Portland Timbers 0, Charlotte FC 2 - Instant Reaction
Portland's worst showing of the season leaves them punchless, pointless, and goalless in North Carolina.
The Portland Timbers’ first ever matchup with Charlotte FC was an absolute dud, as Portland fell to defeat by a margin of 2-0 in North Carolina. Nikola Petkovic scored in the 54th minute for the hosts, and Enzo Copetti added the clincher in second half stoppage-time. For the first time since March, the Timbers could not find the back of the net.
Before the match kicked off, Phil Neville was forced into a change in the backline as Kamal Miller was unavailable due to illness. Zac McGraw stepped in next to Miguel Araujo to start the match.
Don’t get too attached to that pairing however — it would not last the entirety of the first half.
Speaking of that first half: it was one of the dullest affairs that Timbers have seen in 2024 — at least from an offensive standpoint. Portland barely generated any offensive opportunities during the opening frame, with the absence of Evander once again being painfully apparent. Without the Brazilian’s playmaking the Timbers were unable to string together anything resembling an attacking sequence, despite Eryk Williamson trying his best in his turn at the number ten spot.
Portland’s best chance of the opening frame — and of the game — came after Felipe Mora forced a giveaway from the Charlotte ‘keeper. Jonathan Rodriguez had a chance to fire into the open net in first half stoppage time, but he put his shot right at the goalkeeper.
The Timbers managed just two shots in the first half, putting just one of them on frame.
Portland’s opponent meanwhile looked very likely to score on multiple occasions. Charlotte forward Patrick Agyemang was especially bothersome for Portland’s backline all night, with his movement and strength on the ball creating multiple moments of danger for the hosts.
Juan Mosquera and McGraw were especially culpable for multiple of those moments. Agyemang was able to just out-work the Portland defenders to keep the ball while driving at the backline, and it was only through the grace of misses and saves from Maxime Crepeau that Portland didn’t find themselves trailing in the first half.
The first half ended on a sour note nonetheless for Portland, when Araujo went down with what appeared to be a calf injury and had to be subbed out, replaced by Dario Zuparic.
The teams went into the locker room scoreless. It was the first time the Timbers had played a scoreless half of soccer since the March 16 match at Houston.
Coming out of halftime, it did not take long for Portland’s leaky and slow defense to be breached. Nikola Petkovic collected the ball at the top of Portland’s box and managed to dribble past both Mosquera and McGraw, the latter of whom was frightfully flat-footed inside his own box and provided little to no resistance to Petrovic’s run.
The Serbian slotted home past Crepeau, making amends for two big misses in the first half to open the scoring.
Trailing on the road yet again, Portland tried to do what they have done so many times this year and come back into the game.
However, for perhaps the first time all season, the Timbers showed little to no fight in the second half. There was no sense of urgency from the team, and the anemic offense full-on flatlined. After conceding, Portland managed just one (1) attempt on goal for the rest of the game — and it was speculative screamer from distance from Cristhian Paredes (it did force a good save out of the ‘keeper, but nonetheless).
Too many passes were wayward, too many runs went begging, and no semblance of a rhythm was achieved at any point over the ninety minutes.
Meanwhile, the hosts were content to sit back and try to make the most of their chances once Portland inevitably gave the ball away. They were able to put the final nail in the coffin in second half stoppage-time, when Enzo Copetti blew right by McGraw, who over-committed while trying to win the ball in space. The DP made no mistake, and fired home Charlotte’s second goal — dooming Portland to their second defeat in as many games.
On the whole of how flat the Timbers looked all game, this was their worst performance of the season. The vaunted goal-scoring that had saved them on so many occasions this season finally went cold, and the defense that has made so many mistakes all season continued to be sub-par and lackluster. The three-game road trip, which had started with such promise in Columbus, ends in just a single point for Portland.
As their winless run reaches eight games — their longest streak without a win since 2014 — the Timbers are still searching for answers and some sort of way back. And with their biggest rival coming to town next weekend, the amount of time left to find those answers is short.
Scoring Summary
Charlotte: Petkovic (54’), Copetti (90’+1)
Next Up:
It’s time to reignite the old blood feud, as the Seattle Sounders come to town. Kickoff of the greatest rivalry in American soccer is set for 1:45 p.m. PT on Sunday May 12 at Providence Park.
Wow. Charlotte is a horrible team, and our B team can't even compete, which says something about our depth.
First off, get over yourselves that McGraw was any good, that he has regressed. I'm pretty sure if you did a deep dive you'd find he was never fit to be a first teamer. He can head the ball, but that's about it. Sorry! He seems like a great dude, and maybe that is his downfall, because a cb needs to be one mean dude and go into tackles like he wants to take your lunch money. Zac will dangle a leg and the guy will waltz right by him. It's embarrassing that he worked his way into the team, which also speaks to Gio and now, Neville's evaluation skills. This isn't a one time bad game thing; he's been really bad for a long time. Sorry to be so negative, but those two goals he gave away are just, I don't know what to say.
Second, I didn't think Mosquera should have started after his performance against LAFC. E. Miller, you picked a bad time to get sick. But that shouldn't matter to the coach. He should find somebody else to play right back out of principle. Maybe even Asprilla.
Third, can we get over Ayala already. He's just not it, guys.
Fourth, Williamson, no words. Horrible game. Like McGraw you have one talent: set piece delivery.
Phil, this was a chance to get a result. Charlotte is horrible. If there was a game where the coach needed to win it, this was it. And you blew it. Don't give me any excuses about how your team is decimated and no one is available. You should be able to cobble it together and get a result. I don't know how many times you need to see some of these players play to realize that they are not going to cut it.
Paredes, the only guy who looked good. I think he's the six of the future. Put Moreno as the eight and Evander when he gets back as the 10. Or play Chara and Paredes in the midfield and Moreno as the 10 if Evander is out.
I just can't believe they lost to that team. It may be awhile before I comment again. I just, I can't continue to watch some of these players that should not be on the field.
That was a terrible game for the Timbers. There were a number of times I commented that Charlotte was just bad, and then was reminded that we were losing to them. Charlotte could have scored 4+ goals in this game, and it never really felt like the Timbers were going to score at all. Its a road game, and at the end of a road trip, with a number of games that felt like they Timbers were turning a corner. But this was a total regression in play, and one that could have been seen in the last game (2 goals that were created out of nothing). I've been critical of the hiring of Neville, and I'm not feeling any better about it. At this time there isn't any discernable identity of the team, and losing Evander really turns that into a glaring problem.
Who is this team? What do they want to do? How do they create something when things just aren't working? None of these questions have been answered, and its time that the coaching staff starts to work on all of this.