The Portland Timbers played a solid road match on Sunday at CenturyLink Field. But Clint Dempsey – who scored on Adam Kwarasey in the opening seconds of last summer’s World Cup – was Johnny on the spot to turn a Kwarasey bobble into the only goal in a 1-0 win for the host Sounders.
What it means: The Timbers (2-3-3, 9 points) are eighth in the Western Conference and 0-2-0 in Cascadia Cup matches. The Sounders (4-2-1, 13 points) are third in the West and 1-0 in Cascadia Cup play.
What went wrong? When soccer players use the term “switched off” this goal could be exhibit A. After playing a nearly perfect 90 minutes defensively, the Timbers paid for perhaps their only loss of focus in the match. The critical mistake was misreading the long throw-in from Dylan Remick. Clint Dempsey was the target the throw-in, which went over the head of Nat Borchers who was marking Dempsey with help from Jack Jewsbury. Diego Chara did not react to the bouncing ball. Goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey fumbled Andy Rose’s change-up of a shot, and Dempsey was there – as the best goal-scorers are.
In hockey terms, it was a gritty goal, and Dempsey was rewarded for following up the initial shot (something the Timbers attackers don’t do often enough).
What went right? Plenty, actually. After sitting deep and giving the Sounders plenty of possession in the first 20 minutes, the Timbers did a good job of controlling the tempo with possession while also looking for chances to push forward. The Timbers executed Caleb Porter’s game plan well, and had more high-quality second half chances.
Porter described it as a great game from his team.
“Hurts. But we’ve got to put it behind us,” the Timbers coach said. “And we can’t lose energy. Because these guys fought really hard today. And I was proud of their effort.”
“We’re not frustrated. We’re going to get back to work,” Porter said. “Obviously we’re not happy with the result. We’re not going to lose energy. We’re going to keep fighting.”
Other positives: 1) The play of Alvas Powell. The young right back won the key defensive battles, showed poise in tight spaces, and was able to get forward at times. His overlap play didn’t produce a goal, but he his confidence seems to be building with each match.
2) Poise on the ball: Porter’s team finished with almost half of the possession. Yes, a good amount of that was back passing or neutral maneuvers. But the plan was to frustrate the host Sounders and make sure their dynamic counter-attack never happened. Then, when Fanendo Adi replaced Maximiilino Urruti up front the Timbers had four quality chances as Seattle appeared to be getting tired.
Seven in eight. Eight games into the season the Timbers have scored only seven goals. They have been shut out four times. When goals are hard to come by, one missed assignment on defense is sometimes all it takes to lose.
Sure, the Timbers miss Diego Valeri – who was in uniform at Seattle and could make his 2015 debut on Saturday against Vancouver – but with or without Valeri the Timbers need their strikers to convert chances. Fanendo Adi did a good job of giving Seattle trouble when he came on in the 74th minute, but his miss on a close-range header was a disappointment.
Goalkeeping roller-coaster: A week after his Goal of the Week save preserved a 1-0 win over New York City FC, Adam Kwarasey could have done better on the Dempsey goal. Sure, he wasn’t the player who left Andy Rose unmarked. But if Kwarasey gets two hands instead of one on Rose’s cue shot Dempsey likely doesn’t score.
Seeing red: After watching the Trail Blazers wear red on Saturday, the Timbers might have been better served to go with a different color on Sunday. Portland is 0-2 in its alternate red-and-black uniform this season.
Up next: The Timbers host the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday. One of only two home games among six May matches, there will be even more on the line following the loss in Seattle. Sure, there is plenty of season left, but the one-third mark is a couple of weeks off and at 0-2 in Cascadia Cup matches, anything short of a win means the Timbers likely won’t lift the Cup in 2015.
