The last time these two met, Portland Timber’s owner Merrit Paulson got jiggy with it.
By Matt Hoffman
Houston meets Portland tonight (8:00 PM, UniMas; English (local) on KPDX Channel 49).for the rubber match of the regular season with both sides claiming home victories: the Dynamo won 3-1 at BBVA Compass Stadium on May 16, Portland got the 2-0 victory June 20 at Providence Park) and there is an abundance of talking points:
Will Cubo Torres take flight?
A year ago, Erick “Cubo” Torres was an on-loan striker on a for a Chivas USA going through an existential demolition. Torres made the most of the Chivas limited resources to put himself in the Golden Boot race before fading down the stretch.
Cubo played well enough that Chivas Guadalajara made Cubo’s DP deal with Houston was contingent on Cubo playing out the end of the season for the relegation-challenged Liga MX side before coming over to Houston officially in the Summer Transfer Window.
In the month since coming over, circumstances has limited Torres to a mere 95 minutes over the span of four games.
Erick “Cubo” Torres is back in MLS following his loan spell to Chivas Guadalajara.
One factor working against Cubo is good fortune on the Dynamo’s part. Despite playing the tried-and-true, beloved-by-none 4-4-2 in recent weeks, Houston, like Portland, tends to favor a single-striker set-up.
Unfortunately for Cubo, the other two guys vying for that single-striker position (Giles Barnes and Will Bruin, respectively) have a combined 15 goals between them.
The other: rust. While on-loan, Cubo played in five games, only as a late-game substitute. The lack of playing time altered Coyle’s plans for Cubo:
“Of course [Torres is] a major signing at the club, and if circumstances had been different and he’d played at Chivas Guadalajara and come in as we expected, then he’d probably had hit the ground running. But we had to build him up. I think it’s fair to say he’s certainly getting closer to that happening.” -Houston Coach Owen Croyle
Cubo played his longest stint so far this season, 34 minutes, in the loss to New England last week and it’s reasonable to expect that number to go up tonight. With tonight’s match being broadcast exclusivley on Unimas, it wouldn’t be surprising if there isn’t overt pressure on Houston to get the Mexican international on the pitch.
How will Houston mark Valeri?
In the 3-1 loss against Houston in May, Coyle deployed Luis Garrido to shadow Diego Valeri pressuring the Argentine along the way determinedly hindering Valeri’s possession and his moxie.
It’s hard to tell how much of that was the effectiveness of Coyle’s plan or the fact that it was Valeri’s second start of the season. It’s hard to say as Valeri only played 18 minutes in the following match between the two teams (a 2-0 Timbers victory) after missing the prior three games with injury.
Defense: Solid. Offense: Leaving it ’til late
Portland currently stands at MLS-league leading eleven clean sheets and, as of their win in Utah, the team hasn’t allowed a goal in 273 minutes of play.
The defense has been solid, but you can’t win if you don’t score.
It’s a good thing the defense has been as stout, because the Timbers are not scoring goals.
The well may be dry but in his remarks following training this week, Caleb Porter thinks the team is on the precipice of reversing that.
“We’ve been getting into some really good spots … we’ve had some very positive attacking play, but we’re just falling short a little bit on those final passes… some of those little details. I honestly think if we get that last piece right, we’re on the cusp of a floodgate opening.” -Caleb Porter
Fanendo Adi, who missed the last game due to a hip injury, is–in Porter’s words, “pretty close to 100 percent,” and will available for tonight’s match.
In Adi’s absence, Lucas Melano made his first start. With two DP strikers to call on, it seems Porter would want to get both of the field. Porter, who has clearly thought of it, only offered: “Anything’s possible.”
Despite the dearth of scoring, Saturday’s win was Portland’s 11th in 25 matches this season which was the fastest the the team had reached the 11-win mark in the Timbers MLS history. The previous mark was 11 wins in 29 games set in the 2013 season.
