The second round of the Portland Timbers Preseason Tournament closed with two tightly contested draws. The city saw a rare snow the night before, and temperatures during the game were in the thirties with intermittent light rain. Luckily most of the stadium is covered, so we were dry the entire time. Over fifteen thousand people showed up for the match tonight, and I was joined in the Army tonight by Jeff and Scout, who sang, waved scarves and flags, criticized the referee, and stayed to salute the team like seasoned veterans. San Jose and AIK played the first match to a nil draw in a mostly empty stadium (though the army was probably 75% capacity by the end of the game).
Spencer trotted out a 442 that mostly resembled a reserve squad. Lovel Palmer started at right back with Chris Taylor on the left; Eric Brunner and Andrew Jean-Baptiste started in center defense. Jack Jewsbury and James Marcelin played in center midfield. Freddie Braun and Brent Richards played the right and left wings, Bright Dike and Sebastian Rincon played as the center forwards. Chivas USA also played in a 442. I'm not going to try and analyze their lineup as I'm not certain what the regular starters might be, and based on Robin Fraser's substitutions, his team isn't up to fitness and he is still trying to figure out what his starting eleven will be.
Portland started out the first half with a good amount of possession, moving the ball well and probing the Chivas defense. they created some dangerous chances but were missing precision in the final third. Against the run of play 21' minutes into the match, Chris Taylor lost a foot race with a Chivas player I cannot identify (number two is not listed on their roster), but dispossessed him in the corner. His attempt to clear the ball was a fail though, as it deflected straight to Alan Souza, who sent in a dangerous cross. Andrew Jean-Baptiste was somewhat out of position and was forced to attempt to clear the ball with an overhead kick. He missed and Cesar Romero volleyed past Gleeson before the Kiwi could react.
Not long after the restart Jake made a pretty amazing save when Alan Souza hit a crazy shot that deflected off rookie Casey Townsend's face, making the save with his fingers at the pinnacle of his leap. The team bounced back after this near-two-goal-deficit experience, and controlled much of possession for the rest of the half.
Diego Chara came in for Jack Jewsbury and Joe Bendik replaced Jake Gleeson at the start of the second half, while the Chivas lineup underwent four changes, including thirty-six year old Juan Pablo Angel coming on for twenty-two year old Casey Townsend. The second half continued in much the same manner as the first, with Portland controlling a strong portion of possession and creating a lot of chances, but failing with the last pass or were a step behind. AJB and Chris Taylor showed they were still quite green as they starting making random clearances under pressure. It is one thing to clear the ball in the direction of the striker for him to battle after, it is another to clear it halfway up the field directly to the other team.
Ryan Kawulok, who's official signing was announced this afternoon, came on for Lovel Palmer on the hour mark, but not before the Jamaican would get into a fight in the far corner over a harsh challenge. Kalif Alhassan made his appearance off the bench in the 66' for Homegrown Player Brent Richards. He immediately provided more stability down the right side of the pitch, with improved distribution and a greater ability to hold off and take on defenders. Play began to become smoother and the team started to exert more dominance as Chara and Alhassan started to control things. Perlaza came on with fifteen minutes left for an excellent Rincon who had chased after everything and came close to scoring a number of times.
The equalizer came three minutes later when Kalif sent in an awesome corner. Dike was unable to put a head to it, but it fell directly to Kawulok. The ball had such spin on it still that it bounced directly off backup keeper Tim Melia's hands and over the line. The tried to knock it back out but Perlaza was there to emphasize the goal by slamming back in. Kawulok celebrated by backpedaling towards the bench while pointing to the back of his kit. The team would continue to threaten to the final whistle but couldn't put another through the posts.
I thought the team as a whole did a pretty good job tonight, particularly the fight back to get the equalizer. The developmental players made some bad mistakes and poor choices, but that is what these types of games are about. Hopefully we won't need to see Chris Taylor, AJB, Freddie Braun, or Brent Richards start any league games or play serious minutes in a deep run in the US Open Cup. None of them played badly, but all seemed to suffer from lack of concentration. I was impressed with Bright Dike's ability to hold up the ball, Sebastian Rincon's pace, workrate, and general dangerous quality, and the fluidity the side had with Chara and Alhassan on the pitch.
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