Timbers Dismantled by FC Dallas

When the Portland Timbers and FC Dallas met in early April, Michael Barrios got picked on. The Columbian, listed at 5’4, took his first touch of that game at Providence Park, was stripped by Diego Chara, and watched as his compatriot raced down the field and scored to ice the game and seal Portland’s first win of the 2015 season.

Now, though, the tables have turned. Dallas isn’t the same side Portland took apart in the spring, and the Timbers aren’t the side that beat them either. A team that predicated itself on defense suddenly can’t play any — especially away from home.

Barrios, who has since settled into his new MLS surroundings, took advantage. He had two goals in the first 23 minutes on Saturday night in the rematch in Frisco, his Dallas side would walk all over the visiting Timbers en route to a 4-1 win.

The process for Portland’s collapse in Dallas started as far back as last weekend, when Will Johnson was given a post-match red card and suspended for this match, but the collapse itself was quick and virtually painless. It’s not that the Timbers now have just one more win than loss this season and are only three points clear of Real Salt Lake and the red line, it’s that Portland continues to look like its a step — or four — behind MLS’ best teams.

Tactically, this game was a disaster. Caleb Porter wanted his team to sit back, stay compact, and counter. That was why he decided to start the ineffective Rodney Wallace and the flippantly ineffective Maxi Urruti in place of better attacking options — like the trio that would wind up bickering over a meaningless penalty as time ticked away.

But sitting back, staying compact, and countering was exactly what Dallas was able to do when the bell rung, as the Timbers were pulled apart time and again. Plenty of blame falls at the feet of Johnson. Jack Jewsbury against this young, fresh Dallas team in the stifling Frisco heat was always going to be a major problem — so much of a problem that Porter must have considered starting George Fochive — and it was as bad as feared.

Jewsbury couldn’t keep up, though he certainly tried, leaving too much on the plate of Diego Chara, who faded badly after about sixty minutes. The defense, which had been so good for so much of the season, was miserable again. Liam Ridgewell hasn’t been the same since he was sent off at LA, and he was at least partially at fault on three of the four goals.

Alvas Powell’s distribution remains terrible, and while his Jamaica team prepares for the Gold Cup final tomorrow, there must be plenty on the youngster’s mind. Dallas had too many weapons. Oscar Pareja has figured out how to surround Mauro Diaz — a fleeter Diego Valeri — with all kinds of pace and all sides. Barrios, Fabian Castillo (who is headed for a big money European move), David Texeira — the Timbers couldn’t keep up.

Where Dallas was direct, quick, and assured, Portland was ponderous and meandering. Porter’s two best players, Valeri and Darlington Nagbe, both couldn’t get going beyond gear one. Urruti was dreadful, while Wallace couldn’t impact the game in any tangible way.

Why Porter waited so long to bring on Melano, Adi, and Fernandez, is questionable. It wasn’t a good night for the manager, who either didn’t put together a sound game-plan, or couldn’t get his team to carry out that game-plan. These Timbers, who have now been outscored 14-1 on the road since May, look and feel a lot like the John Spencer Timbers right now away from home — and that thought makes everyone shudder.

The Timbers also looked like this in early May in road losses at Houston and Toronto. Urgency is a problem. Portland has only scored one first half goal away from home all year. It’s very, very rare that the Timbers will come out and put a team under serious pressure. Good teams will pounce on that reservation. Dallas certainly did. The game was over almost before it got started.

There’s a lot to pick over — Ridgewell’s sudden decline, the drop-off in Jewsbury’s play from the spring to the summer, the sudden malaise that seems to have crept over the once-potent Wallace — and then there was a late penalty incident.

The Timbers won a spot-kick in stoppage time, thanks to Lucas Melano — who, without a doubt, will start next week. Immediately, Fernandez, Melano, and Adi started to fight over it. This wasn’t exactly an unfamiliar scene. It was last year against this same Dallas team that Fernandez and Johnson had their infamous spat.

It’s on Porter to set an order for penalty takers so there is zero doubt over who steps up regardless of whether or not Johnson is on the field. Porter’s apathy towards who takes this team’s penalties has cost the team points in the past, and will continue to come back and bite the Timbers.

In any case, Adi stepped up and scored. He now has nine goals on the season, six more than the next closest player. How he doesn’t start every week is beyond me, as is why he gets so much stick from Timbers fans. It’s undeserved, based on every possible measure: Performance, production, effort, and attitude.

It was a bad night, but it was just one night in a long, long season. There is no need to overreact. This series has traditionally been dominated by the home team, the Timbers never play well in the Texas heat anyway, and Dallas has been on fire for a month. The good news is, Melano looks good. Really good. Johnson is back next weekend, everyone is healthy, and the Timbers have a startlingly easy August schedule coming up.

There is hardly a league in the world as forgiving as MLS. Dallas have themselves already changed their mind about whether to be a good team eight times this season, like always. The Timbers have time, and room, to figure things out on the road.

There might not be a quick fix, either. The good news is that Porter’s Timbers teams, both in 2013 and 2014, have played their best soccer in the fall — but starting right now, we need to see more from the coach. For Porter, losing to Pareja in such a big way hurts after their run-in in that April clash. There were no fireworks this time, though. Apparently for the Timbers, there was no battle worth fighting on Saturday night.