Match Recap & Reaction: Portland Timbers vs St. Louis City SC
Defending? Never heard of her...
After a two week break post-Leagues Cup the Portland Timbers returned to MLS action with an entertaining, albeit disappointing, 4-4 draw with St. Louis City SC at Providence Park.
Match Recap
You know how we here at Stumptown Footy have been harping on the Timbers’ set-piece and transition defending this year (if we’re being honest the last few years)? Well buckle up for some more of that…
The Timbers went down 1-0 in the 10th minute after Simon Becher found himself completely unmarked from, you guessed it, a corner kick — Nestling a header into the back of the net at the near post. Felipe Mora and Miguel Araujo were the closest players to him, but both were caught ball-watching instead of dealing with the forward head-on. *The* worst possible start for a Timbers team smack-dab in the middle of a Western Conference playoff race, especially considering their last match was against this very St. Louis City SC team.
The visitors took a 2-0 lead from the penalty spot in the 36’, dispatched by Eduard Lowen after Araujo’s rash challenge (which he was booked for) left Becher in a heap in the box. The penalty itself was perfectly placed and Max Crepeau had no chance of saving it, but the defending leading up to the goal was another instance of the Timbers losing the ball in the attacking-third and failing to cut out the danger in transition.
Jonathan Rodriguez pulled a goal back for Portland three minutes later with a tap-in at the far post from an excellent Felipe Mora cross. For as poor as the Timbers can be defending counterattacks, this goal was a reminder of how potent they can be when they’re the team on the counter. Evander → Mora → Rodriguez → Goal.
My thoughts from the press box when the goal went in were “Ok, one back, now just see this into halftime and come out in the second half like a house on fire.” Instead, St. Louis City earned a corner in first half stoppage-time, and restored their two goal cushion through Cedric Teuchert. The goal, again, was an extremely poor one to concede. The ball was chipped to an unmarked Teuchert on the edge of the box, who struck a volley through the crowd of players in the box and past Max Crepeau despite the Canadian international getting his leg on the shot.
In the moments after said goal St. Louis ‘keeper Roman Burki made a mess a simple claim in the box, dropping the ball into the path of Felipe Mora who looked to have a clear goal, but somehow defender Henry Kessler was able to block his strike onto the crossbar.
Halftime: POR 1 - 3 STL
Despite going down 3-1 on the stroke of halftime, the Timbers did in fact start the second half like a house on fire, forcing two world-class saves out of Burki in the first 10 minutes after the break. Evander had a volley attempt inside the box parried away in the 46’, and Mora went close with a first-time finish as well. But Mora wouldn’t be kept out for much longer, nodding home his 12th goal of the year from close range to bring the score back within one goal. Claudio Bravo dug out a deep cross to the back post which found Evander, and all the Brazilian had to do was head the ball into the path of Mora.
Game back on, at least it was for a few seconds, because St. Louis would once again storm down the pitch and tack on a fourth goal in the 58’ through Nokkvi Thorisson. Teuchert found Thorisson in the box, before the latter shifted the ball onto his left foot and curled a strike around Bravo and Zuparic into the back of the net. It was a real sucker punch to concede immediately after scoring, and the Timbers found themselves down by two for the third time in the match.
Six minutes later the Timbers scored a third, and once again it came through two of their stars. Evander attempted a curling shot from outside the box that Burki couldn’t deal with and Mora was the first player to get to the rebound, sweeping the ball home to make it 4-3.
Then all hell broke loose.
In the 73’ Jonathan Rodriguez went down in the box under a challenge from Lowen, but instead of a penalty Rodriguez was shown a caution that will see him suspended for the Timbers big home clash against the Seattle Sounders due to yellow card accumulation. I was responsible for submitting the pool reporter questions to the officials after the match, and asked “Rodriguez was shown a yellow card in the 73rd minute, what made his conduct worthy of a booking for simulation?” The response: “In the 73rd minute, #10 St. Louis made no contact with #14 Portland. Any contact was initiated by #14 Portland.”
Now I’m not a genius, but “made no contact” immediately followed by “any contact” seems a little contradictory, because it is. In reality Lowen did make contact with Rodriguez. Was it enough for a penalty? I don’t know, Rodriguez did make the most of the challenge. But to say there was no contact is blatantly false.
Eryk Williamson was also shown a soft yellow for dissent after understandably being frustrated by a late offside flag on a play that everyone in the stadium could see was offside immediately.
With Rodriguez now suspended for the Seattle game, things went from bad to worse when Mora was sent off for a collision with Chris Durkin in the third minute of second half stoppage time. Durkin and Mora went for a 50/50 challenge that left the former on the ground, and the top of Mora’s boot made contact with his head as he was trying to get around the felled midfielder. Nobody knows Mora’s intent except for Mora, but to send him off so quickly and for VAR to not intervene at all is, in my opinion, an absolute joke. Mora isn’t even looking down at Durkin when he makes the contact and the challenge wasn’t even studs up. It was incidental contact that happens in a physical sport, nowhere near violent conduct. The red card of course means that Mora is also now suspended for the Seattle game.
With time ticking away and the Timbers down a man, it would take a miracle to salvage a point at home to one of the worst teams in the Western Conference. Luckily for the Timbers Army, Evander is a miracle man.
In the ninth minute of stoppage time Evander stepped up and dispatched a free-kick past a fully extended Burki into the top corner of the net, sending Providence Park into pandemonium. The goal has since won MLS goal of the week, and sent the Timbers up to 7th in the West for the time being.
Full Time: POR 4 - 4 STL
Goals — POR: Rodriguez (39’), Mora (57’, 64’), Evander (90+9’) // STL: Becher (10’), Lowen (36’ penalty), Teuchert (45+2’), Thorisson (58’)
Reaction
Conceding four goals at home to the second-bottom team in the Western Conference at this stage of the season is, bluntly, a bad result for the Timbers. The officials definitely impacted the game, but in no way are responsible for the Timbers dropping points to St. Louis at home. Before kickoff I Tweeted that every home game the Timbers have from now through the end of the season has to be three points, and they couldn’t get the job done because of sloppy defending in key moments.
I’m optimistic about the Timbers chances of earning a playoff berth for the first time since 2021 but that optimism will fade and fade quickly if they can’t figure out a way to stay more resolute defensively. That HAS to start against Seattle this weekend. In addition to the fact that the Sounders have already embarrassed the Timbers at home this season back in May, Portland is only four points above the dreaded red line, and would not have home-field advantage in the first round if the season ended today.
Losing Mora and Rodriguez for derby day is a massive blow — they account for 49 percent of the Timbers MLS goals this season (26) and whoever steps into their vacant positions, be that Mason Toye or Antony, need to step up if the Timbers want three points against the Sounders. Likewise, the Timbers need a big game from Santiago Moreno, who reverted back to the Santi of old in that he was trying to do too much with the ball against St. Louis. If Moreno can find the form he was playing at pre-Leagues Cup break then the Timbers have a shot.
Up Next: Fishin’ time. Kickoff at Providence Park scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Hey folks, want to sincerely apologize for the late Match Recap, and lack of discussion thread on the site this week. We do this because we love it, but we all work full time outside of Stumptown so sometimes things can get away from us. We'll do better this weekend for the big game and in the future, thank you for your continued support, and sorry again.
A true MLS After Dark classic. Frustrating on an objective level, fantastic on an entertainment level. Listen, I'm having a great time watching the Timbers this year. Two goals given up on set pieces is just cruel, especially the second one. How do we leave someone wide open back there? Then on the PK (I just went to watch it back) both fullbacks are in the attacking third, and Chara and Ayala are standing ten yards away from each other in support. One pass eliminates both of them, and Bravo and Mosquera are too far up to contribute. I don't think I've ever see Bravo overlap and get to the end line as much as he did this game. He was amazing, but we can't have both fullbacks bombing forward like that, especially on a pretty standard attacking phase. Then on the break, Araujo has to trust Zuparic and cheat a little towards Becher. He is way too close to Zuparic and then can't get over to Becher quick enough. Just a really rough play from a team that has clearly been told to not think about their defensive shape when they are on the ball. Phil wants them to play aggressive and free with the ball, and I appreciate that, but also we have to know when to be smart with the positioning of our players.
I think Moreno has been going underappreciated recently, and especially throughout the middle third of the season where we've been playing so well. He's finally taken the massive step forward this year that we've been hoping to see the past two years. This is the player we saw when he first stepped into the team: explosive, dynamic, getting on the ball and driving forward. His passing and ball control/skills have improved immensely. I love watching him so much, and he was incredible this game... except for the final product, which has been his weak spot all year. He has got to work on his finishing. It's funny, him and Rodriguez are almost complete opposites. I actually think Rodriguez has been a bit underwhelming since the start of League's Cup. He's been getting increasingly less involved in the game as the season goes on, and only popping up in and around the 18. That's where he shines, and it's where Moreno falters. Moreno is amazing in the open field, and Jonathan is not. Moreno's first thought is to combine, Jonathan's first thought is to score. There's no real point to this comparison, I just find it interesting. But finishing or not, Moreno has been excellent.
I see no reason to complain about the ref. In all honesty, on a scale of bad refereeing performances, he was fine. The Mora red card I disagree with, but he kicked a dude in the head. As much as my Timbers heart tells me, it's hard to entirely blame the ref for giving that a red (I do not think it is a red). Watching Instant Replay, Andrew Wiebe brought up a pretty good point: that pk challenge could've and probably should've also been a red card. Araujo goes in two footed, scissor legs, and makes contact with the middle of Becher's calf. That is dangerous and definitely endangered the safety of the player. We got lucky there. We also got a bit lucky on the foul on Evander that lead to the free kick goal. It was light. We didn't get a replay on the Antony play near the end, so I don't see any reason to get hung up on that. Rodriguez flopped and got a deserved yellow. Antony's goal was rightfully called off. Let's give the refs a break.
What I loved? The second half performance. We thoroughly dominated them. This is a common theme with this team, where we half these halves at home where we completely overwhelm the opposition. We should've scored 5 or 6 goals this game. Our counter-pressing was good, St. Louis barely had momentum into our half. It just felt inevitable that the Timbers were going to come back. No matter the score or referee decisions, I always felt like we were going to get a point, and honestly I thought we were going to win.
So now we're on to next game without Rodriguez and Mora. I'll be honest, I think those might just be the two least important players to our attack. Don't get me wrong, they're very important, but with Ayala, Moreno, and Evander out there, we have enough talent to beat the fish as home. Then add in Mosquera and Bravo still overlapping, and Antony being serviceable on the wing. Mason Toye will have to step up, this game might fall to him. He can finish well, but can he combine well? Can he open up space for others? He scored on his debut but hasn't done a whole lot after. With Evander on the field, it makes being a striker easier. At the very least, he's just gotta make runs constantly when Evander has the ball, and I'm excited to see it since Mora isn't as mobile as Toye. This will be the most energetic front line we can put out, and hopefully our defense improves too with Antony tracking back and Toye pressing from the front.