—by Chris Rifer

There were countless storylines created at Jeld-Wen Field Saturday night.  Real Salt Lake deservedly advanced to the MLS Cup Final.  The Portland Timbers clattered out of the playoffs, getting beat convincingly by an RSL team that was simply better.  Jason Kreis has his team in the Final in what looks more and more like his last year in Salt Lake City.

But the moment on Sunday night that few in attendance will ever forget came as the final seconds were ticking off the clock.  With their team moments away from reaching the end of the road in 2013, the crowd rose and gave the loudest “PTFC” chant heard within the friendly confines of Jeld-Wen Field.

On the field, Jack Jewsbury said, “It took me a little off guard there at the end to see how loud it was.  I had to step back and take it in for a moment because it’s not every day that players get to play in an environment like this.”

Jewsbury’s step at the end of the match Sunday night may have been the only step a Timber took backward all year, as, despite a disappointing end, 2013 was a year of unbelievable growth for the club.

The message was clear, as Caleb Porter emphasized postgame, “We’re not going away.  We’re not going away.  This is just the beginning.  We’ll be back.”

And for half an hour Sunday night, it looked like the Timbers might not be going away from the 2013 playoffs just yet, either.

After an early Javi Morales free kick found Devon Sandoval in the box only to have the ensuing header go just high, the Timbers seized control; playing some of the most connected attacking soccer they’ve shown in 2013.

In the 9^th minute, Frederic Piquionne got free on the left side and whipped a dangerous ball into the box where a stretching Diego Valeri, hampered by a severe sports hernia, couldn’t quite reach to knock the finish home.

Six minutes later, however, the Timbers looked like they’d found their crucial early strike.  After Will Johnson sent a corner kick into the box, Rodney Wallace earned position over Lovel Palmer and nodded back to the mouth of goal where Futty headed the putative opener home.  Mark Geiger, who is working on a fledgling reputation for questionably disallowing goals in big spots, however, saw Wallace’s push on Palmer and waved the goal away.  For a small push, it was a huge call.[1]

In the 19^th minute, Will Johnson found himself nicely teed up to hit one from outside the box after Rodney Wallace had a Michael Harrington pass tackled away from him, but the Captain’s strike screamed just wide.

Just two minutes thereafter it was Valeri’s turn to have the ball fall to him in a promising position, but both his initial effort and a follow up were blocked away by Kyle Beckerman.

For all their dominance, the Timbers couldn’t find the goal to change their fortunes in the series.  Instead, in the 29^th minute, it was RSL that found the vital tally to all but seal their victory.  After Luis Gil collected a poor Pa Modou Kah clearance and fired a low shot from outside the box, the ball skidded on Ricketts, who accordingly spilled a rebound.  Harrington and Kah looked well positioned to clean up the mess, but a miscommunication between them allowed an opportunistic Robbie Findley to slot it inside the near post.

Three minutes later, it looked like the Timbers might be able to pull themselves back into the game.  After a Portland corner was partially cleared, Michael Harrington bent a reentry ball into the box where Diego Valeri was making a late run.  Valeri gathered and fired from close range, but Rimando displayed his trademark elite reaction time to save with his left hand.  Futty put back the rebound, but was correctly flagged offside.

From there, the frustration of conceding a preventable goal, losing Rodney Wallace and Frederic Piquionne to injury, and having two goals waved off was too much for the Timbers to handle.  For the first time in 2013, the Timbers panicked.  And the result was a lack of finishing that turned an unlikely comeback into the impossible.

But ultimately the missed chances, disallowed goals, and untimely injuries will be forgotten—drowned out by the sea change that took place in 2013 with Caleb Porter at the helm and the indelible moment after Sunday’s final whistle.

Notes & Observations

• After the match, I asked Will Johnson what it meant to have likely garnered a berth into CONCACAF Champions League.  “It’s huge.  The Champions League is the biggest competition that we can possibly enter.”  Johnson—who has been to a Champions League Final before—noted that it also presents another challenge.  “It’s something that for this club to be an elite club, you have to not only partake, but do well in the Champions League.”
• While such topics are chronically overplayed in sports journalism, the fabric of the Timbers’ locker room has maybe been a little bit overlooked in 2013.  In answering a question about whether the extent of the team’s success was a surprise, Will Johnson took a tangent to cite the strength of the locker room.  “As soon as I got to know the guys more and more and see what kind of guys they are, and their character, and the work ethic of everybody in this locker room, you start seeing it’s not a surprise, it’s not luck.  It’s just hard work, and good training habits, and good character guys using their talent to perform.  And it stops surprising you after a while because it becomes routine.”
• The day before at practice, Donovan Ricketts gushed at the strength of the locker room.  “This [team] is more like a family.  We do things together off the field, so once we leave here it’s not just, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’  We do things together as a team.”  Ricketss continued, “I’m a very quiet guy, and they’ve got me doing stuff I’ve never done before.  So it’s a big family.”  When asked what kinds of things he’s been doing with the team, however, Ricketts demurred, “Ah, I can’t say.”
• While there are plenty of on-field reasons to keep this group largely together, the strength of the locker room may be the most compelling reason behind Merritt Paulson’s Twitter promise to only make a couple significant moves this offseason rather than reprise a 2012-style overhaul.  Porter’s postgame promise to be back, then, may have been even more literal than he intended.

Onward, Rose City!

We'll be starting up at 8:45 so show up early and have some coffee, breakfast snacks, and good times before we get started.

First, many thanks to the 13 individuals who threw their hats in the ring this year. Our organization only grows because of the work of hundreds of volunteers, and the current board really appreciates your willingness  to be at the forefront of those efforts.

Also, the board would like to thank our election committee members: Basmah Rahman, Diego Davila, and Lucas Grzybowski for their assistance.

The top four candidates will begin a 3 year term that starts on January 1, 2014.

This years election had 991 out of a possible 3,572. That equates to a 27.7% participation rate, which is just below last year's of 28.2%.

Additionally, the current board would like to thank and recognize our outgoing board members:

Abram Goldman-Armstrong
Bruce 'Obi' Eaton
Stephan 'Stephanzy' Lewis

Your contributions during your tenure have helped to shape what the 107ist is today, and what it will be tomorrow. Heartfelt thanks, and best wishes in the future.

Finally, congratulations and welcome to: Rachel Harrison, Jerry Makare, Garrett Dittfurth, and William Packwood. We look forward to serving with you.

Here are the full tallies:

Rachel Harrison	517
Jerry Makare	450
Garrett Dittfurth	448
William Packwood	425
Holly Marsh	402
Irek Wielgosz	268
Stephan Lewis	255
Eric Tonsfeldt (Erock)	254
Kelly Dews	215
Kris Carpenter	138
Tim Howard	129
Mike Gwaltney	91
Joe Johnson	35

—by Chris Rifer

Pending expected CONCACAF approval, the Portland Timbers have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Confirming a November 6^th report by Prost Amerkia, the MLS website revealed Friday evening that a CCL berth will be awarded to the regular season conference winner that does not win the Supporters’ Shield, guaranteeing that each regular season conference champion will earn a berth to Champions League.

From the Portland perspective, this is – to make an initialism of one of Vice President Biden’s most precious open mic moments – a BFD.

Sure, there are the tangible benefits of qualifying for Champions League.  In 2014, Portland will receive an unspecified, but reportedly handsome sum of allocation money to help buttress their already deep, young roster.  Moreover, with so much youth in the club, the early group stage matches in the fall of 2014 will provide a valuable opportunity to galvanize their potential in the fires of competitive CCL play.

More important, however, is that the CCL berth very tangibly validates one simple fact about this team.  The Portland Timbers are among the MLS elite.  And they look set to stay there for some time.

As Merritt Paulson indicated on Twitter Friday evening, entry into CCL has been one of the Timbers’ primary goals in MLS.  It was a goal that was whispered before the 2012 season, only to look like a joke by June.  Before 2013, it was a thought that seemed utterly absurd considering the shape the club was in a year ago.  But today, the Timbers’ CCL aspirations are seemingly a formality away from reality, which is nothing short of a tremendous accomplishment for the Timbers team and organization.

For MLS, the rule change is a significant step toward putting the proper emphasis on the 34-game regular season.   Should the rule change be approved, U.S. Soccer’s four CCL berths will be awarded to the MLS Cup winner, the regular season conference champions, and the U.S. Open Cup champion.

Moreover, should a Canadian MLS team win MLS Cup or a conference regular season title, the vacant U.S. spot goes to the next best American MLS team based on regular season performance.

As it stood before the change, only the Supporters Shield winner earned a berth based on regular season accomplishments.  So long as the MLS schedule was balanced, this didn’t pose any great inequity, as there could be little doubt about who the best team at the end of the season was.  With an unbalanced schedule, however, conference imbalances can raise significant questions about whether the Supporters Shield winner was truly the league’s best team over the course of 34 games.

The 2013 regular season was a perfect example.  While New York Red Bulls took home the Shield with 59 points, the Timbers won the West with 57.  The Red Bulls, however, got to play 25 teams against a weaker Eastern Conference, including six fixtures against kick overs D.C. United and Toronto FC.  Considering the Timbers played in the much deeper West, it’s not hard to make a colorable argument that Portland was MLS’s best team in 2013.

Giving a CCL berth to both conference champions eases any possible inequities in this respect and, more importantly, provides greater reward for regular season success.  While the conference championship trophies remain in the playoffs, the true reward lies where it belongs – with the teams that prove their mettle over the course of seven months.

From a league perspective, the final point worth making is MLS made this move the right way.  Although they couldn’t announce the change – likely because it had to be approved by multiple levels of bureaucracy – Paulson revealed that the owners voted on the change in preseason, mollifying any concerns that MLS was up to its midstream rule change tricks again.

In sum, MLS made a good sense rule change using appropriate procedures that resulted in the Timbers justifiably achieving a major franchise goal.  To me, that sounds to me like a BFD.

Onward Rose City!

—by Chris Rifer

With just hours to go before the Portland Timbers try to climb the mountain that is their two-goal deficit to Real Salt Lake in Leg Two of the Western Conference Final, there are a few tactical questions that remain unanswered.  Below, I look at the three biggest decisions Caleb Porter has had to make this week.

The Setup

The first and biggest decision Porter has ahead of Sunday evening’s fixture is how he sets his team up against RSL.  Throughout 2013, Porter has consistently bent the Timbers’ typical setup to try to flood the midfield and create numbers and spacing advantages among and around the Claret-and-Cobalt’s diamond.  Porter is rarely specific about tactical tweaks he made to take advantage of an opponents’ setup, but more than once after disappointing results against RSL, Caleb has specifically referred to Salt Lake’s diamond midfield as a reason for a tactical choice.  Hyperbolically put, Porter has been uniquely focused in 2013 on out-chessmastering RSL’s diamond, only to find himself giving up his king at the end of the day.

While Porter’s moves have been in line with the gaffering orthodoxy’s prescribed antidote to a diamond midfield, seeking to force the diamond to stretch and open up spaces inside or stay narrow and provide acres of green on the touchlines, they haven’t worked against RSL.

Such tactics really only work when you’re successful at creating the numbers mismatch in the midfield.  RSL’s forwards, however, and willing and capable defenders, which two weeks ago meant the Timbers were bending themselves out of shape to get into a six-v-six battle that they had a hard time winning.  When RSL would turn the Timbers over near midfield, they were effective in playing the ball into the underbelly of the Timbers’ formation between the sitting defensive central midfielder and the two centerbacks, and then sending runners into one-v-ones with the centerbacks and little, if any, pressure on the ball.

Porter appears to have learned his lesson, however.  At the end of an extended interview with John Canzano, Caleb tipped his hand to his tactical approach this time around.  Talking about his team’s preparation against RSL, Porter said “This week, I don’t think I’ll talk much about Salt Lake at all.”  Porter continued, “I don’t care if they’re playing a diamond . . . I think it’s just going to have to be about us.”

Accordingly, don’t be surprised to see the Timbers go back to their bread-and-butter leftern lean, with nominal right wing Darlington Nagbe floating central, Rodney Wallace on the touchline, and the Timbers trying to draw RSL into a tight-spaces battle on the left side of the field while looking to make quick switches to a selectively marauding Jack Jewsbury likely isolated against Lovel Palmer.[1]

Such a setup fits the Timbers’ natural shape, allows them to provide a little bit more defensive cover by holding at least one fullback at a time, and creates space for one of the Timbers’ top performers in the playoffs.

The Playmaker

By all reports, Diego Valeri is as fit as he can be with a sports hernia of some significance.  While he was held out of practice last week and early this week, the Timbers’ conservatism with Valeri has been part of a pattern over the course of the last several weeks.  Accordingly, it’s reasonable to expect Valeri’s absence from practice was more about getting him as close to 90 minutes fit as possible than treating any particular aggravation.

But there is no reasonable circumstance under which Valeri will be able to go 120 minutes if the Timbers get the game to extra time, which gives Caleb Porter a difficult choice.  Down two goals, it’s hard to see Porter keeping Valeri out of the starting lineup.  Simply put, this is no time to sit your best playmaker.  Accordingly, it’s overwhelmingly likely Porter will start Valeri and let the chips fall where they may late in the game.

But it’s equally difficult to imagine the Timbers desperately chasing a goal in the 80^th minute and pulling Valeri.  The reality is, down two goals, the Timbers don’t need to throw caution to the wind too terribly early.  Simply put, two goals can happen fast, which allows the Timbers to come out and play a soccer game rather than recklessly throw numbers forward from the opening whistle.

Considering this deficit is surmountable, the thought may occur to Porter to start Kalif Alhassan – whose form has been good over the last couple months of the season – and make the switch to Valeri at the half or, if the Timbers’ offense is already humming, into the second half.  This would have Valeri fresh and on the field when RSL’s defense is at its softest, and allow him to play through extra time, if necessary.

As I said, I don’t think Porter will go to Alhassan at the start – and, to be honest, in his spot I would start Valeri – but looking to Kalif in the first half is something to at least consider.

The Closer

The final decision Porter has to make is with his forward rotation.  It’s hard to imagine a circumstance under which the Timbers won’t be stretching for a goal late in the game, meaning forward substitutes will likely play a big role if the Timbers hope to advance.

Ultimately whom Porter taps off the bench will be largely informed by whom he starts.  I think the skipper will go to Ryan Johnson at the start for two reasons.  First, and as discussed above, the Timbers don’t need to fly forward from the start.  As he has shown over and over this year, Johnson is the best systemic option Porter has up top.  Johnson’s game is the best rounded of the forward options, providing a good link up option at forward, decent work rate, handy defense, and solid – if unspectacular – finishing.

Second, and perhaps more important, the other options at forward each have specific qualities that make them attractive second half substitutes.  If RSL focuses on shutting down the middle and Portland has to go more direct and look to wide areas to send crosses into the box, Frederic Piquionne is a great option to rise above legged central defenders and nod one into the net.  If the Claret-and-Cobalt are pressing high, either Maxi Urruti or Jose Valencia provide the athleticism that can threaten to get in behind RSL, and make them think about dropping their lines a little bit deeper and open up space for Darlington Nagbe and company.

With his all-around solidity, Johnson doesn’t present any particular quality that will scare RSL’s backline or force them to make any uncomfortable changes late in the game.  Simply put, if you’re desperate for a goal late, it’s not the time for the patient buildup and general adequacy Johnson presents.

Starting Johnson and leaving Piquionne, Urruti, and Valencia on the bench, then, gives the Timbers a more consistent look up front to start, while leaving more potent bullets in Porter’s proverbial pistol late in the game.  And if you’re looking for a goal to prolong your season late, that’s a very good thing.

Onward, Rose City!

The second leg of the Western Conference Final is nearly upon us, and once again supporters have stepped forward to donate tickets for a good cause. Thanks to donors like Kyle Jones and Golazo, we have three pairs of tickets to the 6pm Sunday, November 24 playoff match vs. Real Salt Lake.

Playoff match tickets will be raffled in service of Operation Pitch Invasion's Bless Field. One pair of tickets is center west side, 10th row, section 217. The other two pairs are general admission TA. If you would like a shot at having two playoff tickets, you can donate below. $5 gets you one chance at the tickets, $20 gets you five chances. All proceeds will go toward supporting the construction of an all weather youth soccer pitch at New Columbia.

UPDATE: Drawing is now closed. Winners will be announced shortly.

Thank you for your support for OPI and Bless Field!

—by Chris Rifer

Who knew how hard this was going to be?  A week off between legs of the Conference Finals, it turns out, is torture.

So, to help pass the time, The Morrison Report presents its league-wide awards for the 2013 regular season.

MVP – Mike Magee.  I wrote this initially for Tim Cahill, but Magee’s statistical contributions to Chicago Fire are too great to ignore.  In Magee’s 22 appearances, the Fire logged 41 points.  In the 12 games in which he didn’t play, they earned 8.  You can talk about 21 goals until you’re blue in the face, but it’s the difference he made for the Fire that makes Magee an unusual MVP for a non-playoff team.

Honorable Mention: Tim Cahill, Diego Valeri, Robbie Keane.

Coach of the Year – Caleb Porter.  Okay, let’s be honest.  This isn’t even close.  The other bona fide candidates, Mike Petke and Jason Kreis, came into the year with substantially more in the cupboard than Porter.  With his late winter hiring, Petke inherited a core of Henry, Cahill, Olave, Holgersson, and Espindola.  Petke did a nice job of turning them into a more coherent team than years past, but there was plenty to work with there.[1]  Much the same goes for Kreis, who – while losing some pieces from 2012 – still returned Nick Rimando, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Chris Wingert, Ned Grabavoy, Kyle Beckerman, Javi Morales, and Alvaro Saborio.  Kreis did well to work some newbies into that fold, but that’s a very good veteran fold to mix youngsters into.  Porter, on the other hand, inherited a mess with Diego Chara as his only real sum-certain piece.  He turned an incoherent franchise into one of the best teams MLS in the span of one year. That’s why he’s the easy pick for Coach of the Year.

Honorable Mention: Kreis, Petke, Oscar Pareja.

Goalkeeper of the Year – Nick Rimando.  This is close between Rimando and Donovan Ricketts – numbers one and two, respectively, in save percentage.  Both keepers preserved numerous results for their respective teams in 2013.  So, this is close.  Ultimately, I lean toward Rimando on account of RSL’s 2-3-2 record when he didn’t play, compared to 1-0-1 for the Timbers when Ricketts was absent.  Fair?  Probably not, but when the margin between two players is this close, it makes a difference.

Honorable Mention: Ricketts, Troy Perkins.

Defensive Player of the Year – Jose Goncalves.  Played every minute of 2013, and was the primary cog in a New England defense whose improvement this year was the key factor in their improvement from 9^th to 3^rd in the Eastern Conference.  His centerback partnership was in flux for much of the year, but Goncalves provided the consistency that led New England to 14 shutouts – one short of a league high.[2]

Honorable Mention: Jamison Olave, Omar Gonzalez,[3] Matt Besler.

Best Eleven – Nick Rimando; Jose Goncalves, Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez; Diego Valeri, Tim Cahill, Javier Morales, Will Johnson; Mike Magee, Robbie Keane, Camilo Sanvezzo.

Honorable Mention: Donovan Ricketts; Aurelien Collin, Jamison Olave, Seth Sinovic, Chris Klute; Graham Zusi, Diego Fagundez, Federico Higuain, Darlington Nagbe; Marco DiVaio, Alvaro Saborio.

Onward, Rose City!

EDIT: The original article was taken down from Oregon Sports News. Here is a link to the original content that appeared from David Mylet.

Often I wake up in the morning and check Twitter for a laugh. I got one this morning when I read David Mylet's piece in Oregon Sports News. I know I shouldn't link it here because it's nothing but click bait. Still I'm going to for the readers who have no idea what I'm talking about.

It's a classic, "I'm not saying you're racists but you're racists," piece. One of the most jaw-droppingly laughable parts is when Mylet says the Timbers Army has no ideology despite the fact we have a pretty well known ideology. It even extends beyond racism to anti-homophobia. In fact we were named Gay4Soccer's ally of the year. It's such a jaw-droppingly laughable statement that it almost boggles the mind. It's not like we've ever taken a political stance on anything before.

The Timbers Army aesthetic (flags, chants, scarves, smoke bombs, drinking) has largely taken its cue from English soccer fandom. That shouldn’t be a surprise, since Europe (and especially England) has an iconic relationship with soccer. But what is a bit disturbing is the close connection between some English soccer rooting sections (or “firms”) and the British white supremacist movement, in particular the National Front.

Actually, David our atmosphere is taken more from South America since British clubs have had all-seaters since the early 90s. Comparitively we make a club in England look like a morgue and I'm fairly certain if they catch you on CCTV in England lighting a smoke bomb in a stadium they ban you for life along with a hefty amount of time in jail. I really like the logic involved in that statement towards the end. It goes sort of like, "your last name is Schmidt. You have German ancestry. You must be a Nazi." It makes about as much sense. I'm fairly certain Mylet watched Green Street Hooligans and used it as an official reference point for this piece.

The rest of it gets so bad I don't even have the time to get into it. The logic goes, "soccer is a popular sport. In other parts of the world some soccer supporters are racists. Therefore in Portland the supporters are racists too." There's also some stuff about the Green and White Army chant based on the Twisted Sister song, "We're Not Gonna Take It." To Mylet it means we're racists, not that the Timbers club colors are also green and white.

I'm not exactly sure what Mylet's angle was on this one. Maybe he's just trying to get some click bait so someone looks at something he wrote. Congratulations David Mylet. You got some clicks. My real question is probably for the editors are Oregon Sports News. When are you going to let Sarah Palin start writing a column for you?

When stupid just doesn't cover it there is always facepalm.

—by Chris Rifer

It was never going to be as easy against Real Salt Lake as it was against Seattle.  But for a brief moment on Sunday, it appeared as though the Timbers fortunes had changed against the opponent that has been their Achilles heel in 2013.[1]

After Chris Wingert gave the Timbers a free kick in the 14^th minute by clearing out Diego Valeri 25 yards out and breaking his own rib in the process, Will Johnson smashed the set piece just over the wall and past the wrong-footed Nick Rimando for the opener.

And for the next 20 minutes, the match looked a lot like the first leg in Seattle.  RSL had plenty of possession, a nice collection of half chances, but nothing especially dangerous to show for it.  Maybe, just maybe, the Timbers could come back to Portland with the upper hand.

Well, that unraveled fast.

In the 35^th minute, Javi Morales bent a corner kick into the box where Chris Schuler found the end of it by winning a grappling match with Futty, and nodded inside the far post for the equalizer.

Whereas the Timbers had looked passable defensively leading up to the equalizer, thereafter the wheels quickly fell off the wagon.

Three minutes later, on another Morales corner, Schuler get another glancing header on the ball, but his nod was headed well wide before being deflected goalward by Pa Modou Kah’s foot.  Fortunately for Portland, Diego Valeri has his post covered and cleared off the line.

In the 41^st minute, it just got worse.  After a very hopeful long ball forward by Kyle Beckerman looked ripe to be cleared away by Futty, the Gambian botched his attempt to turn under some pressure from Robbie Findley, setting up the seemingly long-ago National Teamer for a chance even he couldn’t miss.

The 1-0 lead the Timbers looked likely to take into halftime quickly turned into a 2-1 deficit the Timbers were lucky to preserve.

Shortly after halftime the hole got even deeper.  After Morales set Findley into space on the right in the 48^th minute, Futty failed to block his cross, and Jack Jewsbury couldn’t prevent Devon Sandoval’s turn before the rookie slotted past Donovan Ricketts.

From there, the Timbers got their foot on the ball a bit more, but couldn’t string together anything remotely promising.  Their effort to create space among the Claret-and-Cobalt’s diamond midfield was failing, as the Timbers were too disconnected among what seemed to be a sea of red shirts.

And in the 81^st minute, Real Salt Lake nearly found their fourth.  After RSL stretched the Timbers defense by taking the ball to the corner, they brought it back inside for Morales 25 yards from goal where he lofted a beautiful cross for Luis Gil running into the box, but Ricketts saved the ensuing header at full stretch.

There would be no heroics on the corner that followed.  Just bad luck.  Rather than head to the corner flag, Morales put himself in the box and got on the end of a ball shy of the near post.  Morales’s header, by itself, was harmless, heading to the post covered by both Alhassan and Ricketts, but on its way it deflected off of Frederic Piquionne’s leg, altering its course just enough to skip past the Jamaican goalkeeper.

The Timbers looked dead in the water.  Even the entrance of Jose Valencia and Frederic Piquionne only inserted marginal life into the attack.  At 4-1, all seemed lost.

It’s remarkable, however, how much one moment can change the course of a soccer game and an aggregate goals series.  And for the Timbers, that moment came just seconds before the final whistle.  Jewsbury, who has been on the poor end of a handful of defensive plays, whipped a tremendous cross in from 35 yards out.  Piquionne found his way onto the end of it ten yards from goal and snapped it into the corner to bring a goal back for Portland.

A game that was an emotional roller coaster turned out far from perfectly, but also not quite disastrously for the Timbers.  The two weeks off will be helpful for a team that looked gassed on short rest and at elevation, and as the Timbers have found out to their detriment in the last two games, a game can turn around to the tune of a pair of goals seemingly in an instant.

Notes & Observations

The Timbers may have been punished a little bit for some tactical conventional wisdom.  Against a diamond 4-4-2, Porter’s tendency—in line with the tactical paradigm—has been to try to create space in the midfield by stretching the attack laterally; giving the diamond the option of clogging the middle and giving up space in wide areas, or stretching to cover the flanks while opening space centrally.

Porter’s favorite way of doing this throughout the year has been to push both fullbacks high, drop one central midfielder or the other a little bit deeper, and stretch his center backs out a little bit wider to cover the space.

The problem on Sunday, however, was that it didn’t work in the attack.  RSL found ways to force turnovers near midfield and create situations where they could run at the center backs in one-v-one situations.  Both Futty and Kah are better organizers than one-v-one defenders.  They’ve benefited greatly from having two dominant central midfielders sitting in front of them so they can sit back, organize their box, and clean up anything that leaks through the Timbers’ midfield wall.

Thus, having the fullbacks pressed high on Sunday exposed one of the Timbers’ biggest defensive weaknesses; one which RSL all too eagerly exploited.

While this strategy was very much in-character for Porter, I’m a little surprised he didn’t stick with the way he beat the diamond against Seattle; whiplashing it by overloading the left, sucking the diamond into that battle, then using a quick switch to open up the backline and get a cross into the box.

While RSL is better setup to handle such an attack than Seattle—on account of, you know, not starting Adam Moffat at left mid—it would have been at least as successful offensively as the Timbers stretch formation, while keeping a fullback tucked in to help defensively and provide some cover to prevent one-v-ones with the center backs.

Also, set piece defending.  But we’ve covered that before.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 5 Could have done better to close out on the second and third concessions, but that’s a tough play for a goalkeeper of Ricketts’ type (i.e., large).  Great save to deny Gil’s header to momentarily keep things at 3-1.

Michael Harrington, 4 Basically lived in no-man’s land all night.  Struggled to meaningfully contribute to the attack, and his absence in defense was conspicuous.  Not all his fault, however, as he was in the spots the tactical setup called for.

Futty, 2 Ugh.  So much here, but let’s focus on the first concession.  Rather than grapple with Schuler—a fight Futty isn’t going to win often considering Schuler’s physicality and momentum coming forward on his run—he need to attack the ball.  Even if he doesn’t get there, he makes Schuler’s header much more difficult by applying pressure and getting the RSL center back going away from the uncovered post.

Pa Modou Kah, 4.5 By far the better of the Great Wall of Gambia, even if that isn’t saying a whole lot.

Jack Jewsbury, 4 Needs to do better in defending Sandoval by either reading the play better to keep him from getting goalside of him, or, at least, keeping him from turning once he receives the pass.

Will Johnson, 4.5 Brilliant strike to open the scoring, then seemed to drift out of the game.  Even uncharacteristically bladed a couple set piece deliveries.  16 unsuccessful passes also demonstrates how tough things were for the Timbers in midfield yesterday.

Diego Chara, 5 When things went well for the Timbers, it usually involved Chara.  That wasn’t often, however.

Rodney Wallace, 3 Nope, that didn’t work.

Diego Valeri, 5.5 Was actually fine when he had a chance to do his thing, but those instances were very few and far between.

Darlington Nagbe, 6 The best of the Timbers’ attack, Nagbe made several of his trademark runs forward, but nobody could get to a place to support him.  As a result, they were often runs straight into multiple red shirts with no outlet.

Ryan Johnson, 4.5 Not the type of game where RJ is going to be of much help, as the Timbers struggles in the midfield rendered meaningless his top-of-the-box combination prowess.

Kalif Alhassan, 4 When he came on, I thought Alhassan’s ability to receive the ball, eliminate a defender or two, and find a pass was going to help the Timbers.  Yeah, not so much.

Jose Valencia, 5 When he came on, I thought his ability to find spaces to receive the ball and use his physicality to get at goal was going to help the Timbers.  Yeah, not so much.  He needed somebody to come up in support of him, but by the time he came on the legs were too tired and the midfield too beaten to be of aid.

Frederic Piquionne, 6.5 When he came on, I thought his ability to grab a goal from nowhere by getting on the end of a cross would help the Timbers.  Third time’s the charm, I guess.

Onward, Rose City!

—by Chris Rifer

One team was focused on Thursday night.  The other was not.  One team was determined on Thursday night.  The other was not.  One team was desperate for victory on Thursday night.  The other was not.

The Portland Timbers are into the Western Conference Finals.  And they got there in dominant fashion.

From the opening whistle on Thursday, the Timbers were the far better team.  Portland nearly opened with a bang, just missing finding the back of the net in the third minute.  After Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe, and Ryan Johnson worked the ball through an entranced Sounders midfield, Valeri streaked into the box and found Wallace behind the defense on the left side, but Rodney was a half-step late to the ball and just barely couldn’t get his foot around enough to steer it on frame.

Seven minutes later, Wallace found a piece of readily available space between the Sounders’ midfield and backline and fired at Michael Gspurning, but the Swiss goalkeeper saved somewhere south of confidently.

Gspurning was beaten just five minutes later, but the Timbers still couldn’t find the net.  After Jack Jewsbury collected a charitable giveaway from Marc Burch, Diego Chara started a combination between Ryan Johnson and Nagbe before the Darlington’s shot from 20 yards screamed just wide of the far post.

All that was missing for Portland was a little luck.  That would come in the 27^th minute.  After Jack Jewsbury way-too-easily gathered a throw in, he looked to breeze by Djimi Traore by chipping him with a clever touch.  Beaten, Traore reached out and handled the ball in the box for a penalty that Will Johnson easily slotted past the hopeless Gspurning.

After an absolutely incoherent opening half hour, the Sounders looked momentarily like they might start to pull themselves together with 34^th and 36^th minute cracks from outside the box by Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans.

But their defense only kept getting worse, something that Diego Valeri exploited in spectacular fashion in the 44^th minute.  After Will Johnson took a handout from Adam Moffat, he played to Jewsbury on the right touchline where he faced no opposition.  Jewsbury worked a give and go with Valeri and found Wallace all alone at the top of the box.  Wallace set a slicing Valeri through the Seattle defense where the Argentine slid to finish past Ozzie Alonso and poor, poor Gspurning.

Coming out of halftime, you would have expected Seattle to pin their ears back and go for broke down three goals on aggregate.  If broke is what they were going for, that’s exactly what they were 90 seconds into the second half.

In the 47^th minute, Wallace received a quickly taken free kick from Will Johnson on the left side and sent a cross into the box under only nominal pressure.  Sigi Schmid’s employment prospects would have appreciated nominal on pressure on Futty, but the dean of Timbers was entirely unmarked heading toward the near post, where he easily nodded in.

For the next 25 minutes, everybody in the building acted under the assumption that this thing was over.  And that assumption turned out to be correct, even if the Sounders challenged it for a moment by scoring two goals in quick succession.

The first was by way of a Brad Evans long throw.  After Evans heaved the ball in the box, Eddie Johnson got a head to it before it dribbled in front of goal, somehow avoiding everybody until DeAndre Yedlin put it home at the back post.

Just two minutes later, in then 76^th minute, Johnson himself got into the act.  After the Timbers sat uncharacteristically deep in defense, Seattle worked the ball to an open Yedlin on the right side.  His cross was a good one, and found Johnson at the goalmouth where he elevated to nod inside the far corner.

Needing to restore order in a hurry lest they let Seattle back in, the Timbers did so by bringing the game back to the midfield.  The ball at the feet of Kalif Alhassan and Diego Chara, the Timbers largely sucked the air out of the game.

But this game wouldn’t have been complete without an appearance from Clint Dempsey.  After Traore launched a free kick two-thirds the distance of the field, it somehow found its way through a gaggle of players from both teams to Dempsey in front of goal.  Deuce, however, put his gold-plated opportunity from the penalty spot wide in a miss that encapsulated his lost maiden voyage in rave green.

In the end, the 5-3 aggregate scoreline flattered the Sounders, as the Timbers were unquestionably the dominant team.  And just like that, the Timbers move on to meet Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Finals.

Notes & Observations

• Whereas Saturday in Seattle the Timbers locker room was abuzz with energy, Thursday evening the locker room was as casual as I’ve seen this year.  Will Johnson explained the business-like atmosphere by noting, “the turnaround is so quick, there’s no time to celebrate this week.”  Indeed, ice baths, eating right, and kicking the feet up were common talking points from the players in the clubhouse, as the Timbers had clearly moved on from their victory over Seattle by the time the assembled media were let in less than half an hour after the final whistle.
• This brings us to yet another point about MLS dropping the ball.  The schedule for the beginning of the Conference Finals is absurd.  The way the schedule is set up assures that any top seed that advances through the first round will have only two days rest while having to travel for their first leg in the Conference Finals.  The lower seed in the Conference Final, on the other hand, gets two full weeks to train and travel for the return leg.  Call it the worst top-seed advantage ever, as Portland heads to Utah to face an RSL side sitting at home waiting on them.  If MLS is going to put as much emphasis as it does on the playoffs – to the detriment of regular season accomplishments[1] - it must ensure that its higher seeds have some sort of advantage.  Otherwise, there is simply little difference between finishing second in the league and fifth in the East.  In this case, MLS erred by hurrying to play the first leg of the Conference Finals on short rest before the international break, then waiting for the return leg two weeks later.  As a result, MLS has prejudiced its best teams over the course of 34 games to the benefit of those who finished down the table.  It’s a common refrain, but MLS must get better.
• I’m having a hard time knowing how much to read into the Conference Semifinal win.  On one hand, sporting a 10-game unbeaten streak, including six games against playoff opposition, the Timbers’ form right now is impressive.  On the other hand, the Seattle team Portland just beat is bad, and has been for a while.  Their one win in their last ten came over a Colorado Rapids team that was deer-in-the-headlights.  Otherwise, Seattle had one point from their final five regular season matches, and that only came by way of the biggest refereeing blunder in MLS this year.  So, yes, the Timbers are playing well.  But just how well, we’ll have to find out in the Conference Final.
• The Timbers had two corner kicks in the entire series. Yeah, seriously.

Timbers Grades 

Donovan Ricketts, 4 This is harsh, because he really didn’t have anything to do until that spell between the 74^th and 76^th minutes, but Ricketts has to be expected to do better to keep Evans’s long throw from dribbling all the way across his goal.

Michael Harrington, 6 His grade is depressed somewhat by a little bit of a lazy closeout of Yedlin in the buildup to the second concession, but Harrington was very, very good in the game and the series.

Futty, 7 Two goals in MLS against the Sounders, and both of them huge.  This one really did the Sounders in, as hour-and-a-quarter horoics notwithstanding, the Sounders’ backs were broken with Futty’s tally.  Would still like to see he and Kah control the box a little bit better, however.

Pa Modou Kah, 5.5 The lack of box control he and Futty exercise is exposed when the Timbers midfield flattens out and sits deep.  The reality is in the past month, Portland has only been beat by two long throws and a deep cross—both plays where you would like to see your center backs take command.

Jack Jewsbury, 9 Who foresaw Jack Jewsbury being the hero of the Conference Semifinals?  Look back at each of the five goals the Timbers scored against Seattle.  Who was involved in the buildup of each one? Jack.  If his form continues, the Timbers will be very difficult for anybody to beat, and Jack will cement his rightful place as a Timbers legend.

Will Johnson, 6.5 He doesn’t fill up the corners, but Johnson is a tricky little penalty taker, consistently sending keepers the wrong way.  Whereas Chara was the dominant force in the midfield on Saturday, it was Johnson on Thursday, repeatedly turning Seattle over and launching the attack.

Diego Chara, 6 A little bit quieter game from Chara than we’ve seen recently.  Sure, he had his chance through on goal, but we all knew how that was going to turn out.  Did his job nicely in midfield, winning tackles and connecting his trademark simple, correct passes.  Still, Chara just wasn’t quite as dominant as he was in Seattle.

Rodney Wallace, 7.5 Seattle simply had no answer for Rodney.  Should have scored in the third minute, but otherwise made the most of his outing by repeatedly terrorizing whichever Sounder was unfortunate enough to be in Wallace’s way.

Diego Valeri, 7 Seattle focused its hacking on Valeri on Thursday, and he responded by taking blow after blow, and delivering blow after blow.  His goal before halftime was the setup to Futty’s knockout punch.

Darlington Nagbe, 8 Quietly special on Thursday.  Completed 32 of 35 passes in the attacking half, including many in the final third.  A lot of Seattle’s defensive balance problems were because they couldn’t defend Nagbe straight up.  And not having to ever play a full 90 minutes in this series, Darlington may well have some gas in the tank for Salt Lake.

Ryan Johnson, 7 Another unlikely hero against Seattle, RJ’s value was in his linkup play on Thursday.  Two key passes don’t do his effect justice, as it was often his popping up for combinations in the middle of the Timbers buildup that pulled a central defender out of position and allowed his teammates to carve up the carcass that was the Seattle backline.

Kalif Alhassan, 6 His ability to hold the ball has proven helpful late in games.  After the Sounders scored their goals, the ball often found itself at Kalif’s feet, where the Timbers found success killing off the series.

Maxi Urruti, 5 Tough time to go down with an injury, as Ryan Johnson has stepped firmly into the starting number nine role.  Urruti may have to wait until 2014 for his real chance.

Ben Zemanski, INC. He came, he ran, he didn’t do much else.

Onward, Rose City!