—by Chris Rifer
For fifteen minutes, the scene at Providence Park was unnervingly familiar on Saturday night. After a strong first half with extended periods of positive play, the Timbers took a 2-1 lead into the second half with D.C. United seemingly on the ropes. As a matter of habit, however, the Timbers shrank on the backside of halftime leading to the Timbers conceding the all-too-familiar late equalizer.
But then something out of the ordinary happened. The Timbers threw everything forward in a desperate attempt to snatch three points from the jaws of another draw. And it worked.
It didn’t take long for the Timbers to get on the board. Thirty-four seconds in, Darlington Nagbe took the ball off of Cristian’s foot, left Jeff Parke kicking at air, and set Diego Valeri free up the right. Valeri bent a low cross to Gaston Fernandez who chipped to himself over Bill Hamid and volleyed in the opener.
The Timbers, however, reacted poorly to their goal, and for the next five minutes D.C. battered Portland with a barrage of attacking set pieces that the Timbers survived only by the grace of the crossbar.
Having weathered the set piece storm, however, the Timbers went back to tormenting United’s left flank. In the 9th minute, Jewsbury released Valeri down the right side where Diego caught up to it on the byline and whipped a diagonal cross to Fernandez at the top of the box, but La Gata leaned back and pulled his finish wide of the far post.
Eight minutes later, it was Nagbe’s turn to visit the promised land near the touchline. Darlington cut the ball back for Valeri at the top of the box, but his shot, which, like Gaston’s a few minutes earlier, had a chance to beat Hamid, dribbled wide.
Portland wouldn’t have to wait long to miss another good chance, as a minute later Will Johnson turned over D.C. in midfield and set Valeri on a long run toward the box. Once there, Valeri played to his countryman who found space among four United defenders, but fired high.
While working hard not to make it 2-0 in favor of Portland, the fates conspired to further bring D.C. back into the game. With not a whole lot going, Davy Arnaud took a crack from the better part of 40 yards that caught a wicked deflection off of Diego Chara and somehow looped into the upper corner.
The Timbers quickly reestablished control, however, and had a great chance to pull back in front in the 37th minute when Nagbe (I’ll let you guess where on the field he was) crossed to Fernandez in front of goal for what looked like a likely finish, but a last minute intervention from Boswell put the ball behind for a corner.
The ensuing corner was more fruitful, however, as the Timbers flattened D.C.’s defense with near post runs from Jewsbury and Pa Modou Kah, leaving Futty to get foot to Valeri’s service at the penalty spot where he slotted it into the bottom corner. Although perhaps unlucky to be up only one goal heading into the locker room, the Timbers’ play in the first half on Saturday was among the best form Portland has shown all year.
Despite Caleb Porter telling the Timbers not to change anything in the second half, however, the Timbers came out of the locker room conservatively. In the type of lapse Porter called “psychological” after the game, the Timbers took their foot off the attacking gas pedal. For a spell, the Timbers withstood United’s pressure without notable consequence, as D.C. possessed plenty of the ball, but struggled to break down an organized Timbers midfield and defense.
And as the hour passed, the Timbers briefly looked prepared to reassert their will on the game. In the 62nd minute, Nagbe switched the field from the right to Steve Zakuani on the left, where the new Akronian drove inside along the top of the box and unleashed a dangerous shot toward the far post, but Hamid saved in the bottom corner.
Six minutes later, Fernandez chipped Nagbe into the box where he wiggled his way past Parke, Cristian, and Hamid. Rather than look to in front of goal where a wide-open Will Johnson running into the box, however, Nagbe tried to right-foot a shot from a hopelessly tight angle on the right, only to predictably find the wrong side of the side netting.
The Timbers’ inability to put themselves out of reach came back to bite them in the 78th minute. After Fabian Espindola hit a D.C. corner to the top of the six-yard box, Futty narrowly beat Cristian to the ball, but his contested header deflected inside the far post for yet another set piece concession.
The Timbers of March and April made a habit of poorly dropping points at home. And on Saturday the Timbers of May looked set to do the same.
But this time desperation set it, which was never more clearly demonstrated than when Porter pulled Jewsbury—who had a solid defensive game—off the field in favor of Maxi Urruti, indicating an unmistakable intent to win or lose trying.
Soon enough the chances starting coming. In the 86th minute, Kalif Alhassan and Darlington Nagbe set Fernandez up with a golden opportunity in the box, but the seemingly routine finish eluded La Gata as the ball skied high off his boot.
Another Fernandez chance and a Valeri crack wide later and it appeared destined to be another one of those days in the Rose City.
But the Timbers had one last gasp in them. After Diego Chara fed a partially cleared corner back out wide to Diego Valeri in the final minute of stoppage time, the on-again maestro found Urruti near the near post. Urruti’s first effort rattled the post, but the rebound returned to his foot and Maxi slid it home at the death.
The desperation of staring another crushing disappointment in the face allowed the Timbers to turn the familiar sting of a letdown into a last gasp win and, with some good fortune, to begin the process of solidifying Portland’s footing on the season.
Match Observations
The Right Way
The Timbers found almost unlimited success down the right side on Saturday night. Unlike many instances in 2013 in which the Timbers focused on moving down one side, the Timbers did not do so by packing one wing with personnel. Rather, the Timbers used positional discipline in other parts of the field to create quality, rather than quantity, advantages on the right.
With Diego Chara and Will Johnson sitting central and deeper, and Steve Zakuani patrolling the left touchline, the Timbers were able to isolate Nagbe and Valeri on Chris Rolfe and Cristian. That matchup was just as advantageous for the Timbers as you’d think it would be, as Nagbe and Valeri took turns terrorizing D.C.’s left side.
When D.C. tried to adjust to this by devoting extra resources to the right—which, frankly, wasn’t as frequently as I would have expected—the Timbers were able to switch to Zakuani on the left. While Zakuani had a quiet first half, his second half spell was much more productive.
Adding that element of width and directness back into the Timbers offense, then, may be one of the keys to getting Valeri and Nagbe fully on track. If the Timbers can keep Zakuani healthy or get Rodney Wallace back to full fitness, the return of a true left winger may be the additional element the Timbers attack needs.
Set Piece Defending
In some ways, 2014 has to feel like a game of Whack-a-Mole for Caleb Porter. As soon as he solves one problem, another pops up. Now nine games into the season, the Timbers’ problems are well known. And while on Saturday Porter seemed to have figured out how to reinvigorate his offense, the old nemesis of set piece defending reared its head again.
Although the Timbers ultimately conceded on a set piece in the second half, the poorest defensive efforts were in a first half in which Donovan Ricketts and the crossbar had to make an unhealthy number of saving plays to keep the ball out of the net.
Early in the season, much was made of the success—or lack thereof—of the Timbers’ zone set piece marking scheme. On Saturday, the Timbers deployed a more traditional man-to-man scheme as they have for the past few weeks, a schematic shift that had been met with fanfare from the punditry. Nonetheless, some of the Timbers poorest set piece defending of the year took place in the first half. Thus, for all that was made of this-scheme-or-that, it’s clear the fundamental problem with the Timbers’ set piece defending remains personnel.
Timbers Grades
Donovan Ricketts, 6 Showed excellent positioning and even got to ground a couple times to make a few important saves. He’s not to blame for either concession, and, aside from the shaky first few minutes, otherwise didn’t have a whole lot to do.
Michael Harrington, 5.5 The Timbers defense had D.C. pretty well bottled from the run of play. In a game in which the Timbers were pretty conservative with both fullbacks, that gives Harrington a little bump above the median line.
Pa Modou Kah, 5 Bears a tiny bit of responsibility on the second concession for following his mark too far on the set piece and allowing Boswell to pull him out of position to make a play on the ball. Otherwise, however, it was a much-needed solid game from Kah.
Futty, 6 Great goal to put the Timbers back in front in the 38th minute, and generally had a nice game in defense, but he was a step late reacting to the ball on the second concession. That sin may have been met with harsher condemnation but for Urruti’s winner.
Jack Jewsbury, 5.5 Like Harrington, Jack hung back a little bit more than usual, which served to benefit his defensive game. Overall, things were pretty quiet on Jack’s right flank.
Will Johnson, 5 Solid, somewhat understated day from Will. Though neither defensive central midfielder ventured too far forward, Johnson was generally the more conservative of the two. His grade would have been higher if Nagbe had squared the ball across goal in the 68th minute. If his teammates don’t start looking for Johnson’s late runs, we may be in for increasingly intense on-field temper tantrums.
Diego Chara, 6 Led the game in recoveries, and was a little bit more aggressive than Johnson in both positioning and distribution.
Steve Zakuani, 5.5 How do you grade Steve Zakuani? If you’re looking at just Zakuani, you’d say he was pretty quiet, albeit with a little bit more impact in the second half. If you’re looking at the secondary effects of Zakuani on the left touchline, you’d say he was among the Timbers’ most important players.
Diego Valeri, 8 Easily the Man of the Match for me. The positional fluidity he showed along with Darlington Nagbe dispelled the myth that Valeri needs to be in the center of the field to maximize his impact. In the end, he effectively assisted on all three goals, even if the last one didn’t go in the book on account of Urruti hitting the post before putting the rebound away for the winner.
Darlington Nagbe, 6 The timeline of his possession stats confirms appearances; Nagbe is still having a little bit of a hard time being as active late in games as he is early on. Still, his overall game was solidly in the positive category, as his partnership with Valeri was unstoppable for spells.
Gaston Fernandez, 6 A goal and six shots for Fernandez, who showed the best tactical understanding of any Timbers number nine on the year. The enticing part, however, is that he’ll likely put away some of the opportunities he missed on Saturday given a little more time to build rhythm.
Kalif Alhassan, 5.5 Kalif attempted two passes in his first fifteen minutes on the field, and then ten passes in the next ten. Was key to reestablishing that rightward dominance in the waning minutes.
Maxi Urruti, 6 He didn’t waste his mulligan. We may look back on that in a few months and find that very, very important.
Preseason Prediction: Timbers 1, United 0. Urruti.
Actual Result: Timbers 3, United 2. Fernandez, Futty, Urruti.
Onward, Rose City!
