Another Portland red card – but Fochive showed very well otherwise
By Niall McCusker
In their second game of the Simple Invitational Tournament a largely reserve Portland Timbers side drew 1-1 with the Chicago Fire in front of 10,000 fans at Providence Park.
Michael Nanchoff opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a deflected free-kick but a Norberto Paparatto own-goal leveled matters just before halftime.
This match looked a lot more like a laid-back pre-season encounter than the fiery battle against Cascadian rivals Vancouver at the weekend. George Fochive marred an otherwise excellent outing with his dismissal for a second yellow card in the 88th minute, but the game was generally played in a good spirit.
The mid-week game in the pre-season tournament has generally been the one were the Timbers give their reserves an opportunity and that was the case last night. Andrew Weber got the start in goal with the evening’s captain Paparatto marshaling an otherwise inexperienced defense. His partner in the center was rookie Anthony Manning who acquitted himself well with a simple, composed approach, with Brazilian signing Jeanderson on the left and second-year player Taylor Peay on the right.
Caleb Porter deployed a 442 formation with Fochive and rookie Nick Besler in the center of midfield, Nanchoff on the left and Colombian Dairon Asprilla on the right. Maxi Urruti and Gaston Fernandez formed a strong looking Argentine tandem in attack.
Urruti – crowded out.
The home team started well, though Chicago should have opened the scoring early with a free header following a free-kick from the right. On the quarter hour Asprilla forced a good save with a header from an excellent Nanchoff cross, Fochive made the keeper work again a minute later with a decent long shot.
Urruti and Fernandez applied the typical Portland high-pressure with wings Nanchoff and Asprilla dropping deep to do their share of the defensive work. Asprilla is a player who is going to give Porter some serious selection headaches as the season starts, he looks made for the right side of a 442 formation but may also force a central move for Nagbe if the 4231 system remains the preferred style.
However, it was the left winger Nanchoff who gave Portland a deserved lead in the 22nd minute, his free-kick looked on target anyway but a deflection off Alex left the keeper with no chance. Nanchoff was replaced by Tshuma ten minutes later, after the game Porter said he had picked up a hip-flexor injury.
Chicago also fielded a mix of reserves and starters, most of the more familiar names were up front, Amarikwa, Igboananike and Alex – but the Timbers defense handled them quite well for the most part. As halftime approached a long ball up the left wing should have been easy to defend, but Igboananike used his body to get the wrong side of Paparatto and draw a free-kick. It looked a lot like how Quincy Amarikwa earned a penalty against the same defender at the start of last season. For an experienced player he really should be able to handle stocky, low center of gravity type forwards better.
This free-kick led to a series of corners, culminating in Paparatto heading into his own net as players in front of him missed the ball. Like Vancouver at the weekend, Chicago had been gifted an undeserved goal just before half-time.
As promised earlier in the week, Porter brought in Adi and Nagbe for a different look up front in the second half. Nagbe added his inimitable close dribbling style and at times linked well with Adi, but the Timbers were quieter in the second half and it was a more even game.
Adi battles with Laurentowitz.
Referee Gantar showed some pre-season form, he clearly needs to work on his backpedaling skills as he managed to trip over himself after booking Jeanderson, drawing a ‘diver’ chant from an amused Timbers Army.
Both teams made multiple substitutions around the hour mark but neither really threatened much. Portland introduced trialist Blair Gavin for Besler and gave Thoma some time at left-back for Jeanderson. Besler had a mixed night, some errant passes suggesting he might need development time before challenging the first eleven.
New Chicago DP Shaun Maloney hit a nice long shot just over and with a few minutes to go Albert Edwards had a great chance to win it for the visitors but failed to connect properly with a cross from the left. After that came an occurrence rarely if ever sighted in the wild before – an on target left-footed shot from Darlington Nagbe, but the keeper gathered it quite easily.
Porter will have liked what he saw from Jeanderson, Peay and Manning at the back and after the game also singled out George Fochive for praise, but hinted that Jack Jewsbury’s experience may see him claim the defensive midfield spot made available by Zemanski’s injury.
The Timbers finishing with 10 men instead of 9 was progress – as was a goal. But threats from the run of play with either set of strikers were concerning limited. Porter will surely be looking for the net to be tested from play in the one remaining pre-season game against Norwegian side Stabeck this Saturday.
