Player Grades: Portland Timbers 1-1 Columbus Crew

On Saturday, the Portland Timbers drew 1-1 in another important game against the Columbus Crew behind a game-tying 95th minute goal from Santiago Moreno as the Timbers once again found a way to salvage a point on the road.

Here’s my breakdown of how the Timbers’ players performed as they moved up into the 5th position in the Western Conference, above the playoff line.

Aljaz Ivacic (GK) - 5.2

Ivacic’s passing performance was very good as he completed 93% of his total passes and 88% of his long passes with a decent amount of volume behind those numbers. Additionally, Ivacic had an average goalkeeping performance as he saved about what you would expect.

Dairon Asprilla (RWB/CF) - 3.5

While I appreciate the tactical flexibility that Giovanni Savarese’s system employs, it makes it even harder to evaluate each player’s game in this format, as you have Asprilla going from playing as a right wing-back to a striker— two immensely different positions. Given that large change, I decided to evaluate Asprilla both as a fullback and striker and the difference was very large. As a fullback, Asprilla achieved a grade in just the 23rd percentile, whereas a striker, Asprilla ranked in the 46th percentile. Because of this stark difference, I ended up just averaging out Asprilla’s grade, hence the 3.5 total grade. If you would like to see how Asprilla’s performance ranked at both positions, I would encourage you to look at the animated chart of Asprilla’s game as a striker and as a fullback.

Bill Tuiloma (CB) - 3.8

Tuiloma’s performance was all over the place in this match, as he ranked around the average mark for his passing and total actions, well above-average in his aerials, and well below-average in his defending and carrying. Additionally, Tuiloma’s frequent fouls (3) and yellow card did not help his cause for a better grade.

Dario Zuparic (CB) - 4.1

Zuparic was more consistent than Mabiala— however, in this case, that means he was more consistently below-average. Zuparic ranked in the 39th percentile for his total actions, 42nd percentile for his passing, 44th percentile for his aerials, 37th percentile for his defense, and the 32nd percentile for his carrying.

Larrys Mabiala (CB) - 4.1

Mabiala had an alright performance as he ranked in the 36th percentile for his total actions, 50th percentile for his passing, 56th percentile for his aerials, 43rd percentile for his defense, and 31st percentile for his carries. He also accumulated a yellow card in this match.

Claudio Bravo (LB) - 3.5

Bravo had a mediocre performance as he eclipsed the 50th percentile in just one category in this match. Specifically, Bravo ranked in the 41st percentile for his total actions, 27th percentile for his passing, 23rd percentile for his playmaking, 49th percentile for his defense, and the 60th percentile for his dribbling. Bravo did have a role in the final third as he recorded three progressive runs, two carries into the penalty area, and one shot-creating action. However, Bravo was also frequently unsuccessful with his defensive duels and pressures, which canceled out this positive production in the final third

Diego Chara (CM) - 5.1

Apart from his offensive grade (which was slightly below-average), Diego had an all-around average performance. He ranked in the 48th percentile for his total actions, 50th percentile for his passing, 65th percentile for his defense, and the 42nd percentile for his offensive grade. Chara recorded very few actions in the final third, which limited his potential for improvement on already solid overall performance.

Eryk Williamson (CM) - 5.3

Unlike Diego, Williamson had a slightly below-average performance, but his production in the final third elevated his grade. Williamson ranked in the 48th percentile for his total actions, 53rd percentile for his passing, and just the 40th percentile for his defense and offensive grades. In the final third, Williamson recorded two shot assists, one shot, two progressive runs, and one shot creating action which was just enough to push him above-average.

Santiago Moreno (CAM/RWB) - 6.1

Despite his game-tying goal and the special moments that led up to it, Moreno actually didn’t have that great of a performance. He ranked below-average in all of his major categories, apart from his pressing (69th percentile). Moreno hovered around the 30th percentile for most of his grades as his dribbling, playmaking, passing, and offensive grades were all around that mark. However, Moreno’s game-tying goal and the events that led up to it provided him with enough leeway to still have an above-average grade for this game.

Yimmi Chara (CF) - 5.6

Yimmi had another very inconsistent performance across his major grades as he performed very well in his passing (90th percentile) and total actions (72nd percentile), but struggled across most of the rest of his categories which include his shooting (37th percentile), dribbling (40th percentile), and aerials (25th percentile). Yimmi did record one shot assist, one progressive run, and suffered one foul but he also accumulated a yellow card. So all of that combined provided only a slight boost to Yimmi’s grade

Sebastian Blanco (CF) - 5.2

Like Yimmi, Blanco’s performance was also fairly inconsistent. The Argentine performed well in his passing (77th percentile) and dribbling (60th percentile), ranked slightly below-average in his pressing (45th percentile) and total actions (49th percentile), but really struggled in his shooting (22nd percentile) and aerials as you might expect. Also similar to Yimmi, Blanco recorded one shot assist, one progressive run, and one foul suffered but he did not record a yellow card, so this output provided more of a boost to his grade.

Substitutes:

Jaroslaw Niezgoda () - N/A

Juan David Mosquera () - N/A

Marvin Loria () - N/A

Cristhian Paredes () - N/A

Nathan Fogaca () - N/A

These players aren’t graded because I currently do not have a grading system that will fairly evaluate players who have under 20 total actions, compared to the rest of the team, who played most of the game.