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
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.
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