Timbers Beat Themselves in Houston

*Cover photo credit to Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers*

Tonight in Houston, the Portland Timbers lost their first game of the season. While a loss isn’t good, the Timbers did show the ability to beat a team that outclassed them twice last season.

The first chance came 3 minutes in, when a half-volleyed shot by Cristhian Paredes got punched over the bar by Steve Clark. Juan Mosquera fired a shot directly at Clark seven minutes later. So the Timbers started off this game by matching Houston’s intensity, which is the one thing they didn’t do at all last season. Houston was able to grow into the game, but the Timbers did have more chances in the first half. However, the lone Houston goal came off of a communication error. Mosquera got in the way of Maxime Crepeau and the ball spilled out to a wide-open Ibrahim Aliyu, who had the easiest finish of his whole career to put Houston up 1-0 in the 43rd minute. 

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The Timbers didn’t fold in the second half. They kept taking the game to Houston, and their best chance of the game came 4 minutes after halftime. Santiago Moreno put in a low cross, Dairon Asprilla had a perfect dummy, and it was set up perfectly for Evander to put it past Steve Clark. Evander’s shot was fired over the bar and the chance went begging. The Timbers kept finding themselves in good spots, but couldn’t find the equalizer. The 3-match unbeaten streak is over after a tough 1-0 loss in Texas.

Before I get into the specific players I want to highlight, I have to talk about the team performance I saw on the pitch. This was a hard-fought loss in Texas in March. While the Timbers’ finishing let them down, the defense was stout. Houston dominated the ball, ending the game with 60% possession, but they were only able to create 1 “big chance”. That “big chance” was the error from Mosquera, which means that the Timbers beat themselves. When I think of the two losses to Houston in 2023, I remember a team getting dominated by a superior opponent. The Timbers proved that they could match Houston tonight, in a place where they have a terrible historical record. In the second half, Houston outpossessed Portland 52-48, but was outshot 10-4 by the visitors. That is the sign of progress. Although the Timbers didn’t dominate the ball, they did control the game with and without the ball. This includes holding Houston to only 9 total shots. Phil Neville said it best in the postgame. “Houston dominated possession but created very little.” 

There are issues with the defense, and I’m going to talk about them in a completely separate article. But tonight, the defense showed some incredible discipline. Kamal Miller stood out, completing 92% of his passes and 10/11 of his long balls. He had 7 recoveries, 3 clearances, and he won 3 of his 4 duels. Dario Zuparic stepped in for the injured Zac McGraw, and won 9 of his 10 duels while drawing 2 fouls. Eric Miller had another solid outing at left back; winning 2 tackles and 3 of his 4 duels. I’m not going to go into depth about Juan Mosquera in this recap. I think what I saw from him is indicative of this defense’s major flaw and will be dealt with in a separate article. To be clear, Mosquera isn’t the only player that does it, but he did stick out like a sore thumb. His attacking contributions were fine but he’s paid to defend. He’s got to get better at that aspect of his game. No ifs ands or buts.

Cristhian Paredes had another solid defensive outing, but the game called for Eryk Williamson so he got subbed off in the 65th minute after another good shift. Williamson was only cleared to play 25 minutes, and he made the most of his time on the pitch. His skill on the ball is truly a sight to behold, and he’s always thinking a step ahead. It’s going to be interesting to see who gets the start against Philadelphia this week. David Ayala only played in the dying moments of the second half, and once he returns to full health the midfield situation will become even more muddled. However, there is strength in depth and competition. 

There is very little depth out wide, and tonight is where that lack of depth showed. Both Santiago Moreno and Antony had off-nights. This wouldn’t be as big of an issue if there were options on the bench to substitute on. Moreno wasn’t terrible, but he’s still got Darlington Nagbe Syndrome. To recap:

Moreno has done an excellent job of getting attacks going, but tonight he performed like the graphic shown above. I’m not concerned with him, and I don’t think anyone else should be either. 

Antony had a very poor game, and it was characterized by Griffin Dorsey’s defensive work against him. Like Moreno, Antony doesn’t use his left foot unless he absolutely has to. Tonight, he had several opportunities to use that left foot, and chose to shift the ball to his right where Dorsey was waiting every time. If there was a suitable option available on the bench, I think Antony would’ve gotten subbed off tonight. But that’s an indictment of roster construction rather than the player. The Brazilian winger is still very young, and he’s still got a good amount of learning and practice to do. Sometimes it just isn’t your day.

Dairon Asprilla started up top, got fouled to bits, barely got any calls, and created the best chance of the night with his dummy. However, tonight’s performance also showed why he’s the emergency striker. I’ve praised his off-ball work in previous articles but tonight the Timbers really needed a striker willing to make an incisive run into the box to initiate a cross. Most of the time during training, Asprilla is willing to leave those chances with a dummy to allow other forwards to have a shot. That’s perfectly fine in training, but they needed him to make runs like a striker tonight. He wasn’t able to, and he got subbed off for Nathan Fogaca. Fogaca was a spark off the bench, combining really well with Antony and creating a chance of his own. But he did show effort, even though the Timbers scored zero goals.

This is another instance of a Polarizing Evander Game ™. Either you think he isn’t worth a DP tag or you think he had an off night. I’m firmly in the second group, even though his 49th minute miss was a shot he should’ve buried. Tonight, he slowly grew into the game, and was a huge factor in an excellent second half. But those missed chances do stand out. It’s worth reminding everyone that he’s not Diego Valeri and he’s trying to spearhead an attack without a true striker. We can’t expect brilliance from him every week, but he did try his hardest to find a tying goal tonight. I guarantee you that no one is feeling worse about his performance than himself. 

Diego Chara continues to do Diego Chara things, and he was the lone player to face the media tonight. He said the team was “disappointed” tonight after their first loss of the season. “We didn’t convert the opportunities that we needed to.” I’m very happy that the team acknowledged the good parts of their performance while still resolving to work on the bad. After 4 games, the Timbers are 2-1-1 with a goal differential of +3. Tonight, the Timbers traveled to Texas early in the season and lost. But their performance was good enough to walk away with all three points. The work is never finished, and the Timbers didn’t have the luck and decisiveness that they needed to win. In the words of Chara, “We’re on to next week.”

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