Portland Timbers Click, Smash Vancouver

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There was really no way to see this coming. At least in a non-dreamlike state.

Timbers 3, Whitecaps 0? In Vancouver? With the traveling Timbers Army blasting out a chorus of “Our house, in the middle of BC” as fans of the home team scuttled out well before the final whistle making a stadium that only an hour before held a boisterous sellout crowd appear to be a ghost town?

I mean, Alvas Powell scoring the opening and game-deciding goal? Yeah right.

The Timbers, starting three new defenders across the back-line named Powell, Kah, and Villafana – all coming to the team for What Could Possibly Go Wrong LLC – stroking the ball around the shiny BC Place turf up three late, running out the clock? Please.

Well, it happened. It wasn’t a dream. And the Timbers now find themselves in the playoff positions for the first meaningful time since October 2013.

If this game proved – proved – beyond a shadow of a doubt, anything, it’s that you never know with the Timbers. There’s no way to see what’s around the corner. It’s simply a microcosm of a similar MLS-wide academic that on Saturday saw Chicago beat Dallas, New England crush Toronto, and Montreal cruise by Columbus.

A gambling addict would take one look at the Timbers and MLS as a whole, shake his head, laugh, and say, “You’d have to be crazy to bet on this league.”

Because of their dominant performance in Canada last night, the Timbers now control their own playoff destiny. Vancouver’s game in hand comes in Portland in just a few weeks time. Take care of business there, and the path to the fifth playoff spot and a midweek Wild Card game in either Salt Lake or Dallas will be clear and clean.

Of course, it won’t be that simple. It’s the Timbers and MLS we’re talking about. Caleb Porter seems to think we’ve experienced the great Alvas Powell Awakening, and maybe he’s right. But I doubt it’s going to be that simple. This is, of course, still a team that doesn’t know who its best defense is, who its forward is, and how to win games at home.

But just for one night, that didn’t matter. The Timbers made it look easy. Diego Chara swallowed up Mauro Rosales, a player who seemingly lives to track and troll the Timbers. Rodney Wallace grew into the game and was well worth his goal by the end, probably cementing his place in the team over Gaston Fernandez going forward.

Liam Ridgewell was terrific in a bounce-back game from the disaster against Seattle last weekend, and along with Kah, made just as much noise as the Southsiders in the second half.

Read into all you want. We’re just being strung along for the ride now. What this victory – only the Timbers’ second against Western Conference teams in playoff positions all year – means is that Portland will be playing meaningful games all the way home. The stretch run schedule remains difficult, but not insurmountable.

Who knows what we’re going to see next. Porter got it right here, rather spectacularly. Powell and Villafana bombing forward kept Vancouver’s attackers grounded and made them defend, while Kah showed why he is the second best center-back on the roster if he can play a smart game. The Timbers weren’t great going forward – they really only created the three chances that they scored – but they were absolutely clinical in front of goal.

Will Norberto Paparatto come back into the team next week? What about Michael Harrington, who had a terrific run and assist within his first minute on the field after replacing the hobbled Powell?

For now, Porter will ride the hot hands. Or at least the hands that he thinks are hot. This win did show how high the Timbers’ ceiling really is, giving us something concrete for expecting and desiring more out of this team. Perhaps this win can in some way be tracked back to that trip to Guyana, in which many of these players performed and performed well.

More Champions League play and big league games are coming up. Just because the Timbers Army were dancing in the isles of BC Place doesn’t mean Portland is going to roll off five wins on the trot now. One game at a time. There’s nothing to take for granted beyond that.

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