PTFC Weekend Takeaways: Down bad
A rough weekend for the Timbers & Thorns.
A bad thorns loss on Friday followed up by a rough Timbers loss on Saturday.
Oof.
Let’s take some things away:
The Thorns might be in trouble
That sound you heard last Friday night was the Portland Thorns somehow finding a rockier bottom. Two weeks removed from one of the most deflating losses of the season, the Thorns followed up with another contender.
The 1-0 loss to the Chicago Red Stars stung for a variety of reasons, including the fact that Portland lost to a direct playoff rival. It also hurt because Portland failed to score a goal, stretching their weak offensive form to just two goals in their last four games (all losses).
It’s something that was unheard of for this team just a few months ago, and that punctuates why the loss stung the most: the Thorns just kind of don’t feel like the Thorns anymore. My colleague Phuoc Nguyen has a piece coming soon going deeper into this phenomenon, but the Thorns feel like a team in total free fall at the moment, and are headed for trouble.
One win in their last eight league games, and just six games left. Even with the expanded playoff format, Portland is teetering right around the playoff line. If they don’t turn vibes around — and it is a wide open question if they will — Portland’s tailspin might reach a full-on death spiral.
The Timbers lost at the margins
Soccer can be a funny game sometimes. Sometimes you play like crap, and magic a win out of your backside. Sometimes games drag on and it ends in a draw. And sometimes you play good enough to get a result but fall to defeat.
The latter happened to the Timbers on Saturday night. They lost to the Colorado Rapids by a 2-1 scoreline, but for the vast majority of the game they played well enough to steal one point or three.
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