Another Clean Sheet and Another Missed Opportunity

The Timbers drew 0-0 in San Jose on Saturday night. Despite a couple great chances, the visitors couldn’t find the winner. At the same time, the Timbers now have a run of 3 straight clean sheets. This is their first such streak since August 29-September 10, 2021. 

The Timbers started off the first half with a high press, but San Jose countered by playing long balls into wide areas. Franck Boli had two good chances which didn’t feature the correct finish although he did some wonderful work on the ball before the shot. The defining moment of the first half was an Ebobisse free kick that was banged off the crossbar. 

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This match became very winnable in the second half. The standout chance came from Evander in the 47th minute. Santiago Moreno played an excellent ball to Franck Boli on the right side, and Boli elevated a cross into the box. Evander had a free header but put it towards the middle of the goal instead of the near post and Quakes keeper Daniel made a great save. The Timbers continued to limit San Jose’s wingers in the second half, so only a couple of chances came for the hosts. A square ball was put off the post by Tommy Thompson in the 67th minute, and that miss became San Jose’s most dangerous 2nd half chance. Dairon Asprilla, noted for his past heroics against the Earthquakes, attempted one and a half bicycle kicks late in the second half. One flew over the bar, and his acrobatic scissor-kick half volley was denied by the far post. So close, and yet so far. The story of the Timbers’ night.

San Jose is still unbeaten at home. And the Timbers definitely had all the chances to smear that sparkling home form. I’m going to pivot from my usual method of listing the positives first to focus more clearly on the attack. What we saw today was pretty similar to what we saw against Dallas, minus a continued high press. There was definitely a tactical decision to pivot away from the high press, as San Jose’s main method of attack was to play long balls into the wide spaces. This would allow the wingers to get into those spaces and create. The Timbers did an excellent job of tracking back in those wide areas to limit the wingers’ effectiveness. How did this impact the attack? Well, let’s look at the average position chart.

Cristian Espinoza is very dangerous. He created six chances for the hosts tonight despite being largely held in check by Claudio Bravo. But his presence on San Jose’s right kept Bravo farther back than he would’ve liked to be. He’s the fullback who tends to maraud forward, and he’s usually very helpful in the attack. Eric Miller picked up that torch tonight, and doesn’t provide the same quality going forward that Bravo does. That’s the first part of the analysis, and none of the actual attackers have been mentioned yet. The narrowness that the front four showed was rather odd. San Jose played in a back four, but Tanner Beason, a center back, was playing left back for the Quakes. Targeting center backs playing out wide should be utilized. However, both Dairon Asprilla and Santiago Moreno kept clogging up the middle. With the right quick runs and timing of through balls, that can work. But there was still a heavy lack of sync, particularly in the first half. Asprilla grew into the game in the second half, but Moreno still left a lot to be desired in his decision making. There is a fair question to be raised about his slump in 2023. Oddly, it seems to be mostly mental, at least from my observations in matches. He still has that elastic touch, and a high work rate to win the ball back. But once he hits the final third, he continues to misplay passes or make runs just beyond or behind through balls. It can be maddening to watch. Maybe he just needs a little more time to grow into the season. That was the case last year, and this attack plays at its best when he is fully firing. Look at the last 20 minutes against Seattle for recent proof of that. Asprilla has a penchant for the spectacular. Imagine the reaction if that late scissorkick crosses the plane of the goal. He did have a good outing tonight, but he’s starting quality in name only at this point. With more options soon to be available (hopefully Yimmi and the rumored Young DP winger still to come) his profile as a winger seems to be changing. I would love to see him get some time playing as a true striker. I think he can excel in that role. But there needs to be more cover on the wings in order for him to make that switch. Sebastian Blanco’s introduction into the match provided that width that the Timbers were craving. I mentioned in my Dallas preview that the best way to fit him in with Evander would be on the wing. He took advantage of that space in front of Beason and fired in several dangerous balls. He can still create and his presence on the pitch does take some of the creative load off of Evander. Just some food for thought heading into another congested week. Good to see Blanco back on the pitch, regardless.

After Evander missed that point-blank header in the 47th minute, he seemed to take it upon himself to find that go-ahead. This showed itself in the form of Evander hero-ball. While I don’t really have an issue with him pushing this team forward and taking shots if he has the angle, one moment will stand out from tonight in that regard. In the 77th minute, the Timbers had just started another counterattack. This counter looked very dangerous, and Evander was charging at defenders with Diego Chara and Jaroslaw Niezgoda running beside him. Evander carried the ball to the edge of the box and skied a shot into the home supporters’ section. Now, that’s not a bad attack by itself. He clearly had room to shoot and just screwed up the finish. But it wasn’t the best option on that attack. Niezgoda was making a diagonal run into the middle from the right side, and Evander chose to take it himself rather than find his striker cutting inside. It would’ve set up a dangerous shot from Niezgoda, and it doesn’t matter what Niezgoda would’ve done with it. That pass was the right move, and Evander chose to take it himself instead. Sigh.

Now moving on to the positives, the Timbers only allowed 2 shots on goal tonight. If you add that to the results from their two previous clean sheets, that’s 5 shots on goal allowed in the past three games combined. Incredible job from the entire backline. Zac McGraw and Dario Zuparic are one of the league’s best center back pairings. They understand each other’s positioning so well. Of course, Eric Miller’s addition to the starting XI cannot be overlooked either. One of San Jose’s chances in the second half came through Paul Marie, who played a very nice ball to Jeremy Ebobisse in the 51st minute. Ebobisse settled the ball and allowed Miller the split second he needed to get back in position and make the tackle. With Juan Mosquera still on international duty, this same back four is set at least for the next week. Claudio Bravo locked down Cristian Espinoza, but San Jose still targeted his side of the field. Bravo plays like the league’s best left back when the ball is in front of him, and San Jose kept trying to get that ball behind him as much as possible. Their best chance came on that Thompson post where the ball got behind Bravo. He was superb today. David Bingham did very well today. The only issues I would point out was that one heart-attack he gave me on that Ebobisse free-kick, where he was giving me David Button against Birmingham flashbacks. The other thing is his distribution. He is not good on goalkicks or with the ball at his feet. But I’ll give it a pass because he kept a clean sheet in his former home stadium with fans raining boos on him every time he touched the ball. And of course, Cristhian Paredes and Diego Chara proved once again that they can go up against any attack and dominate it. Paredes did a lot more box-to-box work tonight, with his tackles in midfield often springing counterattacks, which he joined in closer to the San Jose box. Chara took a knock in the first half, and Savarese confirmed in the post-game press conference that he doesn’t expect it to be serious. Not many teams can say that they have a literal ironman playing in the defensive midfield. We are totally spoiled and thank God we all know it. 

Tonight’s result sends us to 9th position in the West on 21 points. With a 5-6-7 record, this team still doesn’t look great record-wise. Another tie doesn’t do anything to help our goal differential, which remains at -4 through 18 games. We’re going to need a few big wins to reverse that. We need help from a few of the teams around us, particularly Houston and Vancouver, both of which have a game in hand. Rooting against Steve Clark and the Canadians is pretty easy though. 

Following the Seattle match, I said that Portland needs to take 7 points from the remaining 4 matches in June. So far, they have 4 in 2, with 2 matches remaining to pick up three total points to hit the target. Pretty good work thus far.

Everyone thought Jeremy Ebobisse would find the net tonight. I will be the first to proudly report that Jeremy Ebobisse still has not scored a goal against the Portland Timbers. I guess he just can’t bring himself to do it. 

On the whole, Portland continues to tease. While many would call tonight boring, I would argue that the team did play really well. Finding and playing the final ball is what’s killing us at this moment, and capitalizing on those final balls we do find needs to be paramount. This team’s defense belongs in the playoffs, where these past few results against strong opposition could see us advance in the postseason if these games happened to be played in November. But, alas, it’s still early summer, and reinforcements should soon be on the way. A busy week is now here, but a return to Providence Park will once again be nice for the boys in green-and-gold. Chicago and NYCFC have both been poor as of late, and both matches should be Timbers victories, provided the goals keep coming. Defense is the strength, but the attack is so close. We are almost a complete team, and this week is a good chance to unveil ourselves as a contender in a middling Western Conference.

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