Portland Timbers vs Real Salt Lake Player Ratings: The Results

Here are the results and the comments from last Saturday's game against Real Salt Lake.

Donovan Ricketts - 6.8

Ryan - Had very little to do but when he was needed he made the right decision every time.

Richard.hamje - Had nothing to do, therefore an average day at work. I have no doubt he'd have been spectacular if called on. Nearly had an assist.

Futty Danso - 7.4

Stacey - Real Salt Lake leads the league in goals scored, so limiting them to only eight shots, not a single one on goal, is a really impressive feat. Some credit for team's excellent defense lately has to go to Futty (and to Jewsbury as well) who has now played in four straight home shutouts since Porter inserted him into the lineup.

Bofitz - Was a wall defensively, but overlooked many good opportunities to start the play forward with passes to his midfield. Way too many long balls.

Michael Harrington - 7

Stacey- While Harrington certainly gets credit for his part in the defensive effort that prevented Real Salt Lake from putting a single shot on frame, he was a little hasty to get the ball in the box in the second half, sometimes getting it in before his teammates were there. That sort of thing tends to happen when teams start to get desperate to score, but the Timbers might have had better chances if Harrington had taken an extra half second to assess his options.

Pa Madou Kah - 7.2

Ryan - The defense as a whole played a very good game and I think a big reason why is how comfortable Kah and Futty look playing next to each other. Kah has settled down and no longer does it feel like he is trying to do too much.

Jack Jewsbury - 7.4

Will- Jack was effective in locking down the right flank all night against a tricky RSL defense, but he also had a significant impact on the at ticking side of things as he arrived late to provide an outlet pass for Kalif Alhassan and later Darlington Nagbe as they dribbled themselves into trouble in the corners. It was what came from those outlet passes that let Jack really show his worth in the attacking third as he sent in three of the better crosses that we saw on Saturday, including the one that lead to Kalif's one on one with Nick Rimando.

Will Johnson - 7.4

Withdrawn Striker- My MotM. He was everywhere. Along with Chara, they pretty much shut down RSL's offense allowing zero shots-on-goal.

Diego Chara - 7.2

Ryan - He is always up for MOTM honors and this game was no different. He was constantly pestering RSL's midfielders and was a big reason why they were not as effective against Portland as they were in the previous 3 games.

Kalif Alhassan - 6

Ryan - After teasing the Portland faithful he fell a little flat this game but that is more likely due to the shift in the formation with Nagbe out left. His defensive work rate has improved since Caleb Porter became manager and this is something that he has not received a lot of praise for lately.

Darlington Nagbe - 6.9

Withdrawn Striker - Did really well, considering that he was pretty much triple-teamed all the time.

Diego Valeri - 5.7

Stacey - Although Porter deemed Valeri healthy enough to start, he looked far from his best on Saturday night. He wasn't as involved in the game as he often is either; in his 63 minutes, he had only one more Chalkboard "event" than Ricketts who, as we know, had very little to do against RSL.

Jose Valencia - 6.6

Will- Trencito generally brings a directness to the Timbers game that the fans here are still wary of after one and a half years of Spencer-ball. This time around the team used his speed and strength to go direct from the start, stretching out the RSL defense by letting Trencito get into foot races with the backs. The Timbers' best chance of the first half came from one of those instances when Trencito got around his man on the endline, beat another, and slipped the ball across the mouth of the goal just in front of Kalif Alhassan.

Frederic Piquionne - 6

Ryan - Great to see him back.

Rodney Wallace - 6

Will- When Wallace came on to the pitch he looked like a game changer. The momentum of the game was starting to go in the Timbers' favor, but Wallace's introduction allowed the Timbers to really push things. Without the direct play of Wallace the Timbers likely would not have seen some of their best chances that came late in the match.

Richard.hamje - Our offensive game lit up when Rodney came on the pitch. RSL spent the remainder of the game on the back foot. I wish he'd started.

Sal Zizzo - 5.7

boftiz - Battled hard the short time he was in there. Almost pulled it out for us! Damn Rimando!