—by Chris Rifer

The opinion expressed here is that of the author alone, and does not necessarily represent the views of any organization, including 107ist or the Timbers Army.

I had hoped this whole ordeal was over Wednesday morning after the Disciplinary Committee gave Mario de Luna a one-game suspension in addition to the match he will miss due to yellow card accumulation.  On Wednesday, the MLS Players Union, however, decided to breathe troubling new life into a controversy that really shouldn’t be.

In case you missed it, after the ball went out of bounds off of a Chivas USA player in the 86^th minute of Sunday’s game, de Luna tripped Rodney Wallace and grabbed at a ball a ball kid was holding.  When the ball kid pulled away – likely having seen that the referee immediately pointed for a correctly identified Timbers’ throw – de Luna pushed the young man and took the ball from him.

After the MLS Disciplinary Committee issued a one game suspension,[1] the MLS Players Union issued this statement, in full:

Players Union Statement on Discipline of Mario de Luna

Physical contact between a player and a ball boy should never occur. Rather than focusing exclusively on player punishment, however, the league must eliminate ball boy antics, as the Players Union requested last year.  There should be no place in our game for off-field personnel to attempt to impact play on the field.

The failure to address this problem substantially increases the risk of unfortunate incidents like we saw last weekend.  The league and our teams must do their part to keep our stadiums safe.  We urge the league once again to take action and hold teams accountable for the conduct of their ball boys.

Now, if you blinked while reading that, you may have missed that you missed something; to wit, a statement on the discipline of Mario de Luna.  In fact, on its face, the statement says nothing at all about Mario de Luna or his punishment.

A couple hours later, Eddie Pope, former U.S. Men’s National Team player and current Director of Player Relations for the MLS Players Union, added this clarification in a string of tweets:

The intent of our press release was not to place blame on the ball boy.  Rather, the purpose was to [shed] light on the fact that we have [e]ncouraged MLS in the past to take preventive measures so this type of incident[,] or something more serious[,] does not happen in the future.  Why put a kid in a position to possibly inadvertently impact tempo of game?  Kids should not be put in any positional [sic] within or near the [h]eat of competition.  We don’t condone any contact with a ball boy, we want to prevent this from happening again in the future.  Publicly[,] we ask the MLS to take some measures and remove children from the heat of battle.  We will in turn continue to do everything we can as well.  Status quo is not working.  Third incident in a little over a year.

Pope’s clarification, however, is disingenuous.  His overriding message was that ball kids “should not be put in any [position] within or near the [h]eat of competition.”  Essentially, the job of shagging soccer balls and tossing them to players should be vested in adults because the intensity of a soccer game can sometimes put youngsters in a difficult position, even if by no fault of their own.

This is a perfectly reasonable point.[2]  But it’s not the one his organization made in its release.

In its release, the Union demanded that the league “eliminate ball boy antics,” not eliminate the employment of ball kids.  Similarly, the statement asked the League to hold home teams “accountable for the conduct of their ball boys.”  It did not ask the League to prohibit ball boys.

The Union’s press release postulated that there was no place in the game for “off-field personnel to attempt to impact play on the field.”  It did not rue putting ball kids in a position to “possibly inadvertently impact [the] tempo of [the] game.”  Using the word “attempt” necessarily implicates intent.  There is simply no such thing as an accidental, or even negligent attempt.[3]

The Union’s ultimate thesis, then, was that failure to address this problem – the problem being ball kid “antics,” “conduct,” and “attempt[s] to impact play on the field” – “increases the risk of unfortunate incidents like we saw last weekend.”

The issue is that the “problem” identified by the Union is not what led to Sunday’s incident.  The ball kid did the right thing.  He did his job.  And he did it well.  No antics, improper conduct, or attempts to impact the play on the field.

The statement the Union made inescapably implied that this ball kid did something wrong.  That unwarranted public condemnation is far worse than anything Mario de Luna did on Sunday.

Now, it’s no longer about what the Union said, or what Pope would like you to think the Union said.  Rather, it’s about what the Union needs to say to the young man that unfairly found himself in the center of the Union’s mess.  “We were wrong.  We’re sorry.”

—by Mike Coleman

Note: you can click on any graphic to make it larger / more readable

Welcome to Week 11's MLS Meta Power Rankings, MMPL (tm). I take rankings from six different sources (Soccer By Ives, ESPN, Bleacher Report, Sporting News, MLS, and The Oregonian) and average them out. Additionally, I also look at the standard deviation between the movement for the week and the overall rankings (this to me shows how in agreement the 'experts' are in their rankings) - finally as another really basic measure of "power" I look points in the past 5 games.

Dallas continues to hold down the #1 spot universally across all six sources despite being gifted a PK to save 2 points against Portland (you realize you're reading this on the Timbers Army website, right?) and a not-so-convincing win on the road against the consensus worst team in the league, D.C. United.  The 'experts' also agree that the LA Galaxy are universally the 7th best team in the league (note their Std Deviation of 0.00).  The Timbers, according to these averages, are the 2nd best team in the league at this moment, their highest ranking of the season.

If we look at movement for the week clearly Cascadia's domination over the teams from California this week paid dividends with the top 3 teams in term of spots gained were Seattle (5.3), Portland (3.0), and Vancouver (2.8). On the other end of the spectrum Chivas (3.3), Columbus (3.2), and L.A. (3.0) fell the furthest.

In looking at the standard deviation in rank, it's apparent that the 'experts' are more in agreement this week than in the past. The outliers (New York, Montreal, and Philadelphia) aren't that far off from the rest of the league. For New York, their ranked #2 by ESPN and #6 by Soccer By Ives (they also have a two #5's, one #4,  and one #3) - clearly there is wide variety of opinions. Montreal is similar to New York in that they have a range from #2 to #6. Philadelphia benefits from a #8 ranking from Soccer by Ives when the rest of the group has them lower (one #9, three #11, and one #12).

In movement Seattle has the highest standard deviation in their group. Clearly everyone agreed they deserved a big jump (I begrudgingly agree, and admit to almost enjoying watching them kick the crap out of San Jose), experts just weren't sure exactly how much (the movement ranged from 3 spots to 7). To some extent this is a case of some folks not having them nearly as far down the rankings as others in the previous weeks (for instance Oregonian had them at #12 in week 9 and everyone else had them ranked #14 - #17).

Finally, I've complained the last two weeks about San Jose having a nearly league low points out of their past 5 games, but hanging around the middle of the rankings, so I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on Portland being ranked 6th as far as points earned in the past 5 games, but 2nd over all in the rankings. I think the 'experts' realize that Portland could (should) have had 2 more points out of Dallas (you do realize you're reading this on the Timbers Army website, right?). Of course it's not nearly as bad as SKC being near the top of the rankings with a whopping 6 points out of their past 5 games (I guess you get bonus rank points for snapping Houston's streak, and the Seattle loss could have easily been 3 points). And to avoid any (more) screams of homerism, I'll point out the huge disparity between Seattle's points in the past 5 vs. their ranking.

Below is a historical graph and table showing average power rankings from week 1 through week 11.

 

Our friends, the Rose City Riveters, in partnership with the 107ist, have chartered a bus to beautiful Tukwilla, Washington to see the Portland Thorns take on the Seattle Reign on May 25th - and you can join the fun.

Tickets are either $50.00 for both a match ticket and a seat on the bus - OR - if you've already got a match ticket you can ride in luxury for only $32.00.

And, it's not just an outing to see the Thorns - the bus (which departs PDX around Noon from the convention center) will be stopping at Elliott Bay Brewing Company to watch the Timbers take on DC United before making its way over to Starfire.

So if you're not going to be in DC, then what excuse do you really have to not join in?

You can find more information and order your tickets here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6656585025

—by Chris Rifer

Good teams beat the opponents they’re supposed to.  Very good teams leave no doubt.

Right now, the Portland Timbers are playing like a very good team.  And facing a reeling Chivas USA side on Sunday, the Timbers left absolutely no doubt.

There was never a question who the superior side was on Mother’s Day, as Portland dominated the Goats from the crack of the starter’s pistol.  Portland was unlucky not to go up in the tenth minute, as Michael Harrington picked Diego Valeri out at the far post, but the trialing hand of backup Rojiblanco keeper, Patrick McLain, made a Kennedyesque save to turn the Argentine’s header away.

Portland unlocked Chivas again two minutes later, as Valeri found Futty streaking into the box, but the Gambian’s classy chip over McLain was negated by a proper offside call.

The Timbers continued to dominate, and in the 32^nd minute showed the most striking example of the scintillating buildup play that has marked their marked reformation in 2013.  After Diego Valeri recovered the ball in the defensive third, he one-timed forward for Darlington Nagbe.  Nagbe immediately played out wide to Diego Chara who sent the ball up the touchline to Ryan Johnson.  The striker promptly back-heeled to a suddenly free Nagbe, and the Timbers were off to the races.  The prodigy cleverly used his body and space to bring the ball into the middle, where he played it to Valeri on the left.  Valeri cut back and unleashed a right-footed shot that left McLain helpless, only to be kept out by the crossbar in a manifest miscarriage of justice.  At the beginning of that sequence, the Timbers moved 50 yards through the Goats’ midfield with four touches of the ball.  That is how football is meant to be played.

Justice, however, has a habit of being served.  And two minutes later, Donovan Ricketts helped deliver it on a silver platter.  After gathering the remnants of a Chivas corner, Ricketts threw out to Valeri near midfield.  Valeri played back into the center for Ryan Johnson, who chipped into the path of an onrushing Rodney Wallace on Chivas’s vulnerable right flank.  Wallace nodded the ball down and lofted the ball over McLain for the opener.

Chivas’s only real chance of the half—and, if we’re being honest, of the game—came in the 44^th minute, as Edgar Mejia’s corner found Steve Purdy-Ramos nine yards out at the back post, but his reentry header was handled cleanly by Ricketts.

The second half was more of the same.  While Portland didn’t hold quite as much of the ball, and had a couple moments of loose defending, Chivas never seriously threatened to equalize.

And in the 70^th minute, the Timbers would take the next step toward turning this one into a laugher.  After Ryan Johnson gathered near the byline and played back to Darlington Nagbe, Rodney Wallace flashed in the middle of the field.  Wallace gathered the ball and slipped it into the box, where Valeri had just run by the Goats’ defense, and the Argentine coolly slotted past McLain to ensure that his third time was the charm.

Chivas were beaten, and for a moment the Timbers seemed satisfied to knock the ball around the midfield and let the clock wind down.

But Will Johnson hadn’t yet had his dance party.  Wanting to get in on the action, the Captain streaked into the box from seemingly nowhere in the second minute of stoppage time, and got on the end of a low Frederic Piquionne cross, but McLain made another nice save to knock it out for a corner kick.

The Timbers took the ensuing corner short, as Kalif Alhassan gathered it and played to Will Johnson at the corner of the box.  Johnson took a pair of touches toward the center of the field, and unleashed a right-footed shot from the top of the box that curled around McLain’s outstretched hand and inside the far post.

While a couple results in a row had slipped away from the Timbers, there was nothing Chivas could have done on Sunday to overcome Portland’s pressure.  The gulf between the two teams was just too great, and as very good teams should do, the Timbers ran away from the Goats and never looked back.

Notes & Observations

• After the match, Caleb Porter emphasized that the Timbers would “keep this high low,” and was equivocal about whether he considered this Portland’s best effort of the season.  Asked whether Sunday was the team’s best performance to date, Porter retorted, “Ah, not really.  I think based on result you could call it that, but I’m looking at the performance and looking at all the little plays in the game, and you guys are always looking at the score, and a three-zero game doesn’t mean it was your best performance just because it was your widest margin of victory.”[1]  Porter added, “For me, we’re just scratching the surface of the team that we can be.”
• I largely agree with Porter’s assessment.  Especially in the second half, there was just a little bit of shaky defending and passing that the Timbers didn’t show, for example, against Houston.  While it wasn’t enough to ever give Chivas serious hope, it wasn’t quite a perfect half from the Timbers.  It was still pretty darn good, though.
• Portland was once again aggressive attacking down the left side.  This is, in no small part, because of the magnificence that has been Rodney Wallace’s last month.  Against Chivas, though, it could have also been something Portland saw on tape.  Both two weeks ago against San Jose, and last week against Sporting Kansas City, Shea Salinas and Graham Zusi gored the Goats down the left side.  Add Rodney Wallace—and company—to that list, as the Timbers once again had good success on the right side of Chivas’s defense.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 6 Not much for Ricketts to do today, but on the rare occasion Chivas had a sliver of intent, Ricketts was there to put the kybosh on any ambition.

Michael Harrington, 3.5 Another rough day for Harrington, as his defending on the left side was by far the least consistent aspect of the Timbers’ performance on Sunday.  It remains to be seen whether this is just a little bit of a rough patch for Harrington, or whether his string of solid performances in April was the aberration.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 5 A better performance for AJB on Sunday, as he distributed well and stayed way from the mistakes that have cost Portland in the past.  Still got a little handsy from time to time, but nothing like he was against Dallas.

Futty, 5.5 Was intent on scoring on Sunday, but just couldn’t quite make it happen.  Had the one chance called back for offside and another header sail just high.  Futty’s grade is depressed just a little bit by some poor marking on corners that allowed Chivas to find some free headers.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 Another solid day for Jack.  While Jewsbury will rarely generate headlines from high fullback position, his consistency there is something the Timbers haven’t had at that position in quite some time.

Will Johnson, 7.5 Great goal, and just all around good work from Johnson.  If he was a little bit off on Wednesday, he shook that off in a hurry, as he was very good against Chivas.

Diego Chara, 7.5 Probably unlucky not to get on the scoresheet today, as Diego again flaunted his newfound offensive game to go along with his defensive dominance.  In a little bit of a passing slump, however, as he only completed 49 of 55 today, for a measly 89% completion percentage.

Diego Valeri, 8 Clinical finish on his goal, and got absolutely robbed twice more—once on a fantastic save and the second time by the crossbar.

Rodney Wallace, 8.5 I’m not sure what to say about Rodney that I haven’t said in the past several weeks, so I’ll let Caleb Porter do the talking.  “Rodney Wallace is having a breakout year.  I’m not sure why he hasn’t had a breakout year up to this point, because I think clearly he’s one of the better wingers in the league, and he’s really flourishing.”

Darlington Nagbe, 6 A little bit subtler from Nagbe on Sunday, but pretty effective.  Though he wasn’t as directly involved in many of the buildups, he often played a crucial role form a deeper lying position, including in the second goal.

Ryan Johnson, 5.5 Really nice chipped assist on the first goal, but for goodness sake, Ryan, get onside.

Kalif Alhassan, 6 One of his better performances off the bench.  Solid passing from Kalif earned him an assist on Will Johnson’s goal.

Ben Zemanski, 5.5 A like-for-like swap with Jack Jewsbury, Zemanski came on and played well at right back again.  If Harrington continues to struggle, the answer may be to move Jack back to the left—where he was perfectly adequate—and bring Zemanski in on the right where he may provide a little bit more offense.[2]

Frederic Piquionne, 4 Saves his grade a little with a nice cross to Will Johnson in stoppage time, but overall this was one of Frederic’s bizarrely ineffective performances.

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 2, Goats 0.  Valeri, Silvestre.

Actual Result: Timbers 3, Goats 0.  Wallace, Valeri, Will Johnson.

Onward, Rose City!

As you know, with the help of 107IST volunteers, this year the front office has taken over the distribution of wristbands for places in line. They recently offered four wristbands for auction with Rose City Rewards points. Well, intrepid 107IST member Lou (@Lou503 on twitter) bid on the wristbands on a lark, and won them. But he doesn't really believe in the whole concept of bidding on wristbands, and would thus like to turn this slightly silly episode into a positive.

To make a positive statement that he thinks it's more important to raise money for worthy causes than to use points to bid for a place in line, Lou is asking that folks who feel like he does donate to OPI in support of Bless Field. For every $50 donated, Lou will destroy one wristband. If we donate at least $200, he will happily destroy all four wristbands that he won in the RCR points auction.

Let's help him out by donating here:

We'll keep tabs on the donations here, manually updating every time Sheba gets the chance.

Click here for more information about OPI and Bless Field.

UPDATE #5: and you blew the top off the thermometer. Keep up the good work!

UPDATE #4: YES. Ed puts us over the top. I <3 all of you people. Feel free to blow the top off of that thermometer just the same.

UPDATE #3: Splash three. You people are awesome.

UPDATE #2: And that makes two wristbands gone.

UPDATE #1: Boom, one wristband gone. Well done folks.

—by Chris Rifer

Under normal circumstances, a point away to the top team in the league isn’t a bad deal.  But for an unconscionable penalty given by Juan Guzman, however, Wednesday could have been so much more.

It didn’t look like three points were a possibility in the first fifteen minutes, however, as Dallas came out dominant.

After a bad eighth minute giveaway by Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Fabian Castillo got loose on Dallas’s left side, but his effort from a tight angle sailed harmlessly across goal.  The Burn had their best chance in the 12^th minute when Blas Perez played a Zach Lloyd entry ball back to an open David Ferreira on the left side of the box, but the Colombian’s promising shot sailed high.

The Timbers weathered the storm, however, and after Ferreira’s miss began to build some momentum.  In the 16^th minute Diego Chara brilliantly found Frederic Piquionne, who fed the ball wide to Kalif Alhassan.  Kalif sent a looping cross to Diego Valeri open at the back post, but Valeri’s sliding goal-bound effort was saved by Raul Fernandez.

Portland wasn’t done.  After Diego Chara scooped the ball off of Michael Harrington’s foot in the defensive end and, with the help of a combination with Darlington Nagbe put in a 60 yard run, the tiny talisman played a perfect pass through to Piquionne in on goal, but the New Caledonian’s shot was deflected by Fernandez just enough to make it rattle the near post and bounce cruelly away.

As good as Chara was offensively, he came up bigger in defense in the 32^nd minute.  After failing to win a ball in the attacking end, Chara followed the play eighty yards, committed a harmless foul along the way, and when Ferreira burst through on goal, the designated player made a saving tackle in the box.  Every player in the league gives up on that play after losing the initial challenge.  Not Diego Chara.

It was Ricketts’s turn to come to the rescue seven minutes later.  After Fabian Castillo once again got loose on the left side, and with Michael Harrington once again nowhere in sight, Ricketts closed down the oncoming Castillo’s tight angle and palmed the youngster’s effort behind.

Dallas had the quantity of the chances in the first half, but the even intermission scoreline carried out justice, as the Timbers had the quality.

That would change early in the second half, however.  After the Timbers botched an interchange at midfield, Castillo took a 50^th minute ball off Ferreira’s foot and played a pretty ball behind to Perez, but Ricketts again went low to turn the Panamanian’s shot away.

There was nothing Ricketts could do in the 68^th minute, however.  After the right side of his defense, prominently featuring Harrington, let Michel have all the space he wanted to pick somebody out of the box, the Brazilian found Perez at the spot, but the striker’s header into an open net was denied by the same post that turned Piquionne away fifty minutes earlier.

If Timbers’ opponents have learned anything this year, it’s that they have to take your chances against Portland.  If you let Portland hang around, the Timbers will find their goal.

And that Portland did in the 70^th minute.  Second half substitute Rodney Wallace put his mark on the game with some solid work to meander from the center onto the left side of the box, drawing Dallas’s defense toward him and out of shape.  All it took, then, was a pretty chipped cross to Nagbe waiting all alone at the far post and a soild bouncing finish for the Timbers to find themselves once again in the lead on the road.[1]

Enter, referee Juan Guzman.  Six minutes later, after a Je-Vaughan Watson cross was popped up by Ben Zemanski and routinely gathered by Ricketts, Guzman blew his whistle for activity away from the play.  The referee, wanting to make his mark on the game, pointed at the spot after seeing Jean-Baptiste and Perez grappling in the box.  Perez and Jean-Baptiste had locked arms in the box, and Perez swung the pair around as though they were square dancing.  The defender looks like less than a willing participant, but as Perez pulled Jean-Baptiste away from the play, the flopping forward disengaged and flung himself to the ground.[2]  Guzman horrifically adjudged it a yellow card on Jean-Baptiste and pointed to the spot where Kenny Cooper classily converted.

Cooper nearly gave Dallas the win in the 86^th minute, when Perez won an aerial 50-50 from Futty, which fell to an open Kenny Cooper in the spot vacated by the longtime Timber, but Jack Jewbsury recovered to deflect Cooper’s volley and Donovan Ricketts tapped the deflection high and wide to preserve the draw.

By any objective measure, the point in Dallas—the first any visitor has earned in 2013—is a good one.  The result is more or less just, as the teams played on almost comically even terms.  The only difference, however, is the Timbers earned their goal, while Guzman gifted the Hoops’.  And that is how a draw that would have felt great a year ago, feels empty today.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 8 On fire.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 Good night from Jewsbury.  Had only couple contributions to the attack, but was solid defensively in keeping the left side relatively quiet.

Futty, 5.5 Needs to win a couple more 50-50s in the air, but came through with some good tackles and solid overall defending.  Was up to a difficult task being lined up alongside Jean-Baptiste tonight.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 3.5 Although he probably shouldn’t put himself in positions like that, the penalty call was an awful one.  Still, AJB was repeatedly picked on to some success for Dallas.

Michael Harrington, 2.5 Nowhere offensively or defensively.  The way was open for Dallas down Portland’s right side on Wednesday, and Michael has his teammates and good fortune to thank for not being punished for that.

Diego Chara, 8 Just fantastic from Diego.  He was intimately involved in everything positive in the first half, and had some dominant moments in the midfield.  He was the engine that made Portland run on Wednesday, and a big chunk of the reason the Timbers came away with a good point.

Will Johnson, 5 Overall a little bit below average night for Will.  Didn’t do a whale of a lot offensively, and got caught just a shade out of position a couple times defensively.  Still, a little bit of a rough night for Will is a perfectly acceptable night by any other standard.

Diego Valeri, 5 Had some good moments offensively, including feeding Rodney Wallace on the scoring play, but also had some cringe-worthy giveaways.  Should point out, however, that Diego also had a couple moments of handy defending.  On the whole, he looks like a guy that’s still adjusting to MLS travel.

Kalif Alhassan, 5.5 Nice first half.  Anonymous second half.  I think this start had more to do with resting Rodney Wallace than anything, but Kalif held up his end of the bargain.

Darlington Nagbe, 6 Didn’t do much aside from the goal, but a goal is a goal, and this one was big.  A pretty well finished one, as well.

Frederic Piquionne, 6 A nice first half, including a good finish that was only kept out by a great save and the post, but much quieter in the second.  Probably could have come off 10 minutes earlier, which would have given Ryan Johnson more time to work into the game.  Five clearances from Frederic, however, which highlights some handy set piece defending.

Rodney Wallace, 8 Here’s one guy who didn’t need any time to work into the game.  Held out of the start, Rodney showed his value as a supersub once again, as it was his work that really earned the go-ahead goal.

Ben Zemanski, 5 A mostly quiet 15 minute spell from Zemanski, highlighted by a difficult volley attempt that he couldn’t steer on frame.

Ryan Johnson, 5.5 Only had eight minutes to work with, but Johnson threatened a couple times.

Preseason Prediction: FCD 1, Timbers 0.

Actual Result: Timbers 1, FCD 1.

Onward, Rose City!

—by Mike Coleman

Note: You can click on any graphic below to make it larger (and, hence, more readable).

Well there were some positive comments, and a few people read this last week so I decided to do it again.

I've compiled the power rankings from MLS, Soccer By Ives, Sporting News, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and OregonLive (I looked at adding Seattle Times, but they weren't published yet).

Here are this weeks #'s. Again, there is the the averaging of all the rankings from the six sources as well as points scored during the past 5 games - both of these give an indication of how teams are performing. I've also compiled the average movement for each team, and then the standard deviation for movement and rank (a low standard deviation means the 'experts' are in agreement and, conversely, a higher standard deviation means they are pretty varied in their assessments).

Clearly there is one thing that all the experts agree on - right now with an average ranking of 1.0 and a standard deviation of 0.00 (meaning everyone ranked them #1) Dallas is the best team in the league (everyone also agrees that RSL is your consensus #8, but how interesting is that?). Almost everyone agrees that D.C. United is the worst team in the league at this point - the lone wolf is our own GCA from OregonLive. He is the only person to not rank DC dead last.

As with last week, even though San Jose has scored fewer points over the past 5 games than all but 3 teams, they are still ranked 12th on average. While this is a bit befuddling, almost more confusing is how NYRB have racked up 12 points over 5 games (an MLS best), but are only ranked 6th (on average). Since I was able this week to input all the rankings from the 1st 10 weeks, I may go back and add a strength of schedule component to see if there is any insight there.

Looking a bit closer at NYRB. They had the highest standard deviation in terms of movement this week. But rather than being indicative of the 'experts' not being sure on how far to move them, it was really about Sporting News and Bleacher Report falling in line with what the other 4 'experts' were already saying - with Bleacher report moving them from 11th to 6th and Sporting News moving them from 10th  to 7th week over week.  If you look at their rank standard deviation (0.55) it's clear that it's pretty universally agreed they are a solid #7 in this week's ranking.

As far as teams that the experts don't really agree on, we can go back to San Jose.  They are ranked as high as 9th by GCA at Oregon live, and as low as 15th by ESPN (with one 10th and 3 12th's from the others). Clearly ESPN feels 4 points over 5 games is a good indicator whereas GCA (and MLS for that matter) don't give it much credence.

However San Jose only has the 2nd highest disparity in rankings - the team with the largest standard deviation (and by quite a margin) is the Fishing Village to the North.  Again our man GCA can take a lot of credit for this - he has them ranked at #11, which is 2 spots above anyone else. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Soccer By Ives and Bleacher report who have them ranked at 17th (they also have a 13th, 14th, and 16th in there).

As an aside, if I get really bored I'm going to look at exactly how far out of whack GCA is with his rankings vs. the rest of the 'experts'.

Finally, looking at his week's winners and losers. Chivas dropped an average of four spots after getting trounced by SKC (SKC by contrast only gained 1.3 spots - which doesn't surprise since the top is pretty darn crowded).

If you look at some draws the Union and Sounders remained largely stagnant after their 2-2 outing. In the case of Portland and New England, the revolution gained about the same number of spots (1.7) as the Timbers gave up (1.5) coming out of their draw.

This weeks big winner in terms of picking up spots were the Rapids, who gained 3 spots. I don't think it was their 1-0 victory of Toronto (who are battling with D.C. United for the title of worst team in MLS at the moment) that caused this move. I think that picking up 10 points in 5 games, and having only lost 1 in the past six were the key factors in their ascension this week.

I'm going to close with chart and a spreadsheet that you wont' be able to read very well. They show the average ranking of each team over the 1st 10 weeks. I'll work to see if I can find a better way to present this data moving forward.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments or questions - post them below.

—by Chris Rifer

Some days you just can’t find the net.  You do everything right.  Distribute nicely out of the back.  Move the ball through the midfield with ease.  Feed the ball to promising attacking areas around the box.  And still, the ball just won’t go through the wickets.

Thursday was one of those days for the Timbers.  Through a combination of flatness in the final third, bad luck, and good goalkeeping, the Portland Timbers dominated the ball, put 9 shots on frame and many more tantalizingly close, and still came away with the scoreless draw.

A sign of future foibles showed up in the 7^th minute, when Diego Valeri did brilliantly to gather a header from Ryan Johnson and combine with Darlington Nagbe to set him into space, but ultimately the Argentine sailed his volley over the bar.

The true harbinger, however, appeared eight minutes later when Diego Chara set Nagbe one on one with Bobby Shuttleworth, but Nagbe chose to strike it first time from outside the box, ultimately hitting it right at Shuttleworth’s right foot.

Nagbe sent another chance begging in the 30^th minute, when a corner was cleared to him at the top right side of the box.  Nagbe’s volley, somewhat reminiscent of his wondergoal in 2011, elevated just over the bar.

The buildup kept coming, but the Timbers just couldn’t break through.  In the 39^th minute a corner fell dangerously for Valeri, but his goalward shot was deflected behind for a corner at the last moment.

As you so often see in games like this, despite seeing very little of the ball, New England had their chances.  Their best of the first half came in the 42^nd minute, when they worked the ball around the horn to Ryan Guy on the left side of the box, but his dangerous shot was deflected just wide.  There would be no deflection on the ensuring corner, however, as Jerry Bengston got a free head to the ball, but his header looped inches over the bar onto the top of the goal.

The Revs chance was the exception to the increasingly significant rule of Timbers dominance.  As the half went along, Portland’s opportunities presented themselves seemingly at will, but for all the possibilities, none would find themselves nestled comfortably in the back of the net.

How easily determination leads to frustration, however, as the Timbers’ bad luck in failing to find the right touch in the first half quickly turned into a struggle against themselves in the second half.

But for Shuttleworth it could have been so different.  After Will Johnson and Rodney Wallace put in a nice piece of work to free Wallace for a cross from the left side of the box, Ryan Johnson found himself with a free volley at the near post.  Again, however, the shot found the stranded Shuttleworth’s left knee and bounced away.

As every minute ticked by, a growing feeling of inevitability grew throughout Jeld-Wen Field.  It was just one of those days.  It had to be.

Despite their frustration, the Timbers persisted in working themselves into the right positions.  In the 63^rd minute, new entrant Frederic Piquionne got free on the left wing and sent a Premier League cross into the box, but his target—Diego Chara—was a head too short.

Nine minutes later it was another newbie that nearly broke the deadlock, this time for New England.  In the 72^nd minute Saer Sene, the lone goalscorer a year ago in New England, found an acre of space in the middle of the field and pulled the trigger on a left footed shot that beat Donovan Ricketts, but could only tickle the top of the net on its way harmlessly by.

Aside from a handful of chances, the day’s ill fate largely kept the Timbers at bay in the final fifteen minutes.  Only a big Jamaican could keep New England at bay.

After Sear Sene found space between substitute Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Futty, he got through one-on-one with Donovan Ricketts.  Sene is no Darlington Nagbe, however, and his strike looked dangerous enough to beat the towering keeper, but Ricketts, whose splendor has preserved more than one result for Portland in 2013, went down quickly and got just enough of a palm on the ball to send it skipping wide of the post.  In an early season full of good saves, this may have been Ricketts’ best, and it came at a vital moment to keep the Timbers from a crushing defeat.

In the end, as the brief postgame press conference awkwardly indicated, there was really nothing to say.  It was just one of those days.

Notes & Observations

• There isn’t much to be concerned about from the Timbers’ standpoint.  As Caleb Porter pointed out, when you get 22 shots, including nine on frame, you’re doing something right.  The shots weren’t prayers from distance, either.  The Timbers were doing exactly what they wanted to do through he midfield, and even into the final third.  For one reason or another, however, they just couldn’t finish.  If this were a habit, there might be reason to raise an eyebrow, but, as the win in Kansas City demonstrated, the Timbers have been reasonably opportunistic lately.
• As Caleb Porter indicated in the club’s press release, the signing of Ka Pah comes at a relatively desperate time for center backs on Morrison Street.  The absence of Mikael Silvestre was conspicuous after he went out with a torn ACL.  The spaces that Sene and company repeatedly found in the middle were the same spaces that Futty and Silvestre had shut down for over an hour.  While concern about Pah’s resume of late is reasonable, the front office has earned the benefit of the doubt with what, despite early skepticism, turned out to be sharp signings in Silvestre and Piquionne.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 8 It doesn’t get a whole lot better than the save he made to preserve the draw in the 85^th minute.  The simple reality is this: Ricketts has been nothing short of great in 2013.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 A nice outing from Jewsbury.  Porter was a little bit more aggressive with him as the Timbers became more desperate for the goal they deserved, and Jack did well in finding himself a couple dangerous shots and combining well on the left, while not exposing his defensive position.

Futty, 5.5 Had a really nice partnership with Silvestre, as they had New England running at them a couple times, and turned the Revs away with little drama.  It’s clear Futty was the Robin to Silvestre’s Batman, however, as the connection with Andrew Jean-Baptiste wasn’t nearly as good.

Mikael Silvestre, 7 Aside from his aforementioned tremendous defending, Mikael almost found himself a goal in the 45^th minute when he got foot to a Wallace cross.  His loss is very, very significant.

Michael Harrington, 5 A relatively quiet game again from Harrington, which, as long as the offense is knocking the ball around well, I’ll take from my fullbacks.  The other thing is just too silly to merit discussion in this forum.[1]

Will Johnson, 6 A nice game from Will, who had a handful of nice tackles and appearances in the attack, including an 80^th minute strike from outside the box that had Shuttleworth beat, but sailed just high and wide.  Takes a little knock in his grade for being a little too aggressive and occasionally leaving space in front of the center backs.

Diego Chara, 5.5 His grade is deflated just a little bit by a couple instances of uncharacteristically loose defense in the midfield, but showed flashes of the incisive attacking distribution that made him the unlikely early league leader in assists.

Rodney Wallace, 6 I thought he might be a little flat coming off his coming out party in Kansas City, but ultimately many of the Timbers’ best chances came through Rod.

Diego Valeri, 5.5 Had a handful of chances that went begging, but was otherwise effective in the buildup.  Valeri isn’t perfect as a finisher, but his final touches have more of a cool purpose in them that makes them best suited to beat the keeper.  Valeri did just that in the 82^nd minute, but unfortunately his shot that stranded Shuttleworth dribbled wide of the far post.

Darlington Nagbe, 4 There were so many things that looked so good, but he has to finish.  His one-on-one with Shuttleworth was just a disaster.

Ryan Johnson, 4.5 Was as quiet as he’s been all season, but every time I go back and take a second look at a game I find something subtly significant that Johnson did that I didn’t notice on first watch.  This time it was his beautifully cushioned header to Valeri to set up his 7^th minute combination with Nagbe.

Frederic Piquionne, 6 Piquionne is a little bit frustrating at times, such as his 70^th minute free header that was straight at Shuttleworth.  There are moments, however, where he shows remarkable quality.  His cross for Chara was just such a moment.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 4 Maybe this is a little bit unfair, but the positioning juxtaposition between he and Silvestre was unkind to AJB.  Then again, that probably has to do with the 16 years of top-flight football Silvestre has on Andrew.

Kalif Alhassan, 4 A little bit disappointing, as I thought he was coming on in a really favorable spot on the left with Wallace shifting to left back.  But Kalif’s bench performances have been inconsistent, which really isn’t altogether surprising.

Preseason Prediction: PTFC 3, Revs 0. Ryan Johnson (x2), Diego Chara.

Actual Result: Timbers 0, Revs 0.

Onward, Rose City!

It’s been an up and down week for the PTFC. There were some great highs combining the dozens of people who showed up to welcome Byron “El Matador” Alvarez back to the Rose City and the unforgettable series of moments with Atticus and The Green Machine and the love they have spread worldwide. Despite the unfortunate inability to find the back of the net and the injury of a Timber who wore the crest well (once the jet lag wore off), it’s not too late to finish on a high note. We have a great crew going out to Great Strides and have raise $2,000 toward finding a cure for cystic fibrosis not including the $869 from the raffling of Bendik and Eric Alexander’s kits.

You can join in the fun of tomorrow’s beautiful morning. We still have room for you to come and help us in Goose Hollow for the ‘Spruce Up the Goose’ neighborhood cleanup. Hope you all had a chance to look around on your way to and from the stadium this week. We definitely contribute to the wear and tear on the neighborhood and it is worthy of our stewardship. There’s a bit of work to do on this cleanup but, we can do this with your help. Oh, and there are rumors of a kegger after the event.

Team. Town. TA. It’s time to tidy the yard.

Click here to sign up!

—by Chris Rifer

Since their big win in Kansas City, the MLS media have been abuzz about how the Portland Timbers are suddenly a force to be reckoned with in the Supporters’ Shield race.  On Wednesday afternoon at Jeld-Wen Field, however, those Timbers couldn’t reckon with the force that is the Atticus Lane-Dupre- led Green Machine.

In the second minute, Atticus himself took the ball straight off of Darlington Nagbe’s foot, ran into the middle, and slotted through Will Johnson’s wickets for the opening goal.

After the Green Machine opened an early 3-0 lead, and with the Timbers Army singing “We always win ten-to-nil,” the Timbers showed some of the fightback that has been key to their early season success.  After Will Johnson freed himself on the right wing, he crossed to Darlington Nagbe at the far post, who tapped home to bring the Timbers back to 3-1.

Three minutes later, however, Atticus was back at it.  After the Green Machine weathered the Timbers’ onslaught, Atticus extended the lead by finishing clinically past a bewildered Jack Jewsbury.

After picking up a yellow card for a hard tackle in the seventh minute, Johnson found the net in the ninth, as Nagbe returned Johnson’s earlier favor by feeding the Timbers’ captain to pull the Timbers back within two.

GMFC responded again, however, tallying a pair of goals in the 10^th and 11^th minutes, respectively, to take a commanding 6-2 lead over the stunned Timbers.

The 12^th minute brought controversy, however.  After more than a year of tough calls at home, the Timbers were gifted one when a clear Ryan Kawoluk foul went uncalled, setting the former Portland Pilot through on goal to narrow Green Machine’s lead to three.

Portland would add one more just before halftime, as Sebastian Rincon made one of his signature runs through the Green Machine defense and scored from a tight angle to give the MLS side hope heading into the locker room.

The halftime team talks were indicative of the first half, however, with Green Machine manager Caleb Porter praising his team’s adherence to Porterball’s high pressure and quick passing, and imploring them to go out and beat the Timbers at their own game.

That they did just one minute after halftime, as Green Machine promptly broke down the Timbers midfield and hit them on the break to extend the lead to 7-4.

What seemed a tall task for the Timbers to get back in the game became seemingly impossible in the 17^th minute, when captain Will Johnson was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for trampling a Green Machine player.

The five-man Timbers had some fight left in them, however, as 19^th minute goals from Nagbe and Jewsbury brought Portland back to within one with just five minutes to play.

Once again, enter Atticus.  After the hardworking men of Mount Tabor earned a corner kick, the ball found its way to Green Machine’s captain beyond the far post, Atticus calmly put it home from a tight angle on the right.

The Timbers’ pressure kept coming, however, and in the 22^nd minute Rincon buried a jumbled Kawulok cross to pull the Timbers within one goal at 8-7.  A minute later, a Caleb Porter side was bit for trying to bunker down defensively for the second time in ten days, as the Timbers broke through a packed-in box to level things at eight.

It was Portland’s defense that got greedy two minutes from fulltime, however, as Green Machine easily passed through a flurry of desperate sliding tackles for the go-ahead goal.

But Rincon wasn’t finished.  Once again flashing the brilliance with the ball at his feet that terrorized the MLS Reserve League in 2012, Rincon tore through the Green Machine defense and seemingly salvaged a point for the Timbers with little more than a minute left.

Atticus, however, has seen tougher scrapes before and come out on top, and Wednesday would be no different.  With time ticking away and the Timbers clutching the draw, it was Green Machine’s talisman who ran into the teeth of the Timbers defense and coolly slotted into the near corner for the winner.

In the end, Atticus and the Porterballing Green Machine were too much for the Timbers to handle.  To the delight of their 3,000 supporters, Green Machine came into Jeld-Wen Field and walked away with the full three points and some of the biggest smiles you’ll ever see.