—by Chris Rifer

The Portland Timbers didn’t do a whole lot right in the first half against New York on Saturday.  Without their first choice central midfield, the Red Bulls repeatedly had their way in feeding the ball to the left wing and creating two-on-one situations with the Timbers’ fullbacks.

The result was a series of near misses in which Portland was only spared by poor Red Bull finishing, some last-gasp defending, and the linesman’s flag.  The pressure applied by New York would have been a handful for the best defenses, and was simply too much for a sub-stellar Timbers backline.

It was no surprise, then, when Pa Modou Kah was caught with his right arm wrapped around Lloyd Sam in the box and whistled for a soft penalty.[1]  It simply would have been nearly impossible for the Timbers backline to weather that much pressure without conceding.

But as shaky as the centerbacks looked in the first half, the responsibility for New York’s first half danger wasn’t primarily theirs.  Rather, the Timbers slipped back into the six-man defending scheme that has broken down so many times in 2014.  The Timbers attacking four, Maxi Urruti, Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, and Steve Zakuani, had zero – zero – recoveries in the first half.

That’s the same number I had sitting on my couch in Portland.  And you.  And your goldfish.

So the Timbers couldn’t have been more charmed to walk into the locker room at halftime level with New York after Maxi Urruti’s dangerous shot deflected past Luis Robles just before the break.

But to the extent the first half exposed one of the biggest reasons why the Timbers have struggled in 2014, the second half showed why there is still considerable reason to believe in the Rose City.

Whereas the Timbers had slipped into the fragile six-man shell in the first half, in the second stanza Portland came out to press with every field player.  And that changed the game.

In the first half, New York was able to devote considerable resources to creating matchup advantages on their left wing.  Jonny Steele, Bobby Convey, Eric Alexander, Thierry Henry, and Bradley Wright-Phillips all took turns flooding the attacking left with numbers before halftime.  In the second half, however, New York couldn’t do so because those resources were occupied either trying to break the Timbers press or isolated and starved for service.

In the first half, Henry completed 16 passes, 14 of which found their destination in the attacking half and four of which went to areas in and immediately around the box.  In the second half, Henry completed three passes, all around midfield, and two of which were retreating back into New York’s defending end.

The Red Bull attack that had been so successful in creating advantageous matchups down their left side in the first half was effectively reduced to thumping the ball to Bradley Wright Phillips, who had slid wide to the right, and hoping he would make a play with a secondary runner.

And those Timbers attackers who were utterly useless on defense in the first half?  They combined for 13 second half recoveries, all but one of which were around midfield or higher.

Thus, while Maxi Urruti’s stellar form and brace will get the buzz between now and Wednesday’s midweek match, the story from Red Bull Arena was the Timbers’ midfield’s second half silencing of New York’s attack.

And in doing so, the Timbers showed what they’re capable of when the attacking core is defensively engaged and pressing high.  In that second half, then, we saw the Timbers’ blueprint for salvaging 2014 with a run into the playoffs.

And that’s the value of the press.

Onward, Rose City.