After a furious scramble, the Timbers were unable to find the game-winning goal in their first match of the new season, against Real Salt Lake, at an ear-splitting Providence Park. It ended as a 0-0 draw, one that saw every inch fought for, every ball contested, and every moment of drama amplified by the atmosphere.
Sometimes when you see a 0-0 soccer game, you feel cheated. This time, everyone got their money’s worth. It was one of the best spectacles of the Timbers’ MLS era. Well-played, intense, and jaw-dropping.
The final score was not in itself amazing—the Timbers have drawn RSL 0-0 at Providence Park three years in a row now, including the 0-0 draw that ended the the 2014 home slate — but considering the Timbers’ hand, this game was especially moving. These Timbers were down to their fourth- and fifth-string center midfielders against a team boasting Argentine wizard Javier Morales and anchored by American World Cup hero Kyle Beckerman. Will Johnson, Diego Valeri, Ben Zemanski, and finally and most crushingly, Diego Chara, ruled out just before game-time, all didn’t play.
What that meant was that the Timbers lacked attacking punch—from Valeri, obviously, but also from Chara’s pace and spark—but it also meant that we got to see Jack Jewsbury saddle up one more time and put together the kind of masterful, composed, commanding performance that is a marvel mentally as much as physically.
Jewsbury was everywhere. On the ball he was efficient and assured, off the ball he was dogged and direct, and over the ball he provided the most consistent, excellent set-pieces the Timbers have had since, well since Jewsbury was taking all the set pieces back in 2011 and 2012. It’s performances like these that will live large in people’s minds when Jewsbury does retire. He should be remembered as a pro’s pro, a total gamer. But if Jewsbury’s mettle was proven long before his spotless game against Salt Lake, George Fochive’s was unseen. Fochive was asked to make his MLS debut on opening day at Providence Park in a playoff-like atmosphere, and he was superb.
But who wasn’t superb, really, for Portland? The back-line certainly was. Portland was never really threatened, and new goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey had little to do in his first competitive match with the Timbers. Between the automatic excellence of Nat Borchers and Liam Ridgewell to the ever-improving full-back play of Jorge Villafana and an increasingly adept, if still somewhat erratic, Alvas Powell, it’s hard to see how anyone is going to score on the Timbers this year.
It was about finding that one, precious little goal Saturday night, and the Timbers couldn’t do it. They deserved it, sure, but the scarcity of goals is so much of what makes soccer the cruelest and greatest game.
It’s long been obvious that Rimando is Portland’s biggest matchup problem in MLS. A goalkeeper, the tallest 5’9″ son of gun that’s ever lived. His save on Rodney Wallace’s point blank volley at the beginning of the second half was eerily reminiscent of his Superman save on Darlington Nagbe on the same goal in the same spot last year.
At that point, the feeling that the Timbers might not get their perfect ending was hard to shake. They huffed and they puffed—Darlington Nagbe, who was sensational, Fanendo Adi, who worked his tail off against two massive, talented center-backs, and Wallace, who got himself into good positions all night long—but they came up short for a few reasons.
RSL’s defense starts with Rimando in goal and the uncanny Beckerman in midfield, but huge credit also goes to Jamison Olave and Chris Schuler for this clean-sheet. Despite Portland having more than fifteen combined corners and attacking free kicks—and terrific service all night from Jewsbury—the Timbers couldn’t win any headers or create any clear-cut opportunities from their plentiful chances. That was down to Salt Lake’s defense.
Portland also ran out of firepower at the end. By switching the exhausted Adi for Urruti, and Dairon Asprilla for Gaston Fernandez, the Timbers lost their real ability. It’s mighty hard to chase a goal if you can’t win attacking long-balls, and the Timbers couldn’t at the end. When Urruti, Nanchoff, Jewsbury, Fernandez, and Co. are running around trying to find a goal, you know you’re out-gunned.
Make no mistake. One point or three, this was a hell of an effort. Not many teams lose four of their most important players and dominate one of the best teams in the league in the first game of the season. Under the circumstances, it was an other-worldly performance. But that’s almost to be expected. There’s a certain air of professionalism about these Timbers that is refreshing. The clown-car of 2014 has been cleared out. This is going to be a fun team to support, because they are going to show up every day with consistency and reliability and compete. It wasn’t like that last year.
And the support was incredible. As we begin this double-anniversary season, the Timbers Army commemorated the team’s fifth year in MLS and 40th year of overall existence with another outstanding tifo display. One of the underrated things when discussing the fanaticism of Portland’s support is how little it takes for the Timbers’ fans to get into the game. Winning a throw-in, or a defensive breakup is all that’s required to raise the decibel level by 50 percent. It matters, to the players especially. Sometimes, Major League Soccer feels very minor league. In Portland, with two good teams on the field, it feels like the only thing that matters in the universe.
That kind of game is what soccer is all about. After the Timbers’ opening night display, I’d like to think that if that kind of game is played again down the road, they’ll win it.
Clown-car = Pa Modou Kah and Kalif Alhassan.