A 1-0 win is exactly the sort of result Timbers fans should be hoping their team can grind out in the opening weeks of the MLS season while awaiting the return of creative talisman Diego Valeri. Last season scoring 2, 3 or even 4 goals was no guarantee of three points on the board for Portland, given their leaky defense. The addition of MLS veteran center-back Nat Borchers and Liam Ridgewell preparing for the season with Wigan in the English Championship instead of at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino pool in Las Vegas should allow for a less porous start to this campaign.
However, this 1-0 win against Norway’s Stabaek was in an open, free-flowing, cleanly played game, actual MLS games are sadly more likely to resemble the trench warfare of the earlier pre-season ‘friendly’ against Vancouver. Already missing Will Johnson, the last thing Portland needed was the cruel ACL rupture for Ben Zemanski in that game. Zemanski had played a key part in the Timbers closing out last season very strongly and looked set to stake a claim as much more than a stop-gap solution in defensive midfield.
These guys look way too happy to be on the bench!
Diego Chara also picked up a knock against the Whitecaps that preventing him fielding in this game, but should not keep him out of the season opener against Real Salt Lake on Saturday. That left veteran utility man Jack Jewsbury to partner with trialist Blair Gavin as the two defensive mids, they did a reasonably solid job, but an understandable lack of chemistry would prevent the Timbers from establishing a possession platform to control the game.
But perhaps we should no longer assume that Portland will strive to win the possession battle in every match? A front four of Adi, Wallace, Nagbe and Asprilla was described by Caleb Porter as their ‘dynamic, pace-power component’ with ‘true wingers’ and they certainly looked more dangerous on the counter than through the kind of slower, patient build-up often employed last season.
Not the great Faustino Asprilla – but Dairon Asprilla also looks a scary prospect for defenders.
Adi held-up the play well, linking with Nagbe in the center and also drifting to the left and right to set-up possession for his wingers and full-backs with some deft foot-work. He took his goal simply and effectively, knowing that Jorge Villafana likes a low cross to the near post and popping up in exactly that spot.
Asprilla again impressed on the right wing and should have opened his account after an excellent ball from Ridgewell over the top. He and Powell on the right would be an ideal duo to exploit any lack of speed on the opponents left flank. In this game Powell sat back for the most part, content to let Asprilla attack and Villafana move up on the opposite side, that’s the kind of maturity that he will need as a starter this season.
Villafana was withdrawn at halftime as a precautionary measure after experiencing unspecified ‘tightness’; his replacement Jeanderson looked comfortable on the ball, as one would expect from a Brazilian, but his defensive capabilities were not overly tested.
Having praised the pace and dynamism of his starting forward unit Porter said:
“we’ve got other good options and that’s a positive, because we’re pretty flexible, we’ve got different personnel choices we can make based on the game and now we’re flexible a little bit in terms of system, we can quickly shift because we’ve played a lot of 442 in the pre-season. That makes us unpredictable, Salt Lake won’t know what we’re gonna do”
After 60 minutes the personnel and system did change. Adi and Asprilla were replaced with Urruti and Fernandez, Nagbe moved right to give ‘La Gata’ room to operate behind Urruti as the formation shifted closer to 4-4-2 from the starting 4-2-3-1. The Argentinian duo set about trying to show they were not to be considered second choice, creating a number of good chances, the best of which fell to Urruti’s head from a Wallace cross, but the Stabaek keeper was equal to it.
Stabaek keeper beats Urruti to the cross
Fernandez certainly offers an alternative to the ‘pace, power component’, he can alter the tempo of a game, slowing things down to retain possession when needed, but he can also be bull-dozed by the physical aspect of MLS in certain games. Having a good understanding of this balance as opposed to the experimentation in trying to find a best place for him at the start of last season should see him deployed more effectively.
Fernandez remains likely to get the starting nod in the center with Nagbe to his right, but Asprilla is pushing hard for a starting slot. On the left side Rodney Wallace provided some nice crosses and facilitates Villafana’s attacking tendencies. In Valeri’s absence he should be the first name on the offensive side of Porter’s team-sheet every week.
Adi appears to have been taken out by a Norwegian sniper.
Behind whichever forward unit he selects expect to see Jewsbury and Chara in the defensive midfield slots. The game was not of the frenetic tempo of some MLS encounters, but Jewsbury had no problem going the full ninety minutes. He hit the post with an excellent free-kick and his service from set-pieces remains the best of any Timber.
Porter was probably a little concerned about the team’s inability to find a second goal against a Stabaek side that is much deeper in pre-season than the Timbers, but he wasn’t showing it, saying he was “OK if we get a clean sheet every game and score one goal”.
In the absence of Valeri 1-0 score lines may indeed be his best hope for wins and his defense will need to hold down the fort and help grind out some results that perhaps appeal more to the pragmatist than the purist.
