—by Chris Rifer

In many ways this one hurts the most.  With seemingly every sign pointing toward a drubbing in Sandy, the Timbers put in their best performance of the season at the Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night, but nonetheless came away empty-handed in a 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake.

The first ten minutes looked as forecasted, as RSL dominated the ball and put the Timbers under siege early.  Portland’s defense held firm, however, only allowing a 9^th minute Luke Mulholland cross to nobody from the left[1] in a sequence unlocked by the magnificent Javi Morales.

Despite initially showing some attempts to spread the field with both fullbacks getting up the line a little bit, the Timbers seemed to retreat into a more conservative setup as the opening spell of play progressed.  For the rest of the evening, the Timbers were a little bit more conservative both with their fullbacks and their defensive central midfielders, choosing to pick their attacking spots rather than try to surround Real Salt Lake with midfield numbers.

Sometimes a retreat can create an attacking advantage.  After the initial fifteen minutes, the Timbers began to get their foot on the ball.  And in the 19^th minute, they very nearly put the ball in the goal.

After Darlington Nagbe ran by all of the RSL midfield and defense, he burst through on Nick Rimando and from close range put the ball in the perfect spot from a tight angle—high and over the keeper’s head.  Nagbe’s shot would beat every other goalkeeper in MLS, but on Saturday it couldn’t beat Rimando, who swatted it away.  Darlington wouldn’t be the only Timber feeling so robbed on Saturday.

As the half progressed, however, the game began to foreshadow its entertainment quality.  After RSL’s initial spell, the Timbers asserted themselves for their own quarter-hour.  The Claret-and-Cobalt battled back, however, and in the 40^th minute nearly broke through.  Mulholland, who had himself a nice attacking first half, set Olmes Garcia free down the right wing.  Garcia cut the ball back into the box for Alvaro Saborio, whose finish went wide under pressure from Pa Modou Kah.

The Timbers should have been encouraged at halftime.  While they hadn’t put Real Salt Lake under tremendous pressure, they controlled enough of the play to limit RSL to one clear look at goal and created the best chance of the half for themselves.

The second half started in much the same fashion, with the Timbers holding their fair share of the ball, but Real Salt Lake presenting the greatest attacking impetus even if they couldn’t unlock Portland’s backline.

The first good chance of the half came for RSL in the 57^th minute when the Timbers struggled to fully clear a corner, allowing the ball to rotate back to Morales on the left wing.  The best Argentine on the field fired a cross back into the box where Chris Schuler got free head to it, but the central defender couldn’t keep his finish on frame.

The Timbers answered back with a trio of quality chances that unfortunately fell to the ineffective feet of Maxi Urruti.  In the 58^th minute, Urruti gathered a bouncing ball and drove at RSL’s defense, but his well-struck shot was denied by the crossbar.[2]  A minute later, Diego Valeri, despite having a tough outing, played a pretty chipped pass through to Urruti in the box, but Maxi didn’t have his feet right to provide the finishing touch.

Urruti really made a mess in the 60^th minute, however.  After Diego Chara tackled the ball away from Mulholland, the ball fell to Urruti and set him on a free run at goal between Schuler and Borchers.  In perhaps the biggest moment of the game, however, Urruti pushed his finish disappointingly wide.  Whereas the prior two had been half-chances Urruti couldn’t quite convert, this was the type of golden opportunity a legitimate MLS striker has to put away or force heroics from the goalkeeper.  Urruti did neither.

Having failed to capitalize, the Timbers couldn’t continue their surge, and as the game neared its final fifteen minutes RSL shifted decisively onto their front foot.  In the 73^rd minute, Chris Wingert ran past several Timbers defenders, including a gassed Kalif Alhassan and a momentarily lame Chara, and slipped the ball through to Javi Morales.  The Claret-and-Cobalt’s string-puller, however, pushed his finish off the post and Will Johnson cleared.

There was no post to save the Timbers five minutes later.  After Sebastian Velasquez found Ned Grabavoy in the middle, the journeyman midfielder drove toward the left corner of the eighteen-yard box, a step ahead of Nagbe the whole way.  What truly made the play that was about to happen, however, didn’t occur on the ball.  Rather, Joao Plata put Jack Jewsbury in a bind by making a decisive run wide on the left wing,[3] forcing Jewsbury to decide whether to step to Grabavoy or let Plata loose where Ned could spring Joao on the byline.  Simultaneously, RSL queued three runners up at the back post, making Futty justifiably hesitate to rotate to cut off Grabavoy’s look at goal.[4]  The result was an open lane for Grabavoy to fire at goal, where he cut the ball back under the hand of an underachieving Donovan Ricketts and inside the far post.

The Timbers didn’t go away, however, and were unlucky not to find at least an equalizer.  In the 85^th minute, Gaston Fernandez found Alvas Powell on the right side of the box with a beautiful vertical ball, but when Powell looked to cut the ball back across goal toward the back stick, Nick Rimando somehow managed to keep his trailing foot in long enough to deflect the ball away.

Rimando was back to the heroics three minutes later.  After an uncharacteristically poor giveaway by Kyle Beckerman, Fernandez bought a foot of space at the top of the box and left-footed a curler toward the top corner, but a diving Rimando was there again to parry behind for a corner kick.[5]

Thus, the most complete performance by the Timbers to date went begging in Sandy.  A Portland team that managed the game very well, created a sufficient number of chances, and limited Salt Lake to a relative handful of opportunities nonetheless came away empty-handed as a result of a little poor finishing, a well-worked RSL goal, and a boatload of brilliance from Rimando.

But while Saturday wasn’t short on moral victories, it was short on points. And that’s becoming a concern.

Match Observations

GOALZ

Result notwithstanding, Saturday was a really good soccer game.

While it’s easy to look at a 4-4 match and come away thinking it was an epic, Saturday provided everything—short of a Timbers win, I suppose—to please the discerning soccer eye.  Both attacks created a fair number of chances, albeit in very different ways.  Those chances, however, usually weren’t the result of especially bad defending, as both defenses were solid, perhaps with Portland’s being the sturdier on the evening.  In addition to both sides playing pretty well, the game featured a really well worked late goal, some outstanding goalkeeping, and a genuine push for a late equalizer.

No, Saturday didn’t provide the drama that Portland-Seattle did a few weeks back; but there is no question that, considering the two teams on balance, it was a much better played game.  Goalz, it turns out, aren’t everything.

Reforming the Shield

DieJo's Recoveries

The Timbers were a bit more conservative with Will Johnson and Diego Chara on Saturday than they have been.  And to great effect.

First of all, the two of them dominated the center of the field in front of the defense, rendering that part of the pitch a virtual dead zone for the Claret-and-Cobalt for extended periods on Saturday.  Chara and Johnson combined for 21 recoveries, a very substantial portion of which were in that crucial transition zone into RSL’s final third.

Second, Chara and Johnson did a great job of feeding the ball to the wings, where the Timbers found a fair amount of attacking joy.  Together, DieJo completed 74 of 86 passes, with Johnson’s 41 of 46 leading all 90-minute players in passing percentage.

DieJo's Passing

Both of these things were key elements to the increased defensive continuity, as the central shield made it difficult for RSL to find promising attacking angles and their precision with the ball helped Portland keep their foot on the ball and away from RSL.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 3 Ricketts doesn’t look right out there.  Looked awkward when he was forced to move around and, if we’re being honest, 2013 Ricketts makes the save on Grabavoy.  In a game in which his counterpart dazzled, a fair amount of the culpability for the game’s lone goal falls on Ricketts’ shoulders.

Michael Harrington, 5.5 In a game in which RSL were primarily trying to exploit the Timbers’ right side, Harrington had a quiet but effective shift offensively and defensively on the left.

Pa Modou Kah, 6 After giving up a horrible goal last week, Kah produced his best defensive performance of the year.  Still a couple lost runners and squirrely clearances, but on the whole pretty good considering the opposition.

Futty, 5 A little bit shakier than Kah, but a wholly acceptable performance from Futty.  Bears a tiny slice of the culpability on the concession, but, in reality, it was just a good goal.

Jack Jewsbury, 5 In a similar boat to Futty on the concession.  Could have made a play to potentially stop the strike, but not without opening up a different, equally dangerous play.  Solid performance from Jack, who made service difficult from his flank.

Will Johnson, 6.5 Let his frustration out perhaps a bit too much after the game, but he and Chara put in a masterful performance in front of the backline.

Diego Chara, 6.5 DieJo was back on Saturday and Chara should have had the best tackle/assist in recent Timbers history but for Urruti’s bad miss.  No coincidence that Chara was hampered by a knock throughout RSL’s best spell in the second half.

Darlington Nagbe, 5 What a wonderful play in the first half only to be absolutely robbed by Rimando.  Still, hard not to notice Nagbe (again) faded a bit as the match wore on, with his redundant run with Urruti and failure to close down Grabavoy as the biggest sins.  Are we certain he isn’t still carrying that hamstring niggle?

Diego Valeri, 4 Aside from his brilliant chip to Urruti, it was a tough night for Valeri.  For a guy who thrives on space, RSL was always going to be a tough matchup.  The concern going forward, however, is about a knock Caleb Porter referenced postgame.

Kalif Alhassan, 4 Had a nice first half, but ran out of gas in the second and became a liability by the 65^th minute.  Playing at altitude isn’t easy and he missed a few weeks in the early season, but his fitness has to improve.

Maxi Urruti, 2.5 His analytics line is shocking for a player who was on the field for ninety minutes.  Sometimes strikers don’t log much in the stat column if they’re starved for service, but good ones find other ways to contribute and the Timbers weren’t without chances.  Urruti had a few opportunities fall to his feet, and by and large made a mess of them.  You have to wonder about the stability of his starting spot…

Dumpster Fire                                   

Gaston Fernandez, 6.5 …in light of Gaston Fernandez’s performance on Saturday.  While he looks most comfortable in the 10 spot, where he was quite good against RSL, Fernandez has been solid, if not perfect, at the 9 as well.  At this point, he gives the Timbers a better chance to win than Urruti in that role.

Michael Nanchoff, 6 What an opportunity for Nanchoff and he didn’t let it pass by.  Nanchoff just worked his way into a rotation that is very short on attacking options off the bench right now.

Alvas Powell, 6 Speaking of working his way into a role on the bench, Powell showed why he’s a better fit as a late-game attacking substitute than as a starter at right back.  Great run and good finishing touch on his should-have-been goal.  But here’s the question in the back of my mind about Powell: Is he the next Rodney Wallace?

Preseason Prediction: RSL 1, Timbers 0.  Saborio.

Actual Result: RSL 1, Timbers 0.  Grabavoy.

Onward, Rose City!