—by Chris Rifer

Will Johnson was wrong.

Contrary to Johnson’s postgame quip, this Timbers team isn’t a hybrid lion-goldfish, taking the field with a foolish courage that generates plenty of drama but a paucity of points.

The Timbers are all lion – heart, brain, and belly.

Without a doubt Johnson was correct about the Timbers’ heart.  Five times in 2013, constituting results that have earned the Timbers seven of their ten points, the Portland has scored in the 79^th minute or later to earn a result.  The team’s willingness and ability to scratch a result out of a game gone sour is unquestionable.  As Johnson put it, they play with the heart of a lion.

The Timbers have also shown the brain of a lion at times.  Just as the lion looks to prey on the weak and young in a pack of impala, the Timbers have at times in 2014 effectively found tactical and matchup weaknesses in their opponents to exploit.

At home against Seattle, the Timbers exploited a deep-dropping Sounders backline to fill the nets with uncontested Diego Chara strikes from outside the box.  Against D.C. the Timbers identified and preyed upon Chris Rolfe and Cristian on the United left side as the their metaphorical fawns.

But the Timbers have also shows the belly of a lion.  While patient, tactical, and ultimately ruthless hunters, lions are notorious for resting on their laurels after a successful hunt.

That’s a perfectly fine luxury atop the food chain.

The Timbers, however, are far from the top of the MLS food chain.  And they’ve paid dearly for their post-hunt satisfaction.

Against D.C., the Timbers grabbed an early goal by way of Gaston Fernandez before immediately being pinned in their own end by D.C. and eventually conceding a goal on a Davy Arnaud deflected shot from distance in the not-too-distant future.

In the first half against Columbus, the Timbers again struck early only to give up an equalizer within ten minutes.  And again in the waning moments, immediately after the Timbers fought their way back from a man-down and goal-down disadvantage, Portland lollygagged their way to another concession.

But these plays have more in common than just their timing after a concession.  They all involved at best nominal defensive efforts from the Timbers’ attacking players.

While Arnaud’s shot was a bolt out of the blue, it’s notable that Diego Valeri – the closest player to Arnaud when the ball was sent to him – barely moved to apply pressure while Diego Chara – who ultimately got the deflection – had to come from much farther away to apply pressure.

The Timbers were tipping their cap again when Federico Higuain answered Maxi Urruti’s opening goal a week ago, but Higuain’s excellence never would have happened had Steve Zakuani showed any interest in routinely closing Higuain down.

And finally, just after Will Johnson equalized against Columbus, it was Darlington Nagbe’s lack of urgency in either covering an overlapping run from Josh Williams or communicating with Jorge Villafana to pick up the on-ball Ethan Finlay that froze Villafana and allowed Finaly to get his shot off from the top of the box.[1]

Three concessions shortly after goals, three big goals negated, three indifferent defensive performances from the Timbers attack.

In four of the last five home matches, the Timbers have taken early leads that they subsequently coughed up.  While defensive misdeeds by the Timbers attacking midfield hasn’t been exclusive to post-goal comas, the lapses from the attacking midfield unit have been especially damning for the Timbers when opponents throw numbers forward trying all-too-successfully to negate their recent concession.

The Timbers have six points out of twelve in those four games in which they took early leads at home.  Six points dropped from four games they should have won.

That’s the price of having the belly of a lion.

Onward, Rose City!