A Large Ugly Egg

For the first time in their brief history, Nashville SC defeated the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.

Recap

This game got off to a hot start when a long ball over the top intended for Sam Surridge landed perfectly in the box. However, Zac McGraw was one step behind him, and brought him down. The referee correctly awarded a yellow card and a penalty kick, and 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar stepped up to take it. His spot-kick was pushed onto the left post by James Pantemis. You’d think that the Timbers might be able to swing momentum back in their favor, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the Timbers gave away ANOTHER penalty after Joao Ortiz lightly shoved Ahmed Qasem just inside the box in the 15th minute. It was Sam Surridge’s turn to try and score Nashville’s first goal of the season, but Pantemis guessed correctly and saved ANOTHER penalty. With this action, Pantemis became the sixth goalkeeper to save two penalties in one game in MLS history. Could this historic feat power the Timbers forward? No, it couldn’t.

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Nashville was desperate to score, and the Timbers did a pretty decent job of limiting any big chances outside of the penalties. However, after an entire half of bending, they finally broke at the worst possible time. With the last kick of the first half, Andy Najar’s low drive from a tough angle beat Pantemis at the near post. Going into halftime with a tie game at zero would have been a victory for the Timbers. Alas, it was just another kick in the teeth and a deserved reward for Nashville’s strong play in the first half.

The second half began with three changes: Eric Miller, Diego Chara, and Santiago Moreno entered for Ariel Lassiter, Zac McGraw, and Joao Ortiz. The Timbers switched from the 3-back to a back four. Initially, the results were slightly positive. But they were still unable to truly threaten the Nashville goal, and it was still too easy for Nashville to progress the ball into Portland’s defensive third. Finally, in the 68th minute, Nashville got their second goal. A cross from Daniel Lovitz found an unmarked Ahmed Qasem around the penalty spot, and the Swede’s free header nestled calmly into the back of Pantemis’ net. Portland tried to find a goal, but none of their half-chances resulted in anything but easy catches for Nashville keeper Joe Willis. A 2-0 scoreline is very kind to the visitors.

The Main Culprits

Based on my own observations, I pinpointed Portland’s main problem as ball progression. In the post-game press conference, head coach Phil Neville disagreed. From his point of view, the backline’s inability to deal with long balls over the top was the biggest issue in tonight’s result. I think both problems played a role, so let’s break them both down.

The Long Ball

Portland’s high-ish line leaves a ton of space in behind for opposition teams to attack with balls over the top. Now, I didn’t label it as a true high line because most of Nashville’s damage was done from the middle third tonight. Let’s begin with the initial foul that led to Mukhtar’s missed penalty.

At the start, this doesn’t look like a potential disaster. Well, unless you believe that the Timbers are trying to play an offside trap. Finn Surman and Zac McGraw are marking both of Nashville’s center forwards. Andy Najar is the trigger-man with the ball, and he loves these types of long balls. Based on the start of this sequence, I can say that the Timbers are prepared for what’s about to come.

You can thank GEODIS Park and the silly insistence of multi-colored seats for the first red circle marking the ball. However, the second red circle demands more attention. Upon further review, Alex Muyl and Finn Surman kind of just ran into each other. This is known as “mutual assured destruction,” and now neither of them can participate in the rest of the play. Now the focus turns to McGraw and Surridge.

Surridge uses the collision to gain a step on McGraw. Now he’s ready to receive the ball in stride.

The Englishman takes a good first touch ahead of himself, and McGraw begins to fall over. This action takes Surridge down with him. It’s a deserved penalty, and a deserved yellow card due to the entire foul taking place inside the box. This foul cannot be a red card and a penalty because of double jeopardy, so the referee correctly awards the penalty and a yellow card to McGraw. Long ball defense is similar to set piece defense: lots of individual battles. Portland’s defenders were losing the initial battles a lot in tonight’s game, even if sometimes they were able to recover and win the secondary battles. A solution would be a lower defensive line, but here’s where problem number two comes into play.

Ball Progression

This problem is two-fold. Not only are the Timbers struggling in buildup, they’re struggling on the counterattack. You can also add in the various problems that the Timbers encounter around Nashville’s box.

Look at this disparity between final third passes and passes into the box from tonight’s game. When the Timbers were able to move the ball into the final third, there was a complete lack of dynamic movement around the box. Nashville’s defensive line often parked right outside the box, daring the Timbers to run in behind. None of them did. In order to win games of soccer, you have to take risks. The Timbers were very risk-averse in Nashville. That’s something that has to change. Take more risks but be prepared to recover if those risks fail. Right now, the Timbers are making simple mistakes and aren’t prepared to recover. That’s a terrible tandem for Portland to deal with. They simply have to be better in possession and try to introduce a little more chaos. All of their stagnation combined with telegraphed passes makes it really easy for the opposition team to defend any Timbers attack.

Here is David Da Costa finally receiving the ball after approximately a minute of the Timbers possessing the ball in Nashville’s half. Before the Portuguese designated player gets a single touch, Portland has moved the ball from each wing back and forth a couple times for no reason other than possession. Now that Da Costa has received the ball with almost no pressure, he can pick out a pass. My suggestion is Eric Miller, who has his hand up on the far side of the field. If this pass is played now, the Timbers could flood the box and give Miller several options for a cross.

However, Da Costa carries the ball into the middle for a couple seconds. This allows Nashville’s defensive line to shift closer to the middle of the field. In the first screenshot, Santiago Moreno was marked by left-back Jon Lovitz. Now that Nashville’s block has re-oriented, Lovitz is free to mark a previously wide open Eric Miller. The pass is too late.

Lovitz is able to beat Miller to the ball and promptly springs a counterattack which ends with a foul and a Nashville free kick. The free kick is taken quickly, Qasem hits the post with an effort from outside the box, but the field has completely tilted back towards Portland’s goal. It stays tilted until Qasem doubles Nashville’s lead three minutes after Da Costa’s pass.

Tonight, the Timbers didn’t try to score goals. They simply tried to keep possession and probe at Nashville’s goal. If they wanted to score goals, there would be dynamic movement around the box and in possession scenarios like the one shown above. Now, they are a team comprised of several new players and it’s going to take some time for all of those players to learn each other’s tendencies. But sometimes you just have to pick your head up and go for it. In Nashville, the Timbers did not go for it. They kind of just ran out the clock.

Player Ratings

James Pantemis: 9

This might seem harsh considering his penalty-saving heroics, but every goalkeeper has to be able to stop low shots at the near post. Without that particular concession, I’d give him a 10. These past two outings have been outstanding from the backup goalkeeper. I think he’s earned the starting job, and this shouldn’t be surprising to any Timbers fan. From Gleeson (rooting for him to win his court case, by the way) to Attinella to Ivacic to Bingham, the Timbers have a history of their backups eventually earning the starting job. Pantemis is simply the next player in this pattern. Nothing more to it.

Finn Surman: 6

I don’t think the Kiwi was particularly awful, but he wasn’t great either. I think he’s done enough over the first couple games to earn another start. However, that depends on whether or not the coaching staff decides to stick with the 3-back. It’s pretty telling that tonight was his worst performance in a Timbers shirt despite not being catastrophically terrible. However, his best moment of the match was a late block on a square pass from Surridge. The sequence that led to that block has imprinted itself in my mind, and you'll hear more about it in next week's game preview. Spoiler alert: I didn't like it.

Zac McGraw: 5.5

Tonight was just another reminder of his biggest weakness: speed. That half-step from Surridge forced McGraw into a bad foul that led to a penalty kick. Taking him off at halftime because of his yellow card seemed like the right decision. I just wish his first game as captain was better.

Ian Smith: 7

He didn’t reach the heights that he did against Austin, but it was another solid performance from the rookie. He won a lot of duels and spent 30 minutes of game time as a true center back. I think he needs to get settled into a proper position, but I don’t hate the idea of him becoming Kamal Miller’s understudy at LCB in a back four.

Jimer Fory: 7.5

Is it too much of a stretch to say that he's been Portland's best field player in the first three games? I don't think it is, so I'll say it: he's been Portland's best field player through the first 3 games of 2025. In tonight's game, he acted as a target wingback in buildup. Unfortunately, the Timbers were too disorganized to take advantage of all the headers he was winning. An early exit was the right move after he kept getting butchered by Nashville defenders.

Antony: 6

I'm going to spoil something really quickly: I've been working on a very in-depth Antony article. I don't want to spoil too much from that piece in today's rating, but here's one nugget: throughout the entirety of tonight's game, he didn't play in his best role. However, wingback Antony was better than winger Antony. Not a good sign for a player that was signed to be a forward.

Joao Ortiz: 4.5

While Fory has been an unquestionable bright spot, Ortiz has been extremely underwhelming. He's been poor in possession and poor defensively. The second ball that led Nashville's first goal fell right where he should have been. Instead, he was dragged out to the left despite plenty of support on that side from his teammates. I spoke to him last Tuesday, and he noted how he needed to adjust to the speed of MLS. I completely agree with his assessment. We haven't seen him at his best yet, but I don't think he should be starting next weekend against the Galaxy.

David Ayala: 7

Not an amazing game from Ayala, but the effort was there. This is the year where he needs to up his game in possession, and it was hard to do so when he was constantly swarmed by yellow shirts. He's still Portland's best midfielder, but he needs a partner who can do the dirty work while he focuses on progressing the ball.

Ariel Lassiter: 3

Although Ortiz struggled massively throughout this game, Lassiter was Portland's worst player. Would you like some proof? No screenshots for this one. The actual clip is necessary.

There are no excuses for this. This is elementary stuff. There is no pressure on him, only the threat of pressure. Ortiz is coming from a new league and an adjustment period is expected. Lassiter is a MLS veteran. Yikes.

David Da Costa: 6

Maybe I'm holding the play highlighted above against him to an irrational degree, but Da Costa didn't impress when he was on the ball like he did in Portland's first two games. A golden free kick opportunity was won in the first half, and Da Costa skied it from close range. However, he didn't get the ball as much as he should have. Two things can be true.

Kevin Kelsy: 7

You have to give the Venezuelan a lot of credit for his off-ball work tonight. He seemed to be the only player in the frontline willing to press Nashville’s backline. He also had to do a lot of work on his own to begin attacks. In the 45th minute, he corralled an Ortiz pass that was hit behind him. However, Kelsy dribbled his way forward with some enticing skill for a 6’4” striker. He was also begging for balls to be played to him in the box. The keyword here is “raw.” I like what I’ve seen from him so far. After he develops more chemistry with his fellow attackers, the goals will come.

Felipe Mora: 7.5

Mora wasn’t on the pitch for long, but still made a positive impact. It blows my mind how a player of his stature is able to be such an asset while holding the ball up top. Part of me isn’t looking forward to the return of the back four because I’d love to see a Kelsy-Mora partnership up top. Sigh.

Diego Chara: 7.5

After entering the game at halftime, Chara committed three fouls in the first 11 minutes of the second half. Portland’s midfield did not have any bite in the first half, and their ageless captain set out to immediately rectify it. At age 38, he should be starting as many games as he can. Is that a failure of roster construction or a testament to the greatness of Portland’s best-ever player? I’m leaning towards the latter for now while Ortiz continues to adjust.

Eric Miller: 6.5

Was Eric Miller good after coming on at halftime? No, not really. Was he bad? Nope, not at all. I liked how he routinely found himself in good positions on the right side, even if his final deliveries left a bit to be desired.

Santiago Moreno: 6.5

Moreno likes to come on the pitch and immediately try to do too much. That pattern held true tonight, but I’ll give him a bit of a pass due to some rustiness. Based on Neville’s assessments around the season opener, Moreno returned ahead of schedule. And he looked pretty healthy. I wonder if he’ll be healthy enough to start next weekend.

Kamal Miller: 7

I thought Kamal Miller would return to the starting lineup for this match, but he didn’t. All he did was put in an excellent cameo from the bench. I would like to highlight his excellent slide tackling for a moment. Even though there are some valid criticisms of his play (for me, his distribution isn’t up to par with expectation), there is no doubt that he’s an outstanding tackler. In the final minute of second-half stoppage time, Miller produced a perfectly-timed sliding tackle on Teal Bunbury. Those types of plays are why the Timbers signed him. The next step is finding his best partner (or partners) in the backline.

Final Whistle

The Timbers had an opportunity to build off of a solid defensive showing against Austin last weekend. In typical Timbers fashion, they did the exact opposite. Nashville finished tonight’s game with 24 shots, and 12 of them were on target. Eww. Portland, meanwhile, had 9 shots and 4 on target. None of them looked like potential goalscoring strikes. Eww.

This recap has been largely negative, and for good reason. However, there is still one positive to take away: the Timbers did not concede a set piece goal. That’s 3 straight games without a set piece concession to open 2025. Of course, Nashville did have a couple of big chances from set pieces after Zac McGraw was subbed out at halftime. Most notably, a free header from Walker Zimmerman in the 66th minute that sailed over the bar. The two-time MLS Defender of the Year was completely unmarked. Of course he was. I can’t even talk about a positive stat from this game without being negative. That’s how bad this game was for the Timbers. My usual role as the beacon of positivity has been completely diminished. Ugh.

Now the Timbers will have to lick their wounds and get ready to face a heavily depleted Los Angeles Galaxy team at Providence Park next Sunday. After that, 3 of their next 4 games will be on the road. Their winless streak away from home has increased to 8 games (including Leagues Cup). How long will it take for the Timbers to become a cohesive team amidst all the new additions? It will happen when it happens. The only hope is that it happens sooner rather than later. Sigh. The climb continues.

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