—by Chris Rifer

Progress isn’t always a pretty process.  And Saturday afternoon, the Timbers showed significant signs of progress before crashing to a disappointing 4-4 draw against the Seattle Sounders.

Signs of hope weren’t the first thought that crossed the Timbers faithful’s mind.  Rather, it was an old foe; set piece defending.  After Seattle earned an early third minute corner, Gonzalo Pineda found Jalil Anibaba beyond the far post where he fired the ball across the face of goal for Kenny Cooper to poke it home.  With Will Johnson screened off, Alvas Powell failed to aggressively attack the ball or close down Anibaba, giving the centerback a rare opportunity for an easy assist.

The Timbers didn’t waste any time getting back in the game, however.   In the 10^th minute, Diego Chara forced a giveaway in Seattle’s end and drove right at the Sounders defense.  With Chara’s reputation preceding him, the Sounders didn’t close him down and the Colombian punished Seattle by burying his shot from the top of the box inside the side netting.

The action didn’t abate.  One minute later, Cooper floated away from Norberto Paparatto and volleyed DeAndre Yedlin’s cross on frame, but Andrew Weber made a diving save.  Powell gathered the rebound, shook Clint Dempsey and Cooper on his way up the touchline, and sent an excellent long switch to Darlington Nagbe who made a fool of Yedlin and ran at the Sounders defense before ripping a shot off the post from the corner of the area.

Three minutes later, Nagbe, firmly implanted in Yedlin’s head, drove at the young right back and left the ball for an overlapping Michael Harrington.  Mikey drove byline and fed Diego Valeri at the near corner of the six-yard box where he spun and fired off the underside of the bar and in.

But the Timbers were punished for another major defensive lapse ten minutes later.  After Paparatto shanked an unhurried clearance, Cooper and Alonso combined headers to Obafemi Martins.  The Nigerian slid the ball past a helpless Pa Modou Kah to Clint Dempsey who slotted easily past Weber to level the score at two just 24 minutes in.

As the half progressed, the game settled into more of a rhythm.  That rhythm didn’t extend to the Timbers’ defense.  Seattle found a free head in the box in the 39^th minute when Micheal Azira looped a long cross to Chad Marshall at the back post.  Marshall beat Powell to the ball, but his header was palmed away by Weber.

After a dreadful opening 40 minutes, Maxi Urruti got into the game in the 41^st in very nearly a big way.  After the Diegos conspired to turn Seattle over and get the Timbers out on the break, Urruti stuck a left footed shot from a tight angle on the left side of the box across the face of goal, but the ball eluded a finishing touch and skidded just wide of the far post.

In one way, the second half began much like the first as Seattle earned set pieces that the Timbers struggled to clear.  Portland kept the ball out of the net, however, which is more than Seattle could say.

In the 55^th minute, after the Timbers drove up the right, Kalif Alhassan played centrally to Chara.  Form there Diego—yes, Diego Chara again—ran at the Seattle backline and, feeling no pressure, let loose from 20 yards again for his second stunning tally of the game.

If Jalil Anibaba hadn’t had a bad enough game having had a hand in three Timbers goals already, Cooper made things worse for his fellow rookie Sounder two minutes later.  Cooper, under some pressure from Will Johnson, played an ill-advised back pass to Anibaba.  Cooper’s pass never reached its target, however, as Urruti stepped in, burst through, and curled a beauty of a ball inside the far post.

That should have put the nail in the coffin.  And, even if that weren’t enough, the Timbers were unlucky not to really put things out of reach in the 65^th minute when Paparatto, who missed a good chance on a set piece in the first half, got head to Valeri’s corner kick only to put the ball off the underside of the bar and Yedlin’s face—which may have been in the goal—and onto the goal line, where Seattle cleared.

But, once again, old and new foes joined together to burst the Timbers’ bubble.  Throughout 2013, the Timbers struggled mightily to close out desperate opponents throwing numbers forward.  In disappointing road draws at Chicago and Vancouver, and even the 2-1 away win at Seattle in the playoffs, the Timbers looked overrun and gave up crucial goals late in games.

On Saturday, from the 75^th minute to the 91^st, with the Sounders hurling players into the Timbers’ defensive third, Seattle took nine shots to the Timbers zero.  Portland couldn’t relieve the pressure, and while the Timbers dodged bullets for the first ten minutes, their luck quickly ran out.

In the 85^th minute, Harrington looked to have Lamar Neagle bottled up on the Sounders’ right side, but the substitute turned Harrington and made a beeline for the box.  Paparatto stepped up to contain Neagle while Kah stepped to cover Martins.  Neagle’s cross went through to Dempsey, however, whose late run was covered by Chara initially but an asleep-to-the-danger Powell failed to anticipate his arrival, and the suddenly on-form American finished past a diving Weber.

If the old demon haunted the Timbers, the new one sealed their fate.  After Diego Chara intervened on Obafemi Martins’ plans to unlock the Timbers’ defense, Ben Zemanski failed to anticipate the intercepting touch, and when Yedlin got there first, Zip clattered into Zip and Dempsey buried the ensuing penalty to round out his hat trick.  After being stingy in putting opponents on the spot a year ago, the Timbers frittered away two points on Saturday with their fourth penalty in five games.

The teams traded half chances in the closing minutes, but after eight goals and three leads squandered, the game didn’t have any drama left in it.  The Timbers’ offensive awakening soothes the nerves of those concerned that the offense may be in the throes of a long-term crisis.  But as one concern wanes another waxes and Portland’s leaky defense on Saturday begs another old question the Timbers have had to answer before.

Is the defense good enough to allow the Timbers to win games?

Timbers Grades

Andrew Weber, 5 Certainly had a couple nice saves, but there was one to be made on the third concession.  In his two weeks at the helm, Weber proved himself competent, but far form a savior.  The Timbers defense needs a savior right now.

Michael Harrington, 4 Nice run and cross on Valeri’s goal, but committed a cardinal sin in letting Neagle get loose on the third concession.

Norberto Paparatto, 3 Put in as poor a first half as Providence Park has seen since Mikael Silvestre against New York in 2013 and Seattle’s tactics occasionally resembled kick-the-ball-at-Norberto.  Patched things together a little bit in the second half, however, and came oh-so-close to a goal that would have made a whale of a difference.

Pa Modou Kah, 4 Another game, another yellow card for Kah.  When the going gets rough on the backline, Kah gets reckless.  Which isn’t an ideal reaction.

Alvas Powell, 4 Saturday was a good example of what to expect from Powell.  Some of it was good—even very good—such as his 11^th minute marauding and long ball.  But some of it was quite bad, as Powell was primarily responsible for the first concession and secondarily responsible for the third.  Such is the nature of gambling by starting Powell over Jewsbury.  What the Timbers gain in athleticism and width, they lose in consistency and recognition.  On Saturday, Porter both won and lost that gamble.

Will Johnson, 6.5 Rumors of Johnson’s demise were always a little exaggerated.  While his play thus far this season wasn’t bad, it was somewhat short of what we have come to expect from Will.  There was no disappointment on Saturday.  Johnson was very good.

Diego Chara, 7.5 This would be higher for obvious reasons, but Chara gets docked just a little bit for sharing a bit of culpability on the third concession.  While, in theory, Powell should be picking up Dempsey’s run in the box and Chara should be breaking off at the top to keep the Timbers’ shape, the defender passing off an attacker shouldn’t do so unless he knows his teammate is going to pick him up.

Darlington Nagbe, 5.5 Dominant for the first twenty minutes, but his hamstring limited him substantially thereafter.  While Nagbe popped up sporadically throughout the game, his workrate, pace, and ability to break defenders down one-on-one was clearly limited by his hamstring.

Diego Valeri, 8 Last week was no fluke.  He’s back.

Kalif Alhassan, 7 It’s going to be hard to take Kalif out of the lineup.  We’ve seen this in spurts from Alhassan, but on Saturday was Kalif at his facilitating best.  Chara, Valeri, and for periods Nagbe got the headlines, but Kalif was the one unselfishly presenting himself in the right spots for combinations to set them loose.

Maxi Urruti, 5 – His first forty minutes were poor, as Urruti struggled to find his role in the offense.  In his worst moment, Urruti ran down a teammate on a breakaway like he was a defender.  In his best, he curled in a beauty of a goal and showed some early signs of starting to figure out his role in the attack.

Frederic Piquionne, 4.5 Worked a little more effectively as a target, but is still far from the form the Timbers need from him.

Ben Zemanski, 3 Came into the game a step off the pace, which the Timbers paid for dearly.

Steve Zakuani, 5 What a spot in which to come into the game.  Didn’t make much of a difference either way.

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 3, Sounders 0.  Johnson, Fernandez, Zakuani.

Actual Result: Timbers 4, Sounders 4.  See above.

Onward, Rose City!