The Resuscitation

7 games without a win and 5 points behind the final Wild Card spot. Those were the two numbers hanging over the Portland Timbers prior to kickoff of tonight’s game against Charlotte FC. In order to keep their season alive, both of those figures would need to be adjusted.

And by the time the final whistle blew, the Timbers were celebrating on their home field. A 3-2 win provided enough to keep their season alive by closing the gap between themselves and their playoff rivals. Their 7-game winless run was also extinguished in the process. And plenty of seasonal tropes were present in this potentially season-saving victory.

Recap

If plenty of seasonal tropes were present, surely an early concession would be on the cards too.

That’s exactly what happened in the 3rd minute. A long ball from David Schnegg was easily controlled by Jimer Fory and moved forward to Jose Caicedo. The Colombian midfielder opted to take a couple extra touches, which allowed Rodolfo Aloko to jar the ball loose. Ashley Westwood promptly moved it forward to Pep Biel. The Spanish playmaker dribbled the ball to the top of the box from the right wing and fired a curling shot towards the far post. It hit the bottom of the woodwork and bounced into the net.

Now we have to go back to our trusty "scoring first" stat. It hasn’t been updated since San Jose, but the Timbers scored first in Kansas City and conceded first in Carson. Portland’s record when conceding first dropped to 4-3-14 due to that 2-0 loss against the Galaxy. But that record changes to 4-2-5 when the Timbers are at home (prior to tonight). Either way, the end of their season was on the horizon, courtesy of another early concession.

And then the Timbers were alive again. In the 11th minute, Caicedo found Ronald Hernandez on the right wing. The Venezuelan right back slipped a pass to an underlapping Eric Izoita, who cut the ball back into the center of the box. Ariel Lassiter met it with an emphatic finish into the roof of the net. Suddenly, the game was tied 1-1. With some momentum achieved, the Timbers decided to run with it.

They nearly got the second goal in the 14th minute. A deflection from an outside-the-box Izoita shot fell to Vincent Janssen in the penalty area, but his close-range effort was palmed away by Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina. Two minutes later, Kristoffer Velde took aim from outside the box but his shot was deflected over the goal for a corner kick. In the 26th minute, Hernandez lofted a cross into the box that Velde couldn’t quite reach. However, Jimer Fory kept the play alive, and Velde tested Kahlina with a hard-hit shot to the near post. The former Goalkeeper of the Year got down low to parry the attempt.

Portland remained on the front foot despite these missed chances. In the 33rd minute, Janssen found Lassiter in space on the right wing. A ground cross towards Janssen at the far post left the Costa Rican’s right foot, but Kahlina got down low to snuff the attempt. All of this pressure surely would have paid off with another goal and the opportunity to take a lead into halftime. The Timbers would get their wish in the 40th minute.

Joel Waterman found Lassiter on the right wing. Then “the sequence” began. Lassiter noticed that there was space in between Charlotte’s tight defensive block, but he needed one of his teammates to help him penetrate the penalty area. Enter Izoita. Lassiter and Izoita executed an excellent “one-two,” which led to Lassiter chesting Izoita’s return pass and curling the ball through Henry Kessler’s legs and into the back of the net. 2-1 Portland, 40th minute. Another well-worked goal, and the Timbers had their much-deserved lead.

One more chance would fall Portland’s way before the halftime whistle, but Velde’s curling strike blazed over the bar in the 5th minute of stoppage time. Taking a 2-1 lead into halftime after a dominant first half was exactly what the doctor ordered. Now the Timbers needed to find a 3rd goal to put the game to bed.

They remained on the front foot within the first few seconds of the half, with Velde sending a shot into the 200s. Two minutes later, he found a box-crashing Izoita around the penalty spot. But the homegrown midfielder’s attempt was deflected before settling safely into Kahlina’s gloves. Biel tried to get Charlotte back into the game in the 50th minute by floating a cross to the back post for Idan Toklomati (AKA “Gorno”). Gorno’s header took a bounce and was easily secured by James Pantemis. David Da Costa got an opportunity in the 52nd minute after receiving a pass from Janssen, but Portuguese Dave’s attempt was deflected and went out of bounds for a corner kick. In the 55th minute, a Da Costa corner was headed away but Lassiter scooped up the second ball. The Costa Rican tried for his hat trick, but the shot was easily collected by Kahlina.

However, Portland’s dominance was beginning to fade. Luca de la Torre was able to get a volley off of a clearance in the 63rd minute, which forced Pantemis to scramble and secure the ball. Another set piece chance fell to the Timbers in the 67th minute. Da Costa’s initial delivery was cleared, but his second cross found the head of Cole Bassett. The American midfielder’s flicked-on header went wide of the far post. Several chances had fallen Portland’s way during the first 24 minutes of the half. But all it took was one golden chance for Charlotte to equalize.

In the 69th minute, an unpressured de la Torre sent a left-footed cross towards the far post. Pantemis and Waterman stayed rooted to their spots, which allowed Gorno to ghost in and roof a free volley. Now the score was 2-2, and the Timbers’ season was hanging by a thread again.

So the Timbers steadied themselves and got back on the front foot. In the 75th minute, a Velde cutback cross was turned towards the goal by Bassett’s heel. But another deflection resulted in another corner kick. Bassett took another shot in the 78th minute from inside the box after a strong run forward, but Kahlina didn’t have to move to secure the ball. Danger nearly struck in the 86th minute courtesy of another floated de la Torre cross. Pantemis rushed off his line, whiffed at the cross, and the ball fell to Tyger Smalls at the back post. His attempt hit the side netting. With the stakes very high for both teams, it appeared that some nonsense was going to break out before the final whistle.

And that nonsense occurred in front of the North End in the 87th minute. An Ian Smith square ball found Bassett at the top of the box, who quickly shifted it to Hernandez. The Venezuelan right back took a shot, but it was saved by Kahlina. The rebound fell to Da Costa, who tried to strike the ball into the turf and over the Croatian goalkeeper. However, there’s a reason why Kahlina won Goalkeeper of the Year. He instantly adjusted his body position and palmed the ball away with his fingertips. But there was some suspicion that the ball had crossed the line. Several Timbers standing with their arms up certainly seemed to think so. The final judgement fell to VAR official Geoff Gamble.

This is the angle he had to work with. It’s 2026. MLS should have goal-line technology by now. Because this angle is inconclusive, I have no issue with Gamble’s decision not to award the goal.

Now the Timbers really had to find a winning goal so refereeing wouldn’t become the main story of the day. In the 5th minute of stoppage time, Da Costa won another corner kick. The majority of their corner kicks had been extremely disappointing thus far, and now a set piece seemed to be the only way that the Timbers could taste victory.

By the time Smith was ready to take the corner, the clock had exceeded the 5 minutes of allowed stoppage time. It was now or never. So the Timbers turned to the unquestioned cheat code of set piece plays: the flick-on header. Smith’s delivery found Bassett’s head at the near post. The ball was flicked on target, but Alexander Aravena was on hand to nod the ball into a vacated net. Providence Park erupted, and a short VAR review following the goal confirmed the legitimacy of the strike. 3-2 Portland, 90+6’. The final whistle blew directly afterwards, giving the Timbers a huge victory in a game they largely dominated.

The Domination Metric

It has taken me 31 MLS games and 3 Leagues Cup games to try and figure out if “box tilt” actually means something. Since the 2025 Timbers were so poor at getting into the opposition penalty area while allowing a free runway into their own, reversing both of those figures became a very pressing need heading into 2026. Throughout this season, I’ve tried to correlate results with the box tilt scores to try and find a through line. However, with this Charlotte victory, the answer is plain and clear to see: it measures domination.

Field tilt just measures final third possession, which can be controlled by teams opting to drop their defensive line of confrontation deeper and deeper. Some teams are perfectly fine with sitting in a deeper block and opting to exploit the space in behind. That’s their prerogative. But even those low block teams do not want to give away touches in their own box.

The Portland Timbers ended the first half with an 18-6 advantage in box tilt. Their second half totals amounted to 29-8 for a final tally of 47-14. I’d like to compare that to field tilt for a second. The Timbers registered a 64% field tilt in tonight’s game. If box tilt was converted to a percentage, Portland’s domination becomes even more apparent. With a box tilt ratio of 77%, the Timbers were even more dominant in the most important area of the pitch. This is what Marti Cifuentes wants more than anything. But just getting those box touches isn’t enough. They have to turn into goals.

When the multitude of missed chances pop up throughout this game, Portland’s failure to put this game to bed in the first 15 minutes of the second half becomes crystal clear. Like their most recent games (notably the last two when they were shut out by the Galaxy and Colorado) the Timbers spent the majority of tonight’s match trying to get the final touch right. If Aravena’s header doesn’t find the empty net with the last touch of the game, the Timbers are walking away from tonight’s proceedings rueing those missed opportunities and the goals that should have occurred.

Charlotte barely presented any danger to the Timbers, registering only 6 shots and 0.83 total xG. 0.58 of that xG came from Gorno’s equalizing header. Portland had an excellent defensive game, came up short in two moments, fell short on plenty of others in the other box, but still managed to get their deserved win. That’s a huge step forward, and something that the team should be proud of. The scoreline doesn’t tell the full story of this game. Maybe some other charts will!

The left side still did a fair amount of heavy lifting, but the majority of those left-sided involvements came in the second half. Portland’s right side was nearly unplayable in the first half as Izoita, Hernandez, and Lassiter ran circles around Charlotte defenders. The next step is finding more ways to enter the box from central areas.

Two flanks providing nearly the same level of output. It’s beautiful. And the Timbers have reason to believe that more dominant performances like this can follow. But there’s always a caveat, especially considering the goals that they gave up.

What’s the Structure?

The Timbers utilized two out-of-possession structures tonight. One of them was gappy, and the other one was slightly more secure.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: the Timbers still defend like individuals instead of a team. One player stepping out to challenge for the ball doesn’t result in a chain reaction throughout the rest of the squad. Janssen’s involvements, in particular, are great examples of this. The Dutch striker’s defensive work rate cannot be questioned, but it often leads him to a variety of spots all over the pitch. Sometimes he’s pressing the goalkeeper with no additional help. Maybe he’ll track back to make a tackle due to a broken structure behind him. Until the team can properly defend as a unit, problems will occur and goals will continue to be conceded through cheap errors. Let’s take Charlotte’s opener as an example.

We’re going to start here from Caicedo’s turnover. He had Izoita on his right, chose to take some extra touches, and has now paid the price. But this situation isn’t unsalvageable.

Biel has been able to take plenty of touches by this point. I’m noting a possible Death Channel on the left side, with Izoita and Da Costa quickly recovering to give the Timbers a +2 man advantage on this play so far.

The Death Channel closes up when Biel cuts inside. Caicedo’s recovery has taken him really deep in the play, almost in line with the 4 defenders.

And that over-recovery has opened the space for Biel to get a shot away. Da Costa doesn’t cover himself in glory, and neither does Caicedo. That’s the Colombian’s area of the pitch that he has to cover. And the positioning of Portland’s midfield on this goal is the precise reason why I don’t believe that their out-of-possession structural issues have been fully fixed.

Portland spent the majority of this game defending in a 4-1-4-1 structure, leaving Caicedo with acres of space to cover by himself. The second line of this formation (comprising of the two wingers and two attacking midfielders) provided weak resistance to Charlotte building out from the back. Players would jump to press and still leave an open man. Vertical passes could cut out the line entirely and leave Caicedo in no-mans land at a numerical and positional disadvantage.

These problems were slightly fixed when Bassett entered the game for Izoita. The former Rapid didn’t press high in the 2nd line; he formed a pivot with Caicedo to guard the middle of the field better. This change was also probably enforced due to Dean Smith’s decision to bring on de la Torre and officially give Charlotte 3 midfielders.

I think that the 4-2-3-1 OOP shape is much more workable than the 4-1-4-1. Caicedo gets some extra support in the pivot, pressing jumps don’t open as much space, and the shape is more compact. Although tonight’s game ended in a victory and was by far the most impressive showing of Cifuentes’ tenure, there are still things that need to be fixed. 

The defense still presents the baseline for the Timbers to be competitive. Portland took 27 shots, put 13 of them on target, and still needed a last-gasp winner because they gave away two goals. If Charlotte was less patient and slow during transition opportunities, the Timbers were ripe for the taking.

Player Ratings

James Pantemis: 6.5

3 shots on target, 2 goals conceded. It’s hard to lay blame at Pantemis’ feet for the first goal (due to the various bodies in front of him obstructing his field of vision) but I have serious questions about the second one.

When this play was live, I was confused why Pantemis stayed rooted to his line. I’ve seen goalkeepers roam out to snag balls hit towards this area before. Although Waterman gets taken out of the play entirely by this pass, Pantemis is the last line of defense. Credit should go to de la Torre for putting this pass in the perfect spot to create this tension between center back and goalkeeper, but this play falls in line with the various command problems Pantemis has had this year. 

In the 20th minute, he collided with Miller as they were both tracking a diagonal ball into the box. Pantemis’ immediate reaction to the play was to yell at his teammate, which probably signaled that he was trying to call him off and Miller couldn’t hear. These types of scenarios have occurred far too often over this season, with the 3rd Minnesota goal still unable to escape my mind. His lone save of the night came on Gorno’s warning header in the 51st minute; just a sign of things to come.

Ronald Hernandez: 7

It is so easy to root for Ronnie the Right Back.

The Venezuelan fullback leaves every ounce of effort on the pitch. After subbing on against St. Louis on September 9th, he’s started every single game since. In such a demanding position, his voyages up and down the right flank don’t stop until the final whistle. Here’s how his night was recorded according to the stat sheet: 10 passes into the final third, 50/54 pass accuracy, 3 chances created, 1 shot on target, 3 clearances, and 4 ball recoveries. Unfortunately, he was only able to complete 1 of the 8 crosses he attempted. 

Joel Waterman: 8.3

The first half Man of the Match was Waterman, by a country mile. He led all players with 101 touches and drove the game forward from the back. In addition, he provided a solid Finn Surman impersonation with several excellent plays in scramble defense. It was a bit of a shock that the New Zealand international was on the bench and not in the starting lineup, but Waterman’s presence ensured that the Timbers didn’t miss a beat.

Kamal Miller: 8

If Waterman owned the first half, Miller saved his best for the second 45. The Canadian center back was instrumental during that period, putting the ball on the feet of the team’s playmakers. In addition, he also had some excellent scramble saves like Waterman. 

Jimer Fory: 7.3

The Colombian fullback was subbed off in the 64th minute due to a “stomach issue,” per Cifuentes. It didn’t look like anything was bothering him during his time on the field. He did a great job in rest defense, usually winning outlet balls hit towards Aloko or Liel Abada. He continued his positive trend of getting forward to help the attack, even though he didn’t register an assist. I hope his stomach feels better in time for Wednesday.

Jose Caicedo: 6.8

I’m largely chalking up Caicedo’s positional struggles to an inconsistent OOP structure that forces him to defend far too much space. However, he did give the ball away on the opening goal and failed to close the space that Biel used to open the scoring. After that moment, however, he was much more disciplined. “I think that Jose has a really high ceiling,” Cifuentes said post-game. “He’s got a lot of the qualities to be a really good number 6 in the way we want to play. But at the same time we had a speak that sometimes he tends to start a bit slow and we need to make sure that he understands that the game doesn’t wait for him. I think that he understood but it cost us a goal.”

I’m adding “having a speak” to my personal lexicon immediately. Cifuentes would go on to mention that he thought about subbing Caicedo around the 80th minute due to the recent injury but the team’s shift into more final third domination caused him to pause on that potential change. This was Caicedo’s first full 90 since August 29th against Austin. A healthy Caicedo is very important for the team. And Cifuentes’ words are correct: he has to start games better. I don’t have an issue with the two field goals he attempted from distance today. I feel like he’s going to be the new Claudio Bravo in that regard. Eventually, one of those shots from distance will find the back of the net.

Eric Izoita: 9

How do I recap an excellent start from the pride of Portland’s academy? I think the first point of note is the deserved yellow card he picked up in the 17th minute. “I was just trying to set the tone,” Izoita said post-game. “I was trying to get an early challenge in, but I clipped him a little bit and got a yellow for it.”

The 19-year-old midfielder, tied with Aloko for the youngest player to see the pitch tonight, decided to try and set the tone with a needless and reckless challenge in the 17th minute in a 1-1 game. Absolutely outstanding. Izoita’s tackle was probably the roughest challenge of the entire game, which somehow made the “tone-setting” aspect even more legitimate. He just wanted to get his tackle in. You have to admire that.

But Izoita stood out tonight even if he didn’t register two assists. He was constantly moving around and forcing Charlotte’s midfielders and defenders to track him. That second assist (Lassiter’s 40th minute goal) can be directly traced to his constant movement.

Those two Charlotte defenders would not feel the need to step out and pressure Izoita if he didn’t create the gravity necessary to draw their attention to him. That second step (from Schnegg) creates the gap that Izoita used to play the return pass to Lassiter. He constantly had his head up to scan the field around him and that tendency allowed this pass to be returned to Lassiter without a second thought. Pencil him in as one of the starters for the sprint season. 1g/3a in 280 minutes is nothing to sneeze at. Especially as a 19-year-old in his first season of first-team soccer.

Those goal involvements definitely bring some added confidence to the table. Confidence to set the tone by making a crunching tackle and confidence to execute a perfect one-two to create a big chance. Lassiter summed it up best after the game: “Young 19-year-old in the first team getting minutes? I think I’d have all the confidence in the world too.”

David Da Costa: 6.4

I think Portuguese Dave left a hat-trick on the table today.

In the 26th minute, he couldn’t get a Fory cross under control inside the box. Four minutes later, he couldn’t control a chip pass from Velde. And in the 87th minute, he couldn’t get enough power behind his volley.

Da Costa was extremely solid between the boxes tonight, but the final touch significantly let him down. However, I’m going to err on the side of optimism and praise him for getting in those positions in the first place. But part of being a DP is the ability to execute in those positions too.

Ariel Lassiter: 9

Congratulations to Lassiter for getting double digit goals across all competitions for the first time in MLS. Both of tonight’s goals were very necessary, and they were very well-taken. But was he disappointed not to get the hat trick? “I was thinking about it. I was thinking maybe there’s one or two opportunities that I probably could’ve done a little bit better with. But no, I’m extremely thankful. Really a blessing from God that I was able to find two hit the back of the net and, most importantly, get the win tonight, which I was so desperately wanting us to do.”

Lassiter played his part in getting the team the win that he and his teammates desperately desired. He’s got my vote for Supporters’ Player of the Year because I think he deserves to be awarded for filling a role that was desperately needed and responding with a career year. Sometimes it is that simple.  

Kristoffer Velde: 8.4

I’m about to show you three heat maps.

Here’s where Velde got on the ball in Kansas City. A fair amount of touches on the extreme left wing, with a few in the channel. His box entries were confined to the left half-space.

When the Rapids came to town last weekend, Velde’s touch patterns remained pretty similar. However, he was able to establish more of a presence in the half-space than he did against Kansas City. This map is better than the first one, but there’s still one crucial area of the pitch that’s missing.

Finally, the vacant space on the field is filled. Velde doesn’t get to the endline too often. But when he does, the entire team reaps the rewards. His on-ball gravity draws defenders to him, which opens up more space in the box if he gets to the endline. Velde’s goal-involvement drought increased to 7 games, but he was incredibly effective without needing to get on the scoresheet. If he’s on the endline more, the Timbers will be tougher to beat. 

Vincent Janssen: 6.6

1 big chance fell Janssen’s way, and it resulted in a point-blank Kahlina save. Otherwise, his linking and defense remained solid. It was a rather quiet outing for him today overall.

Ian Smith: 6.7

Smith deserves a lot of credit for that last-second corner kick delivery. The Timbers have been struggling a lot on set pieces, and the play that Smith helped execute was fantastic. But some responsibility does lie with him for not closing down de la Torre's cross that became Charlotte's equalizer. In open play, he filled in naturally for Fory as the third side in the left-sided triangle with Da Costa and Velde. Depending on the severity of Fory’s stomach issues, he could be in line for a start on Wednesday in St. Louis.

Cole Bassett: 9.1

Game-winning assist aside, Bassett looked reborn tonight. So what contributed to his excellent outing off the bench?

I think that Bassett needs a game to be dynamic in order to be at his most effective. A lot of early Cifuentes games featured a somewhat plodding Portland team as they had to adjust to the wants and needs of their new head coach. This led to a lot of elongated decision-making and generally slower play. But Bassett entered a fast game tonight, and brought a ton of energy and effectiveness to the table.

In addition to his headed assist, he probably should’ve tallied the game-winning assist earlier when a perfect ground cross left his feet in the 77th minute. This pass trickled through the box without a single Timber able to get a touch on it. Extremely unfortunate. Maybe his best fit is as a supersub in this setup. Either way, it was awesome to see him enter a game off the bench and dominate.

Omir Fernandez: 6.7

Back on the right wing after getting the start in that position against Colorado last weekend, Fernandez won two tackles in his first minute on the pitch. He only managed 6 touches but completed all 4 of his passes. An efficient cameo, but not a game-breaking one.

Alexander Aravena: A LA PUERTAAAAAA

Aravena’s campaign has been filled with frustration. Several painful mistakes, a couple of chances that have gone by the wayside, and an unfortunate hip injury have robbed him of significant playing time. But he scored his first Timbers goal to crown the 5-1 victory in Seattle, and his second Timbers goal (his first at Providence Park) kept their season alive.

I think that play showcased a lot of the things I like about Aravena. His off-ball movement is usually tremendous, and he did an excellent job of getting goal-side of his marker to make his game-winning header completely uncontested. Cifuentes has been deploying him as a false 9 in relief of Janssen, which does a great job of bringing those off-ball skills to the surface. I’d still like to see him be more influential on the ball, but he needed some confidence more than anything. A clutch game-winner can provide a lot of that.

Coach Rating: 8

I think a graphic can do the majority of the talking in this section for me.

This is exactly what Cifuentes wants to see. I’d imagine that he’d want a little more possession in the middle of the pitch, but the Timbers were genuinely threatening whenever and wherever they got on the ball.

I’m slightly cheating by bringing another graphic to the party, but this one is also illustrative of how good the Timbers were on the ball. Overall, 8 out of the 11 starters were positive contributors to Portland’s possession.

This team needed to win, and Cifuentes is extremely happy about ending their 7-game winless run in addition to keeping their playoff hopes alive. I asked him how he felt after Aravena’s game-winner hit the back of the net, and the head coach took some time to reflect:

“It’s not been easy for me as well, and I’m talking from the human point of view, it has not been an easy process to come into a new country, new continent, very far from home. And then you struggle a bit to get the results that you wanted. And then of course you’re looking to get that good feeling for the fans as well. When I came here I said, many times, for different reasons. One of them is because I feel that this is the Soccer City in the states and the support we have been getting since the beginning has been fantastic. So I wanted the fans to have a good night. As I said to the guys, I’m aware that we still got 3 finals ahead of us. It’s not just about what we need to do because we need to wait [and see] how the results go our way. What I said to the guys is that we have four finals left. Today we won the first one. We have three left and we’re going to try to push until the last second of the last game of the season because that’s the way I believe that we need to build the culture that I’ve been speaking about.”

Table Time

And as the Timbers walked off the field tonight with three points in their hands, their playoff rivals were doing their part to make Portland’s job that much harder. Colorado got a late winner from Morgan Whittaker to beat Vancouver at home, while RSL was aided by a Tomas Ostrak red card and thumped St. Louis 3-0 at home (with some additional racist abuse being shouted towards St. Louis defender Fallou Fall, some family-friendly environment they’ve got over at America First Field).

But another consequential result happened in San Diego. The Seattle Sounders jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only for them to blow it due to 2 second-half Plastico penalties. The sky continues to fall up north, with several angry messages being directed towards Allen Chapman. I can only applaud them for their generous nature. 

The Galaxy will make a long voyage across town to face LAFC in the final El Trafico of the season. It is imperative that LAFC takes care of business for Portland’s sake. The Timbers will travel to St. Louis on Wednesday for another high-stakes Western Conference matchup. But, as the sun rises on Sunday morning, the Timbers are still alive and have another last-gasp victory to celebrate.

Final Whistle

And celebration is absolutely warranted for several reasons. The Timbers won a game that they thoroughly deserved to win and created another legendary Providence Park night. However, it’s the 100th anniversary of Providence Park. This season has mostly been a slog to get through, but there have been plenty of special moments along the way.

This season began with an 88th-minute game-winner from Ariel Lassiter against Columbus. Kevin Kelsy followed suit in mid-April with another last-second winner against LAFC. Two weeks later, it was Alex Bonetig’s turn to grab a last-second winner in San Diego. A 5-1 victory in Seattle will live on for years. Felipe Mora said goodbye with a brace against RSL in late July. Brandon Bye’s 82nd-minute low drive clinched a double against Seattle. In his first start for the club, Janssen broke the hat-trick drought at the Cathedral. Three days later, Velde slotted home an equalizing free-kick on the verge of stoppage time. Then the season began to slip away through dropped points of various varieties. And tonight, when the Timbers needed it the most, Aravena popped up in the right place at the right time to keep the season alive.

From this exact point and given the current state of the table, the Timbers are not expected to return to the postseason. They need a lot of help, and their schedule is difficult. But the beauty of the Western Conference can be summed up by a simple motto: there are no easy games. Each of Portland’s playoff rivals are just as capable of dropping points as they are at picking them up. That hope is what the Timbers have to cling onto as Decision Day draws closer and closer.

But, for now, the Timbers remain alive. They got the win that they desperately needed, and they did it in one of the most momentum-shifting ways possible: a game-winner with the last kick. These players have spent almost two months chasing that elusive win that always seemed to slip out of their reach. It was evident in the post-game celebrations on the field, where the majority of the North End serenaded the team as they walked to the log for the ceremony. Happiness was on the faces of everyone as they paraded down the tunnel to the locker room amidst various cheers and shouts. They know that their job isn’t done. Per Cifuentes, and other Timbers coaches before him, there are more cup finals ahead.

So while this result presents a much-needed resuscitation, the job is far from over. Their stay in the hospital has to end soon. That faulty car that had put them in this hospital bed (through driver error too) seems to have been fixed. Now they have to drive it to St. Louis and keep the momentum going. Time to stock up on some snacks and energy drinks. The climb continues.