Portland Timbers Postscript: Win on the Road, Draw at Home

By the Numbers

2

Number of Portland Timbers players (Michael Harrington and Donovan Ricketts) without a shot against the New England Revolution

7

Number of Timbers who increased their season shot total by at least 25% against the Revs

-7.06

Difference between the percentage of the Timbers' shots on target that went for goals in games before Thursday and the same percentage including the Revs match (36.84% - 29.78%)

312

Number of minutes since the last time Portland conceded a goal at home (Thanks, @themikedonovan)

3

Number of times Portland has been shut out since August of 2012

Moment of the Match

In the seventh minute, Mikael Silvestre, deep in his own half, played a long ball perfectly to Ryan Johnson, who was able to head the ball on the ground back to Diego Valeri.

Let's just pause a minute to recognize how seldom such a thing happened last year, no matter who was playing up top for the Timbers. Kudos to both Mik and RJ. OK, moving on...

At this point, four defenders were in front of Valeri, with defensive midfielder Kalifa Cisse closing in. Valeri bounced the ball in front of him, running forward and drawing Revs CB Stephen McCarthy off the back line toward him. With McCarthy closing, Valeri flicked the ball over to Darlington Nagbe and continued his run forward.

Jose Goncalves closed in on Nagbe to prevent an immediate shot, but with lightning quickness, Nagbe flicked the ball back to Valeri and turned to run forward through the two defenders now guarding him.

Thus Valeri, with the help of his teammates, turned a 3-on-4 into a one on the keeper. Unfortunately, Valeri's volley from Nagbe's flick went high.

It's my moment of the match because it aptly demonstrates the defensive posture of the whole Revolution side, and the magic the Timbers would need to conjure to get the ball past Bobby Shuttleworth. In the end, while the Timbers did well in breaking down the Revs' defense, they just couldn't find the magic for the finish.

Injuries and Bookings

We don't have an update on Mikael Silvestre's status at this point after he went down in the 57th minute. The television commentators seemed to focus on his ankle, but given the team's recent history, I think everyone is more concerned about his knees.

Rodney Wallace picked up the match's only caution and is now one of three Timbers players sitting on two yellow cards.

Around the League

This being a midweek game, there weren't any other MLS games to make a note of.

Except, good heavens did Montreal ever crush Toronto on Tuesday. Holy crap.