The juxtaposition between Saturday night and March 19th tells the story of the season. In the season opener, the Timbers showed how far they had to go. In the finale they showed how far they had come. No, it wasn’t a flawless performance on Saturday, but it was inspired, gritty, and ultimately successful.
On paper, the Timbers had nothing to pay for on Saturday. In fact, they had a lot not to play for. At stake were two spots in the SuperDraft, a host of allocation money, and positioning in several of MLS’s myriad player acquisition mechanisms. With so much to gain for the future, what is the significance of a few meaningless points to finish the season?
A lot, as it turns out.
For the first 45 minutes Portland outworked RSL, but failed to create much in the way of goal-scoring opportunities. All too often Portland seemed eager to take a hopeful crack from distance rather than see the build-up through to the finish.
The gulf of quality on the field showed from time to time, as Portland struggled to fully contain Alvaro Saborio and RSL’s attack. Despite being pinned down on a couple occasions, Portland weathered the storm and established themselves as no pushover despite the presumptive disparity in quality and motivation.
Just as it appeared Portland would escape into halftime at a scoreless draw, Fabian Espindola found Saborio with a beautiful ball coming out of the midfield. Saborio beat Futty to it and looped the ball over Troy Perkins after the Portland keeper came halfway out in a rare showing of indecision. In a first half that had been played on relatively level terms, it was a sucker punch going into intermission.
Unlike so many times before, however, Portland wouldn’t back down after the initial blow was struck. The Timbers responded with increasing intensity as the match became more physical in the second half.
Portland appeared to have set up the equalizer in the 55th minute after Chris Wingert – already on a yellow card – handled a ball in the box. Wingert avoided being sent off – surely to Kalif Alhassan’s incredulous jealousy – but the Timbers were awarded the penalty. Jack Jewsbury, however, in the midst of a cold spell on the score sheet, sent the effort high off the crossbar, leading Will Johnson to jump in his face in taunting celebration.
This should have been the Timbers death knell. But again the Timbers refused to yield – apparently determined to play to the final whistle of the season.
Real, however, would hold the lead well into the night. In the 89th minute they almost salted the match away after a miscommunication between Perkins and Eric Brunner allowed Saborio to try to chip the ball into the net again. This time, however, the ball would glance off the post amidst the confusion in front of goal.
Portland would punish RSL’s inability to put the match on ice two minutes later. After Brian Umony collected the ball on the right wing he sent it in toward Bright Dike in the box. Dike couldn’t get a deflection on the ball, however, as RSL keeper Nick Rimando did well to break up the play. The ball got through, however, and waiting far post was Futty who slotted the ball into the open net.
The result was the first one that the Timbers have earned at the death this year. There have been plenty of disappointments late in matches since March, but earning this draw in the 90th minute leaves the Rose City with a better taste in its mouth as it enters what promises to be a fascinating offseason.
Match Observations
- I don’t know about you, but I yelled about as loudly after Futty’s goal as I have any this season. In the grand scheme it was entirely meaningless. But two factors made this especially satisfying: First, it was nice to see the boys’ inspired effort rewarded in a match in which they had every reason to pack it in. Injuries, motivation, disappointment, and a tough opponent on the road all provided excuses. The Timbers weren’t having any of it. Second, RSL showed a pretty surprising lack of class and discipline in the 2nd half. From Johnson’s juvenile taunting of Jewsbury after the penalty to Saborio’s petulant push of Eric Brunner’s face in retaliation for goodness-knows-what, it was nice to see a side that comported themselves so shamefully be handed a little dose of justice.
- After Columbus’s collapse against Chicago, Portland actually slides to 12th on the table – and this is good news for the Timbers! Portland got a good result out of last night and found a way to get bumped up a spot in player acquisition rankings. Let’s discuss this – and how perverse it may be – in a couple weeks.
- You know, John Spencer really went out of his way a few weeks ago to refute the notion that the Timbers were an under-talented, over-achieving team. Here is the thing: I’m not sure he’s right, and Saturday certainly didn’t do anything to buttress his argument. The Timbers for much of the night weren’t pretty, but they were effective. Still, the quality was lacking, especially in the final third. With Darlington Nagbe – and to a lesser extent Sal Zizzo – I really only felt confident in the attack with the ball at Diego Chara’s feet. I do think this is a hardworking team, but I think the knock on the Timbers – that they lack the quality and dynamism to be an elite side – isn’t altogether inaccurate. Again, we’ll come back to this topic.
- Finally, on a personal note, I would like to thank the folks at timbersarmy.org and all of you for letting me write these this year. While school and travel occasionally took me away from writing, I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to do this. If you’ll have me, I would eagerly do it again next year. Also, I’ll plan on posting about any major front office moves that are made this offseason. For starters, over the next couple weeks, I’ll write posts about where the Timbers need to go from here and where the MLS needs to go. Until then, thank you for a fantastic season.
Timbers Grades
Troy Perkins, 4 – In what has been an outstanding season for Perkins, this was actually a pretty poor night. He made Saborio’s goal easy by getting caught halfway, and almost let RSL put the nail in the coffin in the miscommunication with Brunner. Still, anybody who isn’t excited for Perkins to be the Timbers’ keeper for the next several years is out of their mind.
Rodney Wallace, 5 – Rodney, Rodney, Rodney. Our relationship can best be described as love-hate. You had your way marauding up the RSL right side, at times on Saturday. Then you also had a number of moments where you got punked in defense, gave the ball away needlessly, or took a hopeless shot from deep. Here’s the thing: I hate that I want to keep you on the roster, but I think I do.
Futty, 5 – Got beat on Saborio’s goal, but otherwise had a pretty good night in back. The defense, on the whole, was solid.
Eric Brunner, 6 – Brunner isn’t going to get any awards this year. Not one. And that’s a shame. Underrated, underappreciated, and undercompensated. That’s Eric Brunner. Eric, please be in a Timbers shirt for a long time. Oh, and Jurgen Klinsmann (because I know you read this), give Eric a look. If you can tell me one thing that Tim Ream does that Brunner doesn’t, I’ll excuse your lack of consideration for at least bringing him into camp.
Lovel Palmer, 4.5 – Decent defensively, but I’m getting awfully tired of offensive possessions ending with a Palmer mishit.
James Marcelin, 5.5 – Held the ball up nicely at times, and had an overall solid defensive night. Had a few giveaways, though, that make you cringe at the MLS level.
Eric Alexander, 5.5 – Had his best moments when he found himself on the ball closer to the center of the pitch. I’m getting closer to my initial optimism about him after an interlude of skepticism.
Jack Jewsbury, 4.5 – It’s been a little bit of a rough fall for Jack, capped off by his penalty miss. Still, he carried the team on his back for extended periods of the season and is responsible for by far the most points on the team. While Perkins was worthy, it was maybe a bit harsh not to give him Supporters POY. The people have spoken, however, even if I respectfully dissent.
Diego Chara, 6.5 – I just can’t help falling in love with Diego. It took him a little while to adjust, but now he is blossoming into a bona fide star. On Saturday he was again incredibly box-to-box, being both the Timbers most creative player in the attack and one of the biggest contributors on defense. My favorite thing: The fact that he’s 5’5”, has a propensity for hard fouls, and jogs away from them with his innocent “I’m so tiny, how could I have fouled him that hard?” grin on his face. Brings a similar grin to my face every time.
Kalif Alhassan, 5.5 – Pretty typical Kalif on Saturday. Fantastic with the ball at his feet but struggled to make the final pass or put a good effort on frame.
Kenny Cooper, 4.5 – John Strong ably pointed out how difficult playing in the 4-5-1 is for Kenny. He’s obviously not terribly dynamic, and being that isolated really limits his ability to be the target forward that he is. It showed.
Bright Dike, 6 – Being disruptive is what Bright Dike does. Bright Dike was disruptive on Saturday night. That led to a goal. Cool.
Brian Umony, 5.5 – Was pretty anonymous until he sent that cross in. It was a good dangerous ball, however.
David Horst, 5.5 – Played awfully tough in back in a short spell. As usual, wasn’t taking anything off of anybody.
And so, for one final time in 2011…
Onward, Rose City!