Chris Wondolowski cancelled out Danny Mwanga's brace with a stoppage time goal to thwart what looked to be Portland's first win on the road. The game was dominated by San Jose for the entire match. Gavin trotted out a flat 4-4-2, matching Frank Yallop's preferred formation. This switch in formation wasn't remotely effective tactically nor did players do well played somewhat out of position. The switch to the 4-4-2 clearly confused the team out of the gate, so San Jose completely controlled most of the first half.
After a bit of back and forth to start the match, with Boyd seeing a header go wide, Horst was forced to clear a shot off the line early, with questions about whether it had crossed the line strengthening the case for goal-line technology in soccer. When Dike came on for the injured Scotsman, Portland seemed to figure out their counterattack. In this formation, and against San Jose, Portland was never going to control possession, but Songo'o started to exert his influence on the left while Nagbe and Wallace started working well together on the right side, and Dike's pace and brutality keeping the defenders in check better than Boyd's better skill on the ball. He immediately put a head into a Bernardez, giving warning that a much larger and more aggressive player had now come onto the field. Minutes later Bendik gave his partner Opara an elbow to the back of the head as he came out to to meet a cross, showing our toughness at the front and the back and serving as a warning to Lenhart to watch himself.
After a San Jose give-away in midfield, Wallace and Mwanga worked a give and go to open the scoring right before the break. It was a good piece of footwork, first making a nice run between the defenders as they over committed, then rounding the keeper with composure. It was Danny's second goal of the year, his first coming against San Jose at home in July. The teams went into the locker rooms with Portland holding a rare lead on the road.
The second half saw much of the same, the Earthquakes dominating the game but not able to break through the defense. Horst was looking particularly effective against Lenhart in the middle, winning most of the headers that were sent in his direction. Wondo came in just before the hour mark, and immediately sparked the San Jose attack, which had become somewhat stagnant despite the control they exerted across the pitch. But it would be Portland who would score next, against all odds, and it was again on the break when Portland struck, as Songo'o dribbled down the field on the counter, holding off defenders before feeding Danny on the left. He took a few touches to his right and blasted a shot into the upper right, putting Portland up two goals just after the hour mark.
Gordon immediately came on after the goal. Shortly after he won a header, which Lenhart poked over to Wondo, who took a touch and beat Bendik at the far post. The lead was cut to one, with the 'Quakes fired up and ready to score again. The remainder of regulation time saw a handful of crazy scrums in the box, with Bendik coming up big a few times and San Jose coming close a few more. But all our hearts would break when Mosquera expertly flicked on to Wondo at the back post two minutes into stoppage time, who headed back across and into the goal - catching Bendik in an impossible position. It was one of the single worst instances of clearance and marking this year. We had three centerbacks, and they had three strikers, so there is no reason anyone should ever be unmarked.
Portland had one golden chance at the end, as Songo'o made another brilliant run with the ball downfield, literally holding off Victor Bernardez, then squaring the ball to the three red jerseys in the box. Jack was just behind Bright, with Nagbe a few yards to his right. Dike took the shot just as Lenhart tackled him from behind, putting it just wide right. It looked like a penalty to me, Lenhart took out his feet in the box, and never touched the ball. Not sure at all what the referee was looking at there, but it really shouldn't have mattered. Dike should have felt the pressure from behind and let the ball roll through for Nagbe or Jewsbury. How awesome would it have been if he just stopped dead in his tracks and took out Lenhart just as Nagbe slots in the winner. Instead he flubbed the shot and ruined a perfect attempt. Franck was livid at the wastefulness of his game-winning assist-to-be.
I predicted that the squad would maintain it's shape while giving some different faces a chance to prove themselves. This made sense given the success of the new formation, especially against teams playing a 4-4-2, which everyone could have told you San Jose would trot out. I'll have to guess that it was to give Mwanga a proper strike partner since he does not like being alone up top. Kris Boyd came back into the starting lineup next to Danny, but left after 13 minutes with a groin strain, injuring himself in the only decent moment he had on the pitch. Dike came in for him, and looked more dangerous, if less competant on the ball.
Portland matched San Jose's flat four midfield as Songo'o retained his role on the left and Jack stuck it out in the middle. Gavin moved Darlington out wide right and put Rodney in the middle of the pitch. It was a pretty strange move since Nagbe has become so successful after moving to the middle of the midfield where he can see more of the ball and control the offense instead of waiting for it to come to him. Rodney did okay for himself, but I think he would have been the more effective player on the right side, even with his left foot. If this were FIFA13, and Nagbe is a 82 and Wallace is a 75 in their first choice positions, switching them reduces their scores by 5-10 points. It is about optimizing your personnel, something this team has struggled with since forever.
Steven Smith returned to the lineup for Portland after his suspension, and Lovel Palmer started at right back for Kimura. Horst and Mosquera remained in the middle. Lovel did a poor job, as usual, but no worse than Kosuke does every time out. He did seem to do a better job of blocking crosses into the box than Kimura did against Seattle and Colorado, but that may just be a feature of Corrales or Morrow being less dangerous than Zakuani or Gonzalez. Palmer came out injured at the end of the match however, and a mask-less Kimura reprised his role on the backline.
On the other end of the field, Yallop gave Wondo and Gordon a breather, starting super-sub Lenhart for a change. Simon Dawkins played just off him as the second in their 4-4-2. Lenhart was neutralized well by Horst's man-marking, again showing that when he is turned on David can be an excellent defender. Simon Dawkins wasn't particularly effective as a striker and looked much more comfortable after Wondolowski came in and he moved to the wing.
San Jose started captain Ramiro Corrales on the left side of midfield, and he made successful runs against Palmer all night. The center of the midfield featured the workhorse Sam Cronin and playmaker Rafael Baca, who together regularly tore apart Jewsbury and Wallace. Mehdi Ballouchy started on the right with Dawkins up top, and didn't bring a whole lot to the game. He had his hands full with Songo'o on that side of the field, not able to stop Franck's runs and also not able to make successful forays himself.
Ike Opara returned to the back line, partnering with Victor Bernardez in the middle. Justin Morrow started on the left and Beitashour put in another excellent shift on the right. Busch retained his role between the posts. The defense didn't have a ton to do against a Portland team in possession, but they did not do well to react to the Timbers counterattacks. The Timbers scored twice on the counter and should have won the match on the counter as well, but for Dike's terrible miss.
The substitutions in this match really showed why Gavin should not be a head coach. Looking past the poor decision to start with a 4-4-2, his ineptitude was shown by the subsequent failure to make any changes at halftime. Despite having the lead, Portland had conceded 64% of possession to San Jose - something should have changed. Yallop reacted to Mwanga's second strike to bring in Wondo for Ballouchy and move Dawkins to the right. This didn't change the team's shape but improved their threat from the wing and in the box. Six minutes later when Alan Gordon entered the match for Baca, the 'Quakes shifted from the 4-4-2 into a 4-3-1-2, with Wondo playing just behind the two big targets and Cronin alone in the middle. The switch gave Portland more of the ball, but every time San Jose touched the ball it was a mad scramble to contain their attack. And Nagbe was still stuck on the wing instead of where he should have been, isolated against Cronin in the middle.
Gavin didn't react to the switch, which was immediately obvious, for another 20 minutes. Finally the team changed shape to deal with the three striker threat, with Brunner coming in for Mwanga at 85', moving Portland into a 5-4-1. Theoretically this switch would have worked, and it mostly did until Mosquera fed an otherwise offsides and totally unmarked Wondo. It was really too late though, and the team had already exhausted itself emotionally with all of the frantic clearances of the preceding twenty minutes.
When Gordon came on, the move should have been to remove Mwanga for Alexander right then, or at the latest after the first goal. Move Nagbe to the middle and give Wallace the job of marking Simon Dawkins, who was much more effective than Ballouchy. This frees up Jack to man-mark Wondolowski, so the centerbacks can focus on the big target forwards ahead of him, and puts a possession player in the middle to counter Cronin. Instead, Wondo dropped in and out of the midfield, causing confusion among the defense. Jack and Rodney inexpertly picked him up but lost him again as he drifted towards the front and overloading the defense. Nagbe was forced to defend Dawkins on the wing, putting him in poor position to create on the counter, which was obviously the only way the team was going to do anything positive. When Brunner came on, the backline was in shambles and the transition from two to three center defenders was not a smooth one.
A few final thoughts. I thought it was very encouraging to see Danny Mwanga really exert an influence over a match. Dike's entrance seriously changed the ability of San Jose to deal with the pairing, but his late miss should see him relegated to the bench in favor of anyone else. Wallace played well but should not be in the central midfield as he is not technically skilled enough, far too reckless, and his speed can be better utilized on the wing. Horst is a beast prone to one serious mistake a match. This time he let Wondo sneak back post for the win. I thought Mosquera was supposed to be our marquee defender. And now onto Utah.
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