The AC Portland project, being led by adidas and the Timbers Army, made its public debut this week.  Sean Moran and Harper Warner spoke about the project on Wednesday evening’s “Strong at Night” show.  Earlier that day, Fernando Machicado and Lucas Grzybowski visited City Hall for a meeting in the Mayor’s office.

This is the first part of a fund-raising effort that will culminate with a breakfast/work party on the morning of July 8.  The Advantage Centers program will initially focus on elementary school students at six locations around the Portland area.  Participating kids will play soccer and receive supplementary lessons in literacy and nutrition, with the goal of giving kids more hours of school and low-key instruction that ultimately lead to higher achievement levels.  As part of this, the program will be developing or improving fields at the schools. 

To raise both money and awareness, we are contacting 50 or more Portland-area business and civic leaders, seeking their participation and support.   We are asking that they join the Timbers Army as partners and even members for a day, if they so desire. 

We’re also looking for other TA/107ists to help out by taking part in the invitation tours.  We’ve been very well received at the offices we’ve visited.

We want to show the colors, so the sartorial emphasis is on game-day attire, as much as possible.  Scarves, props welcome.   

HERE IS THE TENTATIVE SCHEDULE for next week.  Additionally, we are still working toward a City Council presentation (a TBD Wednesday morning) and a Multnomah County Commission presentation, which is likely to be on Thursday, June 16.  If you’d like to take part in our recruiting, contact Roger.Anthony@107ist.org.

TUESDAY:   8 a.m.-1 p.m.  – Downtown stops at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Business Journal,  Stoel Rives, Standard Insurance and others. 

WEDNESDAY:  8 a.m.-1 p.m. – Eastside stops at Comcast, Pacific Power, Fred Meyer and possibly Luis Palau ministries.

THURSDAY:  9 a.m.-1 p.m. – Multnomah County Commission meeting at 9:30.   Also aiming for ODS, PGE, and NW Natural. 

OTHER DATES to keep in mind:

Groundbreaking Breakfast at St. John’s Pub/James John Elementary - July 8

Volunteer work crew days:  July 23, 28/29/30.

First off I have to apologize for the lack of a Monday posting. I suck. Actually I had something come up last minute and rather than posting a round up late at night I opted to just do a big one today. Don't like it? I've had worse thought about me I'm sure.

Explore the new weekly completely arbitrarily come up with MLS power rankings. I lvoe those things.

Rachel Bachman has a really great article up about the Timbers efforts to market to the latino population. IMHO it's a little overdue but I'm glad they're doing it. Also the comments section is filled with imbeciles.

A bunch of teams came in here and lost so their coaches complained about the size of our pitch rather than their own failures. If Seattle comes in here and loses I'm willing to bet $5.00 Sigi uses that as an excuse. I hope it's raining that day too so he can use that excuse again.

The USMNT has a Gold Cup match tonight against the evil Canadians. Oh who am I kidding. Canadians are so nice and polite that they're impossible to hate!

Good day to you all.

—by Lucas Grzybowski

I woke up with this in my head this morning, not having heard it in years (whenever I last visited the Charleston Battery website, where this addictive little ditty would play on a loop), and now, apropos of absolutely nothing, I'm giving it to you.

Battery song.mp3

A little about the Battery:

They are currently in the third division, having self-relegated from D2 when it all started to go south for second division soccer in the States (i.e., 2010, or as I like to call it, the United States Soccer Federation Division Two Professional League Era; rolls right off the tongue, that).

They play in a lovely little soccer park called Blackbaud Stadium, which I unfortunately never visited during the time they competed in the same division as the Timbers. There's a soccer pub attached to the stadium that is apparently a must-visit, so if the Timbers ever find themselves playing in Charleston for a US Open Cup match or anything, maybe I'll make it out.

Battery's all-time leading scorer is Paul Conway, son of former Timbers player (NASL) and coach (NASL/USL) Jimmy Conway. Paul grew up in Portland, and began his career with FC Portland, playing with them for one season (1989) alongside Scott Benedetti, John Bain and Kasey Keller; he also played for Carlisle United in northern England. After scoring 91 goals in seven seasons with the Battery (still by far the club record), the younger Conway returned to Portland and finished his career with one season in Timbers Green (2005: he was slow and old and scored one goal in 13 appearances, and was a real nice guy the couple times I met him).

Timbers legend Byron Alvarez played one season for Charleston after leaving Portland following the dark times of 2006. When the Battery played here that year it was almost physically painful to see El Matador on the Piggy pitch dressed in another team's kit (but at least he didn't go play for *that team*, unlike another former Timbers great).

They had/have good supporters, some of whom would make it out to Portland each year, and from what I gather they're very welcoming to visiting fans, inviting them to their excellent pub for pre- and post-game quaffs.

Despite all of the above, when I think about the Battery, I think about that song. Enjoy the earworm!

—by Chris Rifer

So here we are, at the first true turning point of the inaugural MLS season. Sure, there have been ups and downs before this week, but this feels like the first time this season there has been legitimate concern about an extended slide.

The first five minutes on Saturday started encouragingly. Portland controlled possession and showed some early promise going toward goal. Unfortunately, for the first half, that was about it.

Possession remained fairly even through the first stanza—with neither team doing a fantastic job of stringing passes together. Chivas USA, however, looked by far the more dangerous team going forward—three times forcing Troy Perkins into serious action. Chivas repeatedly asked questions of Portland’s Brunner-less defense, and nobody but Perkins seemed to have any answers.

The Timbers best chance came in the 19^th minute from a Jack Jewsbury set piece from 30 yards out on the right wing. David Horst was able to get a head to the ball, but it was deflected away by a flailing—and perhaps a bit lucky—an Kennedy.

The Timbers started to apply a bit more pressure on the Chivas defense in the second half. Through the first twenty minutes, Portland controlled much of the possession and largely played in their attacking half. The Timbers couldn’t reap the benefits of their possession, however, as shoddy service thwarted Portland’s attack time and again.

Finally, in the 70^th minute, Chivas broke what looked more and more like a stalemate, as Paulo Nagamura sent a bending cross in past a disorganized Timbers defense for Marcos Mondaini, who easily tapped it home. The Timbers lack of shape and miserable marking were all the more embarrassing considering the run up to the play consisted of Chivas meekly passing the ball around their own half, then jogging into their own half past a shocked-looking Portland defense.

Portland’s search for an equalizer was largely in vain, as two Jack Jewsbury shots from distance were the best the Timbers could muster, forcing Rose City to limp out of The Home Depot Center for the second time in this young season.

Match Observations

• After a heartbreaking loss to D.C. United and a reported good week of practice, this effort was a little bit shocking to me. The Timbers seemed listless and at times even a little disinterested. The backline was disorganized all day, the midfield looked overwhelmed, and the strikeforce looked like they were on an island and didn’t care much to get off.
• Eric Brunner might just be the most important player to this team. Saturday it was clear how much he was missed. The guy is the anchor of the Timbers defense, and without him the backline looked completely adrift. There were some nice individual plays, but the shape was awful and the marking was nonexistent. If you can stomach it, go back and watch the Chivas goal. Here is what the shape pretty much looked like: Rod Wallace at striker, Futty playing left wing, Jack Jewsbury at left back, David Horst and Jeremy Hall and center back, and Sal Zizzo at right back. Other than Jewsbury applying some pressure to Nagamura, everybody else that was involved wasn’t marking anybody. Point is, if you have a spare moment today, take Brunner some orange juice and chicken soup.
• Okay, so there is no such thing as a must-win in early June, and anybody who says otherwise is either exaggerating or dumb, but Saturday’s game against the Rapids is definitely more important than your run of the mill regular season match. Portland is coming off of two losses against teams that, frankly, they are better than. A loss on Saturday and the Timbers would be staring a long losing streak right in the face, with fixtures against New York and FC Dallas coming down the pipe. In the grand scheme, dropping two in a row isn’t a big deal, but going five in a row with little to speak of in the way of points would be devastating to the Timbers’ playoff hopes.

Timbers Grades

Troy Perkins, 7 The best performance Portland has had from a keeper this year. This match could have easily been 1- or 2-nil at half but for Perkins’ heroics. By far the man of the match.

Rod Wallace, 4.5 The Chivas offense was going up his side much of the night, but probably not because of him. Defensive mistakes in the midfield meant Rod had to play a lot of defense a long way from goal with acres of room behind him. That’s a tough spot for an outside back, so Rod doesn’t get all the blame here, but he also didn’t exactly handle it brilliantly.

Futty, 4 Again, had to scramble for much of the night, often forced to play out on the left wing because of Rod being pulled upfield. Still, he was the guy that the defense was looking to provide some leadership in the absence of Brunner. Made some nice individual plays, but as the leader of the defense, a couple nice plays isn’t enough to warrant a positive grade.

David Horst, 4.5 Also had a few nice individual plays, but is also partially culpable for the disorganization of the backline. Made a couple more plays than Futty, and also doesn’t bear as much of the cross for the failure of leadership.

Jeremy Hall, 4.5 Remember last week when we talked about Jeremy’s propensity to disappear on the pitch for periods? About that…

Kalif Alhassan, 4 I really like the guy, but he played really poorly. Didn’t do a whole lot offensively in the midfield and was brutalized defensively a number of times.

Diego Chara, 5 Created as much offense as anybody in the midfield, and wasn’t bad defensively, but he and Jewsbury didn’t do nearly as good a job controlling the game in the center of the pitch as they have the last few weeks.

Jack Jewsbury, 5 Had a couple nice strikes at goal, and was maybe even a bit unlucky that one didn’t find net, but doesn’t get much of a reward due to the inability to establish much control over the match.

Sal Zizzo, 4.5 Could never establish himself a good position, partially because he was being flipped every 25 minutes and partially because he was pinned in defense for extended periods.

Jorge Perlaza, 5.5 Perlaza was really the only guy that brought much in the way of urgency to the match. His final ball betrayed him a few times, but at least he was getting himself in a position to send a final ball in.

Kenny Cooper, 4 Holy overcompensation, Batman! Last week he was all ants in the pants in netting 4 offside calls. This week he was barely on the pitch. Remember when this guy used to work his butt off to get the ball at his feet – even if that meant tracking back into the midfield? He drew fouls, created opportunities, and even scored a few goals. Coop needs to get back to those days.

Darlington Nagbe, 6 I thought this was actually one of Darlington’s better outings. He brought a dimension on the ball that had been sorely lacking earlier in the game, showed a desire to go at goal, and successfully created a few chances.

Eddie Johnson, 5 Had a couple nice moments, but ultimately didn’t make much of a difference. Was much more active than Cooper, though, which is as much as anything a sign of how big a funk KFC is in right now.

James Marcelin, 5 Sort of a weird substitution, but in Spenny’s defense, there really weren’t any good options.

Onward, Rose City!

Looks like we're finally going to get a break from our current trend of rain, wind, rain, cold, rain. I can just imagine the swarms of hipsters already planning on descending to Colonel Summers Park.

I remember when my coaches stepped up the practice intensity. It usually involved being long, painful, and a lot of sweat.

If you didn't already know. The Timbers are still looking for their first road win and hoping to pull it off in Los Angeles against Chivas. USA not Guadalajara.

John Spencer doesn't mind that we've been called offsides more times than any other team in MLS but one. I don't mind much either.

They announced Game C today that is included in your season tickets package. Take your time to educate yourselves about Independiente and their storied history.

Good day to you all

Did everyone get their Axe Society gifts in the mail yesterday? Gotta admit that first game ticket is pretty cool. Kind of wish I could fit my real one in there too. Did everyone keep theirs or am I the only one?

If you can't make it to the Timbers U-23s vs. Kitsap Puma's US Open Cup play in game on Friday (you should really try) the Timbers will have it streaming live. So that's pretty awesome. I did notice it will be on USL Live. No word ye...buffering, buffering, buffering, buffering...

Kip "Oldballs" Kesgard has a really great look back about what we know 1/3 of the way through the season on the Timbers Blog at Oregonlive.

If DC's Ben Olsen thought Sunday's atmosphere was great just wait until he comes back and we aren't a tiny bit off like we were on Sunday. RAWR CONTROVERSY ANGRY ANGRY

Our mayor Sam Adams gave the mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil and Portland Timbers scarf.

Good day to you all.

"All the Marbles" in this case being a spot in the US Open Cup.

Prost Amerika is reporting that the front offices of the Timbers and Kitsap Pumas have agreed, with the blessing of the United Soccer Leagues, to allow their league match this Friday (June 3, 11am, JELD-WED Field, $5 general admission) to count as the tie-breaker for the deadlocked PDL NW Division qualifying group.

Further adding to the excitement, the Timbers have decided to broadcast the game via webstream, so all of you employed people, who can't get away from the office, can watch the game in your cubicles.

If you've never made it to a U23 game, here are a few players with whom to familiarize yourself:

First and foremost has got to be Brent Richards: Camas, Washington's favorite son, Bicycle Brent is a true talent in midfield, and one of a handful of players (along with standouts Tracy Hasson, Steven Evans, Roberto Farfan and keeper Garrett Staples) who have been with the U23 team since they began play in 2009. He has been a difference-maker since the very beginning, notching two assists in the team's second game, and two goals in the following match.

Richards finished 2009 with only four goals, but in 2010 he emerged as a bona fide star, leading the team with 16 goals. He scored twice in the national title game vs Thunder Bay Chiiiillllll (who were not very Chiiiiilllll) at PGE Park, en route to a 4-1 win, which capped off a perfect 20-0-0 season. The highlight of Brent's season wasn't the title game though; he scored four against the hapless Spokane Spiders one night in front of 247 people in Tigard, Oregon. He had a hat-trick by halftime, including what remains the single most amazing goal I've ever personally witnessed: a full overhead bicycle kick goal, taken from about 10 yards out, off a deflected cross.

Dazzling, stupendous, sublime, Brent Richards is for real. He already has one hat trick this season, but has only played in three of the team's first five games due to his scholastic commitments at the University of Washington, where he is just about to complete his junior year. Friday is the last day of regular classes at U-Dub before final exams, and I want all #RCTID Timbers fans to join me in urging Brent: SKIP CLASS! Would you rather kill time on the last day of classes, when nothing of substance happens anyway, or help the U23s qualify for the US Open Cup against their best and staunchest rival? The choice is clear Brent: Soccer Rules, School Drools!

(Edit to add: Our John Strong hinted on twitter this evening that Richards may indeed have gotten a note from his Mom and will play tomorrow. Fingers crossed!)

He's wee! He's ace! He flies through Time and Space! (Photo by Sarah Alley)

Another three-year standout with this team is former Oregon State Beaver, and Lake Oswego product Tracy Hasson. The winger may be short in stature, standing a mere 5'4", but he is pure energy and dynamism on the pitch, often winning head balls vs much taller players, and generally working his ass off, flying up the right side to deliver crosses into the box. Plus, if you include his hair, he's like 5'9".

Hasson has been a constant on the right side of the U23 midfield since they began play in 2009, and has been a big factor in their success. Up until this season, you always saw a certain lack of quality to go along with his indefatigable energy; he'd race 60 yards to beat a defender to a ball, then half the time he'd deliver a bad cross or boot it out for a goal kick. This season though, Tracy looks to have improved his game without sacrificing any of that manic energy that makes him such a joy to watch. Of the three games I've seen, he looks like overall the best player on the team; and that's saying something, considering he's on a squad with Brent Richards, Bim Ogunyemi and emerging star Miles Byass, all of whom have been superb.

Here's a nice Tracy Hasson highlight package video; at the 1:25 mark you can see what I mean about his surprising aerial prowess, as he opens the scoring in the title game with a looping header from 10 yards.

Other players to watch:

Paul "Bim" Ogunyemi - The Bim beneath my wings, the Real Bim Shady, the Notorious B.I.M., our left-sided midfielder was selected by FC Dallas in the superdraft. But Dallas is stupid, so they cut him, so his speed and strength continue to provide a great counterpunch to Hasson on the right.

Miles Byass - our new striker has a cannon for a leg and he's not afraid to use it; just ask the Tacoma keeper, who helplessly watched a Badass Byass strike sail into his net just a minute into the second half last Sunday in Clackamas.

Ryan Kawulok - the massive center back, who also stars for the University of Portland Pilots, was all-league last year, and his steady, calm play has helped the U23s to four shutouts in their first five games. Kawulok has also trained with the Colorado Rapids Soccer Academy, though I don't know if or how this affects his potential "homegrown" status with the Timbers (any help from the soccerheads out there? Bob? Tifo nerds?).

The Three Rickys - Messrs. Abrego, Dorrego and Carrillo are all currently coming off the bench for the U23s, but all have contributed much to the team. Forward Ricky Abrego scored the winner in the PDL Western Conference final last year, to beat tomorrow's opponent Kitsap and earn the U23s a date in the national final four. Ricky Dorrego and Ricardo Carrillo provide an active second-half oomph in the midfield, when lesser teams' players are flagging. At some point in tomorrow's game, say around the 75th minute, it's quite likely that if you yell "OOHHHHH RICKY RICKY!" you'll be cheering for 27 percent of the Timbers currently on the pitch.

Nick Palodichuk - In the three games I've seen this season, Palodichuk hasn't been the most eye-popping player on the pitch, but the central midfielder has drawn high praise for his stellar career at Camas HS and his heroics for the USA at the 2009 U-17 World Cup, and everyone in the know is predicting big things for him. Nick is a big kid and certainly fills up space in the middle of the park; here's hoping he can continue his growth with the Timbers U23. (Note: Palodichuk is an academy product of...*them*...but I don't know if this absolutely prevents him attaining homegrown status with the Timbers. For now he's ours and while that's the case he gets one hundred percent of my support.)

Former Timber and current radio color-man Ross "Short Shorts" Smith has put in some time in the back line as an over-age exemption (PDL teams are allowed three O23 players). Smith only played one season for the Timbers, but he's embraced the team and the town, and you have to see it as a boon to the organization that he's stuck around in his various capacities.

Oh and some guy named Scot has been playing center back and wearing the captain's armband, and looking great doing it. No fooling.

---

Kitsap Pumas have been the U23s best rival by far since both teams came into existence in 2009; even with a perfect season last year, the Timbers U23 were edged by Kitsap on goal-differential for the USOC spot. This year, thanks to some surprisingly sensible thinking by all parties, there will be no ambiguity: if it's tied after 90 minutes it will count as a draw for the league, but we'll get a penalty shootout to determine who goes on to face Chivas El Paso Patriots in the first round of the US Open Cup.

Come out and support the kiddos! Take an early lunch! Take two lunches! Tickets are only $5, and it should be a decent crowd (of little kids) at Jeld-Wen Field.

I received one suggestion for naming this here daily link thing. I'm going to use it unless something far more creative comes to me. Besides that I like it anyway.

Are you a season ticket holder? Head to the stadium to sample their prawn sandwiches on June 21st. Yum!

Kenny Cooper is a little regretful about his sideshow on Sunday against DC United.

In their continuing efforts to try and copy the huge success of Toronto FC our very polite Canadian friends to the North have sacked Teitur Thordarson and replaced him with Tom Soehn just 11 games into the season. The Southsiders once again don't agree with the Vancouver front office's decision. For a club that was pretty much a model of consistency and success during their time in the second division they're really doing a good job of trashing that tradition.

FIFA's Congress happened. SURPRISE they reelected Sepp Blatter. In one of the more humorous moments of today's proceedings FIFA allowed this guy on stage to trash England for trying to expose the corruption. These last few days sure have been interesting.

On a side note. If you ever questioned whether you should wear facepaint to a Timbers game the answer is no. NO NO NO NO NO. The comment win, "Sounders fans: The juggalos of MLS."

Good day to you all.

—by Garrett Dittfurth

Since we here at the Timbers Army blog are only here to create controversy we've come up with something new. Towards the end of the day or early evening I will troll through the internet and find various pieces of news that might be of interest so you can continue being lazy and not doing it yourself. Please thank Hierarchy5 for the idea on your own time. I'm going to start today and go from here out. So...

I don't know what I should call this as it will likely become a daily section. If you have any ideas please share below in the comments and then I will judge you based on your suggestions. Whattaya think?

Because the Timbers U-23s and Kitsap Pumas clearly have the largest sets of stones in the PDL they're going to use this Friday's 11:00 a.m. PDL match at JELD-WEN Field as the determining factor of who gets to play in the US Open Cup. Come on you saplings!

John Spencer is certainly a firery coach. Something gives me the idea that his players would die on the pitch for him. Stumptown Footy has a poll up and you can have an opinion on the matter as well.

If you haven't been following the FIFA and CONCACAF bribery scandal that's been going on you're missing out. It's fun of hijinx and plenty of drama. In today's news the acting CONCACAF chairman tried to fire the General Secretary Chuck Blazer. Who knows how this is going to play out because Chuck Blazer controls the Twitter, Facebook, and press machine of CONCACAF. Grant Wahl seems to have the same thought.

Sal Zizzo is becoming a true Portlander. Next on his list are skinny jeans and maniacal reading of Pitchfork.com.

New MLS power rankings are out. Have fun judging these completely arbitrary judgements.

Good day to you all.

—by Andrew Brawley

I think for more reasons than we care to admit, yesterday’s match against DC United will be a memorable one. A typically gloomy Pacific Northwest-style Memorial Day weekend. The penalty kick fiasco. Discussions of who was actually officiating the game (the center referee or the east linesman). No shortage of material.

One thing that I will remember is the tone of sections 101-108 & 201-208. While we were certainly louder than most other American supporters sections this weekend, I don’t believe our A-game was on display. The volume was down a notch or two. The breaks between chants seemed a bit longer. When compared to our previous five appearances this season, yesterday’s presence was above average, but not excellent.

I have a couple theories on why this happened. 1) An early Sunday afternoon game under cloudy skies (in late May) does not a festive atmosphere make. 2) DC United players of various interests (Davies, McCarty, Cronin) didn’t make an appearance. But I believe this last one might be the overarching reason:

3) Too many hangovers.

Folks, I read the Twitters and Facebooks. I know what most of us were up to. In this world where everyone shares everything at every possible juncture, it’s difficult to avoid the mundane updates. I’m just as guilty of this. So it’s not hard for me to recognize the signs. We were slower. We were quieter. We had to exert more energy for a lesser performance.

This morning I looked at the Timbers' schedule to find our next early afternoon home game. Thankfully it’s not a big deal of a game. Just a casual Sunday game, July 10th against Seattle on ESPN that kicks off (as of now) at 1:00 pm local time. No biggie.

So here’s where I’m going with this. I’m going to issue a challenge to the Timbers Army. It’s one that I know will get me a lot of flack. Some might even call it controversial. Even I’m having a hard time writing it down, but here it is:

I want all Timbers Army members to stay 100% sober on Saturday, July 9.

This includes all of July 9 (midnight to midnight), and part of July 10 (midnight to 6:00 am). You can only start drinking after 6:00 am on match day, and after you're within walking distance of JWF. That’s 30 hours of sobriety, followed by seven hours of “ramp-up time” prior to kick-off.

If we bring yesterday’s presence to the game on July 10, we’ll be begging ESPN to return to Portland in 2012. It simply won’t cut it. We have to bring everything we’ve got into the July 10 match, and coming in hung over will do far more harm than good.

So…who’s in for #ss79 (Sober Saturday on July 9th)?