After the 2-2 draw against Houston, the Timbers traveled to Citypark Stadium to play St. Louis. There, they got another draw, but this time it was scoreless.
Some changes in the lineup
Timbers head coach Phil Neville couldn’t have either Kamal Miller or Miguel Araujo on his gameday roster due to international duties. Therefore, Zac McGraw and Dario Župarić started at centerback.
“Knowing that Kamal and Miguel were leaving for their respective tournaments, I knew that it was time for me to step up and be the consistent defensive contributor that I was last year,” said McGraw after the game. “I know certain areas of the pitch and when I can step, because I know [Župarić]’s always going to be behind me and covering me. He does that very well. I know in certain situations, that’s how Dario plays, and with his experience, he’s going to be there at all times.”
Neville also praised the defense postgame: “Zac coming back in was outstanding, and [Župarić] has probably been our most consistent player since coming back in. He had to suffer. He has been out of the team… he had a little bit of a knock today. I thought he was colossus at the back.”
Another noticeable absence was Dairon Asprilla, who’s rumored to be linked to Colombian club Atlético Nacional and might have donned the Portland shirt for the last time against Houston.
If we speak about the attack, last week’s hero, Nathan Fogaça, got the start up top after scoring the equalizer against Houston instead of Felipe Mora, who’s going through a scoring drought.
Defensive mistakes
Although Neville praised his defense—and rightly so, as they collected their second clean sheet of the season—the Timbers made two terrible mistakes that could’ve cost them the game in the first half. It’s as if the team can’t shake them for some reason.
In the 12th minute, Evander made a sloppy pass and gave João Klauss the opportunity to score. For the Timbers’ fortune, the forward was offside, but that certainly was a warning sign.
Half an hour into the match, St. Louis was waiting for the space to open. David Ayala stepped forward to try to get the ball back, and Klauss’ movement opened up the space needed for him to be the receiving end of a through pass. Goalkeeper James Pantemis couldn’t stop him, but McGraw saved it before it was too late.
To be fair, it was a very smart movement by Klauss.
We have to give a special mention to Župarić, who more than once helped to clean up his teammates’ defensive mistakes.
Not much in the attacking department
The Timbers finished the first half with a very bland performance in the attack, having only shot four times and twice on target. The team started the match with a promising opportunity off the feet of Jonathan Rodríguez, but his shot got saved.
Watching the gif above, maybe Rodríguez should’ve gone for the pass instead of the shot—he had Santiago Moreno and Fogaça as passing options, and Antony was unmarked at the top of the six-yard box—but we can’t blame him for trying. Also, it is good that the Timbers arrived with numbers to the opponent’s box.
Which was totally different in this promising attack. Weirdly, no Timber outside the box made a run to join Fogaça and Rodríguez to get to the end of the cross shown in the video below.
Things like this might have been the reason behind why the Timbers finished with only two shots on frame, seven total.
Honorary mentions
David Ayala had another great game, contributing to recovering balls in important moments, as we can see below. One of the youngest players in the team is doing pretty well, and we could not be more happy for him after his injury.
It’s worth giving another special mention to Rodríguez, who led in the defensive duels department with nine won—six aerial—and only one lost.
