Recap: Portland Timbers Kiss their Sister

Timbers did not play well. They were unorganized, couldn’t possess the ball, and backed down from the physical play of the quakes. That being said, that was some of the worst officiating I’ve seen. From phantom yellow cards against us to fouls that weren’t carded, (or carded the right color) for them, from offsides called from 20 yards behind the play to a missed penalty in the box, those three refs should be embarrassed that they impacted the game so much.

The good news is that New York laid an egg at home against Salt Lake and Chivas scraped a draw against DC. Both of those results work out well for us. But if we look at the schedule remaining, the Timbers need to collect seven more points to confirm a spot. With only one home match left, that’s a big order.

This was a must-win in theory; Saturday’s match at New York is a six-ponter, a must-win in fact.

That’s what’s so exciting about the way the schedule set up. Of the five remaining matches, three are against direct competitors… The playoffs start on Saturday! Roll Timbers!

If not for the wonder save from Perkins late in the second we’d have walked away with a goose egg. I think my wifed summed it up perfectly, the boys played nervous.

Wondering if Saturday’s game and Spencer knowing the results of other games influenced his decisions? Cooper was gassed by the 70th, to the point where he couldn’t make the runs to get himself into position at that point, but Spencer waits to bring on Dike in the 86th (giving him no opportunity to make an impact on the game). After the goal I was hoping for a change to bring on both attacking options, but it seemed like Spencer feared losing the point that we had more than the chance of picking up all 3 points. Nagbe might not have been as creative/effective last night, but I was still in favor of Perlaza in for Cooper as the first sub if that’s the route he is going because we were not winning the aerial battles in the box and he was spent. Nagbe still has the ability to come up with the moment of brilliance that can be there difference.

Again, with one eye on Saturday, I think this forced him into making the Chara sub, pulling him for Marcellin and pushing Jack up to the attacking role. I know we all play the “question the coaching decisions” game, but with points out there to be had, I was hoping to see some more attack minded decisions. Would’ve even been in favor of going to a 4-3-3 after the goal to go all out.

Except for the beginning and end of the match, we played horribly. One of those matches where it seemed that the Earthquake had one more player on the pitch. Bad passing, weak challenges and way too much space above the 18 yard box. And even with all that it took a spectacular thread the needle shot for the Earthquakes to score.

Earlier this season this is a game that the Timbers would have lost. We would have gone into bunker mode, which has never worked out well for us, and given up another goal. Instead after the goal we started pushing back and even had a couple of chances. I think that is a good sign of the team maturing.

What is not a good sign is how we played after the first 15 minutes or so. Hoping for more energy and aggressiveness against New York, because we will need it.