Timbers Fall 2-0 To Vancouver in Game One
The Portland Timbers lost their opening first round playoff match against the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 on Thursday night at Swangard Stadium, digging themselves a sizable hole in the 2-game aggregate goal series. The Timbers 10 match unbeaten streak is over and they will now have to win the decisive game two by a 3-goal margin in order to advance to the next round of the postseason. Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday at the University of Portland’s Merlo Field at 6pm.
A ragged and physical game, the Timbers were never able to find their rhythm for any sustained stretches and consequently, didn’t have many exciting game highlights to speak of.
The Whitecaps would take a 1-0 lead in the opening minute of the match. In the 1st minute, off a Vancouver corner kick that was deflected into the box, midfielder Gershon Koffie would volley-kick the loose ball out of the air past keeper Steve Cronin bouncing off the bottom of the crossbar and just past the end-line for a goal. Certainly, not the way you want to start a match, let alone a playoff game.
Vancouver would soon strike again. In the 13th minute, a foul by defender Ross Smith would result in a Vancouver free kick just outside the top of the box. Whitecaps midfielder Philippe Davies would send a bending shot over the Timber’s defensive wall that clanged off the side post over the outstretched arms of diving Cronin. In the ensuing chase for the loose ball, Timber’s midfielder Kalif Alhassan was called for foul after a sliding tackle on midfielder Blake Wagner inside the box resulting in a Vancouver penalty kick. Midfielder Martin Nash (younger brother of NBA star Steve Nash) blasted the PK towards the left corner of the goal, but despite a strong effort by Cronin, the ball still grazed off his fingertips and into the back of the net.
Perhaps, the Timbers best chance in the 1st half came in the 20th minute, when midfielder James Marcelin fired a quick shot from around 25 yards out that missed the top right corner by a couple feet. Vancouver would nearly increase their lead late in the first half, when midfielder Terry Dunfield caught a pass heading towards the top of the box and quickly put a shot past Cronin off the side of the woodwork before being cleared away.
In the 2nd half, the Timbers would put together their best stretch of soccer for the match around the 60th minute, taking control of possession and applying pressure to the Whitecaps backline. Marcelin would send a quality pass that threaded through a line of Vancouver players to forward Bright Dike. Dike would then shimmy his way past a group of defenders deep into the right side of the box, before sending a fast strike that deflected off the arms of keeper Jay Nolly. Then in the 70th minute, midfielder and Golden Boot winner Ryan Pore would receive a ball in space just inside the attacking third, quickly cutting towards the top of the box, he fired a shot that would ricochet off a Vancouver defender and out of play.
Terry Dunfield would put another shot off the woodwork in the 79th minute after collecting a loose ball in the Timber’s box, then firing another attempt past a diving Cronin. The Timbers would get a final chance to cut into Vancouver’s lead in the 83rd minute. Off a corner kick and with the Timbers packing players in front of the Whitecaps’ goal, defender Stephen Keel would catch a piece of the incoming cross, deflecting it towards a streaking Kevin Goldthwaite, who would blast a shot ten feet out from Nolly. However, Nolly would quickly react, deflecting the ball away, perhaps making the game’s most impressive save.
A disappointing performance by the Timbers, and likely one of the worst games they’ve played all season. If Portland hopes to move onto the next round of the playoffs, they’ll need to overcome a 2 goal deficit and play one of the best games they’ve played all season.
A few other thoughts….
Keeper Play
Game one matched up two of the best goalies in the league and both keepers showed why they’ll likely be playing against each other in the MLS next season as well. Both Jay Nolly and Steve Cronin came up with numerous spectacular plays, each recording four saves on the night, including multiple goal saving deflections. Although it would have been nice if Cronin could have stretched out another few inches to stop Nash’s penalty kick, ultimately, the main difference in the game was Vancouver’s ability to get quality and dangerous shots on goal, while Portland struggled to consistently threaten Jay Nolly.
Defense, Fouls, and the PK Contreversy
Aside from the two early scores by Vancouver, the match was mostly a defensive battle. Both teams played aggressive and physical, combing for an impressive 37 fouls total on the night, for which the Timbers accounted for 24 of those whistles. Portland’s defense simply broke down. The backline looked unsure and hesitant against the Whitecaps attack often falling back on their heels and were forced to commit fouls to prevent a possible advantage. Ross Smith certainly didn’t have one of his best games and was subbed out after the first half. Right-back Steve Purdy made a handful of mistakes in coverage including a moment where he was nearly shaken out of his shoes, slipping to the ground in his attempt to defend near the box. Defensively, the Timbers will have to be mistake free on Sunday, as a clean sheet will almost be mandatory if the team expects to overcome the hole their currently in.
The foul in the box leading to the Vancouver PK goal has been a point of some controversy in the last 24 hours. Alhassan made an attempt at a tackle on the Whitecaps Wagner, but seemed to slide just in front of Wagner, initially missing and not making contact. Wagner lost his dribble and promptly “tripped” over Alhassan, falling onto the pitch in front of Cronin. Here’s my take – although Alhassan may not have made much contact with Wagner on the actual tackle attempt, he recklessly prevented Wagner from advancing forward and put the official in a touch position. It was a close call to make, especially if you were watching it unfold in real time. The bottomline is that Alhassan didn’t need to make such a dangerous sliding play and shouldn’t have put the referee in a position to make such a call. It’s a 50/50 call and you can’t blame the loss on one play.
Set Pieces
Free kicks and plays from set pieces were another area that the Whitecaps had a decisive advantage. Vancouver earned six corner kicks to Portland’s four, getting a goal off the game’s first corner attempt and nearly scoring on another attempt late in the match. Also, Dunfield was able to fire multiple shots off the side of the woodwork from set pieces, with one of the rebounds ultimately leading to a foul and Nash’s PK goal. On the other side, Portland had a handful of free kick opportunities early in the match, but were unable to create anything of note from them. Defender and team captain Ian Joy, who took most the Timber’s early free kicks, performed poorly, sending many his crosses right into the first line of the Whitecaps’ defense, often unsuccessfully deflecting away into the midfield. Coach Wilkinson tried to mix things up, allowing Pore to take a few kicks and later subbing in midfielder Rodrigo Lopez.
In a playoff game where chances are going to be hard-earned and far and few between, the Timbers must make the most of their free kicks and corners, at the very least putting balls into dangerous positions. It’s not guaranteed you’ll score from a nice pass, but at least you’ve created an opportunity for something to happen. Point in case the Vancouver penalty kick.
Efficiency and Control
Although, there’s no statistics kept for the percentage of possession that each team kept throughout the match, I’d say the Timbers had a slight edge in control last night over the Whitecaps (may be wrong). The problem was Portland wasn’t able to turn the slight advantage they enjoyed in possession into anything meaningful. The Timbers did a horrible job of building attacks and keeping the ball once it got into the attacking third of the field, something they’ve been very good at recently and during the streak. If the offense doesn’t take its time, probe the defense, and develop multiple options on attacks, then it’s a challenging task to play effective and productive soccer. Portland has scored 34 goals on a league leading 388 shots, meaning they score on 8.8% of their shots. Compare that with Vancouver who has 32 goals on 291 shots for 11.0 %, and you get the picture. In Game One, Vancouver scored 2 goals on 11 shots, while the Timbers took 10 shots, but rarely put keeper Jay Nolly in any alarming situations.
The fact that Vancouver was able to take a 2-0 lead 13 minutes into the match, not only placed the Timbers in an uphill battle early on, but put them at a mental disadvantage as the team looked desperate on the field to make something happen for most of the match. Both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball the players seemed frenzied and were pressing to create something, anything positive. When you’re playing desperate soccer sometimes it’s hard to play good soccer. The question heading into Sunday’s Game 2 will be if the Timber’s can play with a dire sense of urgency and still play with enough patience and efficiency to pull off what would be a miraculous playoff win. Let’s cross our fingers.
* Photo provided by Allison Andrew @ Soccer City USA
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