Tag: Timbers

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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

Soccer in the Time of Social Distancing

I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that, given the state of the world, I have been struggling to collect myself and write about the good, good game. Still, when the Timbers’ re-aired their first-ever Major League Soccer home game, I vowed to shake off the malaise that had settled over me and write something about it.

It didn’t go great.

I struggled to watch the game, let alone write about it, and as the hours passed with no movement I decided to record snippets of what was going through my head.

*

I can’t even think about soccer right now. 

Attempts to think back about the beginning of the Timbers’ season are met in my mind by a white void, full of nothing but static and anxiety. 

I try to focus on the Timbers’s second match of 2020—their last match before all this took hold—and I know it was a 1-0 win. As I try to summon the match more fully to mind I find myself staring at my gloved hands, still glistening with a sheen of evaporating alcohol from the wipe I just used to disinfect my desk after a co-worker borrowed my workstation.

“I’m not sick,” he said.

“That’s not how this works,” I replied, exasperated.

It eventually comes to me. Diego Valeri on the volley. Sixty minutes of compact, defensive soccer. A reasonable fear of Walker Zimmerman at the back post. Three points.

**

Executive Order No. 20-12 has been announced.

Work has slowed to a halt and I find myself listening to podcasts as I wait to see how many more people I have to interact with today. I clean and count product, losing myself in the repetition and in the podcasts that play through the one earbud I have in.

Every soccer podcast that I listen to has become a movie review podcast. It is fine.

***

When I get home I sit on the couch and time passes swiftly.

Hummus and pita as something flickers on the television.

I know should watch the rebroadcast Timbers game, their first home match since joining MLS. I should rouse myself. I should write something.

More sitting. More screens.

Tonight, this is as close as I get.

****

I remember Jorge Perlaza’s goal. 

Not so much the goal itself, although through repeated viewing over the last ten years it has been seared into my mind, but my feelings at the moment that it occurred.

Standing in the North End, drunk, after hours in line. Waving a flag too long. The rain.

The wild elation when Perlaza slots past Sean Johnson. Jumping up and down like a maniac. Hugging my best friend on one side. Hugging a stranger on the other.

*****

It is two days later and I am finally watching the match. My eyes are heavy from a combination of stress and allergies, but as the game begins I perk up.

I like this team. Captain Jack. Kenny Fucking Cooper. Futty. Rodney. Kalif.

But it is not just the RCTID folk heroes that bring a smile to my face. There is future Chivas USA survivor Steve Purdy; rock-solid Eric Brunner, whose career was cut short by concussions; and Jorge, the Timbers’ first Colombian.

Even James “Non-soccer Reasons” Marcelin and Jeremy “no-nickname-found” Hall warm my heart.

******

Ten minutes in and Cooper is dancing around Chicago players as though he weighed no more than a feather. This is the Kenny Cooper that we forget.

Moments later that dribbling has lead to nothing as Cooper fires a shot or a pass or maybe just an ill-timed muscle spasm off the leg of a defender and up into the air. This is the Kenny Cooper that we remember.

*******

Twenty-five minutes in and I am struck by how comforting it is to have a team full of imposing players. 

In the 2011 home opener, the Timbers starting XI averaged just over 6’1”. In the 2020 home opener, the Timbers starting XI averaged a smidge over 5’10”.

The difference is stark on every contested header.

********

Twenty-nine minutes in and the goal comes. It is everything I wanted it to be.

Rodney to Kalif to Jorge. Cut inside. Pass the ball into the net.

I watch the cameras panning over wildly celebrating fans and pick out my best friend, waving a scarf in the air. He is just on the edge of the screen, but I can still make him out and I can tell that the one arm projecting from behind a waving flag: that is me.

*********

Thirty-one minutes in and Timber Joey is cutting his first slab off the log in the MLS era. Except, it looks like it might turn out to be a wedge rather than a slab.

**********

Thirty-eight minutes in and Rodney Wallace scores the goal that should have announced his presence to everyone in the North End. But in 2011 Rodney was playing left back and we all knew that left back goals are not repeatable.

***********

Forty-seven minutes in and Jorge Perlaza has scored his second goal of the night. He will go on to score only four more for the Timbers before being traded away midway through the 2012 season.

That is a bummer.

My god, it is raining hard.

************

Sixty-five minutes in and Kalif Alhassan looks so much worse than I remember.

He has so very many ideas and so little chance at executing them. Here he takes a shot on the volley that if he could connect with it would instantly be in the running for the best goal a Timbers player has ever scored. (Sorry, Darlington. Sorry, Diego.) But he never connects.

*************

Eighty-one minutes in and Marco Pappa scores that goal that Kalif wishes he had scored. 

Pappa would go on to score once more against the Timbers: two years later for the Seattle Sounders during the Timbers’ abysmal 2014 season.

**************

Eighty-four minutes in and Futty scores the most 2011 Timbers goal possible: a flailing, stumbling, possibly double hand-ball that somehow emerged from the midst of no less than five defenders to end up over the line.

That is the 2011 that I remember.

***************

Eighty-seven minutes in and Darlington Nagbe has been on the pitch for several minutes now. He is only 20. He looks so little as the Timbers Army chant “Fools Rush In”.

****************

Ninety minutes in and the Timbers Army are singing “Tetris” but they are not Tetris-ing. This makes sense as Tetris-ing was not yet a thing in 2011, but there remains something strange about not seeing a mass of people bouncing back and forth as the song is sung.

The little differences like this are adding up. 2011 was a long time ago.

*****************

The game is over and I am left with a little bit of sadness. 

In a year’s time, this team would be largely unrecognizable going into the hellmouth that was the 2012 season. And by the end of that year, only a handful of the players that were there at the beginning would remain. Now not a single player from the 2011 Timbers home opener is still on the roster.

The first years of every expansion team are full of upheaval. Everything comes and goes as the club struggles to figure out who they are.

In April of 2011 the Timbers were a team fueled by the crowd and the rain and the smell of fresh sawdust.

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
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

 

Categories
Soccer Timbers

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

Felipe Mora standing
Photo by Kris Lattimore

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

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

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

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

What do the professionals say?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do we need to do something offensively?

Probably.

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

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

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Adjusting to Life Without Moreira

Photo by Kris Lattimore

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

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

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

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

What the Timbers will be missing

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://gph.is/g/Ev15RJg

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

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

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

https://gph.is/g/aXJlPVn

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

https://gph.is/g/aN80OG9

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

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

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

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

How can the Timbers adjust?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories
Soccer Timbers

The Importance of Tactical Consistency

(Kris Lattimore)

What makes a club good at developing and fostering talent?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories
Timbers

Home Games Before Spring? Home Games Before Spring.

(Kris Lattimore)

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

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

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

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

(Kris Lattimore)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Kris Lattimore)

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

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

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

(Kris Lattimore)

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

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

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

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

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Portland Timbers Preview Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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