The Timbers play the second half of a game tomorrow. What happened in the first half?

Catching you up on what happened in the first half of Portland's postponed game against Colorado (Spoiler: not much!)

Photo Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers

Tomorrow evening, the Portland Timbers will resume their postponed away match against the Colorado Rapids at 6 p.m. PT (streaming on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). The game was slated for July 4, and was delayed due to weather twice: once at the start delaying kickoff by two hours and again at halftime which ultimately saw the match abandoned.

So where that leaves us is Portland having to fly to Colorado midweek to play 45 minutes of a soccer game which technically started a week ago. Just normal MLS stuff!

You might be wondering then: does Portland have to play the same lineup? (Yes). Can Miguel Araujo play? (No.) Did anything of note happen in the first half? (Not really). To prepare us for perhaps the weirdest MLS match the Timbers will play this year, let’s dive into those questions into more detail:

Rules, roster, and state-of-play

Let’s run through some of the most relevant questions for the rules of tomorrow, leaning on the answers from the 2023 MLS Match Delay, Postponement, Cancellation and Forfeiture Policy:

Where in the match will the game start?

• Right where we left off: in the 46th minute at kickoff of the second half.

Who will be on the field and on the bench?

• The exact same players from when we attempted this game the first time — same XIs, same substitutes.

• Neither team made an any substitutions over the course of the game, so the same starting XI will start the second half (unless a team chooses to make subs right at the restart, which… I’m not sure why you would).

• In case you needed a reminder of who those guys were:

Photo Credit: MLS Soccer

Photo credit: MLS Soccer

Can the Timbers add anyone to their roster?

• Unfortunately, no. The rules stipulate that any players who were unavailable at the time of the postponement can’t be added now, even if they would be available.

• So no Evander, and also no Miguel Araujo, even though both players would presumably be able to play.

• The only exception to that is if a player would currently be unavailable due to an injury or a transfer. While that’s not technically relevant, it is worth remembering that Santiago Moreno has reportedly requested a transfer from the Timbers, and as of writing he’s still on the roster. So if he’s not on the teamsheet tomorrow (which is likely), the Timbers still can’t replace him.

What was the score when the game stopped, and what happened in the first half?

• Easy question first: the score was 0-0, making things nice and straightforward.

• As for the second question… that’s gonna need its own section to explain.

The match thus far, and Mini-match preview

As teased, the first half of the game was quite uneventful. And the main reason for that was the lack of dangerous offense from both sides.

The Timbers managed four shots, with just one on target. The Rapids managed six shots, but still only kept one of those on target. The combined expected goals of the game was 0.4, reflective of how neither team really came terribly close to scoring.

The hosts did have the ball in the net, after Lalas Abubakar headed home a corner kick in the 22nd minute. But due to a foul called on a Rapids during the kick, the play was blown dead before the defender could get his head to it. That sequence was preceded by David Bingham producing perhaps the sole highlight of the first half, when he pushed away a strong header destined for the back of the goal.

Outside of those moments… there really wasn’t much to report from the first half. The Timbers offense remained as anemic as ever, with their sole shot on target (and sole shot from inside the box) being a close range effort from Nathan from a very tight angle.

There are a few factors that could attribute to the Timbers potentially escaping Commerce City with a point or three, however. The primary one is that Portland is playing on significantly more rest than they were on the 4th, when the Timbers had flown straight to Colorado after their match in Minnesota just three days prior.

Now, Portland has over a week to rest. Those extra days of rest and recovery could prove beneficial for the Timbers’ legs, and for their chances to generate something resembling an offense.

That’s also before mentioning that Colorado is coming into Wednesday on short rest, after gutting out their first home win of the season over Dallas last Saturday. Yes, it is their home field at altitude, but ninety minutes at altitude is still rough.

Both teams will likely play the game at a faster pace regardless, as it is just the second 45 minutes. That may serve Portland well, as they don’t have to stress too much about excess minutes with a home game coming up on the weekend.

To that point, I’m not sure we’ll see too many substitutes tomorrow, if any at all. It takes soccer players some time to build into the rhythm of the game, and so it may not serve Giovanni Savarese much good to break that rhythm with a sub just as it’s starting, regardless of managing minutes.

Keeping that rhythm, playing at a quicker pace, and generating offense will be important, as Portland now has a very real chance to steal their second road win of the season tomorrow. The weird circumstances and shortened game makes the match feel a lot more manageable, and the fact that it’s 0-0 means that any goal will carry a little more weight and tip the scales greatly in one team’s direction.

Portland has to be gunning to make sure it goes their direction. They dealt relatively well with Colorado’s wide threats, and the lack of a true center forward for the hosts means that if Portland continues to do so the game may play right into their hands.

If they do, and if it does, Portland has a chance to make some progress in digging themselves out of this malaise they are in, and potentially restart the pulse of this season.