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  • 09/03/2014 2:25 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    Jimmy Conway's decades of service to the soccer community are beyond my ability to sum up in a single paragraph, so I'm not even going to try. I direct you instead to the fine work of others. For instance:

    Mick Hoban is once again organizing a team for the Walk to End Alzheimers this year to honor Timbers legend and Ring of Honor member Jimmy Conway. Since the walk is on September 7th, a match day, we will also be coordinating with the Timbers front office to honor Jimmy Conway with an in-game tribute. Jimmy will be recognized on the reader board before the match. Everyone in the stadium is encouraged to engage in a one minute standing ovation for Jimmy at the 8 minute mark, in honor of his jersey number.

    If you’re not attending the match, you can show your support by signing up to join the team here. If you’re attending the match and can’t participate in the walk, you can also show your support with a donation to the Friends of Jimmy Conway team here.

  • 09/02/2014 2:25 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    —by Garrett Dittfurth

    Known MLS blowhard Simon Borg decided to post something related to the NWSL championship being won by FC Kansas City. Congratulations to them. I saw the last 15 minutes or so after switching over from the New York-DC United game. They survived a furious attack in the last 10 minutes or so from the Seattle Reign to capture the championship. I can't lie. I was pulling for them. Kansas City is a great town with great supporters for the mens and women's team.

    In the article he adds a poll questioning what city is Soccer City USA. You know what question I'm really getting sick of? You know what question is lazy as hell to ask? You know what question is something a paid MLS schlub would use to drum up hits to his article? Asking what city is Soccer City USA.

    You're welcome for the hits to your post, Simon. We'll always be Soccer City USA. You know why? We have historical proof. Something nobody else does. So go on drumming it up. You're like the Fox News of the soccer world. We all just sort of laugh at you at this point. We'll continue to have the most insane crowd in MLS and the largest turnout in NWSL. You can go about trying to drum up hits for a poll in NYC. You can continue to speculate. Here's the proof.


    But seriously...Simon Borg is like the Steve Doocy of the MLS Network. I know they had to create a network of their own to drum up coverage because nobody was covering MLS but you could practically have a Steven Colbert style show of people mocking Borg week in and week out. His over-animated videos are the best.


  • 09/01/2014 2:44 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    —by Chris Rifer

    Caleb Porter just can’t get this one right.

    He starts Maxi Urruti against Seattle and Fanendo Adi registers a brace after coming on as a second half substitute.  So naturally the skipper starts Adi against Vancouver, but then it’s the substitute Urruti who kills the game off with his ninth goal of the year.

    But believe it or not, there’s a reason for this—and it’s not that Caleb Porter doesn’t know how to select a striker for his eleven.  Rather, it’s that Adi and Urruti are very well matched as a striking platoon.

    First, the topline statistics.  In 36 MLS appearances comprising 1,973 minutes in 2014, UrrAdi has 15 goals and four assists.  That’s elite.  Stunningly, those 15 goals have come on just 75 total shots between the pair.  By comparison, Robbie Keane—a fairly well reputed striker in his own right—has 14 goals on 100 shots in 2,010 minutes this year.

    But the substitute portion of the platoon has scored at a much more efficient rate than the starting portion.  Of UrrAdi’s 1,973 total minutes, only 299 have been as a substitute.  Yet five of UrrAdi’s 15 tallies and three of the platoon’s four assists have come out of the bullpen.  The starting portion of the platoon, then, is scoring every 167.4 minutes while the substitute end is finding the net every 59.8 minutes.  The former is respectable.  The latter is dizzying.

    So why is substitute-UrrAdi so much more productive than starter-UrrAdi?

    Well, one reason is obvious.  More goals are scored at the end of the game than in the beginning and middle.  Of the 690 goals scored in MLS this year, 159 have been scored in the final fifteen minutes—a period of time roughly equivalent to the 18.69 minutes substitute-UrrAdi averages.  While that number is above the 115-goal average for 15-minute intervals in MLS, it clearly does not account for substitute-UrrAdi scoring at triple the rate at which starter-UrrAdi scores.  So, we must dig deeper to find another reason for substitute-UrrAdi’s prowess.

    Another potential reason, however, can be eliminated.  Relative to each other, neither Urruti or Adi are especially prolific as a substitute.  Three of Urruti’s nine goals have come as a substitute, while two of Adi’s six have come in relief.

    We’re left, then, with this:  The contrast between Urruti and Adi’s respective styles makes the substitute portion of the platoon especially effective.

    When the ball is in and around the box, Adi is a true target man.  If a teammate has the ball in a position to cross, Adi’s singular goal is to get to a good position in front of goal.  In this respect, Adi’s goal is to press the backline as much as possible and get into a tangle to get on the end of the ball.  Adi’s first goal against Seattle is a perfect example; as soon as Rodney Wallace picked up the ball on the left wing, Adi made a beeline for the back stick.

    Lacking Adi’s imposing stature, Urruti is a little bit different.  Instead of relying on his ability to tower or muscle on the end of crosses, Urruti is a little bit cleverer in looking for spaces in the box in which to receive the ball into his feet.

    Which brings us to the sad case of Kendall Waston.  You see, on Saturday the new Whitecaps central defender put in an admirable 68-minute shift banging and bruising his way between Fanendo Adi and every ball that came the Nigerian striker’s way.  Adi put in a lot of work and earned a secondary assist for his troubles, but he was never seriously goal-dangerous.

    But then Urruti came on.  And whereas Adi invited the physical challenge of beating Waston onto the end of the Timbers midfielders’ service, Urruti preferred to float around the box looking for his moment.

    And that moment came for Urruti just eight minutes after entering the game.  After Michael Harrington picked up the ball on the right wing and went on a long run toward the byline, Maxi Urruti started running to the near post.  “Eureka,” Waston likely thought, “I’m going to beat him near post and clear away the service.”  That would have been—and for the first 68 minutes had been—exactly the right thing to do with Adi in the game.  But it wasn’t Adi.  It was Urruti.  And as the pair neared the six-yard box, Urruti cut back his run and received the ball between the lines where he turned in plenty of space and fired a top-shelf finish off the underside of the bar and into the net.  Waston, for his part, kept going and wound up on his stomach with David Ousted yelling at him.

    Being a central defender against UrrAdi, then, is a little bit like a batter in baseball facing Tim Wakefield for three trips through the order before stepping in to face off against Randy Johnson in relief.[1]  The good habits the defender forms against the tendencies of the starter-UrrAdi can be the defender’s undoing against substitute-UrrAdi.

    Thus, the work the starting end of UrrAdi puts in—even if somewhat thankless—can set up defenders to succumb to the strengths of his platoon partner.  It appears this phenomenon got the best of Kendall Waston, and, if UrrAdi’s efficiency as a substitute is any indication, the Costa Rican is not alone.

    So maybe Porter has been getting this one right all along.

    Onward, Rose City.


    [1] For non-baseball fans, Tim Wakefield was one of the best knuckleball pitchers of all time—a pitch that is very slow and relies on its unpredictable movement to flummox batters.  Randy Johnson had one of the most devastating fastballs in history.

  • 08/31/2014 2:45 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    —by Chris Rifer

    The scene was far from foreseeable six days earlier.

    Merritt Paulson bounding out of the locker room, his head bobbing to the beat of hip hop spilling through the open door.  Alvas Powell testing the ability of his cheeks to contain his smile as he shyly faced the media as the game’s, and potentially season’s, hero.  The Portland Timbers, for the first time in 2014, sitting above the year-defining red line.

    No fewer than five times since May the Timbers have had the opportunity to surge past the red line with and win, only to come up short each time.  As Caleb Porter put it postgame, the missed opportunities “start to wear on you.”

    As Paulson’s rhythm and Powell’s smile demonstrated, the weight of the Timbers’ seemingly infinite chase of the red line was gone from the Portland locker room on Saturday night, after a professional first-half performance turned dominant post-intermission.

    Vancouver created the best chance of the first half early on, as Mauro Rosales found Pedro Morales in the center of the box against a well positioned, but still vertically limited Diego Chara.  Morales got his head to the ball, but sent his header just over the bar.

    But those first five minutes were Vancouver’s best spell of the day, and thereafter the Timbers slowly seized control.  In a move that was in character for the Timbers, but out-of-character for Whitecaps opponents, the Timbers pushed both fullbacks on, starting Alvas Powell and Jorge Villafana over a bench full of more defensive options.

    As a result the Timbers repeatedly found space on the Whitecaps’ flanks, and Powell and Villafana – players with only eleven 2014 starts and 44 years between them – became two of the most influential men on the field.  But while the Timbers tactics had much of their desired effect in the first half, Portland didn’t create anything especially dangerous on account of a couple missed links and a steady Vancouver backline.

    Viewed in isolation, nothing in the first half suggested a season-defining moment was forthcoming.  But if Portland can ride their newfound momentum into the playoffs, that’s exactly how Saturday’s second half will be regarded.

    In light of the first half, the Timbers’ first goal of the second half was no surprise.  After solid holdup play from Fanendo Adi, Portland found space on the right wing where a wide-open Diego Valeri lifted a ball into the box where Powell nodded it down and into the net.

    The visibly shaken Whitecaps recovered momentarily after Darren Mattocks replaced Kekuta Manneh, creating a pair of chances to level the game by way of Mauro Rosales and Mattocks shots from the right side, but in the 75th minute the Timbers marauding put the game away.  After Michael Harrington forced – and then blew by – a very high Whitecaps flank rotation, the substitute easily found Maxi Urruti in the middle of the box where, given plenty of room, the Argentine nine put the ball off the under side of the bar and in.

    If all that was missing to that point was the spectacular, Darlington Nagbe wasted no time in ticking that final box.  In the 79th minute Nagbe picked up a pass from Villafana, rounded Matias Laba with ease, and slotted the ball past three defenders to an onrushing Rodney Wallace, who slid the ball past David Ousted for the exclamation point.

    What ensued was in many ways a microcosm of the past three months between the Timbers and the Whitecaps.  Since the teams met at Providence Park in June the Timbers have looked like a playoff team, posting a 5-4-3 record and averaging 1.5 points per game.  The Whitecaps, on the other hand, have limped to a 2-4-7 record while averaging a tepid one point per game over the stretch.

    And so it was in the last ten minutes at B.C. Place, as the Timbers easily moved the ball around and through a defeated Vancouver side.  Aside from the traveling Timbers Army’s chants of “Our House, in the Middle of B.C.,” the Vancouver stadium sat silent as the Timbers ran out the clock on the Whitecaps’ hold on fifth place.

    That silence was shattered moments later by the beat pumping from the Timbers locker room – a room from which the Timbers have never emerged as losers.

    And like Paulson, the Timbers found their rhythm at the right time on Saturday.

    Onward, Rose City.

  • 08/27/2014 2:38 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)
    I want to say thank you to Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson who extended an invitation for Shawn Levy and I to take part in this historic trip. It was an honor to not only represent the club and the city, but all of the Timbers Army, both as fans and also as professionals in our chosen crafts.

    We both understood the historic aspect of this trip and that hundreds, if not thousands, of folks who consider themselves Timbers fans would have done nearly anything to have been in our shoes for this journey. We respect you and did everything in our power to honor you.

    I am very grateful, and in return, both Shawn and I did our best to keep folks up-to-date of our adventures through the various social media tools at our disposal. Needless to say it was more than we could have ever imagined, starting from the first email confirmation to the time we stepped back off the chartered plane back to PDX. The entire team representing the Portland Timbers accepted us in, and made sure we had all the best every step of the way. In the end I got pretty emotional thanking Coach Porter, Gavin Wilkinson, the entire team who made the trip, and every Timbers staff on the airplane back to Cascadia.

    Not only was it an honor to be with the club, but I've been very thankful for the opportunity to have traveled with Shawn Levy. He's a pretty amazing writer and travel partner. My rule of thumb is to always follow a New Yorker in the city.

    -Steven Lenhart

    Guyana is a tough place. I've traveled Eastern Europe before the Euro, and have spent extended time in Mexico City and surrounding areas on two occasions, but Georgetown, Guyana is different. A certain smell is in the air that isn't pollution but decay. Only a few places seemed safe, and even fewer were safe for eating. Oh, and the water, forget about it. No one can drink the water. Sanitation is a huge concern with open sewers and piles of garbage littering the streets. To me it seemed it's a fight just to deal with life.

    I struggled to locate sanctuaries where a person could just go to chill out. Certainly not the "Seawall," a place where you would at least think one could go to ponder life's wonder in a level-headed way. The shoreline did indeed have sturdy benches but although we had walked the hustle of the market for over an hour I did get a potential "this is a dangerous area" vibe about the Seawall. Maybe it was the folks milling around in the hot muggy sun next to open piles of waste, or maybe just the cow/bulls with big horns hanging out in-between missing barbed-wire fences? Pick your poison. It was a truly dark place.

    I didn't realize how intense such an adventure could be.

    Normally when making decisions about what type of camera gear to lug around I think ahead about what types of shots I want to frame before even coming into situations where subjects exist. With Georgetown, Guyana the only thing I had to go by was the very limited trip reports and images found on sights such as google image search and flickr. Photos of the market clock tower, the Cathedral, and Providence Stadium being the most common.

    Add in to the idea that Shawn and I had warnings about theft in the streets by our traveling team security man and the very taxi driver who was about to "drop us off in the safe area" around the market. Despite those concerns we still were determined to explore this ourselves, and explore we did. We walked Georgetown's fringes and depths for six hours, going off the map grid for much of the day despite more safety warnings from passers by on the streets.

    As a visual person I've always had great wonder when flipping through National Geographic and seeing exotic locations and how photographers have dealt with such scenes. This time it was me exploring in a potential beehive of a place behind a camera. For me the making of memorable images includes taking in more than just what I see. Although I'm not a writer I do feel meeting, talking and asking questions adds depth to my best images or the best images I desire to make. By breaking through all warnings, Shawn and I were able to experience some pretty amazing moments both on and off camera.

    The guy who identified Levy as being from New York because of his walk and me being a little "country," the teenager with whom we yelled back and forth across the street about our Chelsea predictions, the group of kids we saw huddled around a television playing FIFA, the two kids we met on Bent Street who told us the history of Alpha United, and the cab driver who wanted to talk Landon Donovan and had questions about who the best footballer we have ever seen was. Truly amazing. Truly memorable. Truly comforting in the name of a round ball.

    But indeed we were here for the game, a game. The big game. A Timbers CONCACAF Champions League match to be exact. A Portland Timbers "Club" I have followed in one form or another since childhood. They had a job to do and I was here to document these important moments for my friends back home.

    On match day, once inside the stadium and while messing about with my camera gear, I was greeted by a fellow who introduced himself as a local photographer. We chatted and I mentioned my lenses fogging up after only a few shots from the humidity. He advised me to keep my lenses out so they were acclimated to the air and within 10 minutes the fogging would no longer be an issue.

    His side-kick for the night was a Guyanese fellow who now lives in New York City and hadn't been back for 25 years, until this current visit of two weeks. We talked about the struggles of the people and he lamented the total lack of infrastructure. He then pointed out the standing water in the aisles of the stadium, the stadium that's "supposed to be the prized national stadium of the country". Despite my Timbers evangelism, before we parted ways, he said NYCFC is who he will be following starting next year. I wished him well.

    As we all know the Timbers put in a most excellent performance against a motivated and feisty Alpha United FC team. The match ended 4-1 Timbers, with a free kick strike by Alpha United being the best of the bunch. I left the stadium feeling content and proud, but I returned to the Pacific Northwest different. Ask me about it.

    The return group match in Portland should make for another memorable night for both clubs. Trust me.

         
         
         
         
         

  • 08/25/2014 2:48 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    —by Clifford Eiffler

    Featured on Sunday August 24th, 2014 during a home match in front sold out crowd at Providence Park in the final regular season meeting between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders.

    There is nothing like a visit from the fishing village up north to bring out the best from the tifo crew. A brilliant display which brought out the darker side of Dorothy.

    Photo Credit – @meluhkneebee on Instagram

    Video of the tifo by Brian Gjurgevich

     


  • 08/21/2014 2:49 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)
    TA v ECS soccer, TA/GA tickets for the Seattle match, and the chance to raise money for Jefferson High School's field renovation. What could be better?


    This Saturday, members of some of our own Timbers Army FC teams will be playing against Emerald City Supporters in three matches at Buckman Field: a D4 match and a women's match at 4pm and a D1 match at 6pm. Come on out to cheer for our men and women as they take on their our fishy rivals to the north. And while you do, you can also enter into a raffle for one of two TA/General Admission tickets to Sunday's PTFC game vs the Sounders.


    Golazo has graciously donated two TA/GA tickets to the Seattle game as a fundraiser to help cover costs (the cost of field rental, referees, etc.) for Saturday's matches. Any money raised beyond that cost will go directly toward supporting our fundraising for Jefferson High School's field renovation.


    Raffle chances cost $5 each, or 5 chances for $20. Drawing will be held at 6pm at Buckman Field, in between matches.


    Click below to donate and enter the raffle:
    And, of course, huge thanks to Golazo for their gracious ticket donation.
  • 08/12/2014 2:53 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    Vancouver is truly an away day to be experienced. You've heard the stories of legendary gatherings, gracious hosts, and poutine, and you're eager to take part in the action. We're happy to announce that tickets are now on sale for the August 30th Vancouver away match!

    Again, we are keeping things simple and only offering a match ticket. You will need to arrange your own transportation and accommodations..

    Tickets are $35 for members, $38 for non-members. We are asking you to limit your purchase to 2 tickets.

    Click here to buy tickets

    Members should have received an email with a discount code - if you have not received this email first check your spam folder, and if it's not there please email memberinfo@107ist.org and we'll look into it.

    Ticket distribution info will be sent in a separate email the week of the match.

    IMPORTANT

    For this trip you MUST have a current passport, enhanced ID, or other acceptable international travel document.

    If you are NOT a US Citizen, please consult the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for your specific ID and visa requirements

    Canada, like the United States, has rules that prohibit entry for persons with specific ineligibilities. For example, anyone with a criminal record (including misdemeanors or Driving While Impaired (DWI)), no matter how long ago, may be barred from entering Canada and must obtain a special waiver well in advance of any planned travel. To determine whether you may be inadmissible and how to overcome this finding, please refer to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.

  • 08/07/2014 2:52 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    —by Garrett Dittfurth

    I shouldn't have to do this but I'm gonna.

    It's finally over and we can now focus on what's important. The Timbers. We play the soon to be renamed Chivas USA squad on Saturday. We'll be back to our normal configuration in the North End and we'll have capos directing chants for the Timbers that were intended for the Timbers and not some conglomerated team made up of MLS's best players.

    It was incredible to have the all-star game here. Run ins with world famous athletes happened daily and they were all actually very cool. Yo DeAndre Yedlin is incredibly hard to dislike and so is Clint Dempsey despite the fact they play for Seattle. Yes I do have personal experience. I'm still solidly club before country. Though after meeting them I am fairly certain both of those players understand that while they both may be booed by a crowd in Portland one is a national team legend and the other is probably going to be. It's ok. They get it. What struck me hugely was how others don't get it.

    You've got famous MLS blowhard, Simon Borg tweeting about how he doesn't understand why Julian Green is cheered while Clint Dempsey is booed.

    It almost made my head explode. He's the biggest player on the most hated team Portland plays, Simon. We have a history you probably have failed to comprehend at this point because you live in your NYC bubble. Sorry, bro. 30+ year history of hating everything related to the Seattle Sounders. Their players are going to get booed even if DeAdre Yedlin is actually a really cool dude who is a sick soccer player.

    Here's how you know when MLS actually got there. It happens when people remember non-competitive matches don't mean anything and while they can be fun you don't have to pretend it's like the club you love is playing a life or death match against a competitor in a completely different league that really doesn't care about the result because they're just trying to get their players fit for the league competition they actually care about. The all-star game is a nice event that shouldn't be cared about by a league that is in the top 5. At some point the league has to grow up and realize they don't need to do celebrity stunt friendlies to attract attention. Yes I realize we don't have to do this in Portland with our team and yes I understand teams in other places in MLS aren't there yet.

    Some clubs and maybe MLS needs it. They fly in some big club from Europe and they can sell out the stadium to promote the sport. Every full kit wanker will show up. It kind of works in certain cities. It was actually pretty cool a few years ago when the Kansas City Wizards beat Manchester United. Once in a while it is worth it. I get certain markets needing to bring in a gigantic club they'll probably toss 7 figures at to play there to bring attention to the sport. Portland probably isn't that place though and it's probably going to reflect better on MLS when no club is willing toss 7 figures at any club to run out mostly scrubs in a meaningless game. If a club would like to tour the US to promote their brand and play for a cut of the gate then that's fine but we all know that as it is now teams from Europe are getting PAID to come here.

    To address some of the butthurt. Yes the Timbers Army didn't have tifo. Why would we? Did you want us to drop $5,000 on a tifo display for a game that meant nothing to us rather than investing it on the next Bless Field? We didn't have capos either. Did you want them to just appropriate Timbers Army chants for the meaningless all-star game? Remember how most of the Timbers Army clowned Seattle for doing Seattle Sounders chants during MLS Cup when LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake were playing in Seattle? Oh wait that was in 2009. I'm going to be the dick that reminds you that the many of the people who have problem with this weren't there in 2009. Some people need to look inside themselves and realize that happened then and they are giant hypocrites. Yeah also we weren't going to modify a chant to say all-star in place of Timbers. We are not trained seals and do not perform on command. We have always been better than that. If you are sincerely butthurt just grow up. We have the best atmosphere in MLS. We don't need a meaningless friendly between two teams that are not named the Portland Timbers to prove that. We prove it day in and day out when the Timbers take the pitch. Who cares about anything else?

    The whole week was great. If anyone walks away thinking the Soccer City USA moniker bestowed on us in the 1970s wasn't deserved I would be shocked and the denier would probably be lying. At maybe 25% power our stadium still sounded better than 75% of the stadiums across the league. The Timbers FO did everything right this week with events. MLS did everything right this week. I even saw Sunil Gulati out this week with a huge smile on his face, which I assume means US Soccer was pretty happy about this week.

    Now let's get back to what's really important. The Timbers play the soon to be renamed club Chivas USA. Let's just support our club and beat Chivas.


  • 07/31/2014 2:56 PM | 107ist Admin (Administrator)

    As you probably know, one of the biggest community outreach undertakings of the 107IST this year is the renovation of Jefferson High School's field. If you'd like to have a chance at an All Star Game ticket and put some money toward a worthy cause at the same time, now is your chance.

    We are fortunate to be able to raffle four (4) general admission tickets to the MLS All Star Game vs. Bayern Munich this Wednesday, August 6th. For $10, your name will go into a drawing for one of these tickets. For $25, you'll get three chances at the drawing.

    Drawing will be held on Tuesday evening, August 5th at 9pm. Winners will be notified by email, and tickets will be emailed via PDF.

    Click the link below for a chance at the tickets, and to help to support the Jefferson High School field project:



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