Timbers drop home points to Driussi-less Austin

Up 1-0 at halftime, it felt like Portland should cruise to victory in front of a home crowd.

Entering tonight, the Timbers knew anything other than three points would be a massive disappointment. Austin were coming off a horrid run of form — three points from their last six league matches, while also getting bounced from Concacaf Champions League in embarrassing fashion.

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The visitors were also without their most important player, Sebastian Driussi, who was out for undisclosed reasons.

The Timbers were the better team in this match. No doubt about it. They created more chances, got into better spaces, and even tried to kill the game with attacking subs at the end.

But the difference was Josh Wolff’s subs for Austin FC. Throwing on former Timber Maxi Urruti and former Sounder Will Bruin made the difference, and a failure to defend one cross in the 92nd minute gave Austin the equalizer they needed.

Had the match ended 2-1, this subtitle would have read “of course it was harder than it needed to be,” or something akin to that. I would have been disappointed in Portland’s lack of poise in both boxes no matter the result.

Match Summary

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• 1-0 Dario Zuparic (Evander)
• 1-1 Jon Gallagher (Emiliano Rigoni)
• 2-1 Claudio Bravo (Evander)
• 2-2 Will Bruin (Owen Wolff)

Who played well?

Franck Boli could land in either category here. He missed the best chance of the game, which could have made it 3-1, and ratings systems (which mostly rely on on-ball contributions through success rates) will say he was horrid, but I thought he gave Portland a great hold-up option going forward. As Stumptown Footy’s Alex Barnes and I discussed throughout the match, Boli’s first touch is very clean. I still believe he is our best option going forward. That being said…

Jaroslaw Niezgoda offered one of the best versions of himself tonight. The Polish striker had just 12 touches, but was still highly effective in connecting small passes around the box, which is historically how the Timbers can cause the most havoc for opposing back lines.

Evander is getting better each week. His first and second assists of the season powered both Portland goals, especially the first. But it’s not just his chance creation, it’s his general quality. Getting Portland out of tough spots, baiting defenders to open up space, finding players with switches of play — all while maintaining a frightening level of calmness.

Who struggled?

Claudio Bravo got his goal, but he struggled tonight. His miscommunication with Marvin Loria led to an easy goal for Austin, and his general lack of positioning hurt the Timbers tonight.

Larrys Mabiala won a team-high five aerial duels, but got dunked on by Bruin for the final goal. That’s unacceptable, and he’ll surely continue to sit behind Zac McGraw in the pecking order once he comes back.

Juan Mosquera had maybe his worst match as a Timber. Despite helping the Timbers’ attack immensely by pushing forward in the first half, he had the poor giveaway to set up the first equalizer and wasted a big chance in the first half.

In conclusion…

We saw it time and time again last season. We’re seeing it again this season. The Timbers cannot play to their full potential for 90 minutes.

Sure, Austin sat in a back-five. Sure, Portland were missing a couple players. But this is a match that any solid team gets three points from at home. And clearly the Timbers aren’t there yet.

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