Portland Timbers 1, Philadelphia Union 3- Instant Reaction
The Portland Timbers unveil their newest star in a disappointing 3-1 defeat to the Philadelphia Union.
After a bright opening 25 minutes, the Portland Timbers looked overwhelmingly flat for the remainder of a 3-1 defeat at the hands of a depleted Philadelphia Union squad. The Union were missing a total of 11 players through injury and international call-ups, while the Timbers were without Max Crepeau, Kamal Miller, and Miguel Araujo. The Timbers did welcome their newest designated player Jonathan Rodriguez to the fold, giving him a start on debut, and Felipe Mora earned a place on the bench for the first time this season after dealing with a toe/foot injury sustained in the final preseason match.
The Timbers had two golden chances to open the scoring before the Union did just that via Julian Carranza’s noggin in the 28th minute - the first a poor miss from Evander after the goalkeeper fumbled a cross from Rodriguez, and the second a shot off the base of the post from Rodriguez himself. James Pantemis came up with a big 1v1 stop on Uhre in the 35th minute to keep the score at 1-0 going in to the break.
Pantemis started the second half the same way he ended the first, denying a second 1v1 shot from Uhre after another giveaway in the Timbers midfield. But the Union would go on to double, and then triple their lead in the 58th and 67th minutes respectively - A tap-in from Sullivan with Eric Miller ball-watching a save from Pantemis to make it 2-0, and Carranza put the Union out of sight with a tap-in on the doorstep in the 67th minute.
Rodriguez did score his first goal in green and gold in the 80th minute, burying a cross from Santi Moreno with a powerful downward header inside the box. The Uruguayan striker looked dangerous all night long, forcing another low stop in the final moments of the match that could have gone in on another night.
All things considered it’s hard not to look at this result as three points dropped given the amount of players out for Philadelphia and the amount of clear cut chances the Timbers didn’t capitalize on. Which has become somewhat of a worrying trend in the last two matches - The club opened the year with eight goals in three matches, and have only scored once since, highlighting a lack of decisiveness in the final third that Phil Neville called out postgame.
The Timbers’ defending also looked porous again tonight, both from set-pieces and in transition following bad giveaways in midfield. Both Neville and Eric Miller stated that the team aren’t doing the dirty bits defensively, or employing enough of the “dark arts” required to be a successful team in MLS. Juan Mosquera looked suspect out of possession, Eric Miller was caught ball-watching for the Union’s second, and the entire backline was switched off for the quick free kick that lead to the visitors’ third and final goal of the night.
As for the positives, it was great to see Rodriguez come straight in to the starting XI and look as good as he did tonight. A clear upgrade at striker from what the Timbers have had at their disposal in recent years. I also thought David Ayala came into the match and put in the best performance of any midfielder on the pitch - a performance that Neville said puts Ayala in contention for a start against the Whitecaps in BC next weekend.
It was a poor performance and a worse result tonight, but it’s still early in the season and the good news is that the Timbers can look an awful lot better than they did in this one if they sort out the defensive lapses and continue to put Rodriguez in goalscoring positions.
Final from Providence Park: Timbers 1, Union 3
Scoring Summary
Portland: Rodriguez (80’)
Philadelphia: Carranza (28’), Sullivan (58’), Carranza (67’)
Next Up:
The Timbers begin another two game road trip with the first Cascadia Cup matchup of the season against the Whitecaps in Vancouver, BC. Kickoff from BC Place is scheduled for 7:30 PST on Saturday March 30.
The referee lockout is over as of today, so we can finally go back to complaining about the real refs instead of complaining about replacement refs:
https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/2024/03/26/mls-referee-lockout-ends-psra-new-contract/
They got a lot of what they wanted, including substantial raises, which is good for them. They'll be back for this weekend; no news on whether the 2024 rule changes that were paused will be introduced this weekend as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn2RHM3MWhU
I made a video of all the touches from Williamson and Evander this game since it's been a big talking point of whether these two can work together. Also, copyright (among other things, this is like my eighth time trying to upload this damn thing) got on my ass and blocked the video everywhere so I had to trim down a lot of the plays I'd normally leave in, making this much more choppy than normal. Anyways, I had several takeaways from basically rewatching this game, so I'll copy and paste them here:
- Williamson had an excellent first half. He made only one or two bad passes and never got the ball taken off him. But he was super active, getting on the ball a lot and connecting quite well with Moreno and Mosquera on the right flank. There are a few times he got the ball, and drove across the field, opening up space as well as breaking Philly’s press. In the second half he wasn’t nearly as effective. I’m not sure what changed, but his passes weren’t great, and he did not link up with Evander well.
- Evander was the weak link a lot of the game, but especially in the first half. He had two good shots, but really didn’t do much else and lost the ball a few times. Bad first half. He came to life as the second half went on as we were just causing chaos and he was able to get on the ball more though, and he was involved in a lot of our plays. Later in the game he really took the responsibility of the game on his shoulders, he was constantly looking to get on the ball and make something happen.
- I’m going to say something here that may sound crazy, but hear me out: I think we need our players to have a similar mindset about Evander as Miami players have about Messi. Miami players. Miami players (like Robert Taylor) told the media that whenever Messi gets the ball, they just run. That’s their responsibility, just run into space, because they know Messi has the quality to find them. Now Evander of course doesn’t have the quality of Messi, but goddamn he has some serious quality. And not only that, but he’s ALWAYS looking for a pass in behind he can play. I noticed that he dribbled back and forth a bunch in the second half with his head up, just waiting for someone to make a run in behind, and it rarely happened. Asprilla did it once and they created a chance (bad cross from Dairon). When Evander has the ball, our players have to make forward/diagonal runs. Like, just go. Evander has the quality, he will find that amazing pass 4/5 times.
- Defensively I didn’t really notice anything wrong this game. I had to cut out Philly’s second goal (thanks copyright) but that was definitely a moment where Williamson should’ve stepped, although I don’t entirely blame that goal on him (it was a bad pass from Moreno that gave the ball away, Williamson was trying to make a progressive play that I like). Other than that things were find besides the few bad attempted tackles here and there. However, against high possession teams fielding a better team, I do think it might be a problem. I don’t want to just assume that though because Williamson and Evander are both so talented.
- I don’t believe we have proof that these two don’t work together. It’s their third game. Now there are several times where they try to connect with each other and just aren’t on the same page, but again, I want to believe it’s just a lack of chemistry. People rightfully point out that because they’re so similar in their playstyle that means they won’t work together, but I think it’s equally possible that could be a reason they could work together in some instances. Again, “could.” I have not seen evidence one way or another, but I do want to see more.
- We basically went entirely down the right side the first half, and yes it was lopsided, but man it worked. A lot. Pretty much all of our chances came from that side. It was lopsided but it was lopsided with a purpose, and when our passing was on point, we were able to create something. When Bravo comes back I definitely want to see more down the left, but I think this was a good tactical setup for this game.
- The second half we changed, we tried to be more attacking down the left and it just didn’t work with Miller and Antony. Williamson or Evander would drop into the space left by the fullback who pushed forward, and would get on the ball to progress play there. Moreno played even more inverted, basically next to Rodriguez for much of the half, and gave Mosquera the entirety of that flank, which I’m sure was something Neville told him to do since Antony basically did the same whenever they switched flanks. All of this did not work, we did not create much of anything in the second half. Clearly Neville tried different things and some of them worked and some didn’t, and I don’t entirely mind that. I just hope this leads to growth.
- A random note: McGraw is not a ball playing center back obviously and that was a problem this game, but outside of a few plays where he was just left out to defend open space against an onrushing forward (I do not expect him or many CBs to defend that well), he actually had a pretty spotless game defensively. Dominant in the air as always.