Just when you’re thinking, “If only we could play Chivas every game,” you realize this was the last Portland Timbers – Chivas USA game ever due to the LA-based sides impending rebranding and stadium move under new ownership next season.
And my, how Chivas will be missed.
There were there when they needed to be Saturday, the Goats, a soft pillow for the Timbers to rest on as they recharge their batteries for a grueling stretch-run that will see Portland push for the fifth playoff spot that has been vacated by the free-falling Colorado Rapids, and enter play in the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time.
It wasn’t that Chivas was bad, they were virtually non-existent. That’s not to say the Timbers didn’t deserve their win – much the opposite in fact, Portland got the early goal, added a second before halftime, and managed the game with ease – but there’s not a whole lot you can analyze or take away when every Timbers player on the field looks good.
This was a 2-0 hammering. A schmaltzing that took the crowd at Providence Park back to the glory days of summer 2013, when goals came easy, and wins easier.
For once, the Timbers did what they were supposed to do: Beat a thoroughly overmatched opponent at home. This time, they didn’t make it interesting. They made it relaxing.
Don’t get used to it. The Timbers, after going to the dreadful New England Revolution and their dreadful turf at Gillette Stadium next weekend, hit a stretch of games that sees them play eight out of their last nine MLS games against Western Conference foes with playoff aspirations – and the one game out of conference is at big-spending, feel-good Toronto FC.
Needless to say, these were three must-have points before the season starts hitting very hard. And there was never any doubt that the Timbers would do the job, thanks in large part to Diego Valeri.
Some call him maestro, some are opting for genius, other demigod, whatever works for you. What’s working for Valeri is scoring goals: His cracking twenty-yard strike off a one-man breakout to open the scoring against Chivas made it four in four and five in six for the number eight, and they’ve all been massive – Valeri’s last five tallies have all been go-ahead goals.
The man is in a zone right now, to say the least. But it’s a different kind of zone than we’re used to from Valeri. After pouring in the assists but not finding a ton of consistency early in the year, Valeri has found his scoring touch. At this point in the least last year, Valeri was struggling through a debilitating hernia injury that would limit his still valuable play in the 2013 stretch-run.
This is the first full season we’re seeing out of the Argentine – and it’s a sight to behold.
Valeri’s goalscoring exploits have made the Timbers’ offense worthwhile, especially with Darlington Nagbe’s injury and lack of goal production regardless.
Outside of Valeri, Rodney Wallace, who scored the second goal thanks to a lucky bounce and some sensational holdup play in the area by Fanendo Adi, played a nice game. When Nagbe comes back, Wallace, who balances the attack with his width and direct style nicely and whose stock has risen thanks to the poor play of both Kalif Alhassan and Steve Zakuani, may keep his place.
Gaston Fernandez was good, regaled in his tricks and flicks, but not game changing – as good as he is, he rarely has been when starting.
There was a good shift from both Will Johnson and especially Diego Chara. Both players did a lot of running willingly and were effective both ways.
Defensively, it was interesting to see Liam Ridgewell alongside Norberto Paparatto – easily the Timbers’ biggest and tallest center-back pairing. Not to demean Ridgewell – who was terrific – but he is the new Paparatto in a way. The Argentine was brought in to be a defensive rock and central mainstay, and his failure to do that made another center-back a necessity. That guy ended up being Ridgewell.
We’ll see if that pairing can withstand real pressure, not the token nonsense Chivas pitched forward Saturday night, or if Pa Moudu Kah will return to the team. Same can be said for the rotating fullback position that seems to be up for grabs between Danny O’Rourke, Jack Jewsbury, and Jorge Villafana.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves – Portland only has two clean sheets this year, and they’re both against the same team. That’s not a coincidence. Aside from Mauro Rosales, Chivas are playing like a team who knows that whatever they do is about to be erased from the record-books more and more each week.
Maybe the best performance at Providence Park Saturday night came from an especially thunderous Timbers Army that was the main attraction at times in a mostly blasé snoozer of game. The Army was recognizing the tenth anniversary of the passing of Timber Jim’s daughter and the beginning of the 80th minute “You Are My Sunshine” song tradition.
It included a cameo appearance from Timber Jim with a bouquet of sunflowers on the capo stand leading the song, as sunflowers flourished throughout the north end.
The atmosphere was two times that of the MLS All-Star Game atmosphere, and that with one-one hundredth of the audience, fanfare, and drama. The Timbers supporters brought it. We shouldn’t take it for granted that they do.
The hard times are just around the corner, but this night in Portland was warm, calm, and joyous. It’s so long to Chivas USA, whose last act as an MLS team against the Timbers was pushing Portland level with the playoff red line. The Timbers have a real shot at this thing – but Chivas isn’t on the schedule anymore, and the margin for error is thin.
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