For a man who made many phenomenal tackles last night, David Horst lost his team two points last night, and a first ever league win over D.C. United, because he lost his focus and jumped to block a cross with his arm outstretched instead of close to his body. The controversial call was made by the line ref who immediately suffered the ire of the Portland defenders, as Bendik, Futty, and Horst all rushed over to yell at him. Futty eventually suffered a yellow for their complaints; Pontius buried the PK.
Gavin made only one change to the lineup he went with against RSL, starting Dike alone up top over Mwanga. Wallace continued in center midfield in Chara's absence. Mosquera would come up lame with a hamstring injury in the middle of the first half so Futty made a rare appearance off the bench.
Ben Olsen made a few changes to the formation I anticipated, picking Lewis Neal over Branko Boskovic to start. He also moved Pontius from the left wing into the middle of the midfield front three, switched Nick DeLeon to the left and put Lewis Neal on the right side. The rest of the lineup remained unchanged.
The boys in green and white started the match slowly, failing to string together consistent possession. Najar and Neal were combining well on down the flank and causing Songo'o and Smith lots of trouble. Portland read the game well and made a switch, moving Songo'o into the middle. That was the smart part of the move - the dumb part of the move involved moving Nagbe outside in his place instead of Wallace. Nonetheless, Songo'o immediately started bossing the game and Nagbe shut down Najar.
Portland created four good chances after the change. The first happened after a smart move by Zizzo to take a throw-in quickly with Dike in an otherwise offsides position, who took his shot wide. Zizzo was busy again not much later when he split two defenders and squared it to Dike in the box, but McDonald got to it first hit it directly to Hamid. Bright intercepted a lazy pass along the backline but didn't have the technical skills to beat the two defenders for a clear look after he didn't shoot with his first touch. The referee decided a few minutes later that inside the passing triangles during the run of play would be a good place to position himself, getting repeatedly caught up in play, eventually springing Nagbe for a great shot which Hamid parried fantastically. The ball spun up and toward the goal, but Hamid was able to snag it off the line.
So into the locker rooms the team went, tied up still at zeros. United could be happy that they had held the Timbers scoreless, but knowing they need to make some kind of adjustment to the tactical switch made by the Portland bench. The Timbers would enter the half hungry for the goal they seemed close to a few times. But neither team would make any wholesale changes at the half.
The second half played out much like the first until Horst's ill conceived spread eagle jump gave the visitors the lead at the hour. The match would proceed with the home side pissed off and energized to make a statement. It found one after another quarter hour when Steven Smith intercepted a poor header by Najar out of the back. He worked a give-and-go with Nagbe, first timing a ball into the box towards Dike. They both would have been awarded the assist if Najar hadn't gotten there first, cradling the ball under his armpit for a while (where's the whistle for the handball mister blind and incompetant referee) before Dike could poke it away. His pivot and rocket finish to the roof of the net were picture perfect.
It wasn't long after the goal when Pajoy came off for Salihi, and then Lewis Neal was removed for Boskovic. Portland decided to throw numbers forward, removing Kimura for Mwanga, moving Zizzo to right back. Mwanga did nothing with his cameo, making one successful pass and losing possession once, but Zizzo continued to ravage the right flank. He was replaced late by Brent Richards, who can throw the ball over half way across the pitch and has an amazing vertical leap. Richards never really got to showcase his skills as his time was so limited. It felt like he was coming on for mayble one or two maybe chances. Olsen took off DeLeon at the end to lock down the defense with Robbie Russell.
All the changes came to nothing, with neither team really looking any more dangerous nor generating any really good chances. The team was hard done by the referee this match, and I'm not talking about the penalty - though I screamed bullshit as loud and as long as anyone - nor about Songo'o trying to pick the ball off Hamid's foot. Whether what Franck did specifically is allowed completely depends on the local federation's interpretation of FIFA's rules. The run of play was fairly even, from my vantage point in section 202 row G, but the stats say DC won more duels while Portland held onto the ball a little more. I think the former stat is a more meaningful metric than the later, as a duel won anywhere on the field is always a good thing, while possession across the back line extensively only indicates offensive frustration or futility. Some duels are more meaningful than others but none are meaningless; sometimes possession becomes fairly meaningless.
I can't wait for the match in Seattle this weekend. Stay tuned for a Cascadia Cup analysis as well as a preview for the Seattle match.
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