No rest for the red hot Timbers as their playoff push continues at home against the last-place Rapids. Can Portland win their fourth in a row? Come talk through it in the match thread!
I looked at this lineup and thought to myself, “Wow, this is our B team. I hope they can hold on long enough so that the regular starters can come in in the second half and can close this game out.” And then the office just tears Colorado apart. After that marina go I thought it was gonna be a blowout. But then like be teams are have to do the second half of the first half included a bunch of mental lapses. I was impressed though that Joseph got them back in the right state of mind. They played solidly, and that final goal was just a thing of beauty from start to finish
1) Moreno has become a beast wherever he’s playing. He literally looks like a completely enhanced version of his former self.
2) Brian Acosta is no Diego Chara, but as he meshes more into this team, he offers a very good substitute, especially as Diego gets older
3) Antony looks like he has a lot of potential but I feel like he showed his inexperience on that second miss. I don’t think he’s above Asprilla but definitely I think ahead of Loria’s.
4) Boli looks better to me in the 4231 that he does, in the 433. It feels like he’s not fully comfortable with this formation as yet, but I have hope as he definitely appears to be trying. Hope that he’ll click eventually.
5) Caliksan(sic?) looks pretty green, though he’s give and go with Moreno was very sweet. His overall play in the middle of the field isn’t anywhere near Paredes and I think a healthy Ayala is above him. But overall, against Colorado, he seem to put in a reasonable shift.
Disagree about Moreno, he looks exactly like his former self. To me, his former self was last year. That’s him, and he was putting in performances like this consistently. This year has been a challenge, lots of on and off field issues have bugged him, a lot of which we’re out of his control. Now that his moms in town, he’s no longer injured, and playing in a better system, he can finally thrive. His head is in the right place. He has talent for days and him playing like this is no surprise
agreed though given how green Caliskan os was super impressed with his off the ball movement, far better than many other options we have. Filled in many spaces on off and der as needed.
he is decidedly one footed. Any defender will pick that up in no time or see on film. To be truly effective will need to learn to use his left foot. Had several clean looks at runs, crosses last night but turned ot back to his right foot.
I'll ride the bandwagon by myself, then! Anthony was doing things we haven't seen before. The play for me was when he took the big touch past the right back on the left side and blazed by him, waited for the guy to catch up and then cut it back in. That was a whoa moment for me. The speed. Also, he doesn't lose the ball. He's gifted.
The other thing about him is his height and heading target.
If Moreno is playing on the wing (meaning Evander, Chara, and Paredes are in the middle) then I think Asprilla probably starts over him in his current form and his experience, but Antony is first off the bench for sure. He’s ahead of Yimmi for me, who I think should be playing in the middle
I agree. It comes down to Paredes. Do you drop him to move Moreno inside? You could, and start Antony. But you don't need to. Now that Asprilla is playing so well, you can't take him off, either. The other options, like Acosta, are waiting in the wings. This team is loaded!
No, let’s cool our jets on Antony. It was a good game against a terrible team at home, but he’s very young and lacks experience about what it takes in MLS down the stretch. You don’t move around the lineup to include him, you get your best players on the field and that includes Paredes and Asprilla. I don’t think Antony will start again this season and I don’t think he should if everyone is available, even though I want to see him play
I like that you used the word jets in your post. That's what I think of when I think of Anthony.
Even against poor teams, a guy has quality, and the things he was doing would pan out against any team, in my opinion. You're probably right about starting, but perhaps Anthony is lighting a fire under Asprilla.
If I'm MJ, I say to the team that not everyone can play, but be ready, because depending on tactics and situations, he'll need everyone.
Meme from reddit mls: we just eliminated the Rapids from playoff contention. To add to the shame, they're the first team confirmed to not advance to the posteason.
Timbers beat LAFC 2-0 a few weeks ago. Got a big road win at Austin TEXAS where it has always been a nightmare. They are legitimately on a hot steak. Now, if they can dominate and win at L.A. Galaxy next weekend, that will solidify them to be a team no one wants to face in the playoffs.
True, but it is a lot more than just last night. They looked good against San Jose mid week (essentially same point total on the season), they won on the road to start the week against Austin who are not having a good season but have the tools to beat any team in the league on any given night, rolled 2nd place LAFC a couple of weeks ago (a team they are now within 3 points of), fought back to draw the flounders after beating RSL (also similar point total on the season). Most of their competition on this unbeaten streak has been good.
This was the best damn week of the season so far. 3 games in 7 days. We made it out alive having to rotate an aboviously shorter roster. Another win tonite. 9 points. We're actually above the playoff line and in 6th place. As I said on Wed: who are these guys? Wth happened? It's not just changing the coach...something was going on behind the sceines with Gio...and maybe both his assisants and players?!
I think it is in fact as simple as the coaching, their mentality is now totally different and they’re united. Joseph has them playing coherently and has put a clear structure in place. He’s not breaking any new boundaries, just putting in place basic things that should’ve been there a long time ago
3 points from 4th, by my reckoning. Seattle are third but ahead of us by goal difference. And, they have one more match to play than we do , let's not forget we have 31 played whereas everyone presently above us aside from STL have 30. Vancouver and Dallas, distressingly, only have 29 and aren't far behind.
Lotsa fouls. It seemed pretty grimy that way. That Mora yellow which could easily have been ruled a red... then we would have played a man down and that might have thrown the whole match. At least there weren't any cleat throwing tantrums.
Crazy watching Colorado play with such energy although they all must be miserable: no matter how bad things have been in Timbers-land, at least we aren't Colorado...
Defensively not pretty. The first goal was just pathetic defending off of a restart (kickoff) with no pressure on the ball by the midfield, outside back and like McGraw didn't even know there was a man there misjudging a clearing header and letting it fall. The 2nd was also just no pressure on the ball and an unfortunate deflection (which you get sometimes when you let people wind up and take wide open shots).
Offensively we look dramatically better than the entire season before 2 months ago, even without Evander. Moreno looks like a new man, so has Paredes.
ahhh, the first one: the first header Mcgraw didn't win all year, and the second was kinda unlucky. They had two shots, maybe one more half chance. It made it more interesting!
Rapids may be abject but we’re starting to see a post-Diego Chara team. To win without Chara, Paredes, and the injured Williamson... And no Evander. I’ll certainly take it.
"Post-Diego Chara team". Yeah and it just breaks my heart. It has and will continue to be a rocky transition but I think even Diego himself would be proud of this win streak so far.
Bittersweet. I really hope DC has a couple or three more seasons in him, even as a part-timer, but we have reason to be especially proud. No other MLS team will ever have such a consistently crucial player on its first team. In fact I can’t think of any team in any league on the planet with a similar level of service.
I honestly think the Rapids are the new Goonies. Congrats to San Jose for no longer being the team that just kicks their opponents cause they can't win playing normal soccer.
I am no Gio apologist and absolutely wanted him gone a couple of months before it actually happened, but yes, we would have still had Mora and Y. Chara out for the first 2/3rds of the season (Y. Chara still it seems can't stay healthy), still would have lost Williamson and Niezgoda to season enders, and had other issues like D. Chara's appendix this week, Evander's bad hammy the first couple of months, etc.. Then there were NT call ups.
Every team in the league has to deal with this stuff, but we were definitely on one side of the bell curve early in the year. Even with those issues, we still should have been performing better with better (more flexibly minded, adapting to the situation) coaching.
The locker room atmosphere must have been terrible... I imagine a lot of the present performance has a whole lot to do with morale. You can see it on their faces. Their heart seems in it.
4th was Nima Saghafi who usually centers. He was shambolic as a 4th and often loses the plot in the center, getting emotional and making bad calls because the game gets in his head. Last night's center Gonzales Jr had that problem all night long, came out of the locker room and seemed to initiate a shouting match immediately with the Timbers assistants and training staff. What a clown.
Antony off...he had a great shift. I really think he's going to work out fine if we can get the coaching situation straight. With him looking real promising, maybe next season we can have Moreno play more central.
Fatigue catching up right now. I hate to say it but we might really need to put Mabs in cause Zuparic probably has no legs right now. I'm sure McGraw is alos pretty tired, too.
The last 15 min or so of the half was ugly. We had the load and momentum and just gave up two goals on defensive lapes. We need to figure out how to stay composed and focus on playing a complete 90.
Mom visited, got him sorted. Apparently the Timbers used to be better about getting family/support relocated to help players adjust to a new environment and that's fallen off as of late
How did you find out that we weren't doiong a such a great job anymore on the support front? Even with the harassment episodes, I at least thought we were ok - for the Timbers side at least - at getting new players settled in.
Gotta be the worst job. So what is the point of complaining to the Fourth Official? They are not making any calls. I can't imagine they are passing on coaches' complaints to the (head) Referee. Do they always just justify the on-field decisions, or do they sometimes just shrug and say" well, I dunno, I didn't make the call. Is it just a mechanism for the coaches to blow off steam?
I watched the whole game in Spanish because the English version wasn’t working to start from the beginning. I had to laugh when I caught the Texas chainsaw comment and was trying to figure out what in the world and then heard timber Joey. If only I could understand Spanish fully, I’m pretty sure they were a better group of announcers. Regardless, he was actually quite nice to listen to a flow of commentary, that didn’t intrude into my viewing of the play on the field even if I couldn’t understand all of it.
If I could understand Spanish, I'd save on my cable bill by not needing TNT for usmnt matches. Could just use Telemundo or the Peacock Spanish stream. And heck, Valeri is on the Apple Spanish production team.
So the monthly subscription worth it? I'd just like to watch Everton again. Just that I'm paying - like everyone else -f or all these streaming services.
We are pushing our outsidebacks too far up. It's easy to counter down the channels on us, because our outside backs. Chara would normally be there to slide into that space but neither caliskan, Acosta, or Moreno are worried about tracking back. All are pushing too high up
And that's one of the issues with the high line. We need more mobility on the back line. But I tmoving Bravo to the midfield opens up a spot for a faster left back. Just start from there in rebuilding the defense.
Zuparic and Mcgraw aren't the issues. It's tactics of how we use our outside backs and the effort our midfield 3 give in tracking back. It's normally only chara that wants to help out when our backs are out of position.
I looked at this lineup and thought to myself, “Wow, this is our B team. I hope they can hold on long enough so that the regular starters can come in in the second half and can close this game out.” And then the office just tears Colorado apart. After that marina go I thought it was gonna be a blowout. But then like be teams are have to do the second half of the first half included a bunch of mental lapses. I was impressed though that Joseph got them back in the right state of mind. They played solidly, and that final goal was just a thing of beauty from start to finish
1) Moreno has become a beast wherever he’s playing. He literally looks like a completely enhanced version of his former self.
2) Brian Acosta is no Diego Chara, but as he meshes more into this team, he offers a very good substitute, especially as Diego gets older
3) Antony looks like he has a lot of potential but I feel like he showed his inexperience on that second miss. I don’t think he’s above Asprilla but definitely I think ahead of Loria’s.
4) Boli looks better to me in the 4231 that he does, in the 433. It feels like he’s not fully comfortable with this formation as yet, but I have hope as he definitely appears to be trying. Hope that he’ll click eventually.
5) Caliksan(sic?) looks pretty green, though he’s give and go with Moreno was very sweet. His overall play in the middle of the field isn’t anywhere near Paredes and I think a healthy Ayala is above him. But overall, against Colorado, he seem to put in a reasonable shift.
Disagree about Moreno, he looks exactly like his former self. To me, his former self was last year. That’s him, and he was putting in performances like this consistently. This year has been a challenge, lots of on and off field issues have bugged him, a lot of which we’re out of his control. Now that his moms in town, he’s no longer injured, and playing in a better system, he can finally thrive. His head is in the right place. He has talent for days and him playing like this is no surprise
agreed though given how green Caliskan os was super impressed with his off the ball movement, far better than many other options we have. Filled in many spaces on off and der as needed.
Is it me or so PTFC seem to give up goals right after scoring?
Agreed; however, my guess is that it might be universal. It would be interesting to see data on this.
I've always heard a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous in soccer.
It’s statistically not true.
So.etimes the excessive celebrating makes me nervous
Well, that’s what Evander is for; he never celebrates!
depth chart position for Antony? I think he needs to start.
he is decidedly one footed. Any defender will pick that up in no time or see on film. To be truly effective will need to learn to use his left foot. Had several clean looks at runs, crosses last night but turned ot back to his right foot.
Robben was one footed.
I'll ride the bandwagon by myself, then! Anthony was doing things we haven't seen before. The play for me was when he took the big touch past the right back on the left side and blazed by him, waited for the guy to catch up and then cut it back in. That was a whoa moment for me. The speed. Also, he doesn't lose the ball. He's gifted.
The other thing about him is his height and heading target.
If Moreno is playing on the wing (meaning Evander, Chara, and Paredes are in the middle) then I think Asprilla probably starts over him in his current form and his experience, but Antony is first off the bench for sure. He’s ahead of Yimmi for me, who I think should be playing in the middle
I agree. It comes down to Paredes. Do you drop him to move Moreno inside? You could, and start Antony. But you don't need to. Now that Asprilla is playing so well, you can't take him off, either. The other options, like Acosta, are waiting in the wings. This team is loaded!
No way. Paredes is critical to any chance of maintaining sixth place or even better moving up higher. He's my team MVP for the season.
No, let’s cool our jets on Antony. It was a good game against a terrible team at home, but he’s very young and lacks experience about what it takes in MLS down the stretch. You don’t move around the lineup to include him, you get your best players on the field and that includes Paredes and Asprilla. I don’t think Antony will start again this season and I don’t think he should if everyone is available, even though I want to see him play
I like that you used the word jets in your post. That's what I think of when I think of Anthony.
Even against poor teams, a guy has quality, and the things he was doing would pan out against any team, in my opinion. You're probably right about starting, but perhaps Anthony is lighting a fire under Asprilla.
If I'm MJ, I say to the team that not everyone can play, but be ready, because depending on tactics and situations, he'll need everyone.
Meme from reddit mls: we just eliminated the Rapids from playoff contention. To add to the shame, they're the first team confirmed to not advance to the posteason.
Timbers look dangerous. I can't believe they have a shot at the top 4. They have incredible team chemistry right now.
Colorado is a pretty low bar though...
Timbers beat LAFC 2-0 a few weeks ago. Got a big road win at Austin TEXAS where it has always been a nightmare. They are legitimately on a hot steak. Now, if they can dominate and win at L.A. Galaxy next weekend, that will solidify them to be a team no one wants to face in the playoffs.
True, but it is a lot more than just last night. They looked good against San Jose mid week (essentially same point total on the season), they won on the road to start the week against Austin who are not having a good season but have the tools to beat any team in the league on any given night, rolled 2nd place LAFC a couple of weeks ago (a team they are now within 3 points of), fought back to draw the flounders after beating RSL (also similar point total on the season). Most of their competition on this unbeaten streak has been good.
Im here for it!!
Yes and I hope they look even better with Paredes, Evander and Chara back.
This was the best damn week of the season so far. 3 games in 7 days. We made it out alive having to rotate an aboviously shorter roster. Another win tonite. 9 points. We're actually above the playoff line and in 6th place. As I said on Wed: who are these guys? Wth happened? It's not just changing the coach...something was going on behind the sceines with Gio...and maybe both his assisants and players?!
I think it is in fact as simple as the coaching, their mentality is now totally different and they’re united. Joseph has them playing coherently and has put a clear structure in place. He’s not breaking any new boundaries, just putting in place basic things that should’ve been there a long time ago
there were some real moments of joy on the pitch. so nice to see
3pts from 3rd?? Oy vey Western Conference
3 points from 2nd!
3 points from 4th, by my reckoning. Seattle are third but ahead of us by goal difference. And, they have one more match to play than we do , let's not forget we have 31 played whereas everyone presently above us aside from STL have 30. Vancouver and Dallas, distressingly, only have 29 and aren't far behind.
Another damn win. The players have responded to the change. Miles and Liam have them bought in. Nice.
Ugly, but I’ll take it.
Not sure what was ugly. Great goals tonight. Beautiful win.
Lotsa fouls. It seemed pretty grimy that way. That Mora yellow which could easily have been ruled a red... then we would have played a man down and that might have thrown the whole match. At least there weren't any cleat throwing tantrums.
Crazy watching Colorado play with such energy although they all must be miserable: no matter how bad things have been in Timbers-land, at least we aren't Colorado...
Defensively not pretty. The first goal was just pathetic defending off of a restart (kickoff) with no pressure on the ball by the midfield, outside back and like McGraw didn't even know there was a man there misjudging a clearing header and letting it fall. The 2nd was also just no pressure on the ball and an unfortunate deflection (which you get sometimes when you let people wind up and take wide open shots).
Offensively we look dramatically better than the entire season before 2 months ago, even without Evander. Moreno looks like a new man, so has Paredes.
ahhh, the first one: the first header Mcgraw didn't win all year, and the second was kinda unlucky. They had two shots, maybe one more half chance. It made it more interesting!
Rapids may be abject but we’re starting to see a post-Diego Chara team. To win without Chara, Paredes, and the injured Williamson... And no Evander. I’ll certainly take it.
"Post-Diego Chara team". Yeah and it just breaks my heart. It has and will continue to be a rocky transition but I think even Diego himself would be proud of this win streak so far.
I think Diego loves this.
Nice to see the new guys stepping up.
Bittersweet. I really hope DC has a couple or three more seasons in him, even as a part-timer, but we have reason to be especially proud. No other MLS team will ever have such a consistently crucial player on its first team. In fact I can’t think of any team in any league on the planet with a similar level of service.
Not that I’m a statistician!
I honestly think the Rapids are the new Goonies. Congrats to San Jose for no longer being the team that just kicks their opponents cause they can't win playing normal soccer.
It's gotta be chaos in rapids - supporter land
Yellow....sure. Why not.
Shouts to the announcer for making it through with some voice left. He deserves a recovery day tomorrow with the training staff.
So McGraw has the captain armband? Cool
Guess auditions for next season's capain has begun. Ok with me.
Acosta sure looks like captain material to me.
It looked like Mora tried to give to Blanco when he came on but Zach ended up with it.
Blanco should have taken it.
What was that all about? I saw what looked like an argument over the armband but maybe it was just Blanco being modest?
Imagine if we would have got rid of gio after last year. I bet we would be comfortably in the top 4
Maybe might also have avoided some of the this year's drama between him and several players.
Especially Moreno.
We still would have started the season with half our players in triage.
I am no Gio apologist and absolutely wanted him gone a couple of months before it actually happened, but yes, we would have still had Mora and Y. Chara out for the first 2/3rds of the season (Y. Chara still it seems can't stay healthy), still would have lost Williamson and Niezgoda to season enders, and had other issues like D. Chara's appendix this week, Evander's bad hammy the first couple of months, etc.. Then there were NT call ups.
Every team in the league has to deal with this stuff, but we were definitely on one side of the bell curve early in the year. Even with those issues, we still should have been performing better with better (more flexibly minded, adapting to the situation) coaching.
The locker room atmosphere must have been terrible... I imagine a lot of the present performance has a whole lot to do with morale. You can see it on their faces. Their heart seems in it.
So anybody here been a ref? What happens to subpar 4th officials? Just get demoted to usl? Asked to retire?
4th was Nima Saghafi who usually centers. He was shambolic as a 4th and often loses the plot in the center, getting emotional and making bad calls because the game gets in his head. Last night's center Gonzales Jr had that problem all night long, came out of the locker room and seemed to initiate a shouting match immediately with the Timbers assistants and training staff. What a clown.
Pro probably just moves them to a different parish ala the catholic church
Also the 4th official can't run the sub board correctly. Just a mess of officiating
Rinse. Repeat.
WTF is the card???
I remember when we absolutely could not win without Diego Chara, no matter who we played.
Not only could we not win we woukd park the bus and pray for a draw. We never went forward.
Please get Zup out of there. I'm scared whenever Mabs plays but we can't afford to have Zup go down for an extended period.
I was afraid he'd flagrantly foul someone and get ejected. That guy goes hard.
Don't worry. Zup is an iron man.
Antony off...he had a great shift. I really think he's going to work out fine if we can get the coaching situation straight. With him looking real promising, maybe next season we can have Moreno play more central.
That Asprilla header.......
Air Asprilla with the assist.
Mora is the truth. Enough said.
Yes! What A Goal!
That gold was COLD.
Mora you beautiful man....Gracias
Fatigue catching up right now. I hate to say it but we might really need to put Mabs in cause Zuparic probably has no legs right now. I'm sure McGraw is alos pretty tired, too.
Agree. Get Z outta there before he gets a second yellow
Zuparic is gassed.
Was his yellow deserved?
Actually I think the foul should have been on the other guy
I swear I heard 'rock stars' and 'Nickelback' on the Spanish feed......I'm so confused
Seems the English feed’s video is up and running
Nope. Spoke too soon
The last 15 min or so of the half was ugly. We had the load and momentum and just gave up two goals on defensive lapes. We need to figure out how to stay composed and focus on playing a complete 90.
This halftime talk brought to you by transition defense , maturity and momentum.
Anyone heard the latest on Moreno? Does he still want out, or is he happy here now that Gio is gone, or...?
He's doing just fine with a new agent and a new head coach.
Mom visited, got him sorted. Apparently the Timbers used to be better about getting family/support relocated to help players adjust to a new environment and that's fallen off as of late
How did you find out that we weren't doiong a such a great job anymore on the support front? Even with the harassment episodes, I at least thought we were ok - for the Timbers side at least - at getting new players settled in.
Was discussed on a recent Soccer Made In Portland podcast
The ref is shambolic.
The Beautiful Game this is not
The front 6 has been great' the denfese...what else is new?
of all the luck...craaap
Well fuck
Shooting the ball is apparently a red card offense now
I think that’s a red.
Told ya.
what did you tell us?
Tongue in cheek because I was certain Mora was going to get a red card. And then he didn’t sooooo…
Yellow card for taking a shot. ProRefs transcend excrement
Random: Fourth Official
Gotta be the worst job. So what is the point of complaining to the Fourth Official? They are not making any calls. I can't imagine they are passing on coaches' complaints to the (head) Referee. Do they always just justify the on-field decisions, or do they sometimes just shrug and say" well, I dunno, I didn't make the call. Is it just a mechanism for the coaches to blow off steam?
The last part methinks
If you’re a coach, why bother? I’d save my ire for the real ref.
By the time you get his ear, your complaint list would be exhaustive
Get cocky, get punished.
The Spanish broadcast is talking about machetes and Texas chainsaws and I really wish I learned that language
I watched the whole game in Spanish because the English version wasn’t working to start from the beginning. I had to laugh when I caught the Texas chainsaw comment and was trying to figure out what in the world and then heard timber Joey. If only I could understand Spanish fully, I’m pretty sure they were a better group of announcers. Regardless, he was actually quite nice to listen to a flow of commentary, that didn’t intrude into my viewing of the play on the field even if I couldn’t understand all of it.
If I could understand Spanish, I'd save on my cable bill by not needing TNT for usmnt matches. Could just use Telemundo or the Peacock Spanish stream. And heck, Valeri is on the Apple Spanish production team.
I don't understand Spanish and watched the World Cup on Peacock. It wasn't a tough change
So the monthly subscription worth it? I'd just like to watch Everton again. Just that I'm paying - like everyone else -f or all these streaming services.
I have the plan with ads and that's like $6 a month. For that to watch PL, US soccer, Poker Face and a few movies it's not bad.
Like I said on Wed, move Bravo to wingback. Upgrade the defense.
We are pushing our outsidebacks too far up. It's easy to counter down the channels on us, because our outside backs. Chara would normally be there to slide into that space but neither caliskan, Acosta, or Moreno are worried about tracking back. All are pushing too high up
And that's one of the issues with the high line. We need more mobility on the back line. But I tmoving Bravo to the midfield opens up a spot for a faster left back. Just start from there in rebuilding the defense.
Zuparic and Mcgraw aren't the issues. It's tactics of how we use our outside backs and the effort our midfield 3 give in tracking back. It's normally only chara that wants to help out when our backs are out of position.
Defensive clinic this game is not
Yep...
Yikes
Antony needs to have compassion for the poor guy....he has a family.
MORENO IS PUTTING ON A SHOW
Dancing all over everyone.
Apple announcer called the rapids goalie Bingham and lauded Timber Jim with the slab..great preparation
Can can Caliskan!
Can you find a better man!?
Noel, Noel, he's our man.
If he can't do it, Caliskan!
What's going on with this poor announcer's voice