A Dose of Honesty

The Timbers went to Carson and lost 3-2. Let’s get on with it, because I am not happy about this game in the slightest.

The hosts opened this game by routinely pressuring the Timbers’ backline and trying to get in behind. For the most part, the Timbers held strong. They continued their good use of the offside trap and were largely able to keep play in front of them. But the attack wasn’t pulling its weight. Portland kept sending in crosses that were cleared over and over again by Galaxy defenders. The scoring was opened after a through ball from Riqui Puig found Joseph Paintsil in acres of space, forcing James Pantemis to come off his line. The Ghanaian slid the ball across the box to Gabriel Pec who finished the easy chance and gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute. More on that goal later. The hosts kept up the pressure, but the Timbers didn’t buckle for the rest of the half. The whistle came at an opportune time for the team to regroup and push for the equalizer right out of the second half. 

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That is exactly the opposite of what occurred to open the second 45. Paintsil carried the ball into the box and passed it backwards to Puig, who was able to get a shot off despite the presence of Eryk Williamson and Diego Chara in his vicinity. 2-0, 48 minutes in. But the Timbers responded almost instantly. Four minutes later, Evander had the opportunity to drive forward against the Galaxy defense, and found Jonathan Rodriguez in the box. Rodriguez finished first time with a low drive past John McCarthy and suddenly the game was 2-1. That wouldn’t last long. Six minutes later, a well placed through ball from Diego Fagundez found Paintsil in the box, who split both center backs and fired in a curler past Pantemis for a 3-1 lead. But the Timbers weren’t done yet. In the 73rd minute, Santiago Moreno took it upon himself to find the Timbers’ second goal. After receiving a knock-down header from Claudio Bravo, the Colombian carried the ball from the halfway line all the way to the edge of the box and fired a rocket past McCarthy to bring the score to 3-2. Although Portland kept the pressure on for the remainder of the game, they couldn’t find the equalizer. A tough loss in Carson right before the Leagues Cup break.

Time to talk about the officiating, because it is the number one story aside from the actual result. I would like to start off by saying one thing: I told you that this would happen.

There are many bad calls from tonight’s game, but only two of them impacted the actual result. The first was his decision to blow the final whistle right after the Timbers had won a corner kick and then promptly giving Jonathan Rodriguez a yellow card for rightfully being furious with him. Any normal referee would allow the Timbers to have another corner kick with the game clock only 30 seconds over the designated 8 minutes of stoppage time. However, it isn’t his refusal to give the corner kick that really irks me. It’s the fact that if he was doing his job correctly, there would have been at least one more additional minute of stoppage time due to two significant pauses in play during the 8 minutes. The first was a substitution that took place in 90+3’ for the Galaxy. The second was a foul and a yellow card given to that exact substitute (Miguel Berry) which led to another decent stoppage before the Timbers could get the ball back in play again. That’s how stoppage time works, and minutes can still be added even if stoppages occur during stoppage time. By all rights, that corner kick should have happened. But I do have a lot to say about corner kicks, and that will come later. It’s time to look at some outright robbery.

The Galaxy’s first goal is offside. No ifs, ands, or buts. The only person playing Paintsil onside is Boiko himself. Now, I don’t have an issue with Boiko missing this call on his own. As you can see, he’s clearly not in a position to keep an eye on Paintsil. It is the job of the linesman, who can be slightly forgiven for missing this call in real time. Because there’s this wonderful thing called VIDEO ASSISTED REFEREEING (VAR for short) that is supposed to look at these exact plays. This is close. There’s no denying that. But the VAR official in charge (Jorge Gonzalez) not recommending a review despite a clear offside is a failure of the system. Players and coaches have zero control over these decisions that can decide their futures. While they are routinely punished for disagreeing over ridiculous decisions with yellow and red cards (even fines and suspensions if things aren’t solved in real time like what happened after the RSL game), there are never any consequences for the officials. I understand that it hasn’t been an easy year for PROReferees, but there is a standard that they need to uphold. Throughout this season, PROReferees have continually failed to uphold that standard. There isn’t any consistency in officiating, and the last straw is the VAR booth. I do not care if some people think that this call is subjective. It’s a single still photo and the offside rule is an exact science. I went through this earlier in the season with Maxime Crepeau’s red card (which resulted after Bouanga made a run from an offside position) and I’m tired of talking about it again. MLS needs to invest in the automated offside technology that has been featured in both the Euros and the World Cup. Refereeing is one thing, but figuring out whether or not a goal is offside can be accomplished with computers now. Do the right thing for once, MLS.

Now that I have properly addressed the officiating concerns, there is only one sentence I can think of to sum up tonight’s result: moral victories aren’t enough anymore. If the Timbers are going to put in a performance that is deserving of a result, they have to take points from the match. This Galaxy team is good! We knew that! I said as much in my preview of this match. While the Timbers have been able to build a good run of form over the past two months, there is a big discrepancy with that run of form: since the start of June, they’ve only played 4 road games. Their record in those games is 1-1-2. The win came against San Jose, who are last in the league by a significant margin. The draw came in St. Louis, where they had chances to win and didn’t take them but also were able to keep a clean sheet in a tough environment. However, both of those losses were preventable and ended in a score of 3-2. Tonight’s result is Portland’s 4th road loss by a score of 3-2 in 2024. In each of the previous 3 games (Vancouver, LAFC, and Dallas) they were able to tie the game at 2-2 before eventually conceding a winner to the hosts. Tonight, after clawing one back in the 52nd minute to make it 2-1, they promptly allowed a 3rd goal six minutes later. This loss brings their road record to 3-3-7 with a goal differential of -4. One for each of these 3-2 losses.

For the second time, I will reference something from my pre-match preview in this article. This ended up being my main frustration with this match. 

Portland had six corner kicks tonight and didn’t look anywhere close to scoring on the initial ball for any of them. Their best chance came in the 3rd minute of second half stoppage time, when Rodriguez collected the initial clearance (a crucial win of a second ball, more on that later) and fired in a cross to an unmarked Miguel Araujo. Araujo’s point-blank header went over the bar. This is a problem that I have noticed for the entire season. Goal-creating actions is a stat from FBRef that tracks the two offensive actions that lead to a goal. Those can be other shots (rebounds), live-ball passes, dead-ball passes, fouls, take-ons (dribbles), fouls drawn, and defensive actions. The dead-ball pass category is what’s most important here. Per FBRef, the Timbers only have two goal-creating actions that result from a dead-ball pass. One of these is Evander’s cross to Nathan Fogaca for the equalizing goal against Houston. The other is Eric Miller’s second-ball cross to Santiago Moreno against DC United. The 2024 Portland Timbers haven’t scored a goal directly from a corner kick. Off the top of my head, the 2023 Timbers did it twice (Zac McGraw vs STL and Dario Zuparic vs ATX). I have been saying for months that the Timbers lack the necessary height to be effective on traditional corner kicks. On Thursday, the team practiced a variety of corner-kick routines. All six of their corner kicks tonight were basic crosses into the box. The most dubious one was another attempted Olimpico from Evander in the 37th minute. It was easily caught by McCarthy and promptly turned into the counterattack that resulted in LA’s first (offside) goal. Corner kicks are a very important part of offense, and it is inexcusable that the Timbers are so feckless in this area of the game. Set piece defense has been a weakness of this team FOREVER, but their continued failure to do ANYTHING close to productive on attacking corner kicks grinds my gears even more. Especially on a night where the Timbers were having trouble finding the final pass in and around the box. Set pieces are the great equalizer, and the Timbers could have found theirs in one of these situations tonight.

My last big takeaway from this game concerns second balls. While the Timbers have shown an improvement in this area of the game as of late, they have picked up an unfortunate habit of losing second balls at the worst possible time. No statistical analysis for this portion. Just another thing that I noticed throughout this game. In order to solve this, better positional play and awareness is needed. When the Timbers were routinely sending crosses into LA’s box, those crosses would get cleared into acres of space in the midfield. Many Timbers players would crowd the area where the cross was headed to try and win the ball, but it would vacate the space behind them. That vacated space turned into easy opportunities for the Galaxy to win the ball back (often uncontested). This further exacerbated the gap between the attacking contingent and the defensive contingent. It’s something to work on going forward, especially if the Timbers are eager to keep improving. Each time they win a second ball, it increases their chances of scoring a goal. Especially if those wins are in advantageous areas of the pitch.

Giving a Man of the Match is hard in a loss, but Santiago Moreno takes the cake again this week. Aside from his wonderful solo goal, he continued his strong effort on the defensive side of the ball. Their best opportunity in the first half came from Moreno winning the ball, driving at the defense, and firing in a low cross to Evander (which he missed). But that’s not the only thing I want to discuss regarding Moreno’s performance tonight.

After Felipe Mora was subbed off, Moreno spent some time on the left wing and looked pretty good there. Since the Timbers do not seem keen to add another backup striker (tonight’s result should absolutely change their mind; a backup striker is the most pressing need for this team right now), more playing time for Rodriguez up top will keep occurring. I think Moreno is the most natural fit to move over to the left when Rodriguez is playing as a striker. Antony is much better on the right, and Moreno likes to cut inside. Make no mistake about it: Moreno’s glittering run of form has shown no signs of slowing down. 

Jonathan Rodriguez scored the first goal after largely being nullified in the first half. Credit is given where credit is due: the Galaxy had press triggers when he received the ball. That goal was scored because Rodriguez found himself in enough space to guide Evander’s pass directly into the back of the net. 12g/4a on the season for him, despite only playing in 21 games. Like Moreno, he’s also in fantastic form.

I thought Claudio Bravo had the most difficult assignment tonight, and he tried his hardest to lock down Gabriel Pec until exhaustion finally caught up with him. He got credited with the assist on Moreno’s goal after winning a header to knock the ball into Moreno’s path. Earlier this week, he told a group of reporters that he hasn’t played his best game of the year yet. No, tonight wasn’t his best game, but it was a very good one. 

Felipe Mora was largely erased from today’s game. He only had 19 touches and was being constantly harassed by LA’s center backs. Sometimes that’s going to happen, and it’s only more evidence that the Timbers need to sign a backup striker this summer. Did I mention that they need to do that already in this article? I did? Well look at me, I’m doing it again. 

EDIT: On Sunday morning, Tom Bogert of GiveMeSport reported that the Timbers are trading for CF Montreal striker Mason Toye. There’s the backup striker that the Timbers desperately need. He’s 6’3” and is the exact profile that this team needs up top. I love this move. It’s a very smart inter-league move from Ned Grabavoy to fill a serious team need. Excellent work.

Not the best game from Dario Zuparic tonight. His yellow card was deserved, and he did get put in a blender by Paintsil during the Galaxy’s eventual winning goal. Subbing him off was the right thing to do, but I’m willing to excuse an off-night. Especially when he has been the most consistent center back over this recent stretch of good form. The Galaxy certainly brought some firepower tonight, and even Zuparic isn’t a perfect player.

Juan Mosquera was better off the ball than on it. He won both of his attempted tackles and made 8 recoveries. However, the most glaring stat from his game is his attempted crosses. He attempted 7 of them tonight and failed to complete a single one. Maybe if it isn’t working, try something else. Either way, he wasn’t the reason why the Timbers lost. I’ll take a good defensive performance from him any day of the week.

James Pantemis turned into Superman during the first half. Before the Galaxy found the opening goal, he was everywhere inside the box. He ended tonight with 3 saves, and somehow I think that number should have been higher. I’m not going to critique him on the Galaxy’s first goal because it was offside and he had to come way off his line in order to challenge Paintsil. Maxime Crepeau should be back this week, so the Summer of King Pants is probably coming to an end. 

Miguel Araujo wasn’t great, but he wasn’t bad either. Phil Neville had every reason to start him again following two strong performances against Nashville and RSL. But now that Kamal Miller has returned to the team, his starting spot is under threat. That is a good thing because competition can bring out the best in him. I thought he could have been a little bit better with his distribution, but I feel like I’m being a little nit-picky. Some would say that it’s a problem that the Timbers don’t have a settled first-choice CB pairing in the middle of July. I think it’s just more opportunities for the CBs to stake their own claims to a starting role. This has been a rather turbulent defense for the most part, and eventually the perfect combo will be found. 

Eryk Williamson needed to do two things tonight: progress the ball and help out defensively. I thought he did a pretty good job with ball progression, but he needed to do a lot more defensively. Exhibit A:

The player about to shoot this ball goes by the name of Riqui Puig. He is a very good player, and was attempting shots from outside the box for much of the first half. What needed to happen here was a legitimate attempt to challenge the shot. Williamson is the closest defender, and he simply didn’t do that. Players like Puig cannot be afforded that kind of space, and this shot ended up going in the back of the net. This goal was entirely preventable. While Puig could afford to play with a generous whistle (he drew 3 fouls tonight) Williamson did not get a favorable shake from the officiating crew. In the 41st minute, he was the recipient of a forceful challenge from behind. Most viewers would refer to that action as a “foul.” Alas, despite drawing 6 fouls a week ago against RSL, he was unable to do the same despite receiving around the same amount of harassment. 

That 41st minute challenge, which wasn’t deemed a foul by Boiko, led to a Galaxy counterattack. Diego Chara stopped that attack and earned a yellow card for his efforts. Yes, it was a definite yellow card, and it probably led to his early exit in the 65th minute. This game was tailor-made for David Ayala, but the poor guy can’t catch a break. Sigh.

The final player to talk about is Evander. During the first half, he missed a crucial chance at the near post which could have tied the game entering halftime. It seemed like an off-night for him, and he still managed to tally an assist. I would like to talk about his yellow card for a second. Giving a player a yellow card for dissent in the 14th minute is a terrible way to officiate a game. The Brazilian was able to stay out of trouble despite the Apple TV commentators (Keith Costigan and Maurice Edu) finding as many synonyms for “lazy” to describe his play. The Portland Timbers have fallen victim to league-wide stereotypes for ages, so this is nothing new. However, a lazy player wouldn’t be trying his hardest to salvage a result. When Phil Neville spoke to the media following this game, he said that the team was largely missing the final ball. Evander was the poster child of that. When he was able to find the final ball, the team scored goals. However, most of the time, the final ball wasn’t there. Both his corner-kick deliveries and open play passes were not where they needed to be. Sigh.

Unfortunately, the 2024 Portland Timbers did nothing to disprove the current stereotypes held by the national media tonight. Another game allowing multiple goals and more contributions from their DPs. But I maintain my personal beliefs about this team: they are a very good team who need to learn how to consistently win on the road. Tonight’s game was a perfect opportunity to truly announce themselves on the national stage. And, reader, what an opportunity it was.

Vancouver and Seattle both lost at home, while the Colorado Rapids widened the gap after beating arch-rivals RSL. This is where the Timbers will be as league play pauses: 8th place. With a draw tonight, they could have been as high as 6th. But like I said earlier, this is no time for moral victories. The result is the result. Although the Timbers have been able to claw themselves out of their self-dug hole, there are still major things that they need to work on. The good news? The teams around them also have serious issues to work on. Based on the season so far, 8th place seems about right. Now the league can be put on the backburner for a little bit as the Timbers begin Leagues Cup. Tonight wasn’t a surrender, or even a misstep. It was an honest performance. “We’re mostly there, except for a couple of crucial moments.” That’s what the Timbers told their fans tonight. And, honestly, the Timbers are a good team, but they’re not at the level of the top teams in the West. That’s perfectly fine. I am angry about this result because if a couple bounces fell their way and the Timbers were at their best during those crucial moments, Portland would have gotten a draw or a win. But those bounces didn’t go their way, and they fell short during those key moments. That’s what they’ve looked like for the majority of this season. Overcoming the bounces while continuing to work hard on their identity is a pretty good goal for this team. They can do it, but they couldn’t do it tonight. The climb continues.

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