Caleb salutes the Army on the Timbers parade down Broadway. Photo courtesy of Lisa Hennig.
by Matt Hoffman
The Portland Timbers “attack” of their MLS Cup title begins Sunday against the Columbus Crew (March 6, 1:30 p.m. PST, ESPN), a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup final. For the Crew, the narrative is redemption. For Portland, it’s finding the formula to become only the fourth team in league history to repeat back-to-back titles.
Before a joint session of Congress on a mild day in May 1961, John F. Kennedy shocked the world and made history.
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
Perhaps no one was as shocked as NASA. At the time of Kennedy’s speech, the civilian space agency had had only 15 minutes of actual space flight experience to its name.
Even the brightest scientific minds at the time had no idea what prolonged exposure to space flight would do to the human body. Some theorized the human digestion system would falter, that eyeballs would change shape or even explode, that pilots could lose consciousness in zero-g environments.
An entire industry was created to make Tang, bacon squares, Velcro and, later, vodka in tubes.
Kennedy would not live to see it but Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s “small steps for man” would see out Kennedy’s vision to fruition. The world was captivated. At least at first.
Just months later, the NASA press center was empty for the Apollo 13 launch and Commander Jim Lovell’s transmission and greetings from Apollo 13 en route to the Moon were never broadcast beyond NASA’s headquarters in Houston.
The appetite for space exploration had been whetted and people just didn’t really care. The Shuttle program took the bulk of NASA’s both focus and funds. It stands at over 43 years since a human walked on the moon, despite claims made by the Cardigans.
How do you sustain the quest for excellence after achieving the greatest possible success?
Against Columbus, the Timbers are facing a club that had a similarly short off-season. Just as it makes sense that a team winning the championship would try to retain most of their players, the Crew return to league play with very much of the same makeup in Gregg Berhalter’s third year with the squad.
Kamara battling in the air. Photo courtesy of Augusto Saenz.
For Columbus it starts with Kei Kamara. Kamara was the missing piece in the puzzle for Columbus. In his first season with the club, Kamara tied Sebastian Giovinco for a share of the 2016 Golden Boot with 22 goals. Giovinco “won” the Golden Boot courtesy of a higher assist tally though Kamara did not attempt a penalty shot deferring that task to Federico Higuain.
Kamara’s breakout brought a feature story in Rolling Stone, and a bump in pay after Kamara held out at the beginning of camp. The two sides were able to come to a consensus signing Kamara to a DP contract this week.
With three goals in pre-season, it isn’t likely that the contract saga has lessened Kamara’s effectiveness. According to Opta, Kamara lead MLS in aerials last year meaning he will be a great test for the fitness of Liam Ridgewell’s calf.
In December, Berhalter made the mistake of giving Timbers left back Jorge Villafana motivational material saying he liked how winger Ethan Finlay lined up with Villafana. Villafana completely shut down the right winger, forcing Berhalter to remove Finlay in the 79th minute.
With Villafana moving on and former Crew player Chris Klute still dealing with a meniscus injury, it looks like Zarek Valentin will get the nod at left back. Valentin has never played left back before in his professional career but occupied the spot in preseason play.
New signing left back Zarek Valentin battling with Minnesota United FC.
Valentin is good on the ball, is perhaps a little more rugged than Villafana but does not have his speed. Expect Valentin to remain back more and not provide the same attacking width we saw last year.
That puts an even greater onus on Lucas Melano to create from the left side. Melano has now had an off-season, shortened as it was, under his belt but looked lively in the preseason albeit against reduced competition.
The Timbers project to keep running with the inverted triangle in the center and use Melano and Dairon Asprilla to penetrate from the wings. Asprilla, who left the match last week, appears to have recovered and should start on Sunday.
Tying everything together is Fanendo Adi; it’s Adi’s ability to receive and distribute the ball with his back to the goal that is focal to the movement of the team.
The cause for concern will be Columbus’s ability to counter. As the Timbers push numbers forward, the Crew full backs will look to play the long ball out to Kamara. That’s if the ball was to get past Wil Trapp and Tony Tchani.
If Portland cedes possession, Columbus still have the means to mount a nice possession-based attack predicated on Trapp and Tchani interplaying with Higuain. Justin Meram may miss the game due to a knock but look for the wingers to cut inside in Portland’s half using their full backs for width.
Sunday’s match, like last year’s Cup Final, will feature two similarly matched, dynamic, attacking teams. The difference comes down to which team is able to create–and finish–the opportunities that present themselves. For the Timbers this means tracking Kamara extensively which will require Adam Kwarasey communicating with Nat Borchers and Ridgewell (or Jermaine Taylor).
The Apollo 11 flight did not occur overnight, it was the culmination of the Mercury and Gemini missions in which astronauts learned valuable tasks like walking in space, performing a rendezvous in space, and how to use the gravitational pull of the Earth to slingshot the capsule to lunar orbit.
Likewise Sunday will be the next step in the progression. The question is no longer can the Portland Timbers win the title. No, the question is can the Portland Timbers become a dynasty.
