Fanendo Adi and Jack Barmby share a candid moment.
by Matt Hoffman
The Portland Timbers are primed for another strong run in the final third of the season. The team has added new pieces to a solid core. With health and a little luck, the Timbers have the ability to be right back in championship mix.
In his first year in Yankees pinstripes, Reggie Jackson caused a firestorm when the outspoken outfielder declared himself “the straw that stirs the drink”. There was no such controversy with Timbers coach Caleb Porter used that same expression to describe midfielder Diego Valeri following Sunday’s 3-1 win. At worst, Porter’s words drew nods of agreement and even agreement from Seattle’s Sigi Schmid who bemoaned his team’s loss of Clint Dempsey as “losing our Valeri.”
The Timbers can relate. Somewhat. Valeri was lost to injury, Dempsey for getting handsy with an opponent’s head. Regardless, Valeri’s goal just before halftime was the Timbers first goal in the run of play since the 64′ mark on June 26th, a span of three games (four if you count the Timbers 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy in US Open Cup play).
The long and short of it is: with a healthy Valeri on the field, Portland is right in the mix to return to the playoffs and maybe even win consecutive cups like we saw on Sunday. Without him though the team managed to grind out results in a series of successive scoreless draws. They didn’t lose, but they sure as heck didn’t win either.
That logic is not lost on the front office who are looking to rebuild around Valeri before the Summer Transfer Window closes August 3, which is the same day Portland will be re-introduced to CONCACAF Champions League play.
The Timbers have already made a splash acquiring Vytas Andriuskevicius to play left back. Andriuskevicius got his first trainings in with Portland this week. The Lithuanian defender had a two month layoff following the end of Eredivisie where he played for relegation-bound SC Cambuur.,
Andriuskevicius will not be in the lineup on Saturday’s match against the LA Galaxy but the odds are he’ll be in the line-up soon and for the long haul. Left back has been a point of contention all season. Chris Klute, Zarek Valentin, and Jermaine Taylor have all put in shifts there but, to paraphrase a football quote, if you have three left backs, you don’t have a left back.
The hope is Andriuskevicius will confound defenses the way that he confounds spell check. He was the first choice left-back on a team that lost a lot. Andriuskevicius is your “no stats all-star” the sort of player who doesn’t have an impressive tackle-rate because he’s able to read the game at a level that he’s positioned himself to the extent that he doesn’t need to make a reckless challenge and draw a yellow card.
The Timbers may not be done shopping. With Adam Kwarasey well enough to be transferred out, in theory, there’s money to build another piece.
Jake Gleeson’s emergence enabled Kwarasey to return to Norway and possibly allow Portland to add another piece.
One thing that falls by the wayside to some but for international players, the Portland Timbers have emerged as a stepping stone. It does not always happen but one could argue that international players like Dairon Asprilla, Trencito, and Jeanderson all earned better contracts following their time in Portland. Lucas Melano has is much closer to earning his worth than say Nelson Valdez.
Meanwhile, players like Jake Gleeson has emerged to make those players expendable. Gleeson has been with club even before Portland was “promoted” to Major League Soccer in 2011. From a statistical point of view it’s hard to argue: The Timbers have gone 6-3-6 with three shutouts with Gleeson in goal, compared to 1-3-2 and zero shutouts with Kwarasey.
From a pragmatic approach it’s that Portland is, financially speaking, a tier two team, who doesn’t have the money to compete with the Galaxy, Toronto, NYCFC, and Seattle.
Pragmatism is what brought Reggie Jackson to the Bronx. The New York Yankees may have won 25 World Series from 1900 to 2000, but they were sitting on a 15 year drought in 1977. They cost was steep but the Yankees won the World Series that year with Jackson hitting five of the Yankee’s eight home runs earning MVP honors in the process.
Much like Valeri did in 2015 MLS Cup. Just keep stirring the drink.
