Stress For Success

Fixture congestion can be managed in a multitude of different ways. However, because the Portland Timbers were onboarding a new head coach over the past two weeks, rotating the squad became an afterthought. With no real training sessions to preside over, Marti Cifuentes had to see how his new players would play.

Portland’s opponents, LAFC, did not have to deal with this phenomenon. Their head coach Marc Dos Santos may have just assumed the big chair over the offseason, but he spent plenty of time as an assistant under former LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo. Dos Santos was able to rotate the squad on Wednesday during a trip to Colorado. So when tonight’s game appeared on the schedule, Dos Santos barely had to think twice about selecting his starting lineup full of his rested stars.

The Portland Timbers limped into tonight’s game, but were still able to eke out a 1-1 draw in Los Angeles. It’s a very good result; particularly because it could’ve gone so much worse. 

Recap

The first 15 minutes were exactly what I had hoped for.

The first moment of danger came in the 3rd minute, when Denis Bouanga’s slip pass into the box was cleared by Eric Miller. Portland would have to defend like this, on both instinct and structure, for the entirety of this game. However, any blowout woes were immediately quelled because of one crucial interception.

Miller’s clearance led to a throw-in, which LAFC took quickly. Bouanga opted for a low-hit cross-field switch, but Kevin Kelsy threw his body in front of Eddie Segura to block the Colombian’s eyeline to the ball. As the ball squirted through Segura’s legs, Kristoffer Velde gobbled it up and began to run the other way. The Norwegian winger cut inside to create some space, and calmly played a through pass to a charging David Da Costa. Portuguese Dave received the ball inside the box and sent it past Hugo Lloris with his first touch of the sequence. Both DPs combined for a humongous opening goal. 1-0 Portland, 4th minute.

However, now it was time for LAFC to assert themselves. James Pantemis was called into action in the 7th minute as he caught a curving Bouanga shot from outside the box. LAFC was quickly able to win the ball back, and a neat exchange between Mathieu Choiniere and Timothy Tillman inside the box led to a point-blank shot from the Quebecois midfielder and a brilliant leg save from his former Montreal teammate. That save sent the ball off of Pantemis’ foot, off the underside of the crossbar, and out for a corner kick. However, the Timbers were able to escape the first 15 minutes of this game with a 1-0 lead after Evgeni Cheberko laced a ball over the crossbar in the 15th minute.

LAFC’s big boot was firmly on Portland’s throat. Heung-Min Son got his first shot in the 18th minute, but Pantemis dove to his left and nullified the Korean superstar with an outstretched left arm. The 19th minute saw Pantemis get called into action again, saving a lashed Tillman half-volley from the top of the box. A crucial Kamal Miller clearance saved the day. Bouanga tested Pantemis at the near post in the 22nd minute, but another save led to another LAFC corner kick. Now it was substitute Jacob Shaffelburg’s turn to try and create some danger. He sent a cross into the box, but Ryan Hollingshead’s header went wide of the near post in the 32nd minute. The Timbers were fully under siege, but there were a couple of gaps in LAFC’s armor.

In the 35th minute, Jose Caicedo found Velde on the left wing with a stunning diagonal ball. Velde ran inside and passed the ball to Cole Bassett. The American midfielder shot from the top of the box, but his attempt curled wide. Within seconds, LAFC was coming the other way again. Bouanga scooped a pass for Shaffelburg, but the Canadian winger nodded the ball wide of the far post. Two minutes later, Bassett sent another shot wide from outside the box. 

LAFC outshot Portland 20-4 in the first half. The team with 1/5th of the attempts led at the break. That’s how soccer works sometimes. But in order to keep that thin margin alive, the Timbers had to find a way to score a second goal before LAFC’s relentless pressure would eventually find a crack to exploit.

Caicedo tried to get that second goal in the 48th minute by having a go from distance, but it was directly at Lloris. LAFC’s press continued to be the dominant feature of the match, and it forced Pantemis to make a panicked pass out of the back in the 50th minute. The sequence ended with a Shaffelburg shot getting palmed away by the atoning goalkeeper. A 56th minute turnover put Bouanga through on goal, and Pantemis responded with a kick save. In the 73rd minute, LAFC had their best sequence of dangerous attacking ball movement. Son found Bouanga, who flipped it wide to Shaffelburg, but the Canadian winger’s low shot was easily caught by his fellow countryman. Pantemis and the rest of Portland’s backline were holding back a heavy weight of water. 

Eventually, the dam was breached in the 79th minute. Bouanga received a pass from Jude Terry up against the touchline, split two Portland defenders, and curled in a brilliant shot past Pantemis at the far post. LAFC needed a goal of that quality to finally get on the board. Could they maintain their vast momentum and add a game-winner?

Not if Portuguese Dave had anything to say about it. Two minutes after Bouanga’s equalizer, Omir Fernandez played Da Costa in behind. He slotted it past Lloris, but the flag came up. Portuguese Dave was pretty clearly offside. That happens sometimes. And it handed all the initiative back to LAFC.

Shaffelburg sent a cross into the box in the 85th minute, but Bouanga’s weak header was easily cradled by Pantemis. 4 minutes of stoppage time followed, with Hollingshead opening added time with a backwards header that went wide of the far post. Stoppage time also brought a red card. Vincent Janssen was sent off with a second yellow for delaying a restart. That happens sometimes. He should’ve known better. The Timbers had to play with 10 men for the final three and a half minutes. The final chance for either team came in the 5th minute of stoppage time. Son’s cross was scrambled away, but it fell to Bouanga at the top of the box. A weak-footed shot forced Pantemis into one last acrobatic stop as he punched the ball over the bar for another corner. The final whistle blew after that corner kick was cleared. A big point for the Timbers, and one that they probably didn’t deserve. 

Box Tilt/Duels

There isn't really a ton of analysis needed to describe this game. The highlights speak for themselves. So does box tilt!

Behold! The largest box tilt defeat of the season! I wish Stathead still existed so I could see how this margin of defeat compared to previous Timbers games, but this game belongs in a vacuum. 48-6? How is that possible?

Well, LAFC's press worked wonders with their rested squad. Portland's exhausted squad summoned every ounce of energy they had and put it all into defending. LAFC took 34 shots in this game, with a whopping 22 of those attempts coming from inside the box. However, only 1 qualified as a “big chance.” This might be Portland's best performance of all time when it comes to pure box defending.

On the attacking side, the Timbers did manage to create a couple of chances, but they were lacking the finish rather than the final ball. That happens sometimes, and it's OK that it does. Soccer is a sport of variance, and that variance was definitely on display tonight at both ends of the pitch.

I’m not carrying any long-term worries due to the circumstances of tonight’s game, but there is one thing that was noticeably apparent over the entirety of the 90 minutes. And yes, it is concerning.

This is Portland’s worst showing regarding duels since the Clausura began. And it is the precise reason why LAFC was in control from whistle to whistle. Every second ball found a black jersey. Tired Timbers kept getting muscled off the ball. This is what a lack of rotation looks like. 

Player Ratings

James Pantemis: 9.4

After registering double-digit saves for the second time in 2026, James Pantemis was happy that another outsized contribution resulted in a, uh, result. “We get a point. It’s a valuable point on the road. I think we struggle on the road, so we take that positive and prepare for three games in three weeks at home, so gotta make the most of that now.”

Pantemis made the most of the whopping 34 shots that were aimed in his direction tonight. 14 of them didn’t find the target, 9 were blocked, 1 hit the crossbar, and 10 of them were saved. This 10-save outburst moved Pantemis into a tie with Austin’s Brad Stuver for the most saves in the league with 94. How does he handle facing such a high volume of shots on a game-to-game basis? “For me, it’s almost easier for a goalkeeper to make more saves than only one save…I don’t want to say that I want to continue getting so many shots, but getting so many shots gets you into that rhythm and that momentum of just saving.”

The Timbers rely on Pantemis entering these flow states more than they would probably like to. So why isn’t his rating higher when he is the player most responsible for this valuable road point? The giveaways are hard to ignore. If he polishes up his distribution, he could be the best goalkeeper in the league. But since his primary duty is to stop shots, and he’s a top-tier shot-stopper, how upset can you really get at a couple of bad passes hit under heavy pressure? The field players are evolving under Cifuentes’ stewardship. How much will Pantemis adapt?

Eric Miller: 8.5

Picture this: it’s your first MLS start in nearly a year. The extent of your involvement in the 2026 season was 20 minutes off the bench against Puebla, a full 90 against Tijuana, and a 28 minute cameo on Wednesday against San Diego. Those are the only competitive minutes you have played over the entirety of the 2026 campaign, without a second of that playing time taking place before the World Cup. And your primary assignment for your first start since September 20th? The most dangerous left winger in the entire league: Denis Bouanga.

Eric Miller is Mr. Reliable for a reason. While the ceiling of his play isn’t at the level of his fellow Portland right backs (two of whom currently have long-term injuries), he has such a solid floor. The Timbers needed that floor tonight. No, he didn’t take Bouanga’s lunch money, or put the Gabonese star in his pockets like his car keys, but he did what needed to be done. LAFC’s lack of serious danger on the left side was partially due to Miller’s stubbornness: don’t give them any more space than what is necessary. It also helps that Mr. Reliable tallied 7 clearances. This is Miller’s standard. He never falls below it. And his heroic performance was a huge reason why the Timbers left Los Angeles with a crucial point.

Finn Surman: 8.2

Congratulations to Surman, who entered the Darlington Nagbe Club after completing 43/43 passes. However, only one of those passes qualified as a long ball.

If evolution is the topic, Surman’s ability on the ball is the area of his game that could see an exponential growth under Cifuentes. He already has the majority of the defending aspects of the position under his belt. 11 clearances? Trademark Finn. But the on-ball contributions will become very important in a system that prioritizes playing out from the back. He’s only 22 and has so much more growing to do. It’s wild to think about.

Kamal Miller: 8.7

I simply remember Miller’s contributions more than Surman’s. They stood out. The long diagonals to Velde were open, and he hit a couple. His box defending was spectacular. A normal week of training should be music to his ears after the intense week of defending that the Timbers have had to undertake. Is he the player that has benefitted from the coaching change the most?

In other news, Miller is still on a yellow card warning. But he’s now only two games without a booking away from qualifying for the Good Behavior Initiative. Even amongst this breathless week, Miller has remained on his best behavior. 

Jimer Fory: 8.9

This was shaping up to be another stellar Fory outing before he was subbed off in the 56th minute. It looked like he was cramping up, which makes sense after he played the full 90 in each of the prior games this week. I’d like to highlight an outstanding tackle he made in the 29th minute to dispossess Shaffelburg. An injury update is coming later this week, but I don’t think it’s that serious. 

Jose Caicedo: 8.6

Box defense was the most visible aspect of Caicedo’s performance. He tallied 8 clearances, including 4 with his head. While he wasn’t the tidiest on the ball, I think his willingness to take calculated risks really stands out. The Colombian midfielder would have earned a secondary assist if Bassett’s shot found the back of the net in the 35th minute. That chance was created by a wonderful diagonal to Velde. Diego Chara was a late scratch with a hip injury, by the way. So Caicedo played two consecutive full matches for the first time since the Clausura began. I think he has to start each of Portland’s next three games. 

Cole Bassett: 6.6

Cifuentes put Bassett into the pivot with Caicedo for the second game in a row, but he was unable to be as effective in transition. Sure, he had two decent chances in the first half (neither of which hit the target, at least one of them should have) but it was nearly impossible for the Timbers to break out of LAFC’s press. A relatively nullified Bassett contributed to that.

He did look a little tired during the first half, and it wasn’t a surprise when he was one of the first players subbed out. A full week of rest will do him some good. He’ll play a major role in each of the next three games.

David Da Costa: 8.8

He continued the run. No stopping at the top of the box. Portuguese Dave knew where Velde wanted to play the ball, so he made Portland’s only goal possible by continuing his run.

It nearly worked a second time too, but Fernandez took one crucial extra touch which rendered Da Costa offside. Despite facing an intense press, he didn’t lose the ball once. In addition, he made 5 recoveries and a tackle. Da Costa has 2g/1a in his last 4 MLS games. It appears that both of Portland’s DPs are rounding into form. How glorious.

Ariel Lassiter: 6.6

The Costa Rican winger joined Bassett as one of Portland’s first substitutions. It made sense. He looked tired and was clamped by Cheberko (except for a nifty 16th-minute dribble). Nothing has changed over the past week that would cause Lassiter to lose his starting spot. 

Kristoffer Velde: 9

This might seem like a high rating, but the mere impact of Velde getting on the ball sent shockwaves through LAFC’s defense. 

It was almost immediate from his first touches of the ball. Bassett led the counters against San Diego, but it was the Velde show once again in Los Angeles. He registered more chances created (3) than shots (1). Provider Velde was on full display tonight, but he was subbed off in the 70th minute. I think he could’ve played a little longer. His presence alone could have gotten the Timbers a second goal.

Kevin Kelsy: 6.7

Kelsy spent the majority of this game getting dominated. He won 3/13 duels and committed 3 fouls, one of which earned him a yellow card. After laughing about his handball on Wednesday, he’s now one booking away from a suspension. How the tables turn.

I think the heavy workload was weighing on him, and he was subbed out in the 70th minute with Velde. Despite his relative off-night, two chances still fell to him. Neither of them resulted in a shot on target. Unfortunate, but this performance can be considered an aberration when compared to his recent body of work. 

Antony: If I Speak…

Antony entered the game in the 56th minute and immediately looked indistinguishable from his teammates who had already played an hour of soccer.

That’s awfully concerning. As the primary counterattacking outlet upon his entry, attacks routinely died when he got involved. This game required the extra bit of effort for every action, and a pretty well-targeted Janssen diagonal in the 75th minute could have set up a big scoring chance. However, Antony began to slow up his run way earlier than expected. Concerning. To his credit, he should’ve drawn a couple fouls outside LAFC’s box, but referee Jon Freemon wasn’t keen on blowing his whistle. One of these instances (in the 1st minute of second-half stoppage time) was more infuriating than most.

I still don’t know what the problem is. In theory, he should be a perfect supersub, but all of that ability he possesses doesn’t matter if the effort isn’t there to match. Maybe he was tired like the majority of his teammates, but it appears his body language begs to differ. I don’t want to be this harsh, but honest assessments are needed. Maybe a week of rest will do him some good. 

Joao Ortiz: 6.7

This wasn’t a great outing for Ortiz, but the effort was there. I think he’s a great fit for one of the advanced midfield roles in Cifuentes’ system. Tonight, I liked the ideas but I felt that the execution was a bit lacking. Some blame has been assigned to him on Bouanga’s goal after Hollingshead dragged him to the sideline to vacate the middle of the field. But a lot of stuff had to go right for that ball to hit the back of the net. 

Ian Smith: 8.5

There is no doubt who the best player off the bench was tonight, and it was a player who probably wasn’t going to get in the game unless disaster struck. Sure enough, Fory had to come off, which brought Smudge onto the pitch for the first time in the Cifuentes era. And he really impressed his new head coach. Shaffelburg continued to be in the doghouse, and Smith put his two-way skillset to great use. Cifuentes acknowledged him by name in the post-match presser as a player who stood out. I have to agree. He provided the game-winning assist in this fixture last year and defended with aplomb one year later. Well done.

Omir Fernandez: 6.8

I’m chalking an underwhelming Bronx Messi cameo to a lack of match sharpness.

I think the intensity of the game was tough for Fernandez to adapt to. However, when the ball was at his feet, I thought he was making the correct decisions. The trademark “dangerous cross through open penalty area” made a reappearance tonight with Fernandez being the provider in the 72nd minute. Some scuttlebutt was raised about whether or not he should have fouled Bouanga to prevent the goal. Maybe he should have, but it’s OK that he didn’t. I think he needs to be in a more central position for his impact to be more fully maximized.

Vincent Janssen: Confusion

Was his second yellow card justified? Yes, according to the rules. Was it a very harsh decision? Yes!

Delaying a restart is one of the more cut-and-dry ways to earn a yellow card. However, due to inconsistent enforcement, you don’t see as many “delaying a restart” bookings as you probably should. Janssen, after picking up a definite yellow in the 89th minute (his 3rd foul since coming on in the 70th minute) should have known better. Maybe he didn’t hear Freemon’s whistle that blew the play dead, which made him unaware that any further action would constitute “delaying the restart.” Either way, I don’t have a big issue with his second yellow. It’s very annoying that he’ll miss the next game. Particularly after he showed some more intrigue during his cameo, especially his eye for a pass and some fearlessness towards getting stuck in against a physical opponent. Thankfully the man disadvantage didn’t impact the result.

Coach Rating: 7

Cifuentes did set up the team with the right plan in place: to try and replicate the same conditions that led to a big win against San Diego on Wednesday. The head coach was happy with the team’s start, particularly because they scored such an early goal. “I think they got a high volume of shots, but most of the chances, I would say, were long-range shots from outside the box.” 

The head coach is right. Although defending so deep wasn’t exactly what the coach had in mind, he couldn’t be too upset with the way that his team refused to give LAFC the golden chances that they’re regularly able to create. But I think the night can be summed up by one sentence in particular: “Overall, I think it’s a valuable point. But in terms of identity and in terms of how we want to play, there is a lot of work to be done.”

That was two sentences. Who cares? The assessment is sound. And, finally, a full week of training awaits. Two weeks have passed since Jack Cassidy’s final game as the interim. It’s been a bizarre and stressful period, but the Timbers have still been able to pick up results. That’s the most important part of the story as the Western Conference table continues to be ever more convoluted.

Table Time

A total of three points separate 7th-placed Colorado from 13th-placed Seattle. The Eastern Conference continues to be incredibly dull, mostly due to the top-heavy nature of the premier teams on the other side of the country. The Western Conference, however, is utterly spineless. The real parity league is the West, where points get stolen and acquired week after week.

Portland has found themselves in 9th with 28 points through 21 games, including 4 points in this heavily congested week which took place on the back of another heavily congested week. Teams like San Jose (who lost 5-1 to Minnesota at home) are in free fall. Houston’s ascent was stopped by St. Louis, who have lost two franchise players in the past two weeks. Vancouver was in a bit of a lull, but rebounded with a 5-0 destruction of Dallas. LAFC’s winless streak has reached 4 games. Even the Seattle Sounders failed to lose in Cincinnati! I blame Evander, of course. But the Sounders have reformatted their 8-game losing streak into a 9-game winless streak. I know, I know, it doesn’t have the same ring to it. It’s the Western Conference. Every single playoff spot is still up for grabs.

Final Whistle

Which is why a result like tonight’s 1-1 draw in Los Angeles becomes much more important. If the Timbers conceded a late winner during LAFC’s desperation heaves, this game would not have been viewed in this kind of light. 

But isn’t that, you know, the POINT of soccer? The Timbers can score early, treat the viewing audience to Squeaky Bum Time for the vast majority of this game, and still leave that audience with a somewhat positive feeling because they did scrape a point instead of collapse? I think this result shows progress on the mentality side. Portland still needed to prove that they could mentally compete despite getting physically dominated. Tonight’s game was a passing of that test. 

The extenuating circumstances for this game remain valid, although they don’t excuse the entirety of this performance. But being able to get a result when you are playing far below your best is a major indicator that a team can be and eventually will be good. Although the Timbers did drop two points tonight, it’s not the type of points-dropping that will feature in any offseason reflections (unlike some of their previous collapses in 2026). Above all else, a team running on mostly fumes put together a showing that probably wasn’t worthy of a point at all. But they got one, and that lone point is validation that they can compete. 

LAFC entered tonight’s game in a state of desperation. With their first-year head coach occupying a pretty warm seat, a win for the hosts would mean a lot more than a win for the visitors. One fanbase left disappointed and with even more of an appetite for answers, while the other looked directly at a post-match beer and uttered the phrase, “We take those.” It’s hard to win away from home in MLS. If this exact scoreline was offered to you before kickoff, you would’ve been OK with it, right? Now, after watching how thoroughly LAFC tried to drive the Timbers into the ground, you’re even more appreciative of a 1-1 draw, right? Especially if you were able to witness Denis Bouanga get yellow-carded for diving? Right? RIGHT?

So it's hard not to see this result as a success. It might have been incredibly stressful, but every point is worth double on the road. Considering the volume of attacks that the Timbers had to deal with, and the only one to break them being a true moment of brilliance, it's hard not to be positive about this. Even more so when the bigger picture is taken into account.

The Portland Timbers have played 7 MLS games since the Clausura began. They’re 4-2-1 in this stretch with a goal differential of +7. That includes a 1-1-1 record on the road. Nothing has been permanently solved yet. There’s still a lot of work to be done. But the same schedule that repeatedly bashed them over the head in the Apertura has given way to a much calmer sea to sail. 4 out of their next 5 are at home, with only one double gameweek nestled in. The transfer window is about to close, and reinforcements are still needed. Circumstances can change, but even a result like tonight’s can still provide a semblance of momentum. 

Their next 8 games represent the easiest part of the schedule. Austin home, Minnesota home, St. Louis home, Dallas away, Atlanta home, San Jose away, SKC away, and LA Galaxy away. The toughest opponents come to Providence Park (except for Dallas). And, most importantly, the real work on the training ground can finally begin. Cifuentes’ adaptation to his new job has been hectic and breathless. Time to take some deep breaths and refocus. A runway has presented itself. Time to take off and fly until there’s no fuel left. The climb continues.