An Act of Generosity

For the second time in four weeks, the Portland Timbers hosted a bottom-feeder. First it was Austin, and the Timbers lost 2-1 to keep the Broccolis’ playoff hopes alive. Atlanta United entered tonight’s game in an even more desperate situation. They were 9 points back of the playoffs, and needed a win tonight to keep their playoff dreams alive.

The Portland Timbers were hell-bent on providing Atlanta with the hope that they needed. So, in a true act of generosity, they lost 1-0 to the Five Stripes. By sacrificing one of their four remaining home games, the Timbers have made their own quest for playoff qualification even harder.

Recap

The first 15 minutes were acceptable.

Despite the aforementioned acceptability, it was Atlanta who got the first chance. Tomas Jacob found Aleksey Miranchuk in the channel in the 4th minute, who quickly moved the ball to Breel Embolo. The Swiss striker had split the center backs and was through on goal. But Embolo wasn’t traveling at a friendly angle, and his shot was pushed away by James Pantemis. In the 9th minute, Cole Bassett played a diagonal to Kristoffer Velde. The Norwegian winger cut inside and fired a shot wide of the left-sided post. 

Pantemis claimed a Miranchuk cross in the 11th minute and quickly sprang a counterattack. Diego Chara found Antony (who was playing as a center forward), but his first-time pass to Bassett was hit behind the American midfielder. This caused a slight delay in Portland’s counter. Bassett drove forward, played a one-two with Ariel Lassiter, and sent a cross into the six-yard box. Velde got his head on it at the near post but Lucas Hoyos was on hand to stuff the shot. In the 19th minute, the Timbers held the ball in their half until Chara found a ball over the top to Velde. After cutting inside, Velde chopped the ball to an overlapping David Da Costa. A cross sailed towards the far post from Portuguese Dave’s left foot, and Lassiter slammed it into the side netting. Portland was in control, and they had created the better chances. All that went out the window with another giveaway in the 28th minute.

Finn Surman had time and space to pick his pass. He wanted to find Antony up top, so he played a pass directly through the middle of the pitch in the hope of finding the Brazilian forward. It was easily intercepted by Junior Alonso, who immediately picked a pass of his own through Portland’s midfield to Miguel Almiron on the left wing. Almiron’s cross traveled over the box and was deflected into Miranchuk’s path by Jimer Fory’s outstretched boot. The Russian playmaker cut the ball onto his left foot and curled it past Pantemis at the far post. 1-0 Atlanta, 28th minute.

Once again, the Portland Timbers failed to keep a clean sheet. Once again, the Portland Timbers failed to score the first goal. I’ll get to the exact moment that this game became an Atlanta victory later on. But Velde lined up a free kick in the 35th minute, and his dipping (as in the characteristic of the shot) effort was punched over the bar by Hoyos. The Timbers entered halftime with piss-poor body language and a 1-0 deficit. But this game wasn’t over, not by a longshot. However, based on their performance in the second half, it was over from the moment Miranchuk’s curler hit the back of the net.

The first major moment of the second half came in the 58th minute. Lassiter sent a corner kick to the far post, and Chara headed it into the side netting. Atlanta responded in the 61st minute. Miranchuk played a diagonal to Elias Baez in the left side of the box. Baez headed the ball centrally to Embolo, and the Swiss striker nodded it wide of the far post. Another Timbers free kick opportunity came in the 66th minute. Lassiter blazed it over the bar. Miranchuk found Almiron in transition in the 68th minute (with the opportunity created by Almiron dispossessing Bassett in Atlanta’s half). The Paraguayan forward skidded a shot along the turf and past the outstretched hand of Pantemis. But the shot was wide, and the Timbers got a goalkick.

However, things really could’ve changed in the 79th minute. Joel Waterman floated a pass to Velde in the box, but a hard shoulder from Paulo Diaz brought Velde down. No whistle was blown, and Atlanta began a counter. Embolo stayed on his feet amidst some physical jostling from Surman and found Almiron to his left. The Paraguyan forward strode towards the box and fired an easy grounder at Pantemis, who fielded it with the ease of an experienced shortstop. Diaz’s challenge on Velde could have been penalty worthy, but it wasn’t egregious enough to get VAR involved.

But Portland’s best equalizing chance arrived in the 85th minute. Lassiter sent a corner kick into the box, and Vincent Janssen flicked it to Ronald Hernandez at the back post. The former Atlanta defender nodded it towards Surman in the six-yard box. Surman couldn’t get his feet right, and a scramble ensued. Waterman gave Surman another chance by scooping the ball towards the Kiwi’s head, but Surman’s resulting header nested on top of the net. 

That was essentially all she wrote. Despite outshooting Atlanta 21-10, and having the mandate of control throughout the game, the Portland Timbers couldn’t create or finish. They were shut out at home for the first time in 2026. And the opponent who held them scoreless has been a league-wide laughingstock for the past two years.

The Clean Sheet Conundrum

I think Diego Chara provided some valuable insight after the game. “Talking on the defense, I mean, it’s been very difficult for us because we want to keep the clean sheet, and it’s been difficult for the team. We’re still working really hard to get it.”

There was a clear turning point in this game, and it wasn’t the moment Atlanta took the lead. Instead, it was what happened directly after.

I firmly believe that this entire game inadvertently hinged on Antony’s decision to chop the ball back to Lassiter. He had a look at goal and refused to take it with his left foot. For the remainder of the match, the Timbers refused to take risks and opted to play it safe. A humongous horseshoe of death appeared on the screen as Portland kept pointlessly recycling the ball whenever they were able to progress into the final third. A lack of dynamism and intent was noticeable. But what was even more noticeable was the lack of a willingness to try something.

This issue begins with the off-ball runs. As Atlanta sank deeper and deeper into their low block, Portland players became traffic cones in the final third. No one was moving around, which made it easier for Atlanta to defend. The only observable movements were repeated underlaps and overlaps out wide. Nothing in the middle to create or find space.

That’s where the main disappointment from this game comes from. It seemed like all the willingness and desire to win vanished from the moment Antony passed up the shooting opportunity on that counter. All the heart and motivation evaporated from the second the clean sheet was lost. Marti Cifuentes spent a fair amount of time praising the effort of his players after last weekend’s loss in Dallas. Despite the poor body language (which only got worse as time wore on) and the willingness to cede the initiative to the visitors, Portland did manage to create a few score-able chances. But their finishing let them down too.

“I think after we get the first clean sheet, I think it’s going to be so different for the entire team,” Chara said post-game. However, at this point in the season, it’s unbelievably hard to see a way for the Timbers to get that clean sheet. Their defending is still primarily reactive instead of anticipatory. Giveaways and turnovers will continue to occur. It is inevitable that they will concede a goal in every game until they can put together a performance that minimizes the effect of these poor qualities. They enter every game knowing that they need to score twice in order to get a result. The margin for error is incredibly thin. Atlanta was attempting the same kinds of risky passes out of the back that the Timbers usually do. But while those Portland risks would turn into opposition chances more often than not, Atlanta’s suicide passes would find the feet of their teammates.

A game like this when paired with the result feels hopeless. However, there have to be some positives to take away. Portland’s positive start was fueled by an effective counterpress. Once that press stopped working, the Timbers lost the initiative and had to react to whatever Atlanta presented to them. Their buildup sequences during said positive start were encouraging, with effective ball movement progressing the ball methodically into the final third. But those positives are so hard to focus on when the result is taken into account. It has to be better at this point in the season. Especially during a home game against a non-conference opponent that is far below the playoff line.

Box Tilt/Duels

The Timbers (unsurprisingly) won the box tilt battle 34-15. 16 of those 34 touches were shots. Here’s how those shots ended up: 4 blocked, 2 saved, 10 missed. Brutal. There was also a period of 15 minutes from the 66’ to the 81’ where the Timbers failed to record a shot. That just can’t happen. 

The duel numbers are fine. When the Timbers are in the position to make a challenge or engage in a duel, they’re pretty likely to win the engagement. Unfortunately, they are still struggling with man-marking and are often second to the ball behind their opponent.

Player Ratings

James Pantemis: 8

Pantemis certainly put his best foot forward tonight. I don’t think he carries any blame for Miranchuk’s goal. He chose the right times to come off his line and his distribution was pretty solid. Not much else to note for a game where he wasn’t called into action too much.

In other news, I’d like to congratulate Pantemis on getting another international call-up. Unfortunately, this call-up coincides with Portland’s next game in San Jose. The calendar switch can’t come soon enough.

Ronald Hernandez: 7.4

Ronald Hernandez understood the assignment against his former club. I was impressed with his willingness to take risks with his passing. He completed 8/12 long balls. In addition, he provided some attacking threat on the right side from overlaps and underlaps. From a defensive perspective, he was solid. The right back job is officially his.

Finn Surman: 6.6

Given that the Timbers regularly commit horrendous errors when they play out from the back, I’m grading Surman’s errant pass rather low on the spectrum. It was a downfield ball with intent that happened to get executed poorly. However, it does speak to Surman’s ball-playing ability when the Atlanta defender who intercepted that pass instantly played a similar ball that found Almiron in stride on the wing.

Meanwhile, this is what Surman’s upcoming schedule looks like.

Not only will this international window overlap with next weekend’s critical game in San Jose, but the Kiwi defender will have to travel to CHONGQING and TOKYO for two friendlies and a semi-competitive tournament. He needs a break. Jesus Christ.

Joel Waterman: 7.1

There are aspects of Waterman’s game that can absolutely work in Cifuentes’ system. Despite a couple of unsavory giveaways (which is a teamwide problem and cannot be laid at the feet of only one player), the Canadian defender is a very good option with the ball at his feet. He’s willing to bring his teammates into the game, as evidenced by the 3 chances he created. 

However, I do worry about his defending. Not from a duel perspective, but from a positioning perspective. He’s very keen to jump forward off the line, which opens space in behind that can be easily exploited. But this kind of front-footed defending seems to be the modus operandi of Cifuentes’ defensive system. The Timbers are still way too focused on dropping instead of stepping. I think more Waterman starts are on the way. Especially with Surman’s international absence next weekend.

Jimer Fory: 6.9

There is a reason why opposing teams love to attack down Portland’s left side. However, it isn’t because of Fory. The Colombian fullback won all 6 of his duels and finished with a +1 foul differential (more fouls suffered than committed). He created two chances and completed 6/9 of his long ball attempts. Most of those long balls were hit into Velde’s direction in an attempt to get the Norwegian winger isolated on a fullback.

So why is this rating lower than it probably should be? Well, Miranchuk is known for one thing: cutting inside onto his left foot and shooting. Fory did not properly defend the shot that became the lone goal of the contest. It’s a learning experience. But these mistakes will continue to get magnified. Such is the nature of playing for a team that has gone 18 straight league games (21 in all competitions) without a clean sheet.

Diego Chara: 7

This was not the captain’s best performance as of late, but it certainly was passable. The defensive work was fine, although Chara did have a couple unusual giveaways in possession.

Chara usually does post-game press conferences if one of two criteria are met: he set a new MLS record or the team suffered an embarrassing loss. What stood out to me from his availability tonight was the focus he put on two things that the team needs to improve: clean sheets and their poor road record. As the team prepares for another 3-game road trip, both of those issues remain paramount. 

Cole Bassett: Alarm Bells

Yeah, those alarm bells are officially ringing.

Bassett’s best play of the game was his cutback cross to Velde in the 11th minute. This play highlighted the American midfielder’s biggest strength: his off-ball movement. That off-ball movement put him in a perfect position to finish a golden chance in the 21st minute, but he misjudged the bounce of the ball and hit a sliding field goal over the bar. Although he completed 35/37 passes tonight, only 14 of those were classified as “forward passes.” The other 23 went sideways or backwards. A midfielder in this role is expected to drive the game forward on the ball, not just off it. Bassett didn’t attempt a single dribble in the 75 minutes he spent on the pitch. I think his starting job is under serious threat. Especially if he continues to offer little on the defensive side of the ball too (2/5 ground duels won, 2 tackles, 1 interception). 

David Da Costa: 7.2

On the other hand, Portuguese Dave was stellar defensively. He tallied 2 tackles, 2 clearances, 1 interception, 4 ball recoveries, and a 71% ground duel success rate (5/7). However, he spent the majority of this game as a recycler instead of a safe-cracker or sparkplug. This game was begging for one of the attackers to just do SOMETHING, and Da Costa opted to play it safe. Probably because he wasn’t getting the runners that he required. He was willing to make those runs himself, after all!

Ariel Lassiter: 6.8

The Costa Rican winger began tonight’s game on the right wing, where he hesitated to take on defenders. When he moved to left wingback in the 75th minute, he was much more effective. I didn’t think his set piece deliveries had their usual quality yesterday. 

Kristoffer Velde: 6.9

Velde gets a slight bump up because he was the only player willing to shoot in the second half. Well, he wasn’t the only player to take a shot, but he was the only player who tried to create something out of nothing instead of engaging in the horseshoe of death. Sometimes you just have to try stuff. Especially when you are the only player on the team who presents a modicum of danger to the defense.

Antony: 6.4

The decision to start Antony as a center forward wasn’t a bad idea. He did a good job of staying centrally and linking between the midfield and the attack. Was it an amazing performance? No, but it wasn’t a bad one either. “Because of his qualities, and because of the way Atlanta defends, we felt that his pace could be very useful against their center halves,” Cifuentes said post-game. That plan seemed to be working up until the concession. And it was further complicated by Antony’s decision not to shoot on that 30th-minute counterattack. God, if only he would use his left foot. It certainly was an intriguing experiment to play him as a striker tonight. I have a feeling that it won’t be the last time he occupies that role during this season.

Vincent Janssen: 6

“It’s a pity that Vinny got this hamstring issue in the past week, but the reality is he only trained for the last couple of days, very light sessions, so it was perhaps too much for him to start the game.”

That is not a great thing to hear about the unquestioned starting striker. Janssen entered in the 58th minute and promptly got to work with his usual box-to-box ground covering. He didn’t offer a ton as an outlet, and was offside for his biggest opportunity of the game (a shot that trickled just wide of the far post). Keeping him healthy is paramount to Portland’s postseason hopes.

Ian Smith: 7

It’s a shame that Smith can’t find a way to start games. He rarely puts a foot wrong but doesn’t offer as much defensively as Fory. Maybe a formational shift could allow Smith to get on the field as a left wingback. When the Timbers switched to the back three, Smudge was installed as the left-sided center back. He’s excelled at that role before. I’d call his performance “tidy” but nothing more.

Joao Ortiz: 7.2

In an odd turn of events, Ortiz partnered Da Costa in the midfield when the Timbers switched to a back three. I thought he did pretty well! I think he is in contention for more starts. 

Omir Fernandez: 6

Fernandez had one of the best chances to tie the game. In the 81st minute, he got on the end of a great Velde cross but his shot turned into a square ball instead of an attempt on target. He did pop up in the right place though! When the back-three switch occurred, Fernandez moved to wingback. He strikes me as the type of player that will try his hardest at whichever role he’s asked to play. But he doesn’t have the game-breaking ability to be an effective match-winner. That’s unfortunate.

Gage Guerra: Concerned

Janssen hasn’t been cleared to start either of the past two games, clearing the way for the club’s only other natural striker to get the start in the Dutchman’s place. Except Guerra hasn’t started either of those games, and a midfielder and a winger have gotten the chance to play that role instead. Could that be an indictment of how the coaching staff views him, or is it Cifuentes opting for different looks based on different opponents? Too early to tell, in my opinion. But the early prognosis isn’t exactly promising.

Coach Rating: 5

This is a tough rating to give, particularly because I don’t really have an issue with the way the team was set up tonight. Execution errors seemed to be the primary problems rather than anything structural. Against Dallas, the Timbers were slightly behind the final ball. But against Atlanta, they were able to get onto the end of the final ball but screwed up the finish. That seems like some incremental progress.

But it’s another thing when that progress comes in a must-win home game against an inferior opponent. Once Antony chopped that ball to Lassiter, the attacking impetus never fully recovered. Cifuentes chalked that up to Atlanta’s low block. “Attacking low blocks is one of the most difficult things in football because it requires a lot of coordination and synchronization. I believe that the timing at times wasn’t there, but the ideas were.”

This quote has given me two things to think about. The first part is about the accuracy of Cifuentes’ answer. He’s correct. There were times when passes were slightly overhit, or crosses weren’t properly executed. But the second part concerns what happens when those plans start to run into a brick wall. Breaking down a low block might be hard, but only if you’re trying to play through it. Instead of trying to find the soft spots in the mortar between the bricks, what happens if you try to power your way through?

That’s what happens when you try to shoot into a crowded penalty area. No, it is not the most optimal way of trying to get a goal. But it does provide an element that the Timbers’ careful patterns could not: an ability to force the defense onto the mental back foot. The entire goal of attacking (in sports, military maneuvers, or even a fistfight) is to keep the defender on the back foot and render them unable to anticipate your next move. When the horseshoe of death emerged tonight, Atlanta was easily able to anticipate what would happen next and deny the space necessary for the Timbers to get a clean look at goal. But if the Timbers simply chose to shoot from outside the box and play for the deflection, they would force Atlanta’s defense to fragment due to the need to react to the danger.

Putting the ball in the back of the net doesn’t have to be pretty. Sometimes a shot just needs the right deflection or carom to cross the line. The Timbers, in what has been a familiar refrain in years past, refused to introduce chaos to yesterday’s game. Instead they chose to recycle the ball endlessly, which allowed Atlanta’s defense to relax and anticipate where the next attacking thrust would come from.

Which does give me a cause for concern. This contest was a must-win for the Timbers, who only have three home games left and a terrible road record. Especially when Cifuentes is saying, “But perhaps, when I look at the whole 90 minutes, for me today was the most complete performance since I’ve been here in terms of the stability in our behaviors, in terms of our patterns, on recognizing what the players need to do,” in the immediate wake of this defeat.

I do agree with him with some aspects of that assessment. I thought that Portland’s counterpress (prior to the concession) was the best that it has looked under Cifuentes. I thought that their buildup patterns were crisp and clean prior to the concession. But the way that they responded to the concession was incredibly worrying. A game that was crying out for the Timbers to introduce a degree of instability was praised by the head coach for the players’ stability in their own behaviors. It’s Major League Soccer. It’s going to get ugly and it’s not supposed to be pretty 100% of the time. Chaos would’ve given the team a chance at a win. Stability led to a slow march to a 1-0 defeat at home. It’s an important lesson for Cifuentes to learn. And it’s far from acceptable that he’s learning this lesson from a 1-0 home defeat against an Eastern Conference bottom-dweller.

Table Time

The Timbers will be hoping for a Miami victory or draw against San Diego in order for them to hang on to 9th place. Every single team above them was able to get a result yesterday, and Portland had the easiest task out of any of those teams occupying 1-8 in the table. It’s hard to deny the obvious: the teams that strengthened over the summer are rising and those who got weaker are falling. The Timbers are definitely in that latter category.

The Seattle Sounders’ winless streak has been lengthened to 13 games. This development, which would normally be celebrated, cannot be properly mocked due to the nature of their latest result. They went down 3-1 in Colorado before clawing 2 goals back to share the points. That draw certainly felt like a win to the Seattle locker room, who are only 3 points behind the 9th-placed Timbers with two games in hand. Tonight’s loss is definitely a result that the Timbers will look back on at the end of the season. Especially with 7th-placed Colorado increasing their gap between the Timbers and the non-Wild Card playoff spots to 4 points. A few other interesting results include SKC blowing a 3-0 lead at home to Philly and losing 4-3, while San Jose (next weekend’s opponents) rescued a draw at home against LAFC. The Galaxy came back from a 2-1 deficit in Minnesota to win 3-2 and leapfrog the Timbers into 8th. And as the easier part of Portland’s schedule ends, they’re in for some rough sledding on the road as they try to hang on to a playoff position.

Final Whistle

I honestly thought I would be harsher in this recap. Maybe the larger picture of thinking that this team surely cannot contend for a proper playoff spot given their consistent ability to make back-breaking giveaways turn into conceded goals has blunted my less forgiving senses. Don’t get it twisted. I’m still very angry about this result. And that anger was compounded when I geared up to watch the greatest rivalry in English soccer this morning: the Black Country Derby.

Surely my beloved West Bromwich Albion would come out of the gates against the hated and stinky Wolverhampton Wanderers with a performance that would inspire hope and bring joy to the Baggies’ fanbase on the cusp of the international break. Instead, a sloppy Albion team was played off the pitch in the first half by a Wolverhampton team fielding several players who featured for them in the Premier League last year. The gulf between the squads was already known, but good coaching could have closed that gap. However, head coach James Morrison (a man who has taken part in numerous of these contests during his playing career with the Albion) got his gameplan wrong. It was laid out to bear in the 50th minute, when the mighty Baggies donned Timbers jerseys and gave a goal away.

Max O’Leary (the goalkeeper who made several spectacular first-half saves to keep the contest even at halftime) begins the sequence by playing a short pass to defensive midfielder Jayson Molumby just outside of Albion’s penalty area. It is a pass that I have seen so many times before, not just from the Timbers but from other teams who keep trying to play out from the back in dangerous situations. Molumby, who is not the best with the ball at his feet (think of Cristhian Paredes with the emotional fire of Sebastian Blanco) has room to take a touch into some space that exists in the center of the pitch. Instead of carrying the ball, he passes it backwards to Nat Phillips. The former Liverpool center back has two players converging on him, so he panics and attempts to find O’Leary behind him. That pass was easily intercepted by Fer Lopez and slotted past the Irish goalkeeper to give Wolves a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute. The Baggies couldn’t get out of first gear with the ball at their feet, and that scoreline held until the final whistle.

I am so tired of watching WPIOOTBGW (when playing it out of the back goes wrong) goals on a weekly basis. The Timbers do it far too often for my liking, and now West Brom (in a GODDAMN DERBY GAME) have decided to partake in that nonsense as well. Pep Guardiola, who built his entire footballing philosophy out of avoiding risk, inherently invited risk by popularizing playing out from the back. It might work if you’re Guardiola and coach at superclubs with unlimited budgets and the ability to get the exact players that you want, but that replicability can only go so far when the situation of other clubs is concerned. I’m currently waiting for the pendulum to slightly swing back towards hitting it long and playing for the second ball again. These mistakes absolutely infuriate me, especially now that both of my favorite clubs are dying by these self-inflicted errors. Now the New York Jets are the only thing that can salvage my weekend (sure, the Thorns won, but how many of you are really happy about it aside from Morgan Weaver’s delightful goal?).

Tonight’s loss was the 4th Portland defeat at Providence Park in 2026. No, I’m not counting the Leagues Cup loss to Club America. Those 4 defeats consist of: another blowout home loss to Vancouver, San Jose’s first ever win in Portland (breaking a home unbeaten streak that stretched back to 2011), an error-prone last-second gut-punch against 14th-placed Austin, and tonight’s act of generosity against 14th-placed Atlanta. My big question after this latest disaster: who is supposed to create the fortress?

Is it the fans who spend their hard-earned money and brave highway closures to come watch their team recycle the ball constantly? Or is it the players who are supposed to give those fans something to cheer for? The entire second half featured muffled voices and muted cheers, with the stadium only getting close to an explosion when Janssen’s offside shot whistled just wide of the net. With that evidence in mind, it’s pretty clear that the players are supposed to create the fortress and the fans’ job is to man the fortress. Without the ability to give the fans something to cheer for, the fortress cannot exist. But the fortress needs help to remain operable, and that’s where the fans shine. I could call tonight’s defeat the most dreadful watch of the season, but I saw those Colorado and RSL defeats live. Tonight’s game is a different echelon of insanity, purely because the players didn’t make the proper effort to build the fortress in the first place. After Velde sent his 9th-minute chance wide of the net, he immediately turned around to pump up the crowd. He understands his job when it comes to fortress construction. The rest of the team needs to get on the same page. Not just to avoid the WPIOOTBGW errors, but to create a home environment where victory is pre-assumed instead of something that the Timbers have to keep fighting for on a game-to-game basis.

They’ll have to bid farewell to their home for another month. Trips to San Jose, Kansas City, and Carson are all on the schedule. All of them are must-win. Just like that Austin game, and just like tonight’s Atlanta debacle. If these Timbers are intent on making the playoffs despite their unquestioned flaws, they have to win two of those games and draw the other one. 8 games remain for the Portland Timbers to save their season. The deck was stacked in their favor, and they still couldn’t win the hand. Now the schedule is getting hard again. It’s time to make up for a putrid Sep-Timber with only 4 points from 4 games. The climb continues.