Out Of Gas

To cap off a very busy week, the Portland Timbers traveled to Minnesota and lost 2-1. The Timbers had their chances, didn’t take all of them, and conceded two goals. They are still winless in Minnesota. 

Phil Neville trotted out a back three again, but Miguel Araujo returned to the starting lineup. Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora started up top, while Dairon Asprilla and Juan Mosquera were the wingbacks. The biggest changes were in the midfield. David Ayala and Cristhian Paredes entered the starting lineup, and Diego Chara began today’s game on the bench to get some rest. Minnesota began this game on the front foot and pressured the Timbers relentlessly. But Portland found the breakthrough after Ayala picked a beautiful through ball for Rodriguez, who slotted it past Dayne St. Clair 17 minutes in. For the remainder of the half, Portland did an excellent job of forcing the Loons to attack from wide areas. This resulted in a lot of low-quality chances, and Maxime Crepeau did an excellent job of erasing the most promising ones. However, things began to pick up in the 42nd minute. Rodriguez and Minnesota right back Caden Clark shared a few words, then some of Clark’s teammates came over. The game was already very physical, so this confrontation was almost inevitable. Yellow cards were shown to Miguel Tapias and Rodriguez. More on that later. Two minutes later, Rodriguez had a clear breakaway against St. Clair, who was caught in no-mans land. The Uruguayan tried to chip the keeper, but St. Clair had an incredible headed clearance to take the ball out of Rodriguez’s path. A huge chance went begging, but the Timbers entered halftime with a 1-0 lead.

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The second half began with another big missed chance. Felipe Mora was through on goal, but his shot hit the crossbar. Portland still had to defend for their lives, and a 55th minute quadruple sub from Minnesota changed the game. Teemu Pukki dragged Dario Zuparic towards the right side of the Timbers’ defense, and he was able to find Joseph Rosales in the box. The resulting cross found substitute Robin Lod, and Minnesota equalized in the 65th minute. Five minutes later, Pukki fouled Zuparic, but kept carrying the ball and then was tackled by Miguel Araujo in the penalty area. Initially, referee Jair Marrufo awarded Minnesota a penalty, but overturned it after a VAR review. That was the right call. But as the game went on, the Timbers’ legs grew heavier and heavier. Lod played a through ball that took Kamal Miller out of the play, and DJ Taylor fired a cross to Jeong Sang-Bin at the top of the box. The Korean finished past Crepeau, and Minnesota took the lead 82 minutes in. The remainder of the game was absolute chaos. Portland tried to push for the equalizer, and they were given 10 minutes of stoppage time to do so. But St. Clair stood on his head, and the Timbers couldn’t take advantage of Tapias’ second yellow card. 

Before I get into the bits and pieces of the actual match, I have a serious bone to pick with today’s commentary team. Tyler Terens was on the call for Portland’s draw with SKC this year, and he generally does a pretty good job. Tonight, he and Kyndra de St. Aubin made this match nearly unwatchable. I like the Apple deal because it makes it so easy to watch every MLS team. But when I have to watch the Timbers on the road, it’s such a crapshoot to find a decent commentary team. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some are just downright awful. Before MLS Season Pass came around, de St. Aubin was the color commentator on local Minnesota broadcasts. I guess in her mind she’s still their local commentator, because she could not hide her homerism tonight. To be honest, I do not hate having a homer commentator on broadcasts. But Minnesota fans have the opportunity to go to tonight’s game, and most Timbers fans do not. Portland fans had to watch tonight’s game through the lens of a Minnesota fan, and by the end of the game I almost put it on mute. According to Kyndra, every 50-50 call went Minnesota’s way. But I have to give her credit. Because of her headache-inducing commentary, I am now more motivated than ever to learn Spanish. Thank you, Kyndra. 

The second point involves the refereeing. Jair Marrufo has only officiated one MLS match in 2024. Most of the time, he’s a VAR ref. I would highly suggest that he needs to get back into the VAR booth. The big decisions went Portland’s way tonight, and I can’t complain about that. But every single ref seems to struggle with calling ticky-tack fouls. The Loons made the Timbers pay for every step on the pitch, and Teemu Pukki was the worst offender. He fouled Dario Zuparic on multiple occasions and didn’t see a card. Luckily VAR was on hand to step in on the penalty. Marrufo was also very unfair towards the Timbers in the little scuffle towards the end of the first half. Three Loons players cornered Rodriguez, and only one of them got a yellow card. I am happy that PRO was able to get a new labor agreement, but they’re still so bad on the pitch. The San Jose red card got overturned this week. There wasn’t a match-changing mistake tonight, but my faith in the officiating continues to wane.

Tonight’s game isn’t about the broadcasters or the officials. It’s about the two teams that fought for over 100 minutes. The shot map tells the full story.

This is only from the first half, but it’s an excellent illustrator of how good the Timbers were at keeping their shape and defending during the first 45 minutes. All 13 of Minnesota’s shots in the first half amounted to 0.91 xG. Only 3 of them were put on target. This speaks to Portland’s game plan. They wanted to absorb pressure and then counterattack. But the Timbers’ lone goal came from a spell of possession. I want to break it down a little further. 

The play truly begins when Zuparic receives a pass from Kamal Miller. Miguel Araujo wants the next pass to go out wide, but the Croatian has other ideas. 

With acres of space open in the middle, Zuparic decides to go direct to Felipe Mora. Miguel Tapias is on it, and he pokes the ball away. Right into the path of David Ayala.

Ayala’s first touch is this perfect pass for Jonathan Rodriguez. The Uruguayan is through on goal, and he finishes it first time. This is the type of goal that the Timbers should be able to score at will. 3 simple passes, even if Tapias’ intervention acts as the 2nd one. Portland forces Minnesota to defend higher, and Rodriguez makes a perfect run in behind. If I was Phil Neville, I would put this goal on for film study for this entire week. The Timbers need to keep trying to get in behind, because those quick transition moments are when they’re at their best. 

The second big takeaway from this match is set pieces. I actually thought that the Timbers defended set pieces really well today, and Minnesota had an abundance of chances from dead balls. But it’s time to talk about their attacking set pieces. In a game like this, where chances from open play are going to be few and far between, you have to take advantage of all set piece opportunities. However, the Timbers are lacking one crucial element: height. Most of their attacking set pieces are met by opposition players. But there’s one late free kick from this game that really grinds my gears. Portland has a deep free kick, but they have a very high line. Every single player is charging towards the box when the ball is played, but Minnesota is able to clear it and no Portland player is back in case of the possible clearance. No one is hanging back, and Minnesota is able to counter. There needs to be more drills on attacking set pieces. Evander’s delivery is still excellent, but it doesn’t mean anything if opposition players are able to get to the ball first.

I’m going to start out my player ratings with David Ayala. He had big shoes to fill today, and I thought he did pretty well. He did have a couple of giveaways inside his own half, but the team was organized enough to recover. But the team needs players who can hit passes like the one that turned into the assist on Rodriguez’s goal. Neville had a brief press conference after the game, and I asked him about Ayala. “He’s struggling to get rhythm,” Neville said to begin his answer. “It’s difficult for the boy to get any kind of rhythm or fitness and to get through games. And that’s why we brought him off at the 60 minute mark. But he’s a young player that we believe in and a young player that will get better.” Based on tonight’s performance, he needs to be in the starting lineup against SKC next weekend. Ayala has only started 4 games this year, and in order for him to get more rhythm he just needs to start more games. I understand that he’s still not fit enough for a full match, but he was crucial in that first half. More Ayala, please.

Jonathan Rodriguez closed out a fantastic week with another goal. Over the past 3 games, he has 3g/1a and drew a penalty. Huge week for him, and he finished off his best chance tonight. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on the breakaway chance late in the first half. The correct move is to try to chip the keeper, and St. Clair just bested him in that scenario. His teammates have to be willing to play more balls in behind for him, because he will make that run. 

Dario Zuparic had a very difficult test. Teemu Pukki was pretty fresh for this game, and Zuparic was able to hold him in check. Not a lot to say about his performance tonight, but he looked exhausted by the end of the game. Today’s game was 114 minutes long, and the San Jose game also went over 110 minutes. Add that to the full Seattle match and it becomes clear how many minutes 3 Timbers players logged this week. 

Kamal Miller also played the entirety of the three games this week, and tonight he looked tired and average. That’s not an indictment of him at all. He was the only player available for the post-match press conference, and he summed up the game pretty well: “We had chances to put the game away. They scored two goals and we lost.” 

Evander put in a full shift today, and everytime he got on the ball he showed his quality. There is one moment I want to point out in the 76th minute. Evander gets the ball on the edge of his own box and dribbles through the entire Minnesota attack before getting fouled at midfield. He also won 11/14 ground duels and his only aerial duel. He put in a ton of effort today, but it just wasn’t enough.

Miguel Araujo made a pretty glaring error on Minnesota’s first goal. He didn’t pick up Rosales’ run and it allowed the Honduran to play the final pass for Lod. Another individual mistake to chalk up to the other individual mistakes throughout this season. 

Cristhian Paredes wasn’t completely comfortable in possession, but he played an incredible pass for Juan Mosquera in the first half. Not a great performance from him today. I think he’s an excellent supersub rather than a serious starter. But he needed to be in the lineup today to help with the midfield.

Felipe Mora had a big missed chance and looked angry when he got subbed off. He took too long to get off the pitch and it caused the Timbers to play a man down for a minute. I don’t agree with taking him off that early, and the Timbers didn’t offer a serious threat forward until Antony came on 10 minutes later. That’s not a coincidence.

Juan Mosquera also ran out of gas tonight, and the team isn’t finding him nearly enough in the attacking phase of the game. No glaring errors from him and he didn’t get a ton of chances to show his quality. The team really needed to find him more, and there’s a chart to back that up.

Mosquera ranked second on the team in expected threat from passes. The Colombian played every available minute this week. Some rest will do him a world of good.

Dairon Asprilla played left wing-back, striker, and right wing before getting subbed off in the 85th minute. No matter where he plays, he will give his full effort. Minnesota was targeting the left side of the field, and he held his own.

Another night with multiple goals conceded for Maxime Crepeau. He was able to dribble out of pressure a couple of times, and he did make 4 saves. Those two goals he conceded were from 1.91 total xGOT. 14 games without a clean sheet. Sigh.

Eric Miller returned to Minnesota and left the pitch with blood streaming from his mouth. During stoppage time, he was on the receiving end of two very hard challenges. Neither of those challenges were punished appropriately by the referee, and Miller probably ended this game with a concussion. But he played like a warrior and put in a good shift at left wing-back. 

I’m not going to talk too much about the subs, but I am going to talk about the actual changes. It seemed pretty clear that the Timbers planned to park the bus and then counter. This was working really well for the first half, but Neville’s first change saw one like-for-like replacement (Chara for Paredes) and then one odd one. Eric Miller entered for Felipe Mora, and Dairon Asprilla moved to striker. Miller looked out of sorts playing left wing-back, and the first substitution window didn’t change the Timbers’ shape. However, their second one did.

Antony came on for Ayala in the 69th minute. Now the Timbers had only two central midfielders but 3 forwards. Once again, the team was unable to counter successfully, and the Timbers were unable to keep their solid defensive structure. The fourth and fifth changes came in the 85th minute after the Loons took the lead. Nathan Fogaca entered for Asprilla, and Eryk Williamson replaced Miguel Araujo. Portland went back to the back four, but it was a 4-3-3 look with Evander and Williamson playing as twin 8s. But the wind was slowly draining from their sails. Their best chances after this ended with Fogaca shots. I think the most crucial piece for a game like this wasn’t in the team today. I have been harsh on Santiago Moreno, but I was hoping for him to be available on the bench today. Prior to tonight’s match, he played the full 90 in the past 5 games. This morning, he woke up with some tightness in his legs, and was left out of the team for precautionary reasons. His defensive work against San Jose was outstanding, and if a fresh Santi came off the bench tonight he would have been a huge help. Sigh. I don’t think the subs were completely awful (the Mora one is the exception) but I don’t think it was the reason we lost. It’s been a long week, and tonight the team just ran out of gas.

Phil Neville’s post-match press conference took a turn for the better today. “I can’t fault the attitude and the commitment from the boys.” It was pretty obvious that the Timbers did show up with the confidence and commitment necessary to win this game, but once again missed chances and a couple of critical errors allowed the hosts to walk away with 3 points. The Timbers had a lead going into halftime, but couldn’t hang onto it. The muted tones from both Neville and Kamal Miller in the postgame said it all: this team is exhausted and pissed off that they couldn’t capitalize. If I was them, I would try to take some confidence from that game, even though the result didn’t go their way.  Luckily they have a week to rest and train before SKC comes to town next week. This team needs another home game. 

The Timbers’ position on the table didn’t change after tonight, but next Saturday is a  must-win game. Kansas City hasn’t won in their last 7 MLS matches, and are in just as bad of a spot as the Timbers are. After that match, the Timbers will have hosted 3 of the other 4 teams that are currently out of the playoffs. There’s still plenty of soccer left to be played, and the Timbers’ game plan did work until the fresh legs of Minnesota willed them to victory. More positives and more negatives, but the Timbers are returning home without any points from Minnesota. Some things never change.

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