Portland Timbers 4, Colorado Rapids 1 - Instant Reaction
The Phil Neville era starts off with an absolute bang.
Well, that was pretty fun, eh?
The Portland Timbers raced past the Colorado Rapids to a dominant 4-1 opening night win, riding an absolutely electric first half performance. Eryk Williamson got the party started early, and then Antony added a brace and forced an own goal to help Portland explode to a 4-0 halftime lead. The Rapids would pull one goal back via Calvin Harris in the second half, but at that point the Timbers were able to button it up and ease the game away to open the season with three points.
The vibe was soured a tad before the match kicked off, when Evander had to exit warmups with what wound up being a right calf injury. Cristhian Paredes stepped in, and shifted Eryk Williamson into an advanced midfielder role.
Turns out, Evander’s absence didn’t matter a ton on this night.
An absolutely electric first half seemed to banish any and all bad vibes that were lingering over Providence Park from 2023. The Timbers came out as focused and composed as I’ve seen them in a very, very long time — and my goodness did it pay off.
Williamson’s goal in the ninth minute felt absolutely cathartic, and was a deserved reward for the player in his return to the pitch after a tough injury last year.
If Williamson’s goal was catharsis, Antony’s first half brace was jubilation. Portland took advantage of an overwhelmed and disorganized Rapids defense, and the Brazilian’s skill shone through in his goals (scored in the 14th and 29th minute, the latter coming after a confusing offside call and VAR intervention). Antony possess such lethal instincts backed up by electric skill, and tonight he put on display why he was praised so heartily by Phil Neville during preseason.
In fact, he was so good on the night, even his crosses to opposing defenders turned into goals.
Portland went into halftime up four (!!!) to nil. It was exhilarating, fun, and most importantly deserved.
So don’t let all of those good vibes distract you from how the start of the second half was the complete opposite. Colorado came out more assertive than Portland in the second half (being down 4-0 will do that to you), and deservedly grabbed a goal back. The Timbers, perhaps buoyed by their extensive lead, were caught on their heels.
It’s a credit then to Portland’s ability to remain composed and calm the game down, slowly squeezing the life out of it after the Rapids started to smell a bit of blood in the water. While the Timbers never really fully regained control of the match, they did enough to keep Colorado at arm’s length and limit the quality of their chances.
The chances that Colorado did find, both in the first and second half, were mostly supremely stopped by James Pantemis. The Canadian showed extremely well in his Timbers debut, making several crucial and impressive saves to preserve Portland’s advantage.
While they didn’t keep the clean sheet or dominate for a full ninety minutes, the Timbers didn’t really need to in order to still start the season off on the right foot. The way that things clicked in that first half for Portland won them the match, and they managed the second half well to comfortably coast to three points.
It started the Phil Neville era off on absolutely the right foot. It is of course early season, and nobody should draw any sweeping conclusions off of one performance in February. But if Portland can manage these type of performances this year, we might have some things to look forward to in 2024.
Scoring Summary
POR: Williamson (9’), Antony (14’, 29’)
COL: OG (45’+5), Harris (55’)
Next Up:
The Timbers remain at home, as they host D.C. United at Providence Park next Saturday, March 2, at 7:30pm.
Not sure if we could’ve asked for a better start than that, that was awesome. Not concerned about how we looked when we took our foot off the gas. Obviously I’d prefer us keep better control of the game, but it was fine overall. I love hearing that Neville isn’t content and constantly expects more from his team and players. A 7/10 rating is fair.
Man I love Williamson, I’m so happy he’s back. He’s really, really good and has a great game offensively but was also good defensively I thought. I expect him to be a big part of this team, and if we’re to play more like we did in the first 35 minutes then he will be key to that. I love Paredes too but he’s not nearly as good in possession.
All aboard the Antony train!! Still rough around the edges but man he’s ready! Great defensive work rate too. Not much more to say about him except I’m really excited to see more! I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say I didn’t see much from his highlights that I loved but he seems like a really great signing from Ned, perhaps the first higher profile signing from him and he’s nailed it.
It’s so good to watch this team again, I missed this feeling and I missed talking about it. Really looking forward to the rest of the season. Let’s hope Phil keeps things on track
Going into this game, without a real recognized goal threat, I was thinking Phil would set up pretty defensively and look to keep possession and break occasionally. Turns out I am an idiot. He did exactly what he should do with this roster as it's currently built - make the wings do all the work and let things happen from there. While all the usual caveats apply - one game is a small sample, it's Colorado, etc - I was very encouraged with what I saw last night.
At the end of the day, after all, this was essentially last year's team with a few additions. And they played SO MUCH BETTER. It's what we were all screaming for for the last couple years - cohesion, organization, and an actual structure that can be relied on. It was, dare I say, fun to watch!
And after watching both Ivacic and Bingham punch balls just for the sake of doing it, how good was it watching Pantemis step up and dominate his goal? He punched balls away out of danger, and never flailed at a ball. He was fantastic and I'm bummed he didn't get the clean sheet.
On to the next, and a harder test. But it's looking good so far. I really want Phil Neville to prove me wrong, and last night was a good start.
Oh and also, hat tip to the person in section 111 last night in the Messi shirt, Messi cap and Messi shoes, who got chilly late on in the game and then pulled on his Messi hoodie. MLS 4.0, baby!