You can talk about the referees, if you want, and you wouldn’t be misguided. The handball call that gave the Colorado Rapids their penalty and first goal in a tight 2-2 draw in Commerce City Saturday night was an abysmal piece of refereeing – and if Liam Ridgewell needed to further evidence to indite the man responsible for the abysmal piece of refereeing as an abysmal referee, he was handed a gift:
Apparently, all four match officials walked off the field without bothering to shake hands, as is customary at every level of soccer.
Was DeShorn Brown offside when he headed the Rapids into a 2-1 lead later in the second half? Perhaps – but there’s an equally good chance that Pa Moudu Kah kept Brown onside when he scored Colorado’s second.
Diego Valeri scored yet another goal, Will Johnson did not make the trip under a shroud of momentary social media controversy, when the team’s official pre-game show said he’d been suspended and reports flew that his absence had nothing to do with a suspension or a new baby, and the Timbers ground out another high-scoring draw to keep floating around fifth place in the Western Conference. Never a dull moment.
But I think we start here with Donovan Ricketts, who was the best player on the field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Ricketts has taken some heat this year. He has been accused of various transgressions ranging from not being as good as he was in 2013 – probably true – to simply being an overpaid, washed-up part of the problem – absolutely false.
In the discussion around the Timbers defense, which has been a source of consternation and head-banging exasperation from the get-go this year, there has been a thought that Ricketts saved games last year, and he’s not saving games this year.
Actually, he has saved games this year. It’s not his fault that his defense has given them right back. This game is exhibit A. Ricketts made four massive, point-blank saves in a range of ways – shot stopping, charging off his line, running and sprawling across the goal-frame, doing anything and everything to keep the Timbers in the game.
Ricketts was phenomenal. The Jamaican had a slow start to the season, but he rounded into form months ago. He’s still a top-class goalkeeper, and the Timbers are lucky to have him.
Let’s say Howard Webb officiates this game, but a lesser goalkeeper is between the sticks. The Timbers lose. Of that, there’s little doubt. The Rapids, for instance, turned to yet another #1 in a sort of addition by subtracting all players involved with their seven-game losing streak.
Their goalkeeper for this game was a third-stringer just a few weeks ago, after starter Clint Irwin was benched and replacement Joe Nasco was sent off after 30 seconds in LA. John Berner was his name, and he got a whole hell of a lot on Diego Valeri’s first half volley but couldn’t keep it out. That earned the Timbers’ point – as did Gaston Fernandez’s rather bizarre late equalizer when he walled off a somewhat distracted center-back to score the Timbers’ league-leading tenth goal from a substitute this year.
The point is this: As easily as Portland could have won, they could have lost.
The defense didn’t impress me. Alvas Powell, offense and legs mostly gone after being overworked in this last two weeks, was a real liability on defense. Meanwhile, the fact that Kah and not Norberto Paparatto started this game spoke volumes about the level of Caleb Porter’s confidence in the Argentine and Paparatto’s future with the team.
Kah and Ridgewell were better than they were against San Jose, but that’s not saying much. They were bailed out by Ricketts, as neither could keep up with the mostly misfiring Brown.
Diego Chara had a lively game, and Ben Zemanski played a very solid game in place of the rested Johnson. Rodney Wallace was ineffective, as was, increasingly worryingly, Darlington Nagbe.
This all came, of course, against a team that had lost seven in a row and their last game by a score of 6-0. Never mind that losing seven in a row in MLS is virtually impossible, Colorado went behind in this game and never appeared out of it. The Timbers don’t have any killer instinct whatsoever. They’re so totally ineffective at killing teams off, every game has to be close. Every game has to be decided by a gaffe, or a late goal, or a refereeing mistake. That’s no way to win games – especially when you have the more talented team.
Next week is the really big one. Vancouver at home. Winner is the favorite to make the playoffs. The ‘Caps lost to Dallas as the Timbers were drawing Colorado, but Vancouver still holds a one-point lead in the race. The Timbers need a win next weekend, hopefully something comparable one of the Timbers’ only multi-goal wins of the year, 3-0 over the Whitecaps in BC a few weeks ago.
Before then Portland opens their home slate in the CONCACAF Champions League with a game against Honduran side CD Olimpia, which should see a competitive game as the Timbers trot out a mostly second-string side – save, of course, for the Captain Will Johnson.
Eventually, the clock will run out on this cuckoo season. The music will stop. This team will regroup. Until then, the music only promises to get faster and crazier. The Timbers aren’t very good – they’ve only won eight of 28 league games played this year, better than only four teams in MLS – but that doesn’t matter so much right now.
Onto the next one.
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