While there is still work to be done on the pitch, and in the stands, it’s also time to make sure that the 107ist can continue to grow in the future. To that end, we would like to announce the call for candidates for the 107ist board of directors.

We have four board positions open this year, and are now accepting candidate applications for them. Members selected this election will serve three-year terms from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2017. Abram Goldman-Armstrong and Bruce ‘Obi’ Eaton, have decided to not seek re-election. Garrett Dittfurth will be running again, and the final seat is the one that Joanne Couchman vacated when she had to step down for medical reasons (this vacancy was temporarily filled by Stephan ‘Stephanzy’ Lewis).

In order to offer the most complete insight into the candidates and their ideas a candidate forum will be held November 16th, 2013 at the Artist Repertory Theater from 1:00-3:00. Doors open at 1:00, Q&A starts at 1:30. Food and drink will be available for purchase.

ART is located at 1515 SW Morrison Street - just around the corner from the Fanladen and down the street from Jeld-Wen field.

The forum will be moderated with questions to be submitted from the membership. Candidates should make this a priority to attend as this is a valuable place to express your vision of 107ist and where you would like it to go. We will endeavor to  have the candidate forum recorded and offered online for our membership unable to attend, but attendance by our membership is strongly encouraged.

To apply for a board position please visit: [Link page no longer exisits]

Completed candidate applications must be received no later than 11:59pm on November 14th, 2013.

You must be a 107ist member to run for the board of directors.

Election timeline:

Nov 8th – Nov 14th, 2013 - Candidate applications accepted

Nov 16th, 2013 – Candidate forum to be held at ART

Nov 17th, 2013 Election ballots will be emailed to all current 107ist members

Nov 17th - Nov 24th 2013 - Voting window open

Nov 25th, 2013 - Winners announced

Jan 1, 2014 - Winners start their 3 year term

The email address for all feedback and questions is elections@107ist.org

Thank you for your support,

The 107ist Board of Directors

Thursday will be the biggest match in the Portland Timbers MLS existence. It's the second and deciding leg against the hated Seattle Flounders. The Timbers have a 2-1 lead heading into the match and will be looking to step on the necks of the flopping Flounders. At this very moment Sigi Schmid, the Flounders boss, is sitting in his La-Z-Boy recliner dreaming up his latest excuse for failure. What will it be this time? Rain, the referee, or maybe he'll blame the Pope. At this point that may be the only person he has yet to blame.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves with visions of GAM completely losing it and being sent off with a red card. We can't play the game ourselves. We're just supporters. What we can do is be loud. Be louder than we've ever been before. This is no time to worry about your voice at work on Friday. Get yourself to the your nearest natural foods store and pick up a bottle of Singer's Saving Grace. It works for our capos.

What's the last thing you can do? Paint the town Green and Gold on Thursday. For those of you breaking out your paint rollers put them away because that's not what I mean. Wear your Portland Timbers gear to work and out on the town Thursday. Let everyone know what's happening that night. The biggest party in Portland is going down at Jeld-Wen Field and if you can't be there get yourself to one of our 107ist partner pubs and watch. Wear your Portland Timbers gear there too. It's our first playoff game since we've gone to MLS. We've got to bring it harder and louder than we've ever done it. This is on all of us. Yes that means you specifically.

Paint the town Green and Gold.

Our first home playoff match in MLS is fast approaching (this Thursday November 7th at 8pm), and many folks are looking for tickets to this historic match. Matt Carmody will be unable to attend, and would like his two TA tickets to go to good use.

Matt has donated his two playoff match tickets in service of the Gisele Currier Memorial Fund. If you would like a shot at having those 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 soccer outreach in honor of Gisele Currier.

UPDATE: Luke Fritz has also donated his family's three tickets, Kyle Jones has donated a ticket, and Ben Platt has donated two as well! This increases your chances of getting to attend the match. I will draw FOUR names. Each name drawn will receive a pair of TA tickets.

Drawing will be held on Wednesday, November 6th at 9pm. Winner need not be present, and we will email the tickets to you if you win.

UPDATE: the winning names drawn at random from 95 different names and 397 total entries:

Joel Gaynor
Nicole Holt
John Nyen
Nicole Rambeau

Winners will be notified via email. In the event that winners are unable to claim their tickets, additional names have been drawn as backup. Congratulations to the winners, and congratulations to all who contributed. Together you raised $1592 for the Gisele Currier Memorial Fund!

—by Chris Rifer

No Porterball, no problem.  The misunderstood, misbranded style of play that the Timbers were typecast into played absolutely no role in the Portland Timbers biggest win of the 2013 season to date, as the Timbers used their high pressure to funnel the Sounders offense into the teeth of their defense, and furiously counterattacked when Seattle inevitably turned the ball over.

The result was a 2-1 win in Seattle that puts the Timbers in pole position to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Consistent with the Timbers tactics, Seattle had their chances.  Because of the Timbers tactics, until late, they were largely half chances.

One of Seattle’s best came in the 8^th minute, when a rare Jack Jewsbury mistake freed Adam Moffat on the left side.  The former Timber drove a cross into the box that took a deflection and fell for Brad Evans on the volley, but his bouncing effort was straight at Donovan Ricketts.

Now, to understand what happened next, a brief review is necessary.  Specifically, please look back at Kelly McLain’s piece from June, and the quote he elicited from Caleb Porter at the end.  “It’s not always getting into an area to create goals.  Sometimes it’s pulling out of an area to create goals.  Maybe we’re creating more goals because we’re actually not putting someone in there and we’re actually overloading the middle and creating more through the middle and left versus always just jamming it down the right.”

Perhaps if Sigi Schmid had read that, what happened next could have been avoided by the Sounders.  But clearly he didn’t.  And when Diegos Chara and Valeri, along with Darlington Nagbe played a triangular combination just outside the left hashmarks, Jack Jewsbury was all by his lonesome on the right.  A quick switch, some good work down to the byline, a nice cross, and a great nearpost run from Ryan Johnson, and it’s 1-0 Portland in the 15^th minute.

Over the course of the next half hour, Seattle saw plenty of the ball, earned mounds of free kicks in a tightly—but fairly—called game by referee Baldomero Toledo, and really only had a direct Clint Dempsey free that Donovan Ricketts saves every time to show for it.

Seattle came back out after the half on their front foot again, but to similar result.  In the 49^th minute, Dempsey found fishermate Eddie Johnson all alone in the center of the box, but the third-best Johnson on the night sent his header well wide.

Portland, however, was more than capable of weathering the storm, and as the game progressed past the hour mark, the Timbers made some thunder of their own.  In the 64^th minute, after Chara worked the ball to Jewsbury on the byline,[1] Jack sent a dangerous low, diagonal cross into the area, but recent entrant Kalif Alhassan scuffed his finish and Marcus Hahnemann easily gathered.

Three minutes later, the Sounders caught on, and cut off the pass to Jewsbury out wide.  But the joke was on them.  After Nagbe and Will Johnson switched the play from the left to Alhassan on the right, Jewsbury again overlapped, creating a two-on-one with Leo Gonzalez.  Gonzalez floated to Jewsbury, and Moffat meandered out to pressure the wide-open Alhassan.  Before he could get there, however, Nagbe ran into the passing channel vacated by Moffat.  Rather than play wide to Jewsbury—as they had done to great success twice before—Alhassan played the ball to Nagbe in the box, whose magnificent first touch allowed him to fire past an overwhelmed Hahnemann.

The goal, however, put the Timbers in a position they haven’t handled well in 2013.  Holding an advantage over a desperate opponent throwing numbers forward, the Timbers have struggled to clear their lines and relieve pressure.

So it was again on Saturday.  In the 75^th minute, the Timbers failed to clear another Sounders set piece.  The ball pinged around the box, and eventually fell to Dempsey at the far post.  The ball teed up enticingly, Dempsey mercifully manufactured another $8 million miss, striking his volley just wide.

Portland nearly ended the series in the 82^nd minute, when Alhassan—who had far and away his best road performance as a Timber—found Ryan Johnson on a perfectly weighted through ball, but Johnson couldn’t quite navigate two defenders and had his shot deflected just wide.

For the most part, however, Portland was pinned in their own end by the sea of Sounders coming forward.  Just before stoppage time, it turned into a series-narrowing goal for Seattle.  After Shalrie Joseph headed a long throw into the center of the box, Alonso struck a low volley between Ricketts’ wickets to pull one back and give Seattle a prayer of advancing.

Despite a late Dempsey header straight at Ricketts, however, the Sounders couldn’t find an equalizer, and the 2-1 result for Portland is more than acceptable coming back to the Rose City.

Those looking to see the possession-oriented style of play that Porterball may have been in May, Saturday was an example of what playoff Porterball has become—deliberate, flexible, and pragmatic.  Also, successful.

Match Observations

• The Timbers rope-a-doped Seattle in two ways.  First, they let Seattle hold the majority of the ball and looked to get out on the counterattack.  More important, however, was the left-to-right rope-a-dope.  Portland’s overloading of the left made Seattle feel comfortable in shutting down the portion of the attack that usually featured the Timbers’ attacking stars, only to have Jewsbury facilitate the unsuspected haymaker from the right.
• Saturday also dispelled the played-out notion that the Timbers’ playoff inexperience would be a hindrance for Portland against the Sounders.  “Everybody talks about the playoffs being different, but it’s still a game.  It’s a soccer game.  You got one ball, and twenty-two guys, and two goals, and three referees,” Porter said postgame.  “There’s nothing different about it.  It’s only different if you talk about it.”
• Porter’s “business as usual” observation is especially true for the Timbers, who have been rounding into playoff form for the better part of two months.  After getting over a rash of injuries and international calls-up, and facing a finishing stretch littered with playoff opponents, the Timbers have shown a more pragmatic and patient approach to games in which they’ve looked to manage the game by limiting opponents’ offense to crosses from deep wide areas and set pieces, while discerningly picking just a handful of scoring chances per game.  As a result, the Timbers have racked up one-goal wins that lacked wow-factor, but catapulted Portland to the top of the Western Conference table.
• Now, for the killjoy observations.  The Timbers were uncharacteristically giddy after the game, with Porter defiantly saying he has reason to be confident and singing ringing into the halls from the players’ showers.  The overconfidence has continued in the postgame Twitter onslaught.  Nothing has been won, yet, however, and this job is far from done.  As they did on Saturday night, the Timbers have struggled mightily when facing with a desperate opponent throwing numbers forward.  Late concessions in Chicago, Vancouver, and Saturday in Seattle are indicative of perhaps Portland’s greatest weakness at the moment, and with the Sounders’ proverbial backs against the wall, that’s what the Timbers can expect for 90 minutes on Thursday.  If they’re not prepared for that, this series is readily losable.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 6 His positioning was tremendous all day, as on the rare occasion Seattle put a shot on frame, the shot was more often than not right at Ricketts.  This included Alonso’s late goal, which was put right in the most difficult spot for a big goalkeeper – directly beneath him.

Michael Harrington, 6 In a little bit of a shift, the Timbers were a little more aggressive with Jewsbury while leaving Harrington back a little bit.  Mikey was his typical solid self.

Pa Modou Kah, 7 One of Kah’s best games.  He was matched up with Eddie Johnson for much of the night, and rendered him largely irrelevant.

Futty, 4 Futty, on the other hand, wasn’t fantastic.  Whereas Kah was dominant, Futty struggled a little bit, including poorly allowing Lamar Neagle to turn in the 17^th minute; a play that only went awry for Seattle because Neagle’s finish was even worse that Futty’s defending.

Jack Jewsbury, 8.5 What a game.  This was a tough task for Jewsbury, as his footspeed deficits make it difficult to cover as much ground as he did.  He made up for it Saturday with intelligence, lethally picking spots to get forward to allow the Timbers to work into the space they’d created by overloading the left and—with one hiccup—still fulfilling his defensive duties.

Will Johnson, 5.5 A little bit loose with some of his set pieces, and the quieter of the Timbers’ two central midfielders, Johnson still popped up at crucial times to switch the field and spring the attack.

Diego Chara, 7.5 Just tremendous.  Along with his deserved secondary assist on the first goal, Chara earned a video game-like 14 recoveries, cleaning up Sounders attacks all night.  The way was shut for Seattle trying to buildup through the middle, and that was largely because of Diego.

Rodney Wallace, 7 Perhaps a bit counterintuitive, but the Timbers’ leftern skew meant Wallace wasn’t in the most promising scoring positions.  What the Timbers needed from him, he did extremely well, however, which was essentially some wing holdup play to let the overload really take hold with Valeri, Chara, and even Nagbe, and set up the deadly switch.  Didn’t get anywhere near the scoresheet, but this was one of Rodney’s better games.

Diego Valeri, 5 This was always going to be a quieter night for Valeri for much the same reason as Wallace, he was really just a cog in the misdirectional machine that was the Timbers’ overload of the left-center.  He was perfectly fine in that role, but it meant Valeri wasn’t a headliner on Saturday.

Darlington Nagbe, 7 All over the field on Saturday, as he popped up on the right, the left, and everywhere in between.  His run on the second goal was perfect, and the first touch was something special.

Ryan Johnson, 6.5 Brilliant run and finish on the first goal, but, boy would the Timbers be in a different position right now if he’d finished his late breakaway.

Kalif Alhassan, 8 The man renowned for shrinking on the road was huge on Saturday.  Had the one assist, and probably deserved a second to Ryan Johnson.

Ben Zemanski, 5 There really wasn’t much that he added, and I thought bringing him on for Nagbe came too early.

Jose Valencia, 5 This was an aggressive substitution from Porter, as Piquionne’s set piece defending could have come in handy in dead ball situations.  It didn’t work out for the Timbers, as Valencia never really got an opportunity to get out on the break.

Onward, Rose City!

—by Chris Rifer

Most Valuable Player – Diego Johnson.  Okay, so that’s not a person.  But the numbers speak for themselves.  When Diego Chara and Will Johnson started, the Timbers were 12-1-13, resulting in 49 points, an average of 1.88 points per game, and scoring 43 goals while only conceding 18.  That’s all fine and good, but you’re going to want to sit down before you read the next two sentences.  The Timbers allowed 18 goals in the 26 games Diego Johnson started, and shipped 15 in the eight they didn’t.  That’s a 0.69 GAA with DieJo[1] and 1.88 without.  Breathing into a paper bag helps.  So, yeah, Diego Johnson is the Timbers’ MVP.  Honorable Mention: Diego Valeri, Donovan Ricketts.

Most Improved Player – Rodney Wallace.  A year ago, I was wondering whether Rodney was a legitimate MLS player.  Miscast as a left back and shuttled in and out of the lineup, it looked like Wallace was destined to become a journeyman MLS reserve.  In 2013, he was an All Star, bagging 7 goals and 6 assists[2] and providing the direct threat that transformed the Timbers offense from cute to dangerous.  Honorable Mention: Donovan Ricketts

Goal of the Year – Diego Valeri v. New York.  The Timbers didn’t wait long to produce their Goal of the Year, as it came just 14 minutes into the season.  A close race between Valeri’s against New York, Nagbe’s at home against Dallas, and Nagbe’s U.S. Open Cup goal at Dallas, but the skill involved in Valeri’s juggle through the New York defense was transcendent.  Honorable Mention: Nagbe at Dallas, Nagbe v. Dallas, Will Johnson v. Colorado.

Unsung Hero of the Year – Michael Harrington.  This was the most agonizing decision for us here at The Morrison Report, but Harrington comes away with the prize for his consistently solid defense on the flank.  The Timbers’ setup through much of the year, with DieJo sitting in central midfield, forced opponents to try to beat the Timbers in wide areas, putting a fair amount of pressure on the fullbacks.  After a shaky start, Harrington was the Timbers most consistent contributor, locking down the left side defensively.  But, ultimately, here’s why Harrington gets the nod: Nobody noticed.  Other guys didn’t get the full credit they deserved, but Harrington was the least-sung of the Timbers’ many heroes.  Honorable Mention: Diego Chara, Jack Jewsbury, Futty.

Win of the Year – April 27, 2013 at Sporting Kansas City.  The Timbers logged several big wins in 2013, but the upset win on the road to Sporting KC was the first time Portland looked like they could make a truly special run in 2013.  It was also among the most entertaining matches of the year, with both teams playing attractive soccer, and SKC going ahead twice only to have Portland take the lead for good by way of a Rodney Wallace second half goal.

Up-and-Comer of the Year – Jose Valencia.  Coming off a lost season, Valencia had turned from a surefire signing to a complete wild card coming into 2013.  The few glimpses we saw of Valencia late in 2012 revealed a reluctant passer struggling to recover the form he enjoyed pre-injury.  While his form had improved by the spring of 2013, the image was largely the same; a talented, but raw player whose role in the offense was as unclear to himself as it was to observers.  As the season progressed, Valencia grew into a quality lone striker, and will likely enter the offseason as at worst a co-favorite to win the starting number nine spot in 2014.  While some will see his defining moment of the season as his goal in Vancouver to salvage a point down a man, to me the surest sign of Trencito’s growth was his mature holdup play in both trips to Chivas USA, crowned by his assist to Valeri in September.

Onward, Rose City!

—by Chris Rifer

On Saturday night, the Timbers went to the Stub Hub Center, won 5-0, and won the MLS Western Conference regular season title.  No part of that sentence was fathomable a year ago.

A team that twelve months ago had a habit of pitying themselves and others personified the their supporters’ mantra on Saturday evening, showing Chivas USA absolutely no pity in the course of a merciless 5-0 dismantling.

After a brief feeling out period, the Timbers hinted at their intent in the 11^th minute.  After Will Johnson happily picked up an indifferent Chivas USA turnover in midfield, he dashed forward and played Darlington Nagbe through on the right side of the box.  Rather than go at goal, however, Nagbe tried to play a cross to the mouth of goal that was intercepted by a shaky Goats defense.

Three minutes later, Diego Valeri mirrored Johnson’s pass by playing Rodney Wallace through the leaky Rojiblancos’ backline.  Wallace, as a contrast to Nagbe, went at goal, only to be denied by Dan Kennedy’s understudy, Tim Melia.

The Goats’ luck wouldn’t hold for another three minutes, however.  After the Timbers again threw themselves forward, Will Johnson played Jose Valencia into the box.  Chivas converged to derail Trencito’s goalscoring ambitions, but the ball dribbled straight to Valeri fifteen yards from goal, where he slotted it inside the near post.

The Timbers made it two after an atrocious 29^th minute giveaway by Jaime Frias.  Valeri took the Goats’ generosity, dribbled only nominally impeded to the top of the box, and chipped a caught-out Melia.  If Chivas hadn’t learned their lesson about giving Diego Valeri time and space around the box, they certainly had now.

Or maybe not.  Four minutes later, Futty found Valeri on a Hail Mary, where he shed one Chivas defender, nutmegged Carlos Bocanegra as retribution for his uninspired challenge, and found Rodney Wallace in front of goal for the tap home.

The result secured and lease signed on the Western Conference penthouse, it seemed likely the Timbers would come out of halftime happy to ride their 3-0 lead into the playoffs.  Portland was having too much fun, however, and Chivas—well—Chivas was just too indifferent and incompetent to preserve the scoreline.

The Timbers nearly found their fourth five minutes after the break, when a well-struck Will Johnson free kick got to Pa Modou Kah in the box, but Melia tapped his header over the bar.

The Goats created a couple generously characterized chances as their season ticked away, but ultimately nothing they’ll write home to their parent club about.  In the 69^th minute, Julio Morales squared a ball to the top of the box where Matthew Fondy found some space, but his shot was blocked and bounced wide.

For the most part, however, Chivas’s unfortunate eleven on the field spent the ninety minutes looking for some sort of trap door to escape their match-long humiliation.  Ryan Johnson deepened their suffering in the 72^nd minute.  After Rodney Wallace was given ample room to take a dangerous crack at goal from his left side, Melia made the save but only as far as the boots of Johnson at the far post, where he tapped home with Boca pleading with the linesman to invoke the mercy rule.

With many of his teammates having made their mark on the scoresheet, Will Johnson jealously got in on the action in the 76^th minute.  With the Great Battering Ram of Gambia taking out much of a Chivas USA wall, the captain bent a low free kick underneath Melia’s left hand to put the Timbers up by a half-decade.

In a venue that in many ways seemed to be one of the Timbers’ last Achilles heels, Portland sealed their regular season conference crown, and took another step toward mothballing the memories of a now seemingly bygone era of mediocrity.  On Saturday, the Timbers left no doubt.  They’re elite.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 6 After a quiet first hour and a quarter, his teammates let Ricketts participate a little bit in the game.  He was, as usual, quite good.

Michael Harrington, 6 With Rodney Wallace doing much of the wide work, Harrington wasn’t getting forward as much as in prior weeks.  The Timbers most consistent performer was true to form on Saturday.

Pa Modou Kah, 6 A solid game from the Timbers’ defense, though, in fairness, they weren’t much more involved than Ricketts until late.  Get just a little downgrade for permitting Chivas a few chances in garbage time.

Futty, 6.5 Essentially the same as Kah, with a bump for his secondary assist on Wallace’s goal.

Jack Jewsbury, 5.5 Basically, see above. Didn’t have much to do, and did it quite well.

Will Johnson, 7 Along with a number of nice free kicks, Johnson and Chara combined to just crush a Chivas midfield that was ripe for the pureeing.

Diego Chara, 7 As things were getting out of hand, and the game was turning more and more toward the ridiculous, I was certain this was going to be the game Diego scored.  Alas, I came away disappointed.

Rodney Wallace, 8 Blessed by lining up against a passive defense all day, Rodney’s aggressiveness was too much for Chivas.  Unlucky only to come away with one goal.

Diego Valeri, 9.5 Way too easy.

Darlington Nagbe, 4 Flashes of old Darlington’s passiveness at times, suggesting there is still considerable room for exploration before Nagbe reaches his ceiling.  The Timbers will need Nagbe 2013 in the playoffs.

Jose Valencia, 6 Maybe the Timbers most improved player over the course of the season, Valencia is getting more and more comfortable in the number nine role.

Kalif Alhassan, 6 Had some nice moments of facilitation in the face of Chivas’s please-take-your-time-to-pick-your-pass defense.  Still, it’s hard to believe he didn’t score on his late breakaway.

Ryan Johnson, 6.5 But for Valeri’s brace, Johnson would have tied the Timbers MLS record for goals in a season with his classic striker’s tally on Saturday.  He’s clearly fallen out of favor, and is a longshot to return to Portland next year, but Johnson was quietly productive this year.

Ben Zemanski, INC

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 1, Chivas 1.  Will Johnson.  Also, yikes.

Actual Result: Timbers 5, Chivas 0.  Valeri (x2), Rodney Wallace, Will Johnson, Ryan Johnson.

Onward, Rose City.

Due to high demand the allotment of Cascadia Kits has been expanded by 150. Some of the additional kits are already spoken for but there are still 131 remaining.

The order had to be placed so sizes are limited but this is what I have remaining as of Friday, October 25th:

• XS 7
• S 7
• M 31
• L 50
• XL 21
• XXL 9
• XXXL 5
• XXXXL 1

Sizing Info:

 Still waiting on word of arrival but it should be any day now.

Kits are $60 each and can be paid for via Paypal

—by Chris Rifer

Qualifying for the playoffs is one thing.  But with each monster the Timbers slay and isle Portland escapes on their odyssey from mediocrity to excellence, the next demon poses a greater challenge than the one before.

No challenge has been greater for Caleb Porter and the Timbers to date than Real Salt Lake, one of only two Western Conference teams Portland failed to beat in 2013, despite four attempts to do so.  While the Timbers generated the bulk of the good chances on Saturday, the end result remained the same, as the Timbers could only come away with a scoreless draw with the Claret and Cobalt.

The Timbers had a promising start to the game, creating a couple half chances in the early going including a Kalif Alhassan 2012 vintage ball bent high and wide of the far post and a Futty header that looked destined to be tapped in but for a saving RSL clearance.

After fifteen minutes, however, Salt Lake got their foot on the ball and kept it there for the better part of a quarter hour.  The Claret and Cobalt, however, couldn’t muster more than a Chris Wingert 12^th minute cross that Luis Gil sent well wide and a 26^th minute set piece from Kyle Beckerman that Chris Schuler drove off frame.  Notably, those two opportunities were arguably RSL’s best chances of the day.

Portland nearly found the spectacular in the 28^th minute.  After Donovan Ricketts came well off his line to clear a long ball, he picked out Jose Valencia streaking toward the corner flag.  The Colombian target skidded a low cross across the box, but Valeri looked caught off guard by a Darlington Nagbe dummy, and skied his finish.

Valencia was catalyzing again fifteen minutes later, when he beat Schuler to a ball in the corner and turned in toward goal.  Some slick ballwork got him to the face of goal, but his final pass skimmed just beyond Alhassan’s outstretched leg.

If chances were sparse in the first half, they were even scarcer in the second.  Knowing that a loss would substantially prejudice their Western Conference playoff position, both midfields doggedly held their organization and refused to take much in the way of chances.

The two genuine chances that did present themselves, however, again belonged to the Timbers, and this time would only be denied by some tremendous work from Nick Rimando.

In the 65^th minute, some more great play by Valencia to head the ball to Jack Jewsbury on the right wing freed the stately right back to fire a ball into the box that fell to Alhassan at the far post, but Nick Rimando recovered brilliantly to swallow Kalif’s goal-bound finish.

The clock ticked and the tension built, but into second half stoppage time it didn’t look like either team was very close to the winner.

In a moment that was oh-so-close to making everybody forget about Andrew Jean-Baptiste’s last gasp winner against L.A. Galaxy, however, the Timbers nearly set Jeld-Wen afire.  Nearly.  Given a free kick just 20 yards from goal, Will Johnson drove the ball over the wall and on frame, where Rimando could only palm it skyward.  In what appeared to be the game’s fateful second, the ball fell straight to Sal Zizzo in the six yard box, but Rimando again showed why he’s the best goalkeeper in MLS, swatting Zizzo’s point blank header away from goal.

A combination of imperfect execution, bad luck, and magnificence by Nick Rimando kept the Timbers from taking all three points and keeping pace with New York in the Supporters Shield race.

Match Observations

I thought Porter’s tactics were interesting considering his set up.  With Nagbe and Alhassan on the wings, I thought Porter was going to bring both fullbacks forward with his wings floating central, and drop either Chara or Johnson a little deeper to fill the hole.  Instead, Caleb’s tactics were a little more standard, having Harrington come forward more, while Jewsbury tended to stay put.  The Timbers, then, really didn’t overload the midfield, as an aggressive Porter has tried to do against RSL—with mixed success—in the past.  Pushing both fullbacks on, obviously, leaves the Timbers a little bit more exposed, as it pulls the center backs wider and leaves more space for opposing counters.

Porter’s conservatism is understandable considering RSL’s attacking lineup.  With more of the attacking onus on Luis Gil in Javi Morales’s absence, it was reasonable to expect RSL to try to use Alvaro Sabrio in hold up play and be very aggressive in running Gil and Robbie Findley off of Sabo.  If the Timbers had pushed both fullbacks on, it would have been easy for Gil and Findley to get in behind the Timbers holding midfielder and create numbers problems for the stranded center backs.

So, while the Timbers probably could have used the extra spacing in the midfield to overwhelm RSL’s diamond, it would have made them vulnerable on the counterattack.  As it was, Porter played it a little bit more conservatively with a more traditional backline.  The result was a little bit of a midfield stalemate, with two very organized, very good defensive midfields largely winning the battle against their attacking counterparts.

While I was high on the prospect of pushing both fullbacks forward pre game, Porter’s decision to play it straight was prudent.  The Timbers created no fewer than four good scoring chances, which is as many as we’ve seen from this more playoff-oriented Timbers team down the stretch.  The disappointment in the result was more a function of great goalkeeping and just missing on a couple connections than it was an inability to create opportunities.  And notably, Portland didn’t give up a single legitimate chance all night.  In the end, only one team had a real chance to win the game, even if it didn’t quite pan out.  That’s really all you can ask for from a coach.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 5 Did nothing.   RSL didn’t have a single shot on goal, or really have any dangerous moments that required intervention from Ricketts.  Really disappointed his team couldn’t pull a goal in the 28^th minute to give Ricketts what would have been a spectacular secondary assist.

Michael Harrington, 5.5 It’s going to be nice when Harrington can be the holding fullback, as his contributions to the attack really are modest.  Defensively, however, he was solid once again.

Pa Modou Kah, 6 Came out for a couple challenges that he failed to win which left the Timbers momentarily exposed, but otherwise had a very solid game in back.

Futty, 7 A pretty sharp game from Futty.  It looked like RSL was trying to run off him more than Kah, but Futty was more than up to the task.

Jack Jewsbury, 7 I’m becoming a real fan of Jack at right back.  His skill set is uniquely flawed so as to make him a perfect primarily stay-at-home fullback.  He’s smart, distributes well from the back, and fills in nicely centrally when he and (usually) Will Johnson are forced to momentarily flip roles.  Despite not bombing on, as Caleb Porter would put it, Jack also finds ways to contribute offensively, prominently including his ability to whip nice crosses into the box from deeper positions.  Simply put, Jack doesn’t need to get to the byline to be effective offensively, so he can contribute in the attack while not exposing his lack of footspeed.

Will Johnson, 7.5 The Timbers’ defensive midfield was nothing short of masterful on Saturday.  RSL really had nothing all day, and Will Johnson and Diego Chara are the primary reasons why.

Diego Chara, 7.5 See above.

Darlington Nagbe, 5 Really didn’t have much of an opportunity with the RSL defense keying on him all day.

Diego Valeri, 5 After the game Valeri suggested he felt close to 100%, but he wasn’t as sharp as a 100% healthy Valeri usually is.  Don’t be surprised if the Timbers hold him back next week to be used only if they’re chasing a goal.

Kalif Alhassan, 4 Was a beat off in just about every respect on Saturday, as his ball movement was a little slow, his runs were a step late, and his finishes were not quite right.  That said, whereas Kalif in the past has checked out of games when he wasn’t firing on all cylinders, engagement wasn’t a problem on Saturday.

Jose Valencia, 6 No, he wasn’t perfect, as he showed some of the passing reluctance that has been an issue before.  But, especially in the first half, Valencia was the Timbers’ only real offensive threat, using his athleticism to provide an outlet, and working the ball in front of goal after chasing balls down in the corner.

Rodney Wallace, 6 While he was generally well-defended, the additional direct threat Rodney posed made the Timbers more dangerous after he came on.

Frederic Piquionne, 5.5 He didn’t provide the outlet or work rate Valencia did because of his athletic deficits relative to Trencito, but Piquionne is still a perfect late game substitute.  He wins every header on long balls and provides the greatest box presence of any Timber.

Sal Zizzo, 5 Oh, so close to legendary.

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 1, RSL 0. Ryan Johnson.

Actual Result: Timbers 0, RSL 0.

Onward, Rose City.

2012 Supporters Player of the Year, Diego Chara. Photo Credit: Kip Kesgard

Each year Timbers fans to vote for the Supporters Player of the Year. The voting is now open for the 2013 Portland Timbers Supporters Player of the Year. This can be whomever you feel is the best player, best in the community, or you feel who wears the badge with the most humbleness and respect. There is no criteria other than what you feel is best. Voting is now open and the belt will be awarded following our match against Real Salt Lake on October 19th.

Follow the link embedded in this sentence to vote.

Complete results will be made public only once voting is over

Votes are limited to 1 per IP address.

Voting will be closed the night of the 17th and announced on the 19th.

Past Winners

2011: Troy Perkins

2012: Diego Chara

Results are in. Votes are tallied. In one of the tightest votes in years your 2013 Supporters Player of the Year is none other than team captain Will Johnson. Please stick around after the match today for belt presentation. Come on you Timbers!