Tag: Vancouver Whitecaps

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Soccer Timbers

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 3, Vancouver Whitecaps 1

Photo Credit: Kris Lattimore

After losing to the Whitecaps 0-1 in Vancouver in April, the Portland Timbers had revenge on their mind when they hosted one of their Cascadia rivals Saturday.

In the previous matchup, the Timbers were outmatched, overwhelmed, and shorthanded. But this time, Portland got their sweet revenge, with a 3-1 win in their most complete performance of the year.

Timbers head coach Gio Savarese was very pleased with his team’s performance.

“Very important win for many, many reasons,” said Savarese. “Three points. Cascadia Cup. Home game. Then we performed very well.”

Still, he said, “I think we can still progress, we can still get better. There’s areas that we have to continue to work, but I think the first 20 minutes and the entire second half, I thought we were very, very good.”

In the second minute, Franck Boli broke out of his scoring drought to put Portland on the board first.

The Timbers continued to create chances after the opening goal, with combination play between Juan David Mosquera, Santi Moreno, and Evander putting another one away in the 18th minute.

This was some of their finest work all year.

This team has been clicking offensively for weeks, and it showed off big time. Portland outshot and had more shots on target than Vancouver, putting up 13 and seven to the Whitecaps’ seven and four, respectively.

Unfortunately in the 24th minute, Zac McGraw went for a clearance that turned into an own goal.

In the 54th minute, Evander put on a insane move to freeze his defender and then ripped a shot for Portland’s third goal for the final score.

This was his best game as a Timber, and he has let the entire MLS know, too.

The Evander Show
Photo Credit: Kris Lattimore

After early struggles with form and injury, Evander has played his best ball the past few weeks. He is playing with tons of confidence, his decision making is so much quicker, and his passing has been very crisp. This is the exact player general manager Ned Grabavoy and  Savarese wanted to sign.

Evander is one of the most in form players in MLS right now, and the Timbers are steadily climbing the table thanks to his contributions.

The Portland Timbers are playing their best football of the season, which happens to coincide with his best run of play.

Is that a coincidence? Absolutely not.

“I was going for the hat trick,” said Evander. “Of course, not doing crazy things, but I wanted one more opportunity for a goal. I knew that nobody [on the Timbers] has scored a hat trick in an MLS competition, and I wanted to be the first, but I’ll have to wait till the next opportunity.

Still, he was pleased with his team’s performance. “I think this shows us how good we are” he said, “how good we are when we play together and as a team… When we play together, when we are compact and play soccer and enjoy the game, things become much easier. The win today gives us more confidence for the rest of the season.”

All You Gotta Do is BOLIeve
Photo Credit: Kris Lattimore

Boli scored his first goal for Portland in his Timbers debut. Since then, he has been hungry for his second.

His work rate and comfort level has been steadily climbing in the past couple weeks.

“I am a striker. I create goals. Last game I wanted to score so bad, I missed some goals and got angry,” said Boli. “But you’ve got to try again.

“I’m very happy to score today and also that the team won,” he said. “That’s even more important than my goal. As a striker, you want to score every time and I’m happy about that.”

Boli has continued to be get more comfortable with the team and league.

“He’s getting to understand the league,” said Savarese. “He’s getting to feel more chemistry, and he’s getting fitter as well.

“You saw his movements today,” Savarese said. “Now he knows how to move around the defenders because they’re physical here in MLS. He needs to understand how to find good areas in order to make sure to be in good places to get the ball. He created some very good moments, attacking-wise.”

Fun stats
  • xG: Portland 1.15, Vancouver 0.59
  • Evander led the team in shots, shots on goal, and goals.
  • Santiago Moreno paced the team in chances created, successful dribbles, and completed passes in the final third.
  • Juan David Mosquera had the most touches, crosses attempted, completed passes on the team.
  • Dario Zuparic was stout in defense with 10 recoveries and seven aerial duels won.
  • Diego Chará made his 350th MLS appearance.

 

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Soccer Timbers

Takeaways: Portland Timbers 0, Vancouver Whitecaps 1

Credit: Kris Lattimore
Credit: Kris Lattimore

Good grief, Charlie Brown! That was a tough game to watch, uh? Bear with me while we break down this Cascadia rivalry game.

After the Timbers got a point against FC Dallas with a last-minute goal, we had some reasons to believe. They defended well as a unit in that match, cutting Dallas’ passing lanes.

Of course, the major and obvious difference between that game and this one against Vancouver is the score, with Portland losing by one in this case. No one on the team was able to provide the Franck Boli heroics of the Dallas match this time around.

How did the defense do?

Head coach Gio Savarese decided to put Justin Rasmussen in the starting XI instead of Claudio Bravo, a surprising decision surprising after Bravo’s strong performance against Dallas.

Rasmussen had an okay game in defense but he lost the ball too many times in the Timbers’ half. In fact, he ranks first in this department with 11 losses. The player from the back line that ranks second in this regard is Zac McGraw, with five.

Nonetheless, he added himself to the attack and is the only Timber that registered a chance created (xA = 0.31), which came from this cross. 

Portland had serious problems trying to create something in the first half, but that changed a little in the second. Still, Rasmussen’s cross was the only real chance the Timbers created for this match.

Savarese referred to it in the post-game press conference. “Yes, the buildup wasn’t ideal in the first half,” he said. “But then the second half was completely different. We had more of the ball, we created more than just moments, we had an opportunity to score with [Juan] Mosquera, and we could’ve tied the game. But Vancouver today put us in a lot of trouble, and it was just a difficult game.”

McGraw was once again the player with the most clearances made with 12, followed by Eric Miller with seven.

Jazzy makes an impact

After Aljaž Ivačič’s good performance against Dallas, he polished his work in goal and made a total of 8 saves against Vancouver. 

McGraw praised his teammate’s performance after the match. “He proves day in and day out why the Timber’s offered him a contract extension,” McGraw said. “He made a huge save at the end, where there was a ball over the top, and the second ball the midfielders just popped over our back line. And one-on-one with the keeper and all the pressure is on the attacker in that situation, and he just came out big because statistically, that’s a goal every time. He had great saves in the first ten minutes of the game. Ball went back post and was headered down in the bottom corner, that’s a hard save to make for any goalie in the world and he made that, keeping us in the game.”

For such an outstanding effort, Ivačič was included in the MLS’s Best XI for Week 7:

What about the midfield?

With Eryk Williamson unavailable for this match (more on that in a minute), the Timbers suffered. Williamson is usually one of the few players who can carry the ball from defense to offense effectively—and someone who draws many fouls in the midfield. He and Diego Chará usually complement each other well; while Williamson has the freedom to go forward, Chará covers his back. And of course, the American midfielder creates chances for the team, something few Timbers have proved capable of in this first part of the season.

As a consequence of his absence, Savarese decided to start Diego Gutiérrez. It is true that is not easy to fill Williamson’s shoes, but it is also true that Gutiérrez should’ve been more involved in this match. In the 45 minutes he was on the field, he only made eight passes—and completed six—and touched the ball 13 times, per Opta.

Gutiérrez and Evander's touches maps. Source: Wyscout.
Gutiérrez’s and Evander’s touches maps. Source: Opta.

So, it wasn’t a surprise when the coach decided to put Evander in Gutiérrez’s place. No doubt Portland found more fluidity in the second half because of this. What is more, the Timbers attack leaned heavily to the right, according to Wyscout.

Attacks by flanks and danger level. Source: Wyscout
Attacks by flanks and danger level. Source: Wyscout

If we speak about Chará, he had a consistent game as usual. Among the starting midfielders, he was the one with the biggest percentage of pass completion (84.6% out of 52 passes) and the one who won the most duels, with five. If we talk about his defensive work, he registered three tackles, two interceptions, and one clearance.

Finally, Santiago Moreno didn’t have a performance as good as the one he had against Dallas, but he was okay. Moreno was one of the few who contributed to the attack in this game with a blocked shot (xG = 0.03) and tried to cross the ball once—although unsuccessfully. The thing he has to work on, though, is duels; he attempted 10 and was successful in only one.

A positive thing we can point out here is the return of David Ayala, who came in the second half for Moreno. It was good to see him on the field again, winning duels, winning tackles, and earning fouls.

Attack? What’s that?

I think this pass network says it all, but we still need to say something here.

Timbers' pass network. Source: Wyscout.
Timbers pass network. Source: Wyscout.

Besides Moreno and Juan David Mosquera, none of the Timbers had a shot in the 90+7 minutes of the match. We already pointed out the best chance the Timbers had in the game, but it is true they had some good combinations throughout the game that ended up in nothing thanks to Vancouver defending well in their own box.

We don’t have to downplay the Whitecaps’ good pressing work, which effectively prevented Portland from creating dangerous plays when they tried.

Maybe if the Timbers would’ve played more directly and didn’t try so many passes, they would’ve created more chances. Another choice could’ve been to circulate the ball at a higher tempo, so the opponent’s pressing wouldn’t have been so efficient.

It was no doubt a difficult game for Portland, and Vancouver’s good job was rewarded in minute 74, when Julian Gressel sent a cross that was blocked by Rasmussen. Nonetheless, the rebound fell to him, and Gressel immediately sent a cross again that this time connected with Brian White, who put the ball in the back of the net.

Some news

Considering the way the team has played lately, it is no wonder that the fans are praying for the starters to come back as soon as possible. Fortunately, their prayers have been heard: Sebastián Blanco, Cristhian Paredes, Yimmi Chará, and Marvin Loría were back in training on Tuesday. What is more, Savarese has said that Loría and Paredes will probably be available for the game against Seattle next weekend, according to Oregonian reporter Ryan Clarke.

But not everything is good news. That same day, we found out that Williamson would miss the remainder of the 2023 season due to an ACL injury. The procedure was scheduled for April 12, and he is expected to be out of the fields at least for nine months.

“Eryk is an extremely important component within the team who was performing at a high level again, making it difficult news to accept,” said Timbers general manager Ned Grabavoy. “We will support Eryk both on and off the field during his recovery process, and we are confident that he will make a full recovery in reestablishing himself within the team again next season.”

 

Coming up next…

The rivalry games continue on Saturday, when the Timbers host Seattle Sounders at Providence Park. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. PT.

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Soccer Timbers

Observations from Sandy: Timbers Drop All Three Points to Vancouver in their MLS Opener

Photo by Kyle Pinnell

The Portland Timbers started off their CONCACAF Champions League campaign with a bang, but began their MLS schedule with a whimper. The Timbers put five goals past overmatched CD Marathón on Tuesday; just five days later, in their season opener, they conceded a set-piece goal to the Vancouver Whitecaps, failed to find the back of the net themselves, and dropped all three points.

Portland showed plenty of promise and ideas in the first half, only to resort to a more direct style of play after Vancouver striker Lucas Cavallini headed in the game’s only goal at the back post. For large stretches, it looked like a game between two teams playing a competitive league game for the first time in months. Both sides had ideas, but couldn’t execute many of them.

For the first time since March 2020, I watched the Timbers play with my own eyes, in Sandy, Utah. I also noticed some things that I haven’t picked up while watching games over television. So to recap the game, here are a few of those observations.

Van Rankin and Bravo will play important roles on a Portland team that wants to play out from the back even more.

The Timbers’ most dominant spells of play often came when they successfully built possession from the back line and linked with the midfield. In those situations, right back Josecarlos Van Rankin frequently appeared to be at midfield while the rest of the back line shifted to become more of a back three.

When Portland advanced the ball higher up the field, Van Rankin constantly made himself available to play quick one-twos down the right. Building out of the back with three defenders allowed the Timbers to get an additional player into attack even earlier, while the quick-passing progression—especially in the first half—yielded the visitors some of their best chances of the night.

Once the ball reached midfield, left back Claudio Bravo also advanced to add width further up the left side of the field, leaving the pair of center backs to possess the ball and start more direct attacking movements from the attacking half of the field. With both outside backs capable of carrying the ball forward or combining with midfielders to advance possession into the attacking third, they’ll both surely play an important role in coach Giovanni Savarese’s team this season.

“I thought they did very well, they have adapted very quickly, and we can see that they’re quality players,” Savarese said. “They understand the way we want to play and what we want to achieve on the field. I thought they did well, very similar to what they did in the past to CCL games. I’m very content with their performance.”

The Timbers’ fluidity in attack should yield positive results in the future.

On paper, Yimmi Chará started the game as a right winger, Felipe Mora occupied a central striker role, and Dairon Asprilla played down the left. And while those three players generally occupied those places on the field, it wasn’t uncommon to look up and see Yimmi central, Mora closer to midfield and Asprilla pushing from wide.

Portland looked at their best when they played with fluidity all over attack and players constantly interchanged with one another. Yimmi scored a goal that was called offside in the first half, but it came when the winger had an opportunity to come inside and play more centrally for a few seconds.

When Mora plays, Portland lacks a “true” number nine when it comes to a goal-scoring presence in the box. While that can provide issues when the team needs to rely on a singular player to score goals out of nothing, his ability to drop into midfield helps when it comes to the Timbers’ fluidity. On Sunday night, Mora helped open up some of that space that Yimmi or even Asprilla used to come inside by dropping toward midfield.

And speaking of Asprilla, the winger played on both sides of the field, where he looked to constantly run at Vancouver’s outside backs. In the first half, Asprilla put a rocket on frame that forced an athletic save out of keeper Maxime Crépeau. In the second half, he attacked in numerous one-on-one situations down the right before firing crosses into the box.

There were hints of that fluidity in midfield, too, as the Timbers tried (at least in the first half) to progress the ball all the way from back to front. At times, midfielder Eryk Williamson played all the way forward in the right half-space, almost like a winger, where he combined with Van Rankin. The Chará brothers also combined quite a few times when the ball came into the team’s attacking half.

The quick passing and fluidity, especially in the first half, moved the Whitecaps defense around and gave the Timbers more space to work with. It stretched a Vancouver team happy to get plenty of numbers behind the ball when it could. While it didn’t result in any goals on Sunday night, it provided an early example as to how Portland might look to break down opponents with possession in the coming weeks.

The Timbers tried some different things offensively, and then completely went away from them in the second half.

While they didn’t find a goal in the first half, the Timbers looked like a team with plenty of ideas. They played with possession and created some dangerous moments in attack with well-worked passing sequences and off-ball movements. 

It’s crazy to think that not even two seasons ago, this was a team that either took chances on the counter or played down the flanks only to play hopeful crosses into the box. Don’t get me wrong—Portland still wanted to attack directly against Vancouver—but it seemed more methodical. Players weren’t afraid to recycle possession along the back line, switch the point of attack, and pick out a better pass. 

Then the second half started, and everything that I mentioned above just slowed down. Once Cavallini scored in the 49th minute, the Timbers became even more desperate as they began to chase the game. In the first half Portland appeared calculated in their direct play. In the second 45 minutes, there were too many moments where the visitors tried to play long ball after long ball over the top. As players grew more tired—thanks especially to Utah’s high altitude—those long balls turned into one wasted opportunity after another. 

Portland also began to bypass their midfield, making it easier for Vancouver’s already compact defense to deal with any dangerous opportunities. Instead of playing quick-passing soccer, the Timbers continuously attempted to play diagonal balls from deep in midfield to the right wing. Sure, it allowed Asprilla, and eventually Marvin Loría, to attack defenders in one-on-one situations, but that strategy never looked effective.

“We did a lot of good things; we were in a lot of good areas inside their box,” Savarese said. “We did have a lot of chances, we did have a lot of moments where we could have capitalized, but we just have to make sure we are better in those moments to get those points.”

As cliché as it is, the 1–0 loss to Vancouver proved to be a tale of two halves. The Timbers showcased elements of a promising attacking in the first half, only to revert back to more desperate direct play in the second. Together with the altitude and conceding the first goal to a Vancouver side content to sit back, that was never going to be a formula for success.

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Soccer Timbers

Timbers Outlast Vancouver Whitecaps in 1-0 Win

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

The Portland Timbers played a hard-fought match against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday night at Providence Park, ultimately coming away with a 1-0 win over their Canadian rivals. A stunning second-half goal from Yimmi Chara was enough to secure all three points for the Timbers and lift them into first place in the Western Conference.

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Soccer Timbers

Timbers Beat Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 on the Road at Providence Park

Photo by Kris Lattimore

The Portland Timbers claimed their third win in a row on Sunday night, taking down the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 at Providence Park in what was nominally a road game. An early goal followed by 85 minutes of tension and missed Vancouver chances were evocative of the Timbers’ Wednesday win against the Seattle Sounders, despite 6 changes to Giovanni Savarese’s starting XI.

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