Portland Timbers Man of the Match: The Least Diminished

The Portland Timbers suffered a second half collapse against the Colorado Rapids yesterday,. giving up two penalty kicks and losing 2-0 on the night. The game saw some flashes of good play from the Timbers in the early going, but the sour taste left by the end of the game made picking a Man of the Match more difficult than normal.

Will: Steve Zakuani

We finally got to see a start from the "best one on one guy in the league", according to Darlington Nagbe, and in his 65' on the pitch Zakuani was at the heart of the Timbers' most dangerous moments in the attack. His interplay with Nagbe led to two of the Timbers' best chances on the half and was a road map for how to create space for a chance against a packed in defense. Probably the biggest point in his favor, however, is that he managed to get off the pitch before it all went sideways.

Kelly: Will Johnson

I felt like Johnson was the guy who pulled the team along while they absorbed the Colorado pressure for the first 10 to 15 minutes. They looked decent the rest of the first half and had 2 shots that should have at least been put on frame. Easy to say it coulda/shoulda/woulda been different, but seemed like Will was doing some good work both offensively and defensively through most of the match and finished with 36 successful passes to just 4 unsuccessful.

Kevin: Diego Chara

I could point to a couple of people I really liked before the 70th minute, Chara among them. But afterwards, I felt like Chara had the least diminished game play. Rarely does the man put a foot wrong, and on a night when everything went wrong, Chara kept it together in the center of the pitch.

Stacey: Michael Harrington

What Kevin said about Chara is about how I often feel about Harrington as well. When everything starts falling apart, Harrington usually stays pretty even-keeled and just keeps playing, and he did that yesterday. He also wasn't responsible for letting any Colorado players in for a 1 v 1 with the keeper, causing the keeper to concede a penalty. That's a plus for a defender in my book.

There are our picks, now what are yours? Vote in the poll below and let us know why in the comments.