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!

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