—by Chris Rifer
The last thing the Timbers needed on top of their tepid form was bad luck. While the Timbers were less than overwhelming on Saturday, bad luck is exactly what they got from the linesman’s flag, the referee’s whistle, and even Mother Nature herself.
In subzero temperatures with occasional snow flurries, the Timbers’ high-speed offense was asked to operate in cold weather on a slick field; the worst conditions imaginable for Portland’s ground-based attack.
All things considered, however, the Timbers managed the match well. Aside from two early Deshorn Brown shots that should have been routine for Donovan Ricketts, but posed a challenge for the frozen Jamaican lion in the cold and wind, the Rapids had little to speak of in the attack.
After weathering an initial 10-minute spell from the Rapids, the Timbers warmed into a nice rhythm and began to put their foot on the game. While they predictably didn’t create much in the way of chances, the Timbers’ control kept Colorado at bay.
After some patience and persistence, the Timbers eventually found some opportunities. In the 30th minute, Diego Valeri got head to a poor Rapids clearance 40 yards from goal and nodded into the path of a through-on-goal Gaston Fernandez, but the linesman incorrectly raised his flag for one of seven times against the Timbers to nullify the advantage.
The Timbers couldn’t blame the linesman two minutes later, however. After Portland set up their corner attack high in the box, most of the Timbers hung deep while Will Johnson streaked near post and Futty dove to the mouth of goal. The plan worked perfectly, as Futty was free to get on the end of Valeri’s corner kick but put his open header wide.
Sitting deeper in the attack opened up a number of spaces for the Timbers to operate in the final third, perhaps never more than the 52nd minute when Valeri found Nagbe driving toward the byline where he laid the ball in front of goal for Fernandez. Fernandez slowed his run to the near post, however, and Marvell Wynne stepped in for the emergency interception.
No matter how well the team is executing, however, in soccer things can fall apart in a hurry. And boy did they ever on Saturday.
In the 68th minute, moments after Ricketts made a nice save on a Drew Moor shot off a corner, Dillon Powers played Deshorn Brown through with a ball over the top. The ball skipped away from Brown, however, and Ricketts looked to be in position to clear or gather, but bracing for the impact of Brown coming in hopelessly with studs flying high, Ricketts missed the ball on his flying clearance attempt and caught Brown in the thigh with his boot. Referee Mark Geiger, unmoved by Brown’s recklessness, whistled for a penalty and issued a straight red card to Ricketts for his karate challenge before the goalkeeper required a stretcher after taking Brown’s boot to his knee. Vicente Sanchez chipped the ensuing penalty past Andrew Weber for a commanding opening lead.
It only got worse for the Timbers moments after the ensuing kickoff. After two Timbers slips freed Sanchez down the right side of the box, Weber came out to challenge for the ball. Sanchez scooted the ball wide of the keeper, dragged his back foot, and caught Weber on the way by. Geiger unmercifully, but correctly whistled for another penalty, which Weber saved off the foot of Brown only to have the penalty taker put back the rebound.
The remainder was academic. A man down and trailing two goals, the Timbers never had an opportunity to claw back into the game. What in many respects was a demonstration of good game management went very awry on Saturday for a Timbers team that can’t seem to catch a break.
Match Observations
Ricketts’ Penalty
I covered this subject in full in a post on The Morrison Report, so I won’t go into significant detail here. Suffice to say, however, while I don’t blame Geiger for what I think was an incorrect judgment on a nearly impossibly difficult call, I think it was the incorrect judgment nonetheless.
Match Management
Saturday was always going to be ugly for the Timbers, as their attack is poorly suited to operate in such conditions. Nonetheless, for the vast majority of the match the Timbers did a nice job of managing the game in midfield, holding the ball a little bit deeper to limit space in behind, and holding Colorado shotless for the better part of 40 minutes on either side of halftime. In fact, aside from the penalties, Colorado’s only legitimate goalscoring chance was Drew Moor’s 66th minute header that Ricketts saved. In conditions that heavily favored Colorado’s direct attack, the Timbers rendered the Rapids relatively punchless for much of the afternoon.
Preseason Prediction: Timbers 1, Rapids 1. Moor, Valeri.
Actual Result: Rapids 2, Timbers 0. Sanchez, Brown.
Onward, Rose City!
