Come Saturday, Liam Ridgewell will again be on the sidelines as he works.
It was never going to be easy on Wednesday. The Portland Timbers were playing their second consecutive road match, with a scant four days rest, leaving the altitude of Colorado for the turf of Minnesota Whether the stadium conditions ( the incredibly fast turf, the prism that appears on the field, facing a glaring sun on a Summer Solstice day) or form, Minnesota United have been hot at home, winning four of their last six matches heading into Wednesday’s fixture against the Portland Timbers.
The Timbers streak of three consecutive matches scoring the first goal was snapped on Wednesday, as the team fought back but ultimately could not prevail over Minnesota losing 3-2 in a wild match that saw each team finish with only ten men.
Minnesota maintains their perfect 4-0-0 record when the scoring the first goal even though, technically speaking, it was an own goal by Timber Amobi Okugo. Okugo was one of four of the changes to the back five and truly was unlike the ball struck off the back of his foot. Though honestly, had Okugo hadn’t gotten to it, a streaking Christian Ramirez would have been there for the tap in.
“A few guys got complacent, a few guys at the back on the first goal, and we got punished for it,” Caleb Porter admitted following the match. “We have to learn from it because if you let your guard down, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing in this league – you’ll get punished every single time, and that happened today.”
The Timbers were able to equalize in the 37th minute. Regardless of the turf, Sebastian Blanco made a plethora of opportunities for the Timbers with his through balls. In the 36th minute, Blanco found Diego Valeri from his diagonal cut behind the Minnesota back line. Minnesota goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth committed the foul bringing Valeri down hard. Shaken, but undeterred, Valeri converted the penalty a minute later just able to slot the ball past Shuttleworth’s outstretched arm.
While the score was knotted at halftime, it did not take long for Minnesota to get that second goal. It took took even shorter for Vytas, a halftime substitute, to streak down to field and quickly find the equalizer as it Minnesota’s turn to have an own goal.
But the wildest part of the mid-week clash was the dual red cards to Sebastian Blanco and Abu Danladi. Without Blanco, the Timbers were unable to find the equalizer, or possibly even a go-ahead goal, as the Timbers fell to their fifth consecutive road loss. After opening the season with two road wins, Portland has collected a single point on the road since.
With this being the 17th match of the season, Portland stands on 24 points at the halfway point of the 2017 season. The fast start behind them, the Timbers have plateaued. Wednesday was a microcosm of much of the season: the attack still sizzles, but it’s defensive lapses have cost the team points.
Mistakes are easy to point to, but forgive the homer in me for stating that it could be much worse given the amount of turnover amid the back line. Seven players have made five or more starts along the four back line. This isn’t including the last home match when both center backs were removed from the field in the first hour.
Per Porter’s comments on Friday, Liam Ridgewell won’t begin training until early next week and it’s not just Ridgewell’s ability, but his leadership–the ability to organize the backline–that is sorely missed.
But that’s not happening on Sunday. Besides Ridgewell, Roy Miller will serve a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation.
When Portland has a full back line complete with two center backs and a healthy Ridgewell pulling the strings, it is hard not to feel Portland is on the cusp of another memorable second half stretch.
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