—by Chris Rifer

Even elite teams don’t dominate every match.  Over the course of a 34-game season, every team will have a certain number of games where they come out flat, experience some bad luck, or match up against a good team playing well.

The latter happened to the Portland Timbers Saturday night, and in a good omen for playoff success, the Timbers made the plays they needed to win.

Los Angeles came out pressing from the opening whistle.  In the fifteenth minute, Robbie Keane picked up a cleared Robbie Rogers cross twenty yards out at the top of the box and fired on frame, but Donovan Ricketts was there to make a routine-for-him diving save.

Two minutes later, there was nothing Ricketts could do.  After Michael Harrington was caught upfield,[1] Sean Franklin set Hector Jimenez free on the right touchline.  Jimenez took a touch and lofted a pretty cross to Marcelo Sarvas alone in the center of the box, where the Brazilian midfielder nodded inside the far post.

Marcelo’s freedom was won by a pair of clever runs.  The first was by Gyasi Zardes, who ran as a dummy well short of the near post, pulling his marker—Andrew Jean-Baptiste—away from the goalmouth.  Simultaneously, Marcelo made a long run from a very deep position, where he’s difficult for the Timbers defense to pick up under the best of circumstances, right into the area that Jean-Baptiste vacated and where Diego Chara—the Timber half-covering Marcelo’s run—would look to pass him onto a central defender.  Because Zardes had just cleared Jean-Baptiste, however, there was nobody to pass him to, leaving Sarvas all alone in front of goal.  In the end, the defending mistakes the Timbers made were invited by clever attacking from Galaxy, leading to a well-earned goal.

If there was a defense truly caught napping, it was Galaxy’s ten minutes later.  After Rogers cut down Darlington Nagbe 30 yards from goal on the right wing, Diego Valeri took a quick free kick to set Nagbe free on the right side of the box.  Under pressure from Marcelo, Nagbe beat Carlo Cudicini with a rolled cross for Ryan Johnson, who easily tapped home.

Levelling the match did little to ease the pressure on Portland’s defense, however, as the usually counter-happy Galaxy offense built sustained pressure over the course of the first half.

In the 35^th minute, the Galaxy nearly scored on their own quickly taken free kick.  After Sean Franklin received the quick restart, he found Omar Gonzalez in the box, but the American international’s free header ricocheted off the near post.

Three minutes later, the Timbers needed Ricketts once again when Juninho hit a pretty free kick from straightaway just outside the box, only to have the big Jamaican palm it away from the top corner of the net.

Portland kept things level going into halftime, however, and coming out the Timbers midfield looked much better prepared for Galaxy’s offerings in the middle.  As a result, Galaxy were forced to go much more direct, making for a much easier time for Portland’s defense.[2]

In the 61^st minute it was Portland’s turn to knock on the door when Valeri set Nagbe into the middle, where he crossed up Gonzalez and unleashed a right footed shot that Cudicini did well to get a diving palm to.  The rebound fell tantalizingly to Ryan Johnson, but the former Blues and Spurs keeper recovered brilliantly to get foot to Johnson’s netbound effort.

Genuine chances were at a premium, however, as the teams traded blows in the midfield throughout much of the second half.  In the 82^nd minute, the Timbers made a rare defensive misstep in losing track of Zardes at the top of the box, but Ricketts was more than capable of saving the rookie’s low strike.

As the clock ticked toward 90, however, it looked like the teams may have played each other to an exhausted stalemate.  In a tight match between two on-form teams, however, the difference is often one play.  And on Saturday, the Timbers made it.

Gifted a sloppy 94^th minute corner kick, Valeri found Jean-Baptiste in the box after the defender muscled himself away from Zardes’s mark.  Jean-Baptiste sprinted onto the end of Valeri’s ball at the top of the six and squirted his header between Cudicini and Marcelo at the near post for the rapturous winner.

The dramatic finish secured precisely the type of win the Timbers will have to master to navigate a difficult second half and succeed in the playoffs.  With a West-heavy schedule in the home stretch and a conference where only six points separate second and sixth, the Timbers are going to have to be able to find results against good teams playing their best.  That’s exactly what they did on Saturday night, and that’s exactly what makes the Timbers legitimate Shield and Cup contenders.

Notes & Observations

• On Saturday, the Timbers lost the possession battle for just the third time in 2013.  Remarkably, Portland is 3-0-0 in those games, having beaten Kansas City, D.C. United, and L.A. Galaxy. This speaks to the flexibility of Caleb Porter’s system.  While everybody talks about “Porterball,” the Timbers have shown that they don’t need to hold 60 percent of the ball to win. The Timbers aren’t just a good system.  They’re a good team.
• From start to finish, Saturday’s match was one of the most entertaining I’ve seen at Jeld-Wen Field, and was an example of how good soccer doesn’t necessarily lead to a plethora of chances. Rather, Saturday’s drama took place in the midfield, where Chara, Ben Zemanski, and Diego Valeri were locked in an epic duel with Marcelo, Juninho, and company. The Galaxy got the better of them in the first half, but Portland’s midfield asserted itself more and more as the match went along.
• When asked where Saturday night ranks in his time as a Timber, Futty – a master of understatement – said it was “definitely top-five.” Futty was somewhat guarded during his interview, however, as it was conducted under constant harassment from Pa Modou Kah, who was busy doing everything he could to distract the Gambian veteran from his talk with the assembled media.  Futty noted, however, that Kah’s hijinks were only part of the defenders’ daily routine for working on focus in the face of distraction.
• In my mind, it’s been since at least Ryan Pore’s sunflower goal that we’ve seen such drama, tension, and release at Jeld-Wen Field.
• It didn’t take longevity with the Timbers to appreciate the significance of Saturday night’s win.  After the match, Ryan Johnson noted that Saturday night was “up there, probably top-three for me. That’s huge, and for Drew to get that goal is going to be huge for his confidence.”

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 8 Nothing he could do on the concession, and came up big for the Timbers on a number—though not a great number—of occasions.

Michael Harrington, 5 Was getting roughed up a bit by Jimenez in the first half hour, but Porter made some tactical adjustments to give Mikey some more cover, leading to a pretty good second stanza on the defensive end.

Futty, 6 Another solid game for Futty, who has been a rock in spite of his sporadic starts in 2013.  Futty is becoming one of the unsung heroes of this campaign.  Time and again he has been shuttled in and out of the lineup due to injuries and suspensions, and each time he’s called back Futty has been a calm, consistent presence.  There’s little question that without Futty, the Timbers aren’t in second place in the West right now.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 7 The work AJB has done on Robbie Keane this year has been remarkable.  The defense was under siege for periods on Saturday, but handled it capably.  What really makes Jean-Baptiste’s grade, however, is his goal that won’t be soon forgotten.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 Really did a nice job on Robbie Rogers, who was substantially more dangerous than the first time the Timbers saw him.  I expect Jack to continue at right back for the foreseeable future, but an Alvas Powell sighting in the postgame locker room and debut in the reserves match foreshadows life after Jack.  For the moment, however, life with Jack is pretty good.

Ben Zemanski, 5.5 No, he’s not Will Johnson.  But Ben Zemanski’s fill-in job has been admirable.  He covered a ridiculous amount of ground on Saturday, and turned up in a number of important spots.  When it comes to spelling Johnson or Diego Chara for a match or two here and there, Zemanski has solidified himself as a pretty good option.  There is a reason both Ryan Johnson and Caleb Porter talked extensively about him after the game.

Diego Chara, 6 Bears some culpability on the concession, as—likely thinking he had help—Chara didn’t cover Marcelo’s run.  Otherwise, however, the smiling assassin more than held his own in an intense midfield fight.

Kalif Alhassan, 4 A little bit of an anonymous outing for Kalif, who hasn’t taken his opportunity to break in a little bit more in Rodney Wallace’s absence.  With Piquionne and Will Johnson back for good, Kalif’s chances may be sporadic from here on out.

Diego Valeri, 6.5 He’s been on a streak of good set piece service recently, which came up huge in the dying moments.  Valeri was otherwise the most effective passer in a midfield that struggled at times to get their foot on the game.

Darlington Nagbe, 5.5 Made his presence known in assisting the first goal and forcing a great save, but the Galaxy did a nice job of keeping Darlington otherwise relatively quiet.  Still, this is the type of game in which Darlington would have been invisible a year ago, providing perhaps the best measure of his development.

Ryan Johnson, 6.5 Had one set up beautifully by Nagbe and Valeri, and almost found a poacher’s goal by stalking Cudicini’s far post.  Johnson had a tough task on Saturday with the midfield being so clogged, and performed nicely.  Also adjusted well to a new role on the left wing after Piquionne came on.

Frederic Piquionne, 5 His overall effect was positive, as the Timbers had a lot more final third potency after he came on.  Still, Frederic’s grade is depressed a little bit for wasting a couple promising chances by being a half step offside.

Jose Valencia, 5 Decent outing for Trencito, who did a fine job of providing fresh legs.  Notable that it was his pressure on A.J. DeLaGarza that led to the crucial corner kick.

Sal Zizzo, INC. Used up just enough time in coming on at the end of the game to rankle Bruce Arena when the referee, from his perspective, cut stoppage time short.  So that’s a contribution.

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 1, Galaxy 0.  David Horst.

Actual Result: Timbers 2, Galaxy 1.  Ryan Johnson, Andrew Jean-Baptiste.

Onward, Rose City!