Portland’s only options at centerback for the game.

Miller and Araujo ended up with the starts. Miller has been a starter all season, and Araujo made his second consecutive start.

The results were very mixed in their first start together. In this regard, Neville had no choice due to lack of options.

“It’s growing better and better,” said Miller. “Those goals […] could have been avoided, but all throughout the run of the 90 minutes, I feel like we’re defending strong. And to go man down with so long left in the game, against a team like LAFC that keeps possession of the ball so well. I felt like we defended well, and I believe we got a clean sheet with a man down.”

Their chemistry is building, but I do think McGraw should be starting all future games alongside Miller.

Jon and Pipe

The first start together for Rodríguez and Mora was not a surprise and was the right move by the head coach. Neville has spoken to the media about the sense that they paid to play Rodríguez as the No. 9. Mora’s stellar play as a reserve forced Neville’s hand, and rightfully so.

Although their connection is new, the duo are currently Portland’s best two goalscorers and finishers. They only got to play 48 minutes together, but the team looked extremely dangerous, with the attention both of them draw opening space for Evander, Mosquera, and Antony.

Moving forward, they are going to scoring tons and providing a ton of assists. This is just the start for the dynamic duo.

Another new pair

Photo by Kris Lattimore.

Neville and his staff have talked up Ayala big time since his return. He does all of the hard work necessary in the midfield and has an accurate left foot. His passing has surprised some, but it shouldn’t. Ayala can switch the point of attack, do the defensive work, and keep the attack moving.

His pairing with Chará is a bit special, as Ayala has been seen as a possible heir apparent.

This midfield looked sharp with those two rotating the defensive and attacking assignments. Their chemistry looked smooth and efficient. Although the Timbers have Eryk Williamson and Cristhian Parades, who are both extremely talented, Ayala offers the perfect balance. Depending on the matchup, Williamson should still get his fair share of starts, as should Parades.

Neville’s range of available options in the midfield is a blessing. For now, it seems like he has finally found the right mix (especially once Ayala returns to full fitness).

The Evander

“I think Evander is the best player in the conference at this moment in time. He’s playing incredibly well,” said Neville. “I don’t see a better No. 10 in either conference at this moment in time than Evander—that’s how highly I rate him.”

In the past three games, Evander has five goal contributions (three goals and two assists), including his golazo against LAFC.

He has quickly become one of the most dangerous players in all of MLS and is heating up at the perfect moment.

Tags David Ayala, Diego Chara, evander, Felipe Mora, Jonathan Rodríguez, LAFC, MLS, Portland TImbers