Hi Mom!
By Matt Hoffman
Captain Comeback made an appearance on Friday night as the Timbers were able to salvage a point in a entertaining match against the Houston Dynamo.
After forty minutes of scoreless play, two lapses of concentration saw the Timbers down 2-0 at the half. It’s an easy but ultimately futile gesture to point to the three (two legitimate) penalties Houston committed. The referee missed some calls on Friday on both sides. Liam Ridgewell was lucky to not earn a yellow or even a red for his elbow to Erick Torres’s head. Ultimately Cubo would draw a red, and Diego Chara’s elbow in stoppage time.
Ratings
Adam Larson Kwarasey: 4
On the simplest metric, Kwarasey faced three shots and only saved one. Keep in mind that road opponents have limited Houston to a mere eight goals in the previous 12 games and it’s hard to feel confident going forward with the defense’s performance late in the first half on Friday.
Obviously, standing at 11 shut outs in the season, Kwarasey is doing more right than he is doing wrong. But while he was often stranded alone on Friday, Kwarasey wouldn’t agree that it his finest performance. No crosses saved, no balls punched out and only one save.
Alvas Powell: 5
In a way Powell hurt his own cause: The right was so locked down that both of Houston’s goals came on Portland’s left side. Powell was active in trying to work the ball into the mixer, as well as knowing when to go out towards the wing to provide width. Powell led all players with 71 touches. Especially in the second half was Powell more aggressive as the Timbers amped up the pressure.
Nat Borchers: 5
Early on, Borchers was involved in trying to pry Houston open. Passes were played back to Borchers for him to go long. Borchers was active and read the ball well, except on the two goals where he seemed to be trapped on an island. There was a drop in communication and it hurt the team.
Liam Ridgewell: 5
Ridgewell, like Borchers, performed well for the most part. In the lead up to Houston’s goals, Ridgewell was in no-man’s land and did all he could tactically.
Where he earns demerits is his challenge to Cubo Torres. Keep in mind, Ridgewell would have faced a game suspension were he to acquire a yellow card Friday night. An elbow to the back of the head is often a straight-red though it appears that Ridgewell will escape punishment from the league’s disciplinary committee.
Should Ridgewell make the trip to Seattle, both Portland and Ridgewell are very lucky indeed.
Jorge Villafana: 4
The Timbers approach eschewed the left. Whether this was intentional or not, it left Villafana with precious little to contribute to the team through the night. Villafana had the fewest passes, by far, of any other starter. As with touches. The ball just seemed to hover away from Villafana all of which contributed to his poor ranking.
Diego Chara: 5
Chara’s score went down significantly for one simple reason: with the red card, Chara won’t be available for the Timbers on Sunday at Seattle. Leaving the team shorthanded for conceding a needless foul is a touch pill to swallow for a Timbers team holding onto life just north of the red line.
Will Johnson: 5
From the pressbox, it looked like a hard challenge. The referee was prepared to issue a card until begged off by Johnson. It was the correct call and for a sport long criticized for its divers, Johnson gets a bonus point for sportsmanship.
An overall good performance was overshadowed by the two goals given up. Johnson had a in part in each of them but specifically for his leadership. There’s a slight tendency for goals to be scored both within five minutes of halftime and within five minutes of a goal being conceded.
Johnson, usually as strong as they come insofar as leaders go, wasn’t able to get the team focused to finish out the half only down a goal. Again, Houston is not a good road team but they’ve now scored a third of their away goals in Goose Hollow.
Rodney Wallace: 4
Like Villafana, Rodney Wallace did not see much of the ball and the ball seldom went anywhere on his wing. Wallace completed 82% of his passes but only five of which were forward passes on the Houston half and he only chipped in two crosses.
Diego Valeri: 7
Valeri owned the center of the field until he met the wall of resistance Houston offered in the final third. He still managed to get four shots off and where he couldn’t score, Troesma did what he did best: create, with four key passes, one of which being the game-tying assist.
Darlington Nagbe: 6
Not the first time I’ve said this, but the things Nagbe does, often don’t show up in the box score. Mercifully this week he scored a goal and goals do really count towards something in the box score.
The knock on Nagbe is he’s a set-up man. He’ll take the shot if it’s there, but he’s much more inclined to get the ball to the striker. Fantastic trait to have in a teammate but with Portland’s unremarkable statistics, there’s not much to prop up Nagbe which is a shame.
Lucas Melano: 8
This may have been what Caleb Porter was meant when he mentioned the floodgates opening.
Despite taking more shots than any other team, the Timbers are 18th (out of 2o teams) in goals scored in MLS play with 28 goals. The LA Galaxy lead the league with 49.
Melano might be the key to an offensive resurgence. The Argentinian got his first MLS assist to put the Timbers on the board before scoring his first MLS goal in the 86th minute.
It wasn’t just the goals that Melano contributed, Melano created chances, forced Houston to play back further, and helped push the tempo.
What’s he showed that he has the required fitness and stamina, taking advantage of tired legs to work home the equalizer.
Bench
Faendo Adi (57′) : 6
Yes, it was a penalty. It’s easy to complain when the referee misses critical calls but, as mentioned above, the Timbers also didn’t have to finish out the last 30 minutes shorthanded either so there’s that.
Adi was a bit muted initially but made crucial contributions down the stretch with two key passes and by applying continued pressure. Clearly Adi sees Melano as a threat and as such, Adi was duty-bound to make something happen.
Dairon Asprilla (82′) : N/A
Asprilla played eight minutes, made one pass and was dispossessed once.
