"Let's Cut the Crap Out and Just Play."

For the fifth time in a row, the Portland Timbers have beaten Sporting Kansas City at Providence Park. 

Yeah, that first half was pretty ugly. Both teams combined for 5 shots and only one shot on target. The Timbers didn’t look connected in attack (and at times in defense) but held the visitors to only one shot. They did get outpossessed, and they did have the better chances, but nothing found the back of the net. SKC midfielder Erik Thommy was subbed off in the 17th minute, and right before that Jonathan Rodriguez fired the best chance of the half off of the woodwork. With halftime at 0-0, I wasn’t feeling very good about the rest of the game. 

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Then the second half began, and the Timbers scored the first goal. Evander won the ball with an opportunistic challenge at the top of the box, and he crossed the ball towards the far post for Felipe Mora, who scored his 7th goal of the season. Given the strong defensive effort in the first half, maybe the first clean sheet of 2024 was on the cards. But alas, it just wasn’t meant to be. Diego Chara lost the ball close to his own box, and SKC worked a combo to Memo Rodriguez, who fired the ball in from outside the box. 1-1, 62 minutes left to play. But the Timbers kept the pressure on, and they kept working to find the go-ahead goal. That goal came in the 79th minute, when a Jonathan Rodriguez cross was headed by Mora into Evander’s path. The Brazilian’s volley bounced off the turf and into the net, but the offside flag was up. However, after a VAR review, the call was reversed and the goal was given. Portland hung on and won their second consecutive home game by a score of 2-1 and picked up 3 huge points.

Since this was a win, and a pretty good performance overall, I want to get the negatives out of the way first. Let’s begin with the back four, particularly in the first half. While the attack struggled because the forwards struggled to complete passes and there was a general lack of a killer instinct, the defense was much more concerning.

This is what the Timbers’ defense looked like out of possession in that first half. If this entire defense was defending as a unit, I wouldn’t really have a problem with it. But there was no cohesion to the defense. Players would step out of line and pressure. This would leave acres of space in behind that allowed SKC to progress the ball very quickly. However, the Timbers were able to recover, and none of those momentary gaffes got punished. They would have gotten punished against a better team, but SKC is down in the dumps. That wasn’t the only major cause for concern in the first half, however.

After the game, Phil Neville went on to say that there was “nervousness” in the warm-up. That anxiety carried over into the first half, and it affected the attack the most. If I could choose one word to describe that first half from an attacking perspective, it would be “turgid.” It still seems like the attack is comprised of individual parts rather than a cohesive unit. Too many turnovers, too many missed passes, and a continuing lack of off-ball movement made this team incredibly easy to defend against. I was not happy at halftime.

During that first half, the Timbers were still afraid to take risks in attack and decided to possess the ball as a means of defense. If SKC doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score, right? I would imagine that those pre-game nerves played a huge part in that, but I have seen a stalled attack too many times this year. Hopefully the confidence from tonight’s win will carry over to Wednesday, because it will be very hard to earn points in Austin if the Timbers come out flat like they did tonight.

Many players stood out today, but chief among them was David Ayala. He started his second consecutive match, and was the best player on the pitch before exiting in the 75th minute. Many previous Timbers left their mark on the “Audacity Meter.” Dairon Asprilla is the ultimate chaos merchant. Sebastian Blanco would often try ridiculous shots from long range. Claudio Bravo tests the Audacity Meter on a regular basis with his defending. But Ayala is audacious with his passing range. He believes he can complete the most incredible pass, and most of the time he can. Ayala had the second-most passes into the final third on the Timbers, and his presence on the pitch is an automatic boost to the attack. But he also put in an incredible shift on defense. I’ve been saying this for weeks: his combination of skill on the ball and bulldog defensive mentality makes him undroppable if he’s healthy enough to start. Tonight was his true coming out party. I don’t have an issue with him getting subbed out due to the busy week ahead, but once he can complete a full 90 that second midfielder spot is his. Phil Neville heaped praise upon Ayala in the post-game press conference. “I thought it was his best game.” The head coach went on to describe how the young Argentine’s confidence was dented by a poor showing against LAFC. But Neville also mentioned a talk he had with Ayala prior to tonight’s match where he urged him to “show his character, confidence and belief.”  Bravo, David. 

Kamal Miller made a surprise start at left back today, and held his own. During the first half, he tended to stay closer to the middle of the pitch. But after halftime, he began to show a pretty good understanding with Jonathan Rodriguez. Miller began to overlap rather frequently while also holding his own on the defensive end. What facilitated this change? Phil Neville gave some more clarity on the surprise position change of the player he affectionately called “his boy.” Given how highly the head coach rates Araujo and Zuparic, he wanted to start Kamal in this game. But with the formers already slotted in at center back, and Claudio Bravo not fully ready to start a game, he chose Kamal for his left foot and the balance it would bring to the backline. Well, the coach was correct. Not only did the Canadian bring balance to the backline, he helped with Portland’s best defensive performance of the season. 

Miguel Araujo has had a rough start to his Timbers career. He hasn’t kept a clean sheet with his new team in 9 starts. But he had a great outing tonight. Araujo’s 7 passes into the final third was the third-most on the team. He isn’t afraid to launch a pass towards the quick forwards ahead of him. This team needs that. I love his aggression on defense, but it can sometimes take him out of position and leave space in behind. Neville really rates him, and his natural home is on the right side of a back three. Hopefully once the team returns to full health he will be back in that role.

Dario Zuparic started his fourth consecutive game and had another solid showing. Alan Pulido was a handful to defend, and the combination of Zuparic and Araujo were able to stymie the tricky Mexican. Even though he played another full 90, he will be in the starting lineup on Wednesday in Austin. 

I was impressed with Juan Mosquera’s defensive work tonight, but I do have a slight criticism of his attacking skill. This Timbers team likes to take a ton of time on the ball, and Mosquera passed up several opportunities to send an early ball into the box. It’s something that can be worked on, and the young Colombian has been improving over the past couple weeks. He’s still a scapegoat for some, but he was in a back four tonight and did a very good job.

Diego Chara gave away the ball on the edge of his own box and it resulted in SKC’s only goal. However, that was his only truly bad moment tonight. The combination of him and Ayala in the midfield is the best pairing for Portland’s double pivot. I’m going to borrow Neville’s comments on the captain to close out this paragraph. “Diego is Diego. There’s not much more you can say about him except he helps the team play better.”

Antony started at right wing and continued to show some outstanding hustle and skill on the ball. He reminds me of a young Dairon Asprilla but with a lower score on the Audacity Meter. He’s still pretty raw, and his decision-making could use a little work, but there’s an excellent player still to be unlocked inside the young Brazilian. He looks a lot more comfortable on the right than the left and is probably more of a supersub rather than a locked-in starter when this team is at full strength. He does have some good chemistry with Mosquera on the right, but his defensive effort began to tail off towards the end of the game. Maybe he was gassed or maybe he wasn’t locked in, but the head coach was furious at him on the sideline. Still lots of growing to do for him before he is ready to be a regular starter.

Jonathan Rodriguez was back on the left wing today, and he had several chances to score in this game. However, all of them were *this* close from finding the back of the net. Two excellent volleys that couldn’t find the target and the woodwork shot in the first half were golden opportunities. But as the clock kept ticking, the Uruguayan began to create. Evander’s winner was born from some good combination play from Rodriguez and Kamal Miller on the left, and the cross to Mora came from his left foot. He’s goal-dangerous every time he’s around the box and he’ll find a way to contribute whenever he’s in those positions.

Evander did not have a good first half. He was off the pace, sloppy, and having trouble getting involved. But he came alive in the second half. That cross to Mora for the first goal was picture-perfect. The finish that won the game was perfectly driven into the turf and gave Tim Melia a massive headache. As the game went on, he was able to get the ball in dangerous spots and he made SKC pay. Today was his father’s birthday, and his present to his dad was a game-winning goal. The talking heads on Apple TV have been touting Lionel Messi, Chicho Arango, and Christian Benteke for MVP. All of those players have had fantastic seasons so far, but Evander has 11 goal contributions in 11 games. He has missed a few matches due to injury and he is instrumental to the Timbers’ success for the remainder of 2024. He deserves to be in the conversation for MLS’ top individual award.

Felipe Mora scored on accident today. Yes, he was in the right place at the perfect time, but the cross from Evander banged off of the Chilean’s head and into the net. Before Jaroslaw Niezgoda got hurt in 2020, his conversion rate was historically high. So far in 2024, Mora has 7 goals on 13 shots. That’s ridiculously efficient, and it speaks to his ability to find dangerous pockets of space in the box. He’s the definition of fox-in-the-box. In tonight’s post-game press conference, Mora spoke about how important it is to do his job and win games. “The fans here deserve wins. They’re the best.”

Maxime Crepeau was so close to a clean sheet, but his biggest action of the match was preserving the win. The last major action of the match was a big SKC chance from Willy Agada and Johnny Russell. Agada’s cross towards the penalty spot was met by the veteran Scotsman’s head, and the resulting header was saved by Crepeau. He is still waiting for the first clean sheet, but that save kept the Timbers in the hunt for the playoffs.

This table is very tight, and there are a couple of teams below Portland that have games in hand. But in order to climb higher, the Timbers need to keep picking up points. Getting victories over the bottom two teams is a great start. Now the focus turns to Wednesday, when the Timbers visit Austin. Portland has a pretty good record at Q2 Stadium, and Austin is very short-handed due to injury and Emiliano Rigoni’s release. This could potentially be a 9-point week with an uninspiring Houston team visiting Providence Park next Saturday. Last week consisted of a full week of training, and Phil Neville gave the media an insight into the past week during the post-game press conference:

“In the warm-up [prior to tonight’s game] there was nervousness. I’ve felt it all week. For the first time since I came to this football club there was a needle in training. There was people challenging each other. There was a couple of incidents where I actually really enjoyed players having a go at each other, players challenging each other, players holding people accountable and sometimes they didn’t like that. But you know what? I liked it because all of a sudden it showed me that they cared and they wanted to do it. The players owned this week.”

In order for this club to climb up the table, they have to grow as a group. Neville’s answer painted a picture of a group of players that want to push each other to be better. That determination carried over into the locker room after the final whistle tonight. “I think, in the dressing room after the game, it was the first time (probably since the first game) where I felt nervous before the game and at the end of the game I didn’t feel relief. I felt a determination….It was like ‘Let’s cut the crap out and just play.’”

The patented early-season swoon has to end with this game. The team is getting healthier, they’re getting more familiar with each other, and they have to start climbing the table. While this wasn’t a complete performance, the defensive pieces are finally beginning to click. Now a tricky midweek game and a Saturday home game stand between the Timbers and a sudden re-appearance in the playoff picture. An outing like tonight can go a long way, but only if the team continues their hard work and doesn’t let off the gas pedal.

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