Vytattas Andriuskevicius makes his first start for the Timbers against Dragon.
by Matt Hoffman (@mhoff)
Repetition doesn’t really exist.
As far as your mind is concerned, nothing happens the same twice, even if in every technical sense, the thing is identical. Your perception is constantly shifting. It doesn’t stay in one place. –Brian Eno
Portland’s 2016-17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League opener Wednesday night (it’s on Facebook) is critical if the Timbers hope to advance in the international cup competition. No MLS team has ever won the competition under the current format which has been thoroughly dominated by Mexican teams. It makes sense given Mexico owns seven of the top ten (and all of the top five) spots on the current ELO rankings of North America club teams.
The Timbers are placed in a group that includes tonight’s opponent Dragon (actually not real life dragons) and Saprissa. Each team will play each other home and away and only one team will advance. Getting results outside of Portland is going to be tough given the remaining matches will be in the thick of late season MLS schedule. Meanwhile, Saprissa, from Costa Rica, is one of the three non-Mexican teams in the top ten. Given those factors, the Timbers need to win, perhaps by a lot, in order to advance.
Perhaps more critically is how the Timbers defense looks and plays tonight. It’s been written about time after time, but the Timbers offense cannot plunge a metaphorical dagger into a literal Dragon team if players are behind held back to prop up a suddenly unhealthy defense.
Consider:
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Center back Borchers is out with an Achilles tear for the season
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Full back Zarek Valentin’s status is uncertain, awaiting the results from a MCL scan.
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Liam Ridgewell is apparently ready to go but has been sidelined by a calf strain
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Left back Chris Klute missed beginning of the season with an injury which may still be limiting him.
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Midfielder (and sometime defender) Ben Zemanski has a groin injury.
It’s now small wonder that the emphasis of the Summer Transfer Window has been on foreign-based players who can help the defense starting with Lithuanian Vytautas Andriuškevičius, Newcastle’s Steven Taylor, and Nigerian defender Gbenga Arokoyo.
It seemed unlikely that Dragon would see the Timbers best players or even the team’s desired back line. For one thing, Steven Taylor and Arokoyo likely are still in the process of finalizing their permits.
Yet Alvas Powell and Andriuškevičius, who both played on Sunday, will get their first 90 minutes of action on the back line tonight to find chemistry alongside Jermaine Taylor and Amobi Okugo get one more chance to prove themselves before one, or possibly both, are replaced in the lineup.
A surprising omission is Taylor Peay. Peay has compiled a handful of impressive displays in his limited time with the first team. Given that it’s a midweek fixture against, theoretically, lesser competition, Wednesday could have been a good night for Peay to make his case for first team status. However chemistry trumps potential for one night.
The Timbers realize that a draw or, god forbid, a loss tonight would be devastating. That explains why stalwarts like Fanendo Adi and Diego Valeri are also in the starting line-up. CONCACAF results have no bearing on an MLS season, but tonight’s performance can go a long way to proving how long a rebuild is in the works for the Timbers to climb to last year’s heights.
