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.